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• ISBN13: 9780500051245
• Condition: New
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From the Editors

The Roman army was one of the most successful fighting forces in history. Its highly advanced organization and tactics were unequaled until the modern era, and monuments to its perseverance and engineering skill are still visible today throughout Europe and the Mediterranean world. <P>This book is the first to examine in detail not just the early imperial army, but also the citizens' militia of the republic and the army of the later empire. Every aspect of the Roman army, from the daily lives of individual soldiers to the outcome of major campaigns, is explored: <P><BR>• <B>The Republican Army</B> considers the earliest armies, the creation of the Roman navy, and the militia army that conquered the Mediterranean. <BR>• <B>The Professional Army</B> describes reforms under Marius and his successors and the creation of the new legionary structure. <BR>• <B>The Life of a Roman Soldier</B> looks in detail at all aspects, from recruitment and daily routine to equipment and off-duty life. <BR>• <B>The Army at War</B> reveals how the army operated, from grand tactics to hand-to-hand combat and siege warfare. <BR>• <B>The Army of Late Antiquity</B> examines the reorganization after the defeats of the third century and the rise in the use of cavalry. <BR><BR> Discussions of key Roman battles and brief biographies of the great commanders bring the army's campaigns and personalities to life, while hundreds of photographs, diagrams, and specially commissioned battle plans illustrate the many aspects of the Roman army over several centuries. 245 illustrations, 107 in color.
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Customer Response

Excellent, well written and researched
Adrian Goldsworthy has done it again - writing an excellent short source for the history of the Roman army. This book covers all aspects from the Republican militia through the Principate professional army to the Late Roman Army.

To me, the best chapter reviewed the experiences of how the Roman soldier lived: his living quarters, food, religion, equipment, etc. There are a lot of interesting tidbits of information in this and other sections - for example, the Roman legionnaire carried most of their equipment on their backs (e.g. "Marius mules"). Also, there were small frontier forts all across Germany (a map is provided to share where they thought these were located).

This is the best single source of the Roman Army. In the future, I intend to pick this up from time to time and study sections.

If you are a student of the Roman Army, this book is for you.

Very Informative.
As a reader of history, I must say that I enjoyed this subject very much. I am just now getting into this era and reading all bio's that I can find on the various Ceasars, but I read this one first to get an ideal of how the army was organized and their make up and I was not disappointed. Adrian Goldsworthy is becoming by far my favorite author for historical events. I have read several of his works and he has done an outstanding job in this edition. It helped me to understand how the Roman Army operated and helped me to understand a lot about them. I would recommend this book to anyone who like me is just starting to read about this period of history, you will not be disappointed.

Very Accurate Book good reference material
This was a good book full of information as I used it for reference material for a college term paper.

Moderate introduction
This book is really just a compilation of several smaller works, but on a whole it's not a great primer on the Roman Army. Greater detail can be found in various older works. A comprehensive overview has yet to be written.

Comparatively slender volume, but packed with useful information
The author is an expert in Roman military matters with several previous works to his credit, and even though he's an academic, his style is exceptionally readable without being oversimplified or talking down to the reader. He begins with the origins of the citizen army under the early Republic, made up of soldiers who volunteered as a matter of patriotism. This worked fine for several centuries, when Rome's sphere of influence was still relatively small and campaigns were limited in time. As conquests expanded, though, and continuous occupation became necessary, a full-time professional army became necessary, made up of career soldiers receiving pay. The ethnic make-up of the army also shifted, with a large percentage of non-Italians being accepted -- though they were still citizens, as the law required -- and with a much greater proportion of non-citizen auxiliaries added to the TO. Other sections of the book cover the many aspects of a soldier's life, both on garrison duty (which might be most of the time) and at war. Great attention is given to weapons and equipment, and the author is careful to note the many competing theories based on scarce evidence. The nearly 250 illustrations even include photos of modern reenactors, whose experiments and field trials have answered many scholarly questions. A lovely book, well written and edited, and very useful as a bridge between casual interest and academic study.

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