Download or read book Roman Legionary 109 58 BC written by Ross Cowan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Roman centurion, holding the legionaries steady before the barbarian horde and then leading them forward to victory, was the heroic exemplar of the Roman world. This was thanks to the Marian reforms, which saw the centurion, although inferior in military rank and social class, superseding the tribune as the legion's most important officer. This period of reform in the Roman Army is often overlooked, but the invincible armies that Julius Caesar led into Gaul were the refined products of 50 years of military reforms. Using specially commissioned artwork and detailed battle reports, this new study examines the Roman legionary soldier at this crucial time in the history of the Roman Republic from its domination by Marius and Sulla to the beginning of the rise of Julius Caesar.
Download or read book Roman Legionary AD 69 161 written by Ross Cowan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-04-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between AD 69 and 161 the composition of the Roman legions was transformed. Italians were almost entirely replaced by provincial recruits, men for whom Latin was at best a second language, and yet the 'Roman-ness' of these Germans, Pannonians, Spaniards, Africans and Syrians, fostered in isolated fortresses on the frontiers, was incredibly strong. They were highly competitive, jealous of their honour, and driven by the need to maintain and enhance their reputations for virtus, that is manly courage and excellence. The warfare of the period, from the huge legion versus legion confrontations in the Civil War of AD 69, through the campaigns of conquest in Germany, Dacia and Britain, to the defence of the frontiers of Africa and Cappadocia and the savage quelling of internal revolts, gave ample opportunity for virtus-enhancing activity. The classic battle formation that had baffled Pyrrhus and conquered Hannibal was revived. Heroic centurions continued to lead from the front, and common legionaries vied with them in displays of valour. The legions of the era may have been provincial but they were definitely Roman in organisation and ethos.
Download or read book Roman Legionary AD 284 337 written by Ross Cowan and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-21 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diocletian and Constantine were the greatest of the Late Roman emperors, and their era marks the climax of the legionary system. Under Constantine's successors the legions were reduced in size and increasingly sidelined in favour of new units of elite auxilia, but between AD 284 and 337 the legions reigned supreme. The legionaries defeated all-comers and spearheaded a stunning Roman revival that humbled the Persian Empire and reduced the mighty Goths and Sarmatians to the status of vassals. This title details the equipment, background, training and combat experience of the men from all parts of the empire who made up the backbone of Rome's legions in this pivotal period.
Download or read book Roman Centurions 31 BC AD 500 written by Raffaele D’Amato and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-02-20 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the years between 31 BC and AD 500 the Romans carved out a mighty empire stretching from Britain to the deserts of North Africa. The men who spearheaded this expansion were the centurions, the tough, professional warriors who led from the front, exerted savage discipline and provided a role model for the legionaries under their command. This book, the second volume of a two-part study, reveals the appearance, weaponry, role and impact of these legendary soldiers during the five centuries that saw the Roman Empire reach its greatest geographical extent under Trajan and Hadrian, only to experience a long decline in the West in the face of sustained pressure from its 'barbarian' neighbours. Featuring spectacular full-colour artwork, written by an authority on the army of the Caesars and informed by a wide range of sculptural, written and pictorial evidence from right across the Roman world, this book overturns established wisdom and sheds new light on Rome's most famous soldiers during the best-known era in its history.
Download or read book Imperial Roman Legionary AD 161 284 written by Ross Cowan and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2003-12-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between AD 161 and 244 the Roman legions were involved in wars and battles on a scale not seen since the late Republic. Legions were destroyed in battle, disbanded for mutiny and rebellion and formed to wage wars of conquest and defence. This volume explores the experience of the imperial legionary, concentrating on Legio II Parthica. Raised by the emperor Septimus Severus in AD 193/4, it was based at Albanum near Rome and as the emperor's personal legion, became one of the most important units in the empire.
Download or read book Early Roman Warrior 753 321 BC written by Nic Fields and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-20 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prototypical 'Roman Legionnaire' often seen on television and in movies is actually the product of nearly a millennium of military development. Far back in the Bronze Age, before the city of Rome existed, a loose collection of independent hamlets eventually formed into a village. From this base, the earliest Roman warriors launched cattle raids and ambushes against their enemies. At some point during this time, the Romans began a period of expansion, conquering land and absorbing peoples. Soon, they had adopted classical Greek fighting methods with militia forming in phalanxes. This book covers the evolution of the earliest Roman warriors and their development into an army that would eventually conquer the known world.
Download or read book Roman Legionary 58 BC AD 69 written by Ross Cowan and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2003-06-20 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period 31 BC-AD 43 saw the greatest expansion of the Roman Empire. In 31 BC Octavian defeated Antony at the battle of Actium and remodelled the semi-professional Roman army into a permanent force of 28 legions. Octavian became the first emperor (Augustus) and under his leadership the legions conquered northern Spain, all Europe south of the Danube line and Germany west of the Elbe. The legionaries exemplified the heroic culture of the Roman world and this title takes a behind-the-scenes look at their lives, training, weaponry and tactics, including the bloody massacre of the Teutoberg forest.
Download or read book Roman Battle Tactics 109BC AD313 written by Ross Cowan and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2007-07-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book clearly explains and illustrates the mechanics of how Roman commanders - at every level - drew up and committed their different types of troops for open-field battles. It includes the alternative formations used to handle different tactical problems and different types of terrain; the possibilities of ordering and controlling different deployments once battle was joined; and how all this was based on the particular strengths of the Roman soldier. Covering the period of "classic" legionary warfare from the late Republic to the late Western Empire, Ross Cowan uses case studies of particular battles to provide a manual on how and why the Romans almost always won, against enemies with basic equality in weapon types - giving practical reasons why the Roman Army was the Western World's outstanding military machine for 400 years.
Download or read book Roman Guardsman 62 BC AD 324 written by Ross Cowan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-01-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the civil wars of the Late Republic to Constantine's bloody reunification of the Empire, elite corps of guardsmen were at the heart of every Roman army. Whether as bodyguards or as shock troops in battle, the fighting skills of praetorians, speculatores, singulares and protectores determined the course of Roman history. Modern scholars tend to present the praetorians as pampered, disloyal and battle-shy, but the Romans knew them as valiant warriors, men who strove to live up to their honorific title pia vindex – loyal and avenging. Closely associated with the Republican praetorian cohorts, and gradually assimilated into the Imperial Praetorian Guard, were the speculatores. A cohort was established by Marc Antony in the 30s BC for the purposes of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, but soon the speculatores were acting as close bodyguards a role they maintained until the end of the first century AD. This title will detail the changing nature of these units, their organization and operational successes and failures from their origins in the late Republic through to their unsuccessful struggle against Constantine the Great.
Download or read book Armies of Julius Caesar 58 44 BC written by Raffaele D’Amato and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gaius Julius Caesar remains the most famous Roman general of all time. Although he never bore the title, historians since Suetonius have judged him to be, in practice, the very first 'emperor' – after all, no other name in history has been synonymous with a title of imperial rule. Caesar was a towering personality who, for better or worse, changed the history of Rome forever. His unscrupulous ambition was matched only by his genius as a commander and his conquest of Gaul brought Rome its first great territorial expansion outside the Mediterranean world. His charismatic leadership bounded his soldiers to him not only for expeditions 'beyond the edge of the world' – to Britain – but in the subsequent civil war that raised him to ultimate power. What is seldom appreciated, however is that the army he led was as varied and cosmopolitan as those of later centuries, and it is only recently that a wider study of a whole range of evidence has allowed a more precise picture of it to emerge. Drawing on a wide range of new research, the authors examine the armies of Julius Caesar in detail, creating a detailed picture of how they lived and fought.
Download or read book Roman Battle Tactics 390 110 BC written by Nic Fields and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2010-02-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 390 BC, the organization of the Roman army was in need of change. Fighting in the Greek-style with a heavy infantry was proving increasingly outdated and inflexible, resulting in the Roman's defeat at the hands of the Gauls at the battle of Allia. Following on from this catastrophe and in the next fifty years of warfare against Gallic and Italian tribes, a military revolution was born: the legion. This was a new unit of organization made up of three flexible lines of maniples consisting of troops of both heavy and light infantry. However, at the end of the 3rd century BC, Rome's prestige was shattered once more by the genius of Hannibal of Carthage, causing Roman battle tactics to be revised again. The legendary general Scipio Africanus achieved this, finally destroying the Carthaginian army at the climactic victory of Zama. A wholly new kind of soldier had been invented, and the whole Mediterranean world was now at Rome's feet. This book reveals these two defining moments in Roman military history and the revolution in battle tactics that was the result, examining how the Roman army eventually became all-conquering and all-powerful.
Download or read book Siege Warfare in the Roman World written by Duncan B Campbell and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2005-05-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osprey's study of various sieges in Rome, from 146 BC to 378 AD. Sieges were often pivotal in Rome's wars, including its conflicts with the Macedonians and Carthaginians in the 2nd century BC; the civil wars of the Republic; and the late Roman wars against the Sassanid Persians, who, alone amongst Rome's adversaries, were equally skilled in siegecraft. This book discusses the siege techniques employed by Roman armies and their opponents throughout the Republic and Empire. It shows that although the 1st century AD has long been considered the golden age of siegecraft, followed by a decline, new and effective siege techniques were in fact used in the following centuries.
Download or read book Roman Legionary Vs Gallic Warrior written by David Campbell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Caesar's war machine clashes with the fearsome tribes of Gaul, forever changing the character of the region and laying the groundwork for the rise of the Roman Empire. In the manner of many Roman generals, Caesar would write his domestic political ambitions in the blood and treasure of foreign lands. His governorship of Cisalpine Gaul gave him the opportunity to demonstrate the greatness of his character to the people of Rome through the subjugation of those outside Rome's borders. The fact that the main account of the subsequent wars in Gaul was written by Caesar himself – by far the most detailed history of the subject, with new reports issued annually for the eager audience at home –is no accident. The Roman Army of the late Republic had long been in the process of structural and change, moving towards the all-volunteer permanent standing force that would for centuries be the bulwark of the coming Empire. Well-armed and armored, this professional army was trained to operate within self-supporting legions, with auxiliaries employed in roles the legions lacked such as light troops or cavalry. The Roman legions were in many ways a modern force, with formations designed around tactical goals and held together by discipline, training and common purpose. The armies fielded by the tribes of Gaul were for the most part lightly armed and armored, with fine cavalry and a well-deserved reputation for ferocity. As might be expected from a region made up of different tribes with a range of needs and interests, there was no consensus on how to make war, though when large armies were gathered it was usually with the express purpose of bringing the enemy to heel in a pitched battle. For most Gauls – and certainly the military elites of the tribes – battle was an opportunity to prove their personal courage and skill, raising their status in the eyes of friends and foes alike. Fully illustrated, this study investigates the Roman and Gallic forces pitched into combat in three battles: Bibracte (58 BC), Sabis (57 BC) and Gergovia/Alesia (52 BC). Although charismatic Gallic leaders did rise up – notably Dumnorix of the Aedui and later Vercingetorix of the Arverni – and proved to be men capable of bringing together forces that had the prospect of checking Caesar's ambitions in the bloodiest of ways, it would not be enough. For Caesar his war against the Gauls provided him with enormous power and the springboard he needed to make Rome his own, though his many domestic enemies would ensure that he did not long enjoy his success.
Download or read book Roman Legionaries written by Simon Elliott and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-08-19 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise and entertaining history of the Roman legionary—from the age of Augustus through the heyday of the Roman Empire. The might of Rome rested on the back of its legions; the superbly trained and equipped fighting force with which the imperial Roman army conquered, subdued and ruled an empire for centuries. The legionary soldier served for 20 years, was rigorously trained, highly equipped, and motivated by pay, bonuses and a strong sense of identity and camaraderie. Legionaries wore full body-armor and carried a shield, as well as two javelins, a sword, and a dagger. In battle they hurled their javelins and then immediately drew their swords and charged to close combat with the enemy. They were the finest heavy infantrymen of antiquity, and a massed legionary charge was a fearsome sight. In The Roman Legionaries, Simon Elliott, author of Julius Caesar: Rome’s Greatest Warlord, provides an introduction to these elite soldiers, including their training, tactics, weapons, the men themselves, life on and off the battlefield, as well as significant triumphs and disasters in the great battles of the era.
Download or read book Roman Auxiliary Cavalryman written by Nic Fields and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawn from a wide range of warlike peoples throughout the provinces, especially on the fringes of the empire, auxiliaries were generally not citizens of the Roman empire. The cavalry of the auxilia provided a powerful fighting arm; organized, disciplined and well trained, it was adept at performing both skirmish and shock action. This book details the many roles of the Roman auxiliary cavalryman, including reconnaissance, communication and policing duties, as well as in battle. Motivation for enlisting, conditions of service and experience of battle are all explored, and colour illustrations support the text.
Download or read book Roman Legionary AD 284 337 written by Ross Cowan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-20 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diocletian and Constantine were the greatest of the Late Roman emperors, and their era marks the climax of the legionary system. Under Constantine's successors the legions were reduced in size and increasingly sidelined in favour of new units of elite auxilia, but between AD 284 and 337 the legions reigned supreme. The legionaries defeated all-comers and spearheaded a stunning Roman revival that humbled the Persian Empire and reduced the mighty Goths and Sarmatians to the status of vassals. This title details the equipment, background, training and combat experience of the men from all parts of the empire who made up the backbone of Rome's legions in this pivotal period.
Download or read book Roman Army Units in the Western Provinces 1 written by Raffaele D’Amato and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-06-16 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At its height the Roman Empire stretched across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, maintained by an army of modest size but great diversity. In popular culture these soldiers are often portrayed in a generic fashion, but continuing research indicates significant variations in Roman armour and equipment not only between different legions and the provincially-raised auxiliary cohorts that made up half of the army, but also between different regions within the empire. With reference to the latest archaeological and documentary evidence Dr D'Amato investigates how Roman Army units in the Western provinces were equipped, exploring the local influences and traditions that caused the variations in attire.
