The History and Conquests of Ancient Rome

by Nigel Rodgers

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1844773310
• ISBN13: 9781844773312
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Hermes House
• Weight: 3.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Very readable, interesting, and informatitve

Considering this book was published by a no-name publisher (at least to me) and therefore probably destined for obscurity (I found the book for five bucks on the bargain table at Borders) this is an extremely well written and very interesting history on ancient Rome. Focusing on Rome's military strategy and tactics and the famous Roman legions, it traces Rome's rise and fall from its earliest victories against the Etruscans to the battles in Rome's declining years against the invading Visigoths and Ostrogoths in the 5th century A.D. The careers of Rome's political and military leaders were often inextricably linked despite the attempts by later emperors to limit the power of its officers and of the Praetorian Guard and generals, and this comes out again and again in the text. Successful generals often became emperor (as in the case of Octavius or Augustus, Caesar, and Marcus Aurelius), and the Roman legions were often more loyal to their generals than to Rome itself, which led to frequent political as well as physical conflicts, and this was a problem that Rome never truly solved. However Rome's political fortunes and social polity and progress waxed and waned over the centuries, its well trained, disciplined, aggressive, and ultimately stolid and dependably stalwart and patriotic legionnaires were ultimately the source of Rome's success and power throughout 800 years of its empire. The author points out several times that the Roman legionnaire's discipline and determination to succeed allowed them to triumph many times over otherwise superior forces or armies that were better equipped. The Romans often preferred simplicity to complexity in tactics and this seemed to work well for them. In contrast to the elaborate Greek siege engines of war, the Romans simply used the battering ram. Several times when a general realized his own army was at a strength and material disavantage relative to another city's army, he simply surrounded the city and starved them out. When another army was sent to lend assistance, the Romans frustrated them by using "bi-convallation," another walling tactic by putting up a double fortification wall to block their progress, which also worked. All this made for interesting reading. The Roman development of the three-tiered column and advance as opposed to the earlier Macedonian phalanx is also discussed in detail. The author also includes many fascinating bits of information about ancient battle tactics. For example, he says that ancient cavalry really weren't that effective because until the stirrup was invented after 600 A.D., a charging horseman could not use a lance to attack with because the impact would unseat him from his horse. Hence, this strategy didn't find wide use until after 600 A.D., although it seems to me that a horse mounted swordsman would be the answer to this problem, as the ancient Arabs did and also the Mongols in their conquests. The author's style is very readable and never gets boring or to