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ATPM 3.05
May 1997

Review: Battles of the World

by Robert Madill, rmadill@atpm.com

Requirements:
Macintosh with 68040, 25MHz processor or PowerMac
12 MB RAM (16 MB recommended)
2X CD-ROM (4X recommended)
8-bit or higher color monitor (16-bit recommended)
System 7.1 or higher
Sound Manager 3.1 or later

During a chance encounter with a friend in a large department store, he complained that he was unable to find a toy tank for his young son to play with during an evacuation forced upon us by the “Flood of the Century” in Manitoba, Canada. We joked about how political correctness had reached the even kiddies’ toy section. Thus, I felt a twinge of impropriety in reviewing Battles of the World - The Interactive History of War for ATPM. Yet, as Professor Martin van Creveld, the acknowledged military historian and content director of this mulimedia CD-ROM, quite rightly recognizes,

The wars of the past are the guides to our futures. As the saying goes, He who does not study the past is doomed to repeat it. War is the locomotive of History. It pushes History along. You can not really understand History without knowing something about the development of War. In addition, War is a great passionate human drama. There is simply nothing like it.

As a fellow historian, I agree with van Creveld. I was a little disappointed that the CD focused on only ten battles: Kadesh (1275 B.C.), Gaugamela (331 B.C.), Alesia (52 B.C.), Kyushu (1281), Agincourt (1415), Austerlitz (1805), Kaiserschlacht (1918), Stalingrad (1942), Tet Offensive (1968) and the Gulf War (1991). Not only was I unfamiliar with a few of these conflicts, but The Somme and Paschendale, two World War I battles in which my grandfather fought in the trenches, were not featured! I guess you can’t please everyone. Upon reflection, I realized that Professor van Creveld shrewdly chose these battles from widely different times, cultures and places in an attempt to illustrate the whole of military conflict.

The main screen presents the options of entering a DATABASE, INDEX, TIME LINE, THE BATTLES, or taking a TOUR of the features and controls of the CD. The final option, “ASK THE EXPERT,” is where Professor van Creveld discusses his own background and rationale for the CD’s content. One bonus is that you are accompanied through each Battle by an animated Alexander the Great who introduces the salient points of each conflict and offers additional insight to why certain tactics were necessary. The animation of “Quicktime Alexander” is well done and useful. Throughout the entire CD you are treated to appropriate period martial music and background illustrations.

I chose to follow the program through the Battle of Stalingrad (1942) because one of my favourite Macintosh games is Stalingrad^TM by the Avalon Hill Game Company. It is a computerized version of the hex-based combat games I played as a young man and I was interested in seeing the correlations between real history and historical simulations. I was also hoping for some guidance. I keep losing in Stalingrad, no matter which side I choose for the game!

In the main screen, clicking on the Battle “Chessboard” leads you to a screen of ten soldiers, in accurate military regalia, each representing one of the ten Battles. Clicking on the representative of Stalingrad took me to a World Map illustrating the general location of the conflict. A spoken narration set the stage for the general strategic importance of the Battle. After the narration, the program automatically takes you to a “General Battle Field” screen where Alexander the Great greets you with a more specific discourse on the tactical importance of the event. At the base of this screen are three primary “hot spots: “ BACKGROUND, THE BATTLE, and THE AFTERMATH. Activating BACKGROUND offered a very brief textual explanation of the rise of Nazism after World War I, the Breakout of World War II, and an explanation of how Hitler’s actions paralleled those of Napoleon before him. Both were tempted with the “Moscow Move” as a result of being unable to reach Britain.

One returns to the “General Battle Field” screen by clicking on the title “Stalingrad” at the top of the screen. Activating THE BATTLE hot spot takes you to a more detailed geographical map representation of Stalingrad upon which the animation of the battle occurs. Originally, I thought the graphic animations quite primitive. Then I realized the programmers had chosen the best way to represent a complex activity in terms a lay person would immediately grasp. Bravo! to them. In this Battle scenario there are two “Battle Screens.” A ‘micro’ screen centres in on Stalingrad and a ‘macro’ screen pops up to expand upon the moves leading to the conclusion of the Battle.

