The story of Matthias, a Macedonian youth who slips away to join Alexander’s corps as it treks across Afghanistan on its way to India. A raw recruit, he is taken under the wing of Flag, a grizzled sergeant who sees him grow in military experience and in cynicism. He buys a slave girl who later becomes his lover, but he learns that this harsh desert land, where even women and children are enemies, is totally alien, and can never accept him.

After the excitement of Pressfield's Gates of Fire, this book disappoints, though it’s not a total failure. Matthias’ growth from a tyro who fails to kill a trussed prisoner and cuts his own leg instead, vomiting, into a vet who has seen it all is handled well. And the sharp, sudden brutality of it all --- the mass slaughter of the female prisoners, the gory battles --- is of course shown in all its disturbing glory. But it seems Pressfield tried too hard to draw parallels between Alexander’s wars and the current Iraq war, and while he may have a general point, it’s out of place in a historical novel and the plot and characterization suffer as a result. And it may be that the drama suffers from the scope of the book being too vast; instead of focusing, or even climaxing, on one battle or area, “the Afghan campaign” is just too large for what Pressfield is trying to do. Still, there’s no denying that this book is packed with entertaining and suspenseful scenes, and it’s a highly enjoyable read. I’m just not entirely sure it works as a whole.

Η ιστορία της εκστρατείας του Μέγα Αλέξανδρου μέσα από την προσωπική ιστορία ενός απλού στρατιώτη. Κατά τη γνώμη μου ένα από τα καλύτερα ιστορικά μυθιστορήματα που έχω διαβάσει ποτέ! Τα 4 αστέρια ίσως είναι λίγα για το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο. Όμως σε ορισμένα σημεία του βιβλίου η πλοκή έμενε πίσω για χάρη της λεπτομερούς περιγραφής των στρατοπέδων και των τοπίων, κάτι που πολλούς μπορεί να τους κουράζει.

Ο Πόλεμος
Το βιβλίο δεν καταπιάνεται με ολόκληρη την εκστρατεία του Αλέξανδρου αλλά ξεκινά μετά την κατάκτηση της Περσικής Αυτοκρατορίας και την εξάπλωσή του στην γη των παιδιών του Αφγάνα, το σημερινό Αφγανιστάν. Αυτό που μου έκανε θετική εντύπωση είναι ότι ο Pressfield δεν παρουσίασε την εκστρατεία των Μακεδόνων ως μια ένδοξη πορεία με στόχο να διδάξουν τον πολιτισμό στους "βαρβάρους", όπως προωθείται από την δυτική σκέψη και ιστοριογραφία. Αντίθετα τίθεται στα σωστά πλαίσια του επιθετικού - επεκτατικόύ πολέμου χωρίς βέβαια να υποτιμάται η σπουδαιότητα του κατορθώματος αυτού. Παρουσιάζονται όλες οι αθλιότητες και οι αγριότητες του πολέμου και από τις δύο αντίπαλες πλευρές.

Ο Μαντίθεος και οι Μακεδόνες
Το κεντρικό πρόσωπο του βιβλίου είναι ο Μαντίθεος, ένας νεαρός από την Μακεδονία που επιλέγει να καταταγεί στον στρατό για να κερδίσει δόξα, πλούτη και να τιμήσει τον πατέρα του και τα αδέλφια του που πολέμησαν στο πλευρό του Αλέξανδρου. Ήδη όμως από την αρχή καταλαβαίνει ότι ο πόλεμος δεν είναι μόνο ένδοξες στιγμές και νίκες. Το να σκοτώσεις έναν άνθρωπο δεν είναι τόσο απλό όσο του φαινόταν και η ζωή του στρατιώτη ξεδιπλώνεται σαν μια καταδίκη σε μια ζωή βιαιότητας. Οι Μακεδόνες είναι πλεόν μια μειοψηφία σε έναν τεράστιο μισθοφορικό στρατό που πρέπει να μάθουν να ζουν και να πολεμούν μη γνωρίζοντας ποιος είναι ο σύμμαχος και ποιος ο εχθρός.

Η Σινάρ και "Οι Βάρβαροι"
Ο Μαντίθεος κατά τη διάρκεια της εκστρατείας σώζει μια από τις ντόπιες γυναίκες που χρησιμοποιούσε ο μακεδονικός στρατός μαζί με τα ζώα για να μεταφέρουν προμήθειες. Βλέπουμε πως ένας έρωτας γεννιέται μέσα στην εσκτρατεία που δεν είναι όμως ο μόνος καθώς πολλοί ήταν οι Μακεδόνες που έκαναν οικογένεια με ντόπιες γυναίκες. Οικογένειες όμως που συνήθως ήταν καταδικασμένες εξ' αιτίας του σκληρού κώδικα τιμής των λαών της περιοχής που επέβαλλαν την εκδίκηση. Βλέπουμε τους λαούς αυτούς κατεστραμένους να προσπαθούν να επιβιώσουν υποχρεωμένοι να συμβιβαστούν με τον κατακτητή και παράλληλα να παλεύουν για τη διατήρηση του πολιτισμού τους και του τρόπου ζωής τους. Τι διαφορά είχε άραγε εκείνη η μακρινή εποχή από σημερινές ανάλογες περιπτώσεις;

Personally this is a 4 star book, but to provide an evenhanded score for people who aren’t obsessed with ancient history, I’ve given it three.

Pressfield’s narrative follows a young, newly enlisted soldier in Alexander’s Macedonian army after the king’s most famous victories at Granicus, Issus, and Gaugamela. What’s left is a glory-less trudge through Afghanistan, and a war that saps hope and betrays all notions of honor.

While it is well written, one never feels quite as close with the characters as in the superbly done Gates of Fire. Part of this is that the cast rotates in and out so quickly, and the nicknames make it difficult to keep track of who is who. While I’m sure some liberties were taken, this book does deliver the exhausting feel of being in Alexander’s army, the ethnic hatreds that arise out of their campaigns and the assimilation of “barbarians,” and the sheer scale of what Alexander’s soldiers were asked to do.

The story ends on an empty, bitter note. But how else would you expect a book titled “The Afghan Campaign” to end?

This book was just boring. There was nothing that made me give a shit about any of the characters. They felt very cookie cutter. Sad because I loved Gates of Fire and was hoping I would love this one too.

A great read, in the tradition of classic historical fiction writers like Rosemary Sutcliff, Mary Renault, and - more recently - Harry Sidebottom. Erudition and thrills combined. Thrilling, engaging, brutal and informed.

This book was rather strange. I do not know if it was just a bad book or a good story badly written. It is a historical fiction and I am unfamiliar with the author though from a GR check he does seem to be an accomplished professional. As an accomplished author I am at a loss to explain the apparent sloppiness of this book. For a historical fiction to meet my approval the story must mesh with the historical event(s) depicted. In this book the history concerns the invasion of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great in about 330BCE. The story is about a young Greek infantry recruit named Matthias. Sadly, Matthias' story simply uses the Alexander history as a backdrop and the Alexander history is thin at best. In actuality Matthias' story is pretty ordinary and typical of the story of any infantry grunt in any army, in any war, in any country, at any time. However, the story itself isn't bad or badly written but the sloppiness occurs in the history and its detail. If you are going to write historical fiction then you must get your history straight or you lose the real history readers. This author lost me. He describes Afghan warriors as "braves" and their women as "squaws". Terms used traditionally to describe Native American warriors and their women. He describes Afghan cultural practices that are more akin to practices in Muslim cultures but Islam won't be established for another thousand years. He calls native women "dames", a 20th century expression. And what is most laughable is that he has these soldiers sending and receiving mail from Greece to Afghanistan. This is 330 BCE. Paper, and he does refer to paper being used, won't be invented until roughly 100BCE and that will be in China. Paper doesn't reach Europe until well into the Middle Ages but this author has it being used centuries before its historical existence. If that isn't enough should we discuss literacy? It is unlikely that any of these soldiers were able to read or write so sending them mail is idiotic. How could this author make such mistakes? Again, he is an accomplished professional and the story is well written even though the detail is grossly in error. Why? The erroneous material spans cultures, times, peoples. Could there have been something else at play here? Could this book have been meant as some sort of allegory or parable on the futility war especially war in this part of the world? God knows Afghanistan seems to be an area frozen in time that defies any attempt at modern intrusion from any source regardless of intent. Well such a message would be one worth pondering but the fact remains that the author did a clumsy job of imparting it. If he had something important to say then he could have done it better than this.

I listened to an interview of the author, Steven Pressfield, by Trey Gowdy on his podcast (https://open.spotify.com/episode/75JP...) in November of 2023, in which he talked about this book. I had previously read Gates of Fire and enjoyed it, so thought I'd add this one to my list.

This was a fantastic and horrible historical fiction book about a time that was filled with violence and conquest, when Alexander the Great conquered the wild lands of Afghanistan before going into India. I haven't learned much about that time, in ~330 BC, and this book was an interesting treatise about a soldier in Alexander's army and a portion of history about which I appreciated reading.

Similar to Gates of Fire, the book does use the vulgar language of men at war and gives tribute to "the gods" of ancient Greece, with no reference or acknowledgement of the one true God, and it struck me how that really was the foundation of those times, so very different from what I've known from my youngest days.

Hands down, the finest work of historical fiction I've ever read. And I've read a lot of historical fiction.

An excellent read.

I really liked the deliberate use of anachronistic names and words. I felt at times there were at least three stories being told. The Alexandrian of course, but some passages read like diaries written by Victorian soldiers often in the vernacular, then next from the perspective of someone who’s recently served in Helmand Province.

if you want to know about the futility and brutality of war in present day Afghanistan read this book. This historical fiction book tells the story of a young recruit as he eagerly enlist on the army of Alexander the Great. Anxious for action, he, like all young recruits before their first battle, expects glory and riches, alas! those dreams quickly dissappers as he barely survives the first battle, and has to kill a human being in order to live. As the one-year campaing moves to three, four years, the young recruit is a seasoned soldier that has developed respect for the enemy he fights at the same time he forgets those old dreams and focus on the survival of his own and those of his comrades. The war never really ends, the truce comes as Alexander marries the daughter of one of the most powerful chieftains in the region; the chieftain will continue the war in exchange of power and gold while Alexander moves to India, for more land and certain death.

This was gripping. Partway through, I had no idea where it was going, but it did a good job at showing how a soldier is made.

Basically, Matthias is a third son; he signs up into the army like his first two brothers. We watch him learn to kill, and we see him killing / enslaving the Afghan populace. We see his camaraderie with the rest of his unit, and that keeps him there even as his brothers urge him to return. The end was really good - he falls in love with an Afghan woman, has a son, and her family kills her and his son just before he heads home. Devoid of emotion, he signs up for more war.

3/5 stars

Afghanistan has long been the breaking point of many a military campaign. Before aircraft and the mighty sea-going vessels that ruled the seas for the last few hundred years, the country held significant importance as a gateway to both South and East Asia. But Afghanistan, with its rugged landscape and equally rugged denizens, turned back most comers.

This story is set against the backdrop of Alexanders's invasion back in the 3rd century BCE. While it would be interesting to hear of Alexander's frustration first-hand (and we do a little), this is told from the perspective of one of his soldiers and brings to light the trials and the average soldier would have, experiences that Alexander would not have been privy to. It's fascinating and well told, in typical Steven Pressfield fashion, and one could easily equate the tasks facing them to the British, Russian, US and many other military incursions 0ver the last couple of millennia.

This is historical fiction at its finest and recommended to anyone who is interested in why and how wars are won and lost, and the problems the average soldier faces.