Roman Warfare

Roman Warfare surveys the history of Rome's fighting forces through the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century CE.

Jonathan P. Roth (Author)

9780521537261, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 September 2009

328 pages, 36 b/w illus. 28 colour illus. 5 maps
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.53 kg

Roman Warfare surveys the history of Rome's fighting forces from their inception in the 7th century BCE to the fall of the Western Empire in the 5th century CE. In non-technical, lively language, Jonathan Roth examines the evolution of Roman war over its thousand-year history. He highlights the changing arms and equipment of the soldiers, unit organisation and command structure, and the wars and battles of each era. The military narrative is used as a context for Rome's changing tactics and strategy and to discuss combat techniques, logistics, and other elements of Roman war. Political, social, and economic factors are also considered. Full of detail, up-to-date on current scholarly debates, and richly illustrated with 39 halftones and 27 colour plates, Roman Warfare is intended for students of the ancient world and military history.

1. The wars of early Rome (beginnings to 343 BCE)
2. The conquest of Italy (343 to 264 BCE)
3. The army's greatest challenge: the Punic Wars (264–202 BCE)
4. The army in republican society
5. Rome's army wins an empire (202–133 BCE)
6. Transformation of the army (133–64 BCE)
7. Caesar's wars (62–44 BCE)
8. Death throes of the republic (44 BCE–30 BCE)
9. Augustus' new army
10. Conquests of the imperial army (30 BCE–68 CE)
11. The imperial army as society
12. War and the Roman peace (68–191 CE)
13. Rome struggles for survival (191–285 CE)
14. Rome fights back (285–378 CE)
15. Half an empire falls (378–476 CE).

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]