Soner Doğan

Pollack’s Armies of Sand provides important insights about the wars and Arab armies in the Middle East since 1945. Hence, it is a must-read for those who want to learn about the political history of the Middle East. In the book, Pollack analyses the state of Arab armies, exposing their shortcomings and failures. In this endeavor, he draws comparisons between nations like Vietnam and North Korea, which adopted similar Soviet doctrines. However, geographical features of these countries (such as mountains and rivers) which should be taken into account for strategy matters are ignored.