Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers

Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers PDF

Author: Julian Reynolds

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2011-06-25

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 147716460X

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For its last eighty years, the Western Roman Empire was ruled by emperors who were unable to provide the leadership demanded by the crisis the Empire faced throughout this period. Power was exercised instead by the commanders of the Western armies, the magisteri militum or Masters of the Soldiers, four of whom stood out – Stilicho, Constantius, Aetius and Ricimer. Challenged by barbarian invasions, constantly diminishing resources, and indifference and sometimes hostility from the imperial court, the Senate and the Roman people, these men prolonged the existence of the Empire in the West beyond what would otherwise have been its natural span. This book tells the story of the collapse of the Western Empire, as seen through the lives of these individuals, a collapse that ended more than political and military structures, that encompassed the end of an ancient pagan culture and the inception of the age of Christianity.

The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire

The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire PDF

Author: Edward Luttwak

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2016-05-18

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1421419459

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A newly updated edition of this classic, hugely influential account of how the Romans defended their vast empire. At the height of its power, the Roman Empire encompassed the entire Mediterranean basin, extending much beyond it from Britain to Mesopotamia, from the Rhine to the Black Sea. Rome prospered for centuries while successfully resisting attack, fending off everything from overnight robbery raids to full-scale invasion attempts by entire nations on the move. How were troops able to defend the Empire’s vast territories from constant attacks? And how did they do so at such moderate cost that their treasury could pay for an immensity of highways, aqueducts, amphitheaters, city baths, and magnificent temples? In The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, seasoned defense analyst Edward N. Luttwak reveals how the Romans were able to combine military strength, diplomacy, and fortifications to effectively respond to changing threats. Rome’s secret was not ceaseless fighting, but comprehensive strategies that unified force, diplomacy, and an immense infrastructure of roads, forts, walls, and barriers. Initially relying on client states to buffer attacks, Rome moved to a permanent frontier defense around 117 CE. Finally, as barbarians began to penetrate the empire, Rome filed large armies in a strategy of “defense-in-depth,” allowing invaders to pierce Rome’s borders. This updated edition has been extensively revised to incorporate recent scholarship and archeological findings. A new preface explores Roman imperial statecraft. This illuminating book remains essential to both ancient historians and students of modern strategy.

Policing the Roman Empire

Policing the Roman Empire PDF

Author: Christopher J. Fuhrmann

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2012-01-12

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 0199737843

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Drawing on a wide variety of source material from art archaeology, administrative documents, Egyptian papyri, laws Jewish and Christian religious texts and ancient narratives this book provides a comprehensive overview of Roman imperial policing practices.

1453 a Tale of Two Battles

1453 a Tale of Two Battles PDF

Author: Julian Reynolds

Publisher:

Published: 2021-10-13

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 9781664106819

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This book is the author's second published by Xlibris, the first being Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers, published in 2011. It explores the consequences of two battles fought in 1453 - the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in May and the French victory over the English two months later at Castillon in the last battle of the Hundred Years War. The book considers the impact of these events on a diverse range of topics, including military outcomes, strategic consequences, economic developments, and cultural and religious implications. It concludes by assessing the significance of these two battles in influencing the transition of Europe from the medieval to the modern age.

The Military Institutions of the Romans

The Military Institutions of the Romans PDF

Author: Flavius Vegetius Renatus

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2017-01-27

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13: 1365714292

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The Military Institutions of the Romans (De Re Militari - "Concerning Military Matters") is a treatise by the late Latin writer Flavius Renatus about Roman warfare and military principles as a presentation of methods and practices in use during the height of Rome's power. Renatus emphasized things such as training of soldiers as a disciplined force, orderly strategy, maintenance of supply lines and logistics, quality leadership and use of tactics and even deceit to ensure advantage over the opposition.

The Military Institutions of the Romans

The Military Institutions of the Romans PDF

Author: Vegetius

Publisher: Tales End Press

Published: 2012-08-10

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 1623580439

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Also known as “De Re Militari” (On Military Matters), this is the only handbook of Roman warfare to survive to modern times. Written when the power of the Roman empire was already waning, it was intended to educate a new emperor on the capabilities of the Roman legions. Vegetius touches on all military matters, including the selection and training of recruits, the importance of logistics and supply, how to develop leadership qualities, the maintenance of army discipline, the use of arms and armor, and various battlefield tactics. It is also the source of many military and political maxims still used to this day, including “He who aspires to peace should prepare for war,” and “Few men are born brave; many become so through training and force of discipline.” Copied and recopied countless times, it was required military reading until the advent of gunpowder, and has been carried into battle by kings and generals.

God's Crucible

God's Crucible PDF

Author: David Levering Lewis

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 9780393064728

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In this panoramic history of Islamic culture in early Europe, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian reexamines the fall of the Persian and Roman empires, followed by the rise of the prophet Muhammad and the creation of Muslim Spain. color illustrations.

Storming The Heavens

Storming The Heavens PDF

Author: Antonio Santosuosso

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-03-09

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0429976739

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In the closing years of the second century B.C., the ancient world watched as the Roman armies maintained clear superiority over all they surveyed. But, social turmoil prevailed at the heart of her territories, led by an increasing number of dispossessed farmers, too little manpower for the army, and an inevitable conflict with the allies who had fought side by side with the Romans to establish Roman dominion. Storming the Heavens looks at this dramatic history from a variety of angles. What changed most radically, Santosuosso argues, was the behavior of soldiers in the Roman armies. The troops became the enemies within, their pillage and slaughter of fellow citizens indiscriminate, their loyalty not to the Republic but to their leaders, as long as they were ample providers of booty. By opening the military ranks to all, the new army abandoned its role as depository of the values of the upper classes and the propertied. Instead, it became an institution of the poor and drain on the power of the Empire. Santosuosso also investigates other topics, such as the monopoly of military power in the hands of a few, the connection between the armed forces and the cherished values of the state, the manipulation of the lower classes so that they would accept the view of life, control, and power dictated by the oligarchy, and the subjugation and dehumanization of subject peoples, whether they be Gauls, Britons, Germans, Africans, or even the Romans themselves.

Gladius

Gladius PDF

Author: Guy de La Bédoyère

Publisher: Abacus

Published: 2021-11-04

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 9780349143910

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The Military Institutions of the Romans

The Military Institutions of the Romans PDF

Author: Vegetius

Publisher: Martino Fine Books

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 9781614270553

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2011 Reprint of 1940 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Originally published in "Roots of Strategy," by the Military Service Publishing Company, 1940. The only Latin art of war to survive, Vegetius' treatise was for long an essential part of the medieval prince's military education. The core of his proposals, the maintenance of a highly-trained professional standing army and navy, was revolutionary for medieval Europe, while his theory of deterrence through strength remains the foundation of modern Western defense policy. The work was written just before the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, at a time when economic weakness and political disintegration threatened to undermine the strategic defensive structure that had underpinned the Roman State for so long. The main thrust of his reforms was to confront the problems of the fragmentation of the army, the barbarization of its personnel, the loss of professional skills, and the substitution of mercenaries for standing forces. The accent of the work is on the practicalities of recruiting and training new model armies (and navies) starting from scratch, and on the strategies appropriate to their use against the barbarian invaders of the period.