Interesting analysis of historical clashes of civilizations that had the most extreme and sudden (single-battle) outcomes. Victor Davis Hanson (VDH), as a professor of classics, has chosen four examples he knows well. He presents fantastic scholarly research to illustrate the phenomenon.
There are dozens of other historical examples where the language, culture, and civilizations were wiped out by conquerors that were not as sudden, including the Meroitic civilization in Sudan (500K people), the Coptic civilization of Egypt (5M people), the Ge'ez language and culture in Eritrea (500K people). Like VDH's example of Constantinople, these (and many other) African civilizations, cultures, languages were destroyed by the Muslim conquests. There are dozens in Asia, as well. It's also interesting how genocides such as the murder of two thirds of the Jewish people by the Nazis sometimes don't destroy the language, culture, or civilization. It's a great history book and much-more approachable than most dense "phone book" accounts of names, dates, and esoteric details. 5/5 Stars.
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