Saladin and the Saracens (Men-at-Arms, 171)

A very detailed source on the Islamic armies of the Second and Third Crusades, focusing on the Ayyubids of Salah al-Din but also examining the Fatimids, the Seljuks, and other Turkish factions. Helps dispel some myths and stereotypes about medieval Eastern warfare and shows how, in many respects it was connected to that of Europe.

This is another relatively good title from the pair David Nicolle-Angus McBride. At the outset however, potential buyers should be made aware that the book's title - "Saladin and the Saracens" is not really accurate. This men-at-arms book is the rough equivalent of the series for Christian armies between 1000 and 1300 (French, Italian, German...), so it starts in the mid-eleventh century, with the Seljuk Turks and Turkomans arriving in what is now Iran, Irak and the Caucasus, and stops in 1291 with the fall of Acre.Having mentioned this, the contents are rather good, if you can bear the author's bias to which I will come back shortly, and McBride's plates are rather gorgeous, as per usual. Armies covered are those of the Seljuk Sultanate and its successor states in Syria and the Djezirah (the "atabegs", meaning the regents, if I am correct), including those of Zengi atabeg of Mossoul and his son Nur al Din (initially Saladin's lord), the Fatimids in Egypt until 1169, the armies of Saladin and of his Ayubid successors from 1169 to 1250, followed by the Mamluks and then the armies in Iran, the Causasus and Anatolia in the 13th century. There is even a little piece on the Assassins and on the Caliph and their respective forces, just for the sake of being comprehensive. Then we have the illustrations. Some of the photos may be of limited interest, largely because they are in black and white and are therefore not always clear. The schematics of a castle, the citadel of Damascus and the Red Tower of Alanya are, on the contrary, quite fascinating and I would have wanted more of them, and more of the drawings of arms and helmets.Finally, we have the book's main text and this is where the bias appears. David Nicolle quite clearly has a "soft spot" for Saladin who was certainly a very remarkable and quite outstanding character, although I would have stop short from qualifying him as being perceived as "the chief hero of these events" (the Third Crusade), "even in Europe". There was a healthy respect among Christians for Saladin, both in Outremer and in Europe, but to suggest hero worshiping might be going a bit far. When explaining the success of the First Crusade - against all odds - Nicolle quite rightly mentions that there timing could not have been better for it took place as the Seljuk Sultanate was raked by civil war after the death of Malik Shah in 1092. However, he sometimes gives the disagreeable impression of belittling the military achievements of the First Crusaders. There is, for instance, nothing indicating a fall in training standards of Turkish horse archers, contrary to the author's statement who uses such an assertion to "explain" that this "seems the most obvious reason for their failure against the First Crusade." This tends to omit the mixture of luck and superb generalship and leadership displayed by the Crusaders in general, and Bohemond in particular. It also underestimates the impact that a charge of knights could have on a troop of horse archers unused to such aggressiveness (it would be enough to spoil anyone's aim, I would guess!) or even more simply caught on the back foot, as at Doryleum, or by surprise, as happened at least once to one of the Muslim relief armies (the one for Alep) during the siege of Antioch. Another "missing" element about Saladin the "hero" is any mention of the fact that he essentially rebelled against his lord, Nur al Din and set out for himself by becoming the independent ruler of Egypt which was by far the richest of all of the Muslim states at the time. In fact, Nur al Din seems to have been preparing an expedition to bring his rebellious vassal to heel (and probably execute him in the process) when he died in 1174. So, in a way, Saladin was NOT the paragon of virtue he is presented to be and was quite lucky that his lord died in such a timely manner, allowing him to take over one by one his other lands and cities over the next nine years.Despite these little grips, this book certainly achieves its objective: it does make you (or at least, it did make me) "want for more". So, four stars for me, although I did hesitate a bit between three and four stars...

Great book, great pictures, good read!

Information is fine but the use of Saracen to describe Muslims is derogatory. I am surprised the publisher has not changed this offensive title.

Wie bei einigen Osprey-Heften, so fehlt auch hier der Platz für ein so spannendes und umfangreiches Thema. Die Texte sind gut und die Zeichnungen erste Wahl, aber es geht doch zu viel verloren, hauptsächlich bei der Darstellung der arabischen Armee. Ich muss da nicht viele Worte machen. Ich hatte ständig das Gefühl, dass die nächste Seite mehr ins Detail gehen würde. Doch das passierte nicht. Deswegen behalte ich mir einen Stern vor.

Part of the Osprey's series covering various troops and soldiers from important historical periods, this book takes a (very) brief look at the armies in the Middle East during the time of the Crusades. Over all, its a short, somewhat general read. The emphasis is, of course, on Middle Eastern soldiers, so much of it is devoted to Saladin and the Arab and Kurdish armies, but there is also some stuff on the tribal Turks and the Armenians and Cilicians, which I found interesting. Information is given on all the troops, how they fought, what sort of arms and armor they used, where they came from and so forth. Some things were skipped over, or left out entirely, but considering the limited scope of this book, that can be forgivven. Personally, I was amazed by how much they did manage to fit in at any rate! Of particular interest are the wonderful color plates, which go into magnificent details on specific troops and their equipment.Its a pretty decent book. Not too detailed, perhaps, but it has some excellent visuals and can easily put the Crusades into context and sum things up. If this time period interests you, then by all means look into this book.

Saladin and the Saracens is a solid enough effort. Written by Osprey's in-house muslim apologist, David Nicolle, it gives a decent enough portrayal of Saladin and the armies he led during the Crusading era. It concentrates primarily on the Fatimid and Ayyubids and Abbasid dynasties of the moslem middle east. A thumbnail sketch of the Mamelukes is also thrown in for good measure.As with most Osprey titles it is only meant to be used as a starting point, a general overview from which more serious study can then be undertaken.The prints are certainly of high quality, much, much better than some of Osprey's other crusader era titles.Again, as a jumping off point this book is a decent enough effort.

The Saracens were not the whole picture of Shalahuddin's army. I only wished that western 'scholars' would start using Arabic grammar for their names in islamic history for the sake of respect of others.I found that his 'fire-brigade' that harrassed King Guy in the famous Battle of Hattin was not even presented. even his legendary 'light-cavalry' was not there either. Although, the uses of darts, short arrows, were there excellently enough.I was a little bit disappointed with this work, that's something unusual from david Nicolle. Fortunately I found several new accounts from the Saracens which did not all campaigned with Shalahuddin.

Although I respect Nicolle's knowledge on the medieval Arab world and the crusades, I found this book particularly hard to read. It just does not flow and unfortunately was not a pleasant read for me.The author quite often throws some names, places, etc. without much background of a minimum of development then jumps on the next idea of fact.Also worth to note that the title is inacurate. The present books does not really deal with Saladin but more broadly with middle eastern armies between 1100 to 1300.

Interesting book - very pleased.

Grace à Amin MAALOUF, j'ai découvert le point de vue des arabes en ce qui concerne les croisades. Cet ouvrage donne des éléments passionnants sur cette période.