real life battles as inspiration for the books

[king of nowhere]

In the final book, in the final battle of elayne's army, gareth bryne surrounds the trolloc in what's basically a rehearsal of the battle of cannae (before a second trolloc army came and the black tower men came to rescue). That was easy to notice.

Now I randomly came across a description of the battle of austerlitz, and I noticed it's very similar to what mat does in the last battle - surrender the high ground, lure the enemy into attacking, then take back the high ground and use it to shell the enemy. Even the name is similar, polov heights compared to rea life pratzen heights. It's clear sanderson has researched some famous battles to have the great generals come across as capable.

 

I wonder, are there other real battles used as inspiration in the books? did jordan do it too?

[DojoToad]

15 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

In the final book, in the final battle of elayne's army, gareth bryne surrounds the trolloc in what's basically a rehearsal of the battle of cannae (before a second trolloc army came and the black tower men came to rescue). That was easy to notice.

Now I randomly came across a description of the battle of austerlitz, and I noticed it's very similar to what mat does in the last battle - surrender the high ground, lure the enemy into attacking, then take back the high ground and use it to shell the enemy. Even the name is similar, polov heights compared to rea life pratzen heights. It's clear sanderson has researched some famous battles to have the great generals come across as capable.

 

I wonder, are there other real battles used as inspiration in the books? did jordan do it too?

Not that Brandon couldn't have done some research, but my guess is that Jordan had the name and the battle at least sketched out in his notes for Brandon to use.  Jordan did the prep...

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

On 5/23/2023 at 2:44 PM, king of nowhere said:

In the final book, in the final battle of elayne's army, gareth bryne surrounds the trolloc in what's basically a rehearsal of the battle of cannae (before a second trolloc army came and the black tower men came to rescue). That was easy to notice.

Now I randomly came across a description of the battle of austerlitz, and I noticed it's very similar to what mat does in the last battle - surrender the high ground, lure the enemy into attacking, then take back the high ground and use it to shell the enemy. Even the name is similar, polov heights compared to rea life pratzen heights. It's clear sanderson has researched some famous battles to have the great generals come across as capable.

 

I wonder, are there other real battles used as inspiration in the books? did jordan do it too?

I always took it for granted that RJ used a vast amount of “real world” inspiration to tell his story and build his world, battles included 

[Scarloc99]

Given how many battles have been fought throughout history, and the fact that general military tactics don’t really change massively, I think that rather then studying specific battles the author (be that BS or RJ) gained a view of the tactics that might be used and applied them. 
 

I also think, for me, Mats “tactics” at the last battle are actually not really all that well described and actually are not that deep and amazingly intricate.