Product Description

The story of Venice is, to some extent, separate from that of the rest of Europe. The same could be said of the city's military history and organisation. Early in the 9th century the Venetians defeated Pepin the Frank's attempts to overawe them, and they remained, at least in theory, subject to Byzantium. Gradually, however, Venice drifted into independence; and subsequently carved out its own empire at the expense of its former Byzantine masters. The Venetians were soon famous for their roving and warlike spirit, keen business acumen and pride. This book explores the remarkable history of the city and its army from 1200 up until 1670.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #718557 in Books
• Published on: 1989-03-23
• Released on: 1989-03-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

From the Publisher
Packed with specially commissioned artwork, maps and diagrams, the Men-at-Arms series is an unrivalled illustrated reference on the history, organisation, uniforms and equipment of the world's military forces, past and present.

About the Author
David Nicolle was born in 1944 and was educated at Highgate School. For eight years he worked in the BBC Arabic Service. In 1971 he went 'back to school', gaining an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a PhD from Edinburgh University. For some years he taught art and architectural history at Yarmuk University, Jordan. David has written many Osprey titles, including MAA 140 Armies of the Ottoman Turks, MAA 320 Armies of the Caliphates 862–1098, and Campaign 43 Fornovo 1495.

Customer Reviews

Suffering much from broad overveiw
Why the Men-At-Arms series continues to put out these overly broad volumes is beyond my fathoming. Yes, the information is good ... up to a point. The problem is that in creating such broad portraits, the best you get is a stereotyping of the era. And as this volume is not graced by Angus McBride's illustrations, it falls to a lower notch yet.

Venice was a power in the Middle Ages and through part of the Renaissance. Even when dominated by foriegn powers, it was a player on the international scene, especially when dealing with the crumbling remains of the Byzantine Empire. This book does show that Venice was a force to be reckoned with; unfortunately it is covering a period of over 450 years, so anything said in the book must of needs be of a broad perspective.

Many people buy the Men-at-Arms book strictly for the center colour illustrations (yes, I've seen you, you fighters of the SCA!). There is nothing at all wrong with this. I might warn a potential purchaser, however, that the illustrations in this volume are rather flat and might not give you the wealth of detail you might otherwise expect. They are not /bad/, but sometimes the proportions are a bit off, which might convince you to lenghthen a hauberk where it is unnecessary.

I can only hope that Osprey will someday go back and break up several of these "long era" books into smaller chunks. We would be far better served then.