Protecting the Roman Empire

Protecting the Roman Empire PDF Author: Matthew Symonds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108381936
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The Roman army enjoys an enviable reputation as an instrument of waging war, but as the modern world reminds us, an enduring victory requires far more than simply winning battles. When it came to suppressing counterinsurgencies, or deterring the depredations of bandits, the army frequently deployed small groups of infantry and cavalry based in fortlets. This remarkable installation type has never previously been studied in detail, and shows a new side to the Roman army. Rather than displaying the aggressive uniformity for which the Roman military is famous, individual fortlets were usually bespoke installations tailored to local needs. Examining fortlet use in north-west Europe helps explain the differing designs of the Empire's most famous artificial frontier systems: Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine Wall, and the Upper German and Raetian limites. The archaeological evidence is fully integrated with documentary sources, which disclose the gritty reality of life in a Roman fortlet.

Protecting the Roman Empire

Protecting the Roman Empire PDF Author: Matthew Symonds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108381936
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The Roman army enjoys an enviable reputation as an instrument of waging war, but as the modern world reminds us, an enduring victory requires far more than simply winning battles. When it came to suppressing counterinsurgencies, or deterring the depredations of bandits, the army frequently deployed small groups of infantry and cavalry based in fortlets. This remarkable installation type has never previously been studied in detail, and shows a new side to the Roman army. Rather than displaying the aggressive uniformity for which the Roman military is famous, individual fortlets were usually bespoke installations tailored to local needs. Examining fortlet use in north-west Europe helps explain the differing designs of the Empire's most famous artificial frontier systems: Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine Wall, and the Upper German and Raetian limites. The archaeological evidence is fully integrated with documentary sources, which disclose the gritty reality of life in a Roman fortlet.

Protecting the Roman Empire

Protecting the Roman Empire PDF Author: Matthew Symonds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108421555
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The fortlet, a previously overlooked military installation type, reveals how Rome built, secured, and lost its Empire.

Protecting the Roman Empire

Protecting the Roman Empire PDF Author: Matthew F. A. Symonds
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781108432764
Category : Antiquities
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Introduction -- Waterways -- Highways -- Hadrian's Wall -- The Antonine Wall -- The Upper German and Raetian Limites -- Late highways -- Late waterways -- Imperium by outpost

Byzantine Fortifications

Byzantine Fortifications PDF Author: Nikos D. Kontogiannis
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526710277
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
This wide-ranging study examines the Byzantine Empire’s network of military fortifications from the Aegean to Asia Minor and Africa. The Byzantine empire was one of the most powerful forces in the Mediterranean and Near East for over a thousand years. Strong military organization, anchored by widespread fortifications, was essential for its defense—yet this aspect of its history is often neglected. Historian Nikos Kontogiannis corrects this oversight with this ambitious account of Byzantine fortifications, detailing their construction and development as well as their role in times of war. Byzantine Fortifications combines the results of decades of wide-ranging archaeological work with an account of the armies, weapons, tactics and defensive strategies of the empire throughout its long history. Fortifications built in every region of the empire are covered, from those in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Africa, to those in Asia Minor, the Aegean and the Balkan peninsula.

Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers

Defending Rome: The Masters of the Soldiers PDF Author: Julian Reynolds
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 147716460X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
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
ISBN: 1421419459
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
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.

The History of the Overthrow of the Roman Empire, and the Foundation of the Principal European States

The History of the Overthrow of the Roman Empire, and the Foundation of the Principal European States PDF Author: William Cooke Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Europe
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Book Description


Protection and Empire

Protection and Empire PDF Author: Lauren Benton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108417868
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This book situates protection at the centre of the global history of empires, thus advancing a new perspective on world history.

The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome

The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome PDF Author: Edward J. Watts
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197691951
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome tells the story of 2200 years of the use and misuse of the idea of Roman decline by ambitious politicians, authors, and autocrats as well as the people scapegoated and victimized in the name of Roman renewal. It focuses on the long history of a way of describing change that might seem innocuous, but which has cost countless people their lives, liberty, or property across two millennia.

The Ruin of the Roman Empire

The Ruin of the Roman Empire PDF Author: James J O'Donnell
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847653960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 768

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Book Description
What really marked the end of the Roman Empire? James O'Donnell's magnificent new book takes us back to the sixth century and the last time the Empire could be regarded as a single community. Two figures dominate his narrative - Theodoric the 'barbarian', whose civilized rule in Italy with his philosopher minister Boethius might have been an inspiration, and in Constantinople Justinian, who destroyed the Empire with his rigid passion for orthodoxy and his restless inability to secure his frontiers with peace. The book closes with Pope Gregory the Great, the polished product of ancient Roman schools, presiding over a Rome in ruins.