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Militarism and the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe 1st Edition

by Robert Drews (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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This book argues that the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe essentially began shortly before 1600 BC, when lands rich in natural resources were taken over by military forces from the Eurasian steppe and from southern Caucasia. First were the copper and silver mines (along with good harbors) in Greece, and the copper and gold mines of the Carpathian basin. By ca. 1500 BC other military men had taken over the amber coasts of Scandinavia and the metalworking district of the southern Alps. These military takeovers offer the most likely explanations for the origins of the Greek, Keltic, Germanic and Italic subgroups of the Indo-European language family.

Battlefield warfare and militarism, Robert Drews contends, were novelties ca. 1600 BC and were a consequence of the military employment of chariots. Current opinion is that militarism and battlefield warfare are as old as formal states, going back before 3000 BC.

Another current opinion is that the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe happened long before 1600 BC. The "Kurgan theory" of Marija Gimbutas and David Anthony dates it from late in the fifth to early in the third millennium BC and explains it as the result of horse-riding conquerors or raiders coming to Europe from the steppe. Colin Renfrew’s Archaeology and Language dates the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe to the seventh and sixth millennia BC, and explains it as a consequence of the spread of agriculture in a "wave of advance" from Anatolia through Europe. Pairing linguistic with archaeological evidence Drews concludes that in Greece and Italy, at least, no Indo-European language could have arrived before the second millennium BC.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0367886006
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0367886004
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publication date
    December 12, 2019
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6.14 x 0.67 x 9.21 inches
  7. Print length
    296 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

‘Drews’s new book ... is clearly argued and will serve the neophyte as a convenient introduction to the voluminous research―recent and classic― in the several scholarly fields whose data are adduced here’ -Journal of the American Oriental Society141.1 (2021)

‘Cet ouvrage fournit un ‘modèle’ pour comprendre l’histoire de la guerre européenne, avec ses armes et ses premières batailles, un champ de recherches trop souvent écarté pour des raisons idéologiques déplacées (pp. 56-57), ou simplement pour des raisons de mode. Quant à l’articulation de cette histoire avec la linguistique historique indo-européenne, beaucoup reste à faire, comme l’auteur l’admet in fine. Toutefois, son ouvrage fournit des perspectives qui respectent pour l’essentiel le travail des linguistes et qui, enrichies d’études anthropologiques et archéologiques plus larges, leur permettront d’affiner leurs propres hypothèses’ - Pierre Sauzeau in Bryn Mawr Classical Review

‘Today’s archaeology, exemplified by the work of, for example, Helle Vandkilde or Kristian Kristiansen, is again interested in Indo-European migrations, war, weapons, and the flow of interaction throughout the Old World. Drews has studied these issues, through the lens of Near Eastern and ancient Greek history, throughout his career and across shifting trends in history and archaeology. Militarism and the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe draws on this experience to produce a synthesis from Caucasia to Scandinavia; to address at length topics previously remarked on in passing; and to comment on a number of current debates about the role and nature of militarism, warfare, chronological issues, Indo-European dispersions, the arrival of the Greeks in Greece, and the history of Europe’ - Christopher Prescott in AJA

‘Drews’s conclusions will, no doubt, engender a vigorous response from PIE scholars over the merits of his thesis. Regardless, Militarism and the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe is a fascinating read for the student of warfare or antiquity, even without a background in archaeology, linguistics, or Indo-European studies’ - Nathan Perz in Journal of Military History

About the Author

Robert Drews studied ancient history―Near Eastern, Greek and Roman―at the Johns Hopkins University and received his degree in 1960. For the next 45 years he taught the full slate of ancient history at Vanderbilt University, and became interested especially in the evolution of religion and of warfare. In the latter field his publications include Coming of the Greeks (1988), The End of the Bronze Age (1993) and Early Riders: The Beginnings of Mounted Warfare in Asia and Europe (2004).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (December 12, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0367886006
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0367886004
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 year and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 16 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 0.67 x 9.21 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
17 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kenneth A. Dailey
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful and Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2019
Verified Purchase
Robert Drews thoroughly weighs and reviews evidence for the development of militarism in central Europe in the mid 2nd millenium BC and convincingly argues that Indo-European languages spread as a direct result of militarism which in turn was possible only with the development and spread of chariot warfare. Drews visits and demolishes previously accepted theories, even his own from previous decades, in masterful English with copious footnotes and references. This book is for the serious historian.
2 people found this helpful
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Jadjee
5.0 out of 5 stars Neolithic horse cultures imagined
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2022
Verified Purchase
This author is a leading scholar in the field of Bronze Age mediterranean culture and warfare. In this book, he provides a counter-argument to the one that riding horses, not eating them, was key to warfare and development. The author proposes, instead, that horses were used to draw chariots long before they were mounted by humans. This, he suggests, is what provided them with their battle advantage. He brings archaeological data to support his argument.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Anthony Gasparini
3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting argument, but already obsolete
Reviewed in Canada on May 25, 2022
Verified Purchase
Unfortunately the author is either unaware or chooses to ignore aDNA data when presenting the argument in his book, which well written and engaging, reads more like a history written in the 60s and 70s rather than a modern argument from 2017. Unfortunately the book has little to offer to the archaeologist, linguist, or biologist who already studies this time period. I really wanted to like this book as few large scale works tackle with the indo european migrations of the mid Bronze Age into europe itself, but I simply cannot recommend it to a serious researcher.
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