Loot : The Spoils of War

Ten hoards of treasure that changed hands or outright disappeared during wartime. Regardless of the reason for a war, it's an expensive business, and armies and nations tend to have to collect funding on campaign. This will follow the stories of ten such cash-grabs in wartime periods from ancient times to the Gulf Wars.

War is an expensive business, regardless of its cause. It can also be lucrative. Whether by intent or as a result of the way the war progresses, armies and nations have often set out to recoup or collect funding for their campaign in the field and in target areas. David McIntee looks at some famous examples of wartime treasure and loot being taken, used, and sometimes left hidden, by soldiers, generals, kings, and nations in ten examples of cash-grabbing conflicts from ancient times until the present day.Whether it be the class struggle of the English Civil War, the Romans'' need to pay the troops of their expanding empire, the bank-emptying of the Nazis, or the original nineteenth century war on drugs, money has always been a major player in war, and this book reveals the extraordinary truth behind some of history’s most astonishing stories.