Today's Arab-Israeli conflict, ever-present in the news, is merely the latest iteration of an unending history of violence in the Holy Land—a region that is unsurpassed as witness to a kaleidoscopic military history involving forces from across the world and throughout the millennia.
Holy Wars describes 3,000 years of war in the Holy Land with the unique approach of focusing on pivotal battles or campaigns, beginning with the Israelites' capture of Jericho and ending with Israel’s last full-fledged assault against Lebanon. Its 17 chapters stop along the way to examine key battles fought by the Philistines, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, and Mamluks, the latter clash, at Ayn Jalut, comprising the first time the Mongols suffered a decisive defeat.
The modern era saw the rise of the Ottomans, and an incursion by Napoleon who only found bloody stalemate outside the walls of Akko (Acre). The Holy Land became a battlefield again in World War I when the British fought the Turks. The nation of Israel was forged in conflict during its 1948 War of Independence, and subsequently found itself in desperate combat, often against great odds, in 1956 and 1967, and then it was surprised by a massive two-pronged assault in 1973.
By focusing on the climax of each conflict, while carefully setting each stage, Holy Wars allows the reader to examine an extraordinary breadth of military history, glimpsing in one volume the evolution of warfare over the centuries as well as the enduring status of the Holy Land as a battleground.
GARY L. RASHBA , the author of more than 30 articles on defense, aerospace and international topics, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990 and currently lives in Israel with his wife and two children.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Latch Of The Land Of Israel - Israelite Conquest Of The Promised Land, 1400 BCE
2. Times Of Trouble - Battles Of The Judges, 1200 BCE
3. Two Peoples, One Land - Philistines And Israelites, 1000 BCE
4. Sennacherib’s Crowning Achievement - Assyrians At Lachish, 701 BCE
5. Pushed Too Far - The Maccabean War, 175 BCE
6. Ivdaea Capta - The Rage Of Rome, 67 CE
7. The Koran, The Tribute, Or The Sword! - Islam’s Conquest Of The Middle East, 634 CE
8. Impaled At The Horns Of Hattin - Twilight For The Crusader Kingdom Of Jerusalem, 1187
9. Wa Islamah! Wa Islamah! Mamluks Stop The Mongol Horde, 1260
10. Outgunned - Mamluk Cavalry Scorn Ottoman Firearms, 1516
11. Plagued By Delays, And Delayed By Plague - Napoleon’s Holy Land Campaign, 1799
12. By Way Of Deception - World War I In Palestine, 1917–18
13. Israel’s “Maginot Line” - 1948 War Of Independence
14. Attacked, Captured And Abandoned - 1956 Sinai Campaign
15. How The Hell Did Anyone Get Up There? - 1967 Six Day War
16. Sacrificial Stand In The Golan Heights - 1973 Yom Kippur War
17. Turkey Shoot Over The Bekaa Valley - 1982 Lebanon War
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