Micro

Macro

This visually rich CD uses absolutely seamless integrations between map changes and the occasional photographs and quicktime movies which ‘pop up’ to add to the ambiance of the narrated Battle event. The scroll bar at the base of the Battle screen allows you to retrace troop deployments at any time. The third option at the base of “General Battle Field” screen, AFTERMATH, gives a brief dissertation on the immediate and long range implications of the Battle outcome on the War, Society and Civilization.

The “General Battle Field” screen itself is graphically configured as a ‘ghost’ chessboard overlaying the actual geographical site. There are conventional chess pieces placed on the ‘field’; the KING, the KNIGHT the CASTLE, and the PAWN. Activating either of the two KING pieces leads you to a brief history of the psychology and skill of the battle’s leaders. In this battle, they are the Commander for German Field Marshall von Paulus and Russian General Zhukov. The two KNIGHT icons allow you to examine the weapons used by both sides. The German PzKw IV Tank, Radio, Anti-tank Gun, Dive Bomber, German Soldiers and Axis Soldiers, or the Russian T-34 Tank, Rocket, Submachine Gun, Molotov Cocktail, Industry and Russian soldier are each illustrated graphically and accompanied by a spoken narration explaining their importance in the conflict. It is fascinating to be reminded that one of the reasons for the Soviets’ success was that they immediately adopted a war time industry footing whereas German industry catered to a luxury society until it was too late to shift industry output to more immediate concerns.

Soldier

T-34 Tank

The “General Battle Field” screen itself is graphically configured as a ‘ghost’ chessboard overlaying the actual geographical site. There are conventional chess pieces placed on the ‘field’; the KING, the KNIGHT the CASTLE, and the PAWN. Activating either of the two KING pieces leads you to a brief history of the psychology and skill of the battle’s leaders. In this battle, they are the Commander for German Field Marshall von Paulus and Russian General Zhukov. The two KNIGHT icons allow you to examine the weapons used by both sides. The German PzKw IV Tank, Radio, Anti-tank Gun, Dive Bomber, German Soldiers and Axis Soldiers, or the Russian T-34 Tank, Rocket, Submachine Gun, Molotov Cocktail, Industry and Russian soldier are each illustrated graphically and accompanied by a spoken narration explaining their importance in the conflict. It is fascinating to be reminded that one of the reasons for the Soviets’ success was that they immediately adopted a war time industry footing whereas German industry catered to a luxury society until it was too late to shift industry output to more immediate concerns.

The two CASTLE icons provide insight into the tactics of each opposing side. Once again, the graphic quality is primitive yet effective in terms of explaining the major defensive and offensive tactics employed. Finally, the single PAWN icon generates a textual account of the conflict’s effect...from the perspective of an anonymous participant or a famous person.

The “checkerboard” in the lower left hand corner returns you to the main screen or other facets of the CD. Activate the DATABASE, and you discover the almost 3,000 articles which cover almost all the wars and empires you can think of. The DATABASE, complemented by an INDEX, is cross-referenced and easily searchable. I found The Somme and Paschendale by using the FIND keyword option. As one would expected from a MACROMEDIA production, useful hyperlinks abound in the DATABASE and elsewhere. The hyperlinks to maps in the initial BACKGROUND arena is particularly useful.

The TIME LINE is conventional in its visual presentation and gives you excellent links to articles and visuals in the DATABASE. Within the DATABASE there is an impressive collection of visuals, including paintings and etchings of historic battles.

One minor complaint is that the visuals in the DATABASE are not adequately referenced on the screen where one views the visual. You have to quit the program to get this information. This is simply unacceptable. Another minor flaw is its bibliography. “Suggested Reading” is limited to 19 books. I would have like to have seen an extensive and separate bibliography for each battle. This would significantly enhance the CD’s research value for students of military history.

It is surprising how much quality information can be put on a single CD. Not that I am anywhere near abandoning real books as my primary source of information, mind you. However, this production is about as good a surrogate as you can purchase. My friend never found the toy tank for his son, although he did manage to rent the “Toy Story” video with the green army men. But we all know that “Tim Taylor” is not the best consultant for political correctness.

Copyright ©1997 Robert Madill, rmadill@atpm.com. Mr. Madill is a Professor of Art and Architectural History on the faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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