The Afghan Campaign

Alexander the Great's campaign in the Afghan kingdoms began in the summer of 330bc. It would last for three brutal years and prove the most difficult he and his army ever fought. Thrilling and urgently-told, "The Afghan Campaign" tells the story of this bloody and ruthless conflict from the perspective of a Macedonian recruit. The youngest of three brothers and eager to prove himself, Matthias has volunteered to join the leader he worships on his ambitious expedition into the unknown, unconquered country we now call Afghanistan. But as he joins the frontline, Matthias begins to realise that the nature of warfare for which he trained has changed irrevocably. The Macedonians face a new kind of enemy - and must learn to fight a new kind of war. Experiencing fear, euphoria, horror and shame, Matthias and his comrades undergo a rite of passage as they, soldiers of a Western force whose code was secular and humanist, struggle to subjugate a fiercely proud Eastern warrior nation of deeply-held beliefs and a passionate willingness to die for their cause. Simply to survive, Alexander's men must shake off the trappings of 'civilization' as they know it and adopt the same unorthodox and barbaric tactics as their foe - but at what cost to their souls and their sanity? Set against the imposing, alien implacability of the Afghan landscape, this powerfully affecting, edge-of-your-seat novel not only demonstrates Steven Pressfield's profound understanding of the hopes and fears of men in battle but also has some important things to say about the nature of wars past...and present.