In words and deeds : battle speeches in history / Richard F. Miller.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 397-406) and index.

1. The History in Battle Speeches -- 2. The Presentation and the Recruiting Speech -- 3. Instructional Speech -- 4. Pre-Invasion Speeches -- 5. Pre-Battle Speeches -- 6. Midst-of-Battle Speeches: The Word and the Deed -- 7. The Post-Battle Speech: Telling a Story -- 8. Arrivals and Departures: Assuming Command, Saying Farewell, Surrender, and Final Victory.

"Richard F. Miller offers the first systemic classification of battle speeches while exploring how their contents have changed over time. Speeches are classified based on their chronological relation to the battle or tactical circumstance the speaker seeks to address. In many situations, deeds accompany words in a continuum of action that renders both action and words inseparable. Thus, Miller often analyzes both components in a battle sequence." "In Words and Deeds relies chiefly on primary texts written either by soldier-participants, or, in the case of the Hebrew Bible and certain Greco-Roman accounts, the most important surviving texts of the ancient wars. For modern European and American military history, the sources are almost exclusively first-hand accounts contained in soldiers' diaries, letters, after-action reports, and memoirs. Secondary sources are used to extract first-hand accounts of words and deeds or to support conclusions about how such speeches have evolved."--BOOK JACKET.