Afghanistan : a military history from the Ancient empires to the great game / Ali Ahmad Jalali.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jalali, Ali Ahmad, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military history, Ancient.

Afghanistan--History.

Afghanistan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 volume)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2021]

Summary:

"This new book guides the reader through over 2000 years of military history in the region that we now know as Afghanistan, from ancient times up to the European colonialism epitomized by the romanticism of the Great Game. Jalali traces the way in which armies commanded by Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, the Muslim conquerors, Chinggis Khan, Tamerlane, and others shaped the region, leaving their unique and indelible mark on this ancient land and helping to create the Afghan empire. Because the history of Afghanistan is strongly influenced by the dynamics of its peripheral status between major regional centers of power and the impact of its location on the geopolitical fault line astride South, Central, and West Asia, Jalali presents his study of Afghanistan's military history in this context. One reader noted that Jalali "clearly explains how the topography of Afghanistan constrained and enabled military affairs over more a thousand years, which is an extraordinary and (as far as I know) unparalleled achievement in scholarship.""-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

A Geographic Overview

Early History of Afghanistan: Migrations, Displacements, and the struggle for Domination

The Passage of Alexander the Great, 330-323 BC

Disintegration of the Greek Power in the East and the Rise of New Empires: Greco-Bactrians, Sakas, Kushans and Ephthalites, 323 BC-642 AD

The Arab Conquest and Islamization of Afghanistan, 642-921 AD

Decline of the Abbassid Caliphate and the Rise of Local Dynasties, 921-1215 AD

The Mongol Cataclysm, 1220-1370

Timur and the Timurids, 1335-1526

Afghan Tribes and the Gunpowder Empires, 1500-1709

The Rise of Local Afghan States and their Invasion of Persia, 1709-1747

The Durrani Empire and the Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 1747-1834.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 355-366) and index.

ISBN:

9780700632633

0700632638

OCLC:

1290479152