The Complete Roman Army (The Complete Series)

My first impression on receiving this book was that at 214 pages it was far too short to be considered a "complete" history of the Roman Army. However, Dr. Adrian Goldsworthy is one of the finest Roman-era historians writing today and he packs a considerable amount of detail into this slim volume. Although the volume is primarily a synthesis of other existing works, Goldsworthy has taken the best materials - including recent archaeological research from Kalkriese in Germany - to provide a very balanced portrait of this subject. Furthermore, The Complete Roman Army has a very high graphic quality, with beautiful color photographs of uniforms, reconstructed and ruined fortifications, weapons and locations. Indeed, this book is easily the best one-volume work available on the Roman Army today. The Complete Roman Army consists of five major sections: the Republican Army (25 pages), the professional army (29 pages), the life of a Roman soldier (87 pages), the army at war (35 pages) and the army of late antiquity (14 pages). Goldsworthy covers numerous topics, including recruitment, daily routines, rewards and punishments, religion, retirement, equipment, rank structure and off-duty behavior. In essence, this represents a "handbook" on the Roman army. The author also includes order of battle data on the Roman Army, maps of garrison locations, layouts of camps and sidebars on major battles like Pharsalus and the defeat of Boudicca. Although some readers might wish greater detail than Goldsworthy can provide on some subjects, the author's extensive bibliography does point to other sources for expanded information. All in all, Goldsworthy's synthesis and condensation of so much information into such a small space is impressive. Goldsworthy's discussion of Roman battle tactics follows in the tracks of his earlier works on the subject and I do find some gaps in his otherwise superb analysis. Goldsworthy never really explains how the Romans were so often victorious in the close battle; in previous books, Goldsworthy suggested that it was a handful of "extra-aggressive" soldiers who "broke into the enemy line" but in this book he leaves it more vague. While Goldsworthy notes the importance of the reserve in a Roman army, he doesn't discuss how it was used to win battles. Furthermore, he uses literary evidence from Caesar's commentaries to suggest that Roman soldiers charged at their enemies, hurling their pilum at 10-15 meters and then crashed into their line. The idea that a soldier could run with armor and scutum, throw a javelin, then draw his sword while maintaining linear order with the soldiers on his right and left in the space of perhaps 6-10 seconds is absurd. Indeed, the idea of running with a large rectangular shield like the scutum seems pretty absurd. Given the Roman emphasis on tight discipline and the need to use the shields to cover the front rank, I think it far more like that Roman infantry advanced methodically. In the final section, Goldsworthy spends little effort discussing the role of the army in Rome's decline and fall. While the author does mention the army's role in causing political instability in the empire and the difficulty its smaller units had in defeating Barbarian invasions, he dismisses the "Barbarization" theory and delves no further into examining the decline. Yet it is clear from the sources and evidence we have available that the Roman Army did decline in quality toward the end and that it was up against tougher opposition (Goldsworthy never mentions the Goths, Ostrogoths, Vandals or Huns). The Roman military system was based on a high level of tactical organization, skill and discipline - all of which apparently declined over time and contributed to their eventual defeat.

Adrian Goldworthy's The Complete Roman Army gives a pretty complete coverage of the Roman legions during their heydays during the late Republican and early Imperial periods. It reflects on the gradual evolution of the Roman army as it developed from a semi-professional civilian army of the Senate to a permanent professional forces under the Caesars. The book gives a pretty complete coverage of this army. The information given is clear and written with clarity. There's enough to provide the needed information and no more. It refreshing that there is no overkill of information that will only result in clutter for a book like this. The balance of the information given is just right. The book comes loaded with well drawn illustrations, nice photos, maps and diagrams that gives a clear and understandable images to accompanied the text. As one previous reviewer wrote, it truly is one of the best single volume reference book on the Roman legions during its heydays. And that is what this book is, a reference guide to the Roman legions. Anyone seeking a quick answer to any questions on the Roman legions, this is the book to touch on. I have loan out this book to people who are not historically minded but like to read Roman historical fictions like Simon Scarrow's Cato/Macros series for example. For readers of such series, this book is almost tailor made for them. On the down side, this book is pretty expensive for a casual reader to buy and it doesn't go into much detail during the decline of Rome. But I don't think that was the real intent of the author. Overall, an excellent effort by Adrian Goldworthy who wrote a really accessible reference book on the Roman legions during its heydays and make it interesting and informative enough that even veteran readers like myself or a novice who is only interested in fictional history, can both enjoy this book.

This book is an excellent reference work on the structure and operations of the Roman Army, mostly covering the period of the Principate through Hadrian. What separates this book from others for me is that it does not focus merely on history or campaigns...I have plenty of other books that do that. This book on the other hand discusses in much detail things like: - how a Roman fort is laid out - what the officers and soldiers ate - examples of duty rosters - what training new recruits went through - marriage and co-habitation - pay scales including details like deductions for food and clothing These are just examples of the detail that I have not seen compiled quite so well in one book. Two negatives that I can think of and they are minor. Firstly, this is not a "scholarly" reference work and probably not suitable for graduate studies. Yet that may also be a virtue as it is the type of book that one can comfortably sit down and read straight through. Secondly, the author is obviously British and a significant amount of his examples, charts, and photos relate specifically to Britannia. Now since a lot of very good archaeology comes from that province, that too is not a serious flaw and the author does make an effort to incorporate material from throughout the Empire. A very worthy book for anyone interested in how the Roman Army actually worked!

This is a wonderfully researched, written and assembled reference book covering various aspects of the Roman Army over several centuries. The author did a careful and scholarly job of putting together and referencing important historical information which provides substance and accuracy. It is full of beautful photographs and illustrations that are of great benefit to understanding. Everyone interested in the Roman Army must own and read this book. However, I am still looking for something more...maybe a bit different....... which takes nothing away from the brilliance of this book. As a challenge to authors, the one subject that intrigues me after reading so many books on Roman history, has to do with the soldiers who made up the legions, in particular the soldiers who served during the time of Julius Caesar when there were no permanent garrisons..when daily life for 16 years consisted of hand to hand combat with sword and pilum or travelling great distances by foot and life was in a tent. i.e. what sort of people were these? What were the centurion like to organize, lead and motivate these troops ? How exactly did they win in combat ? How did troop formations change so quickly during battle ...we know that they did but exactly how was this possible given the nature of the combat at hand? Many battles lasted for many hours, some for days, where initial formations could not have been sustained...what happened then? In such difficult and lengthy battles was it a role of the reserve to reestablish the formation or did centurions take over with success dependent upon individual initiatives at the "squad, platoon and company" level as is taught in the American Army today. and how did the personal charisma of the great Roman leaders such as Julius and Germanicus personally affect these troops? Clearly the famous disasters of the Roman Army are linked to disastrous and less famous leaders. But to me the real mystery of the Roman Army is how the elements of military leadership, discipline, motivation and technology all somehow came together to produce results, both good and bad, across the span of Republic and Empire with my special interest in Julius Caesar who must have been one of the most remarkable and effective military leaders in all of human history. In repeated examples his mere presence changed the behavior of thousands of troops....what kind of man was this ? How did such leaders view themselves and how did they view others ? (By the way, Goldsworthy takes on the subject of Julius Caesar in another wonderful book that he wrote "Caