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For a five-hundred-year period beginning in 100 b.c. With Marius’s and Sulla’s defeat of the massive tribal invasions of the Mediterranean world by the Teutons and the Cimbri, the Romans ruled the northern frontier of their world, an empire that stretched across europe from the mouth of the Rhine to that of the Danube. On […]

Considerable debate then took place among the Roman commanders and the high-ranking courtiers who surrounded the emperor. The debate appears to have centered on whether the army of the Eastern Roman Empire should remain on the defensive or march out and attack the Goths without waiting for Gratian and the army of the Western Empire […]

In the war’s first years Sardinia had a small role to play. Its peoples had not taken kindly to Roman rule since 237 BCE. Once Roman forces went over in 235, several years of fighting and a good few consular triumphs were needed before peace more or less reigned. Even at the time, some Romans […]

The heavy infantry contest which we understand best is the asymmetric duel between legion and phalanx, because here the battle accounts are supplemented by Polybius’ detailed tactical analysis (18.28–32). The first stage was for the leading pikes to thud into the foremost Roman shields, and for the Greeks to use their superior depth to start […]

Praetorian Guard at the First Battle of Bedriacum or Cremona, 69 AD Map of the Roman Empire during 69AD, the Year of the Four Emperors. Coloured areas indicate provinces loyal to one of four warring generals. The Battle of Bedriacum refers to two battles fought during the Year of the Four Emperors (69 CE) near […]