BY Gabriel, Richard A ( Author ) [{ Thutmose III: The Military Biography of Egypt's Greatest Warrior King - Greenlight By Gabriel, Richard A ( Author ) Aug - 01- 2009 ( Hardcover ) } ] Hardcover – 1761

I admire Prof. Gabriel, but I was disappointed by the military biography of Thutmose III. The first half of the book broadly addressed the political and military layout of the eastern Mediterranean in the Bronze age. While some context is critical, I found much of the material here irrelevant to Thutmose III. The chapter on the battle of Meggiddio was outstanding, as was the pentultimate chapter on the battle of Kadesh. However, the material between these chapters was again lackluster.While Gabriel's detailing of Thutmose III"s strategy was excellent (as one would expect), there was very little on Thutmose III himself - as "Napoleon of the Ancient World" or otherwise - this, too was disappointing. In the final analysis, its strongest parts detail specifically with military history (Prof. Gabriel's forte), but the ancillary material and particularly the details of Thutmose III were lackluster.

Thutmose III regarded as the "Napoleon" of Ancient Egypt is one of the most important Pharaoh's of the New Kingdom/Golden Era of ancient Egyptian history. Raised in the shadow of his famous aunt - Hatshepsut - Egypt's "female Pharaoh" he had an illustrious military career spanning many decades and some 18 major campaigns. These are told in exceptionally clear and precise detail by Gabriel who also sets Thutmose's reign and activities within the broader historical context of the contending powers of the Ancient Near East of the time. I was particularly impressed with Gabriel's analysis of the Hatshepsut/Thutmose relationship and the explanation for his later erasure of many of her monuments and inscriptions. On the other hand his argument that Thutmose was a greater general than Alexander the Great does not persuade - simply because of the logistical brilliance of Alexander - far further from his home bas than the Pharaoh ever was and confronted with armies/enemies in almost every way more formidable than this great general. The book would have been enhanced by a few more maps and perhaps some more technical line drawings (especially of the chariots and weaponry) but these are minor cavils in relation to a great addition to the recent works of the military history of the ancient world which are now gracing our shelves.

The author has produced another fine work detailing the exploits of Thutmose III ,pharoh of Egypt.Here we learn how Thutmose was the one who was primarily responsible for turning Egypt from a sophisticated but isolated civilization to a first rate imperial power with a sphere of influence in the middle east and Africa.The author gives a background of the situation in the area around that time including details of the Hyskos' invasion of Egypt and its affects on the Egyptians.We also learn about the militaries of the various players in the region:the Egyptians,the cannaanite and syrian city-states and the Mitanni.Thutmose through a number of unspectacular but strategic victories seized a number of strategic towns that guarded key routes first in Canaan (Meggido),then in Interior Lebanon (near the Litani River) and then along the Coast of Lebanon and Syria before he embarked on a campaign against the Mitanni.These strategic victories had the purpose of extending Egypt's buffer zone and enhanced its national security by ensuring that any attempted invasion would be fought far away from Egypt's homeland.In the process of doing this ,Thutmose became the first commander in history to use amphibious landings to acheive surprise and speed.The lessons from this book are not only Thutmose's brilliance but that the concept of a sphere of influence is a very old one and is as much about great states seeking to protect themselves by having friendly states on their borders as much as it is about imperialism (as witnessed by the British attempt to seek a buffer around India to protect it from the Russians ,the ameican Monroe doctrine and the current Russian attempt for a "sphere of priviliged interest").The author illustrates these points in his unorthodox,questioning style that is both interesting and intriguing.That said there are flaws with this book, such as the errors and conradictions pointed out by other reviewers or the author's insistence that Thutmose was superior to Alexander in some regards.The author states that Persia was lead by a corrupt elite and was ready for the picking whilst Thutmose faced professional armies ,neglecting of course that ALexander accomplished the conquest of an empire that was superior to Macedonia in terms of wealth,size,demographics and in seapower (the last point could have worked decisively against Alexander) whereas Thutmose only managed to expand Egypt's sphere of influence over the Syrians,Canaanites and Nubians who were inferior to Egypt.He failed to destroy the Mitannis.He also foregets that Alexander fought 4 battles and 4 sieges that are considered tactical masterpieces and was also skilled in mountain warfare whereas he fails to record any such tactical masterpieces by Thutmose,indeed the most famous victory of Thutmose was at Meggido which although a strategic victory was only a minor skirmish followed by a blockade.He also says that the strategic vision for the coquest of Persia was invented by Phillip, Alexander's father,also neglecting that Thutmose's strategy was also invented by his grandfather Thutmose I.The only area in which Thutmose was superior to Alexander is the amphibious operations.Nevertheless,in spite of these flaws ,I recommend this book.