Secrets of Ancient Empires: The First Armies DVD

Limited range, no real secrets, despite the title.

Although it purports to tell "secrets" of the first armies, most of the world is left out of Secrets of Ancient Empires: The First Armies and there really are no secrets told in this documentary DVD. The wars featured are:

A) The Trojan War
B) The Punic Wars
C) The Persian Wars

Yeah - that's right, they're out of timeline order and only Greece, Rome, Carthage and Persia are represented. There are no secrets revealed in this DVD (don't tell anyone but the Greeks are using a fake horse to sneak into Troy!) and there is no real study into how these large armies evolved, the economic mobilization involved or anything of the sort, despite the claims of the text on the back of the DVD that it "tells the powerful story of the origins of organized warfare" and "how sophisticated tactics were introduced."

I'm also bothered by the fact that most of the world is not included. No Egyptian, Chinese or Indian armies even though all of these would have preceded the Greeks and the Romans.

I give this DVD a two star rating because it promises all sorts of new insights when in reality, it is only slightly more informative than the average high school world history textbook. This movie should have been given a more appropriate title such as "Wars of the Greeks and Romans." There are better DVDs out there about the Greeks and the Romans.

I rate this DVD 2 stars out of 5.

This DVD can be found on Amazon.com here: Secrets of Ancient Empires: The First Armies.

Reviewed on September 27, 2008.