The Killing Ground: A Biography of Thermopylae

As far as historians can tell from the admittedly incomplete records, 16 battles and 11 other military actions took place around the mountain pass at Thermopylae in central Greece. More blood may have been shed there than at any other site in history. The area’s first undated battle is mostly known only from a reference in Herodotus. The second, in 480 BCE, inspired the movie 300, which is about 300 Spartans who fought for three days to stop a Persian army of 120,000 to 300,000 people from crossing to attack the states of the Hellenic League. The last was in 1941: ANZAC forces against Germans. Defense expert Cole (Sixteenth Watch) and medieval historian Livingston (Origins of the Wheel of Time) analyze these engagements in great detail, sorting out what can be verified from the inexactness of ancient accounts and prejudices. Romans wrote about the Gauls, whereas the Gauls wrote not at all, so the accounts of Gallic wars are all told by their enemies.