This book examines how the military experience of three religious
founders shaped their spiritual legacy.
It is one of the more startling facts of military history that the
founders of three of the four "great religions" - Judaism, Buddhism, and
Islam - were also accomplished field generals with extensive experience
in commanding men in battle. One of these, Muhammad, fought eight
battles and was wounded twice, once almost fatally. Another, Siddhartha
Gautama (later to become the Buddha), witnessed so much battlefield
carnage that he suffered a psychological collapse. Moses had become so
much a "god-intoxicated" personality that it is a reasonable suspicion
that he, like the Buddha, was murdered.
Indeed, had the experiences of these men in war not been so successful,
it is quite possible that their achievements as religious leaders would
never have occurred. For all three, war and religion were so closely
intertwined in their personalities that it is difficult to discern where
the influence of one ended and the other began.
This book attempts to explore the military lives of Moses, the Buddha,
and Muhammad, and the role their war experiences played in their
religious lives.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish
a broad range of books for listeners interested in history - books about
World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK
assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American
Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old
West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New
York Times best seller or a national best seller, we are committed to
books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose
work might not otherwise find a home.
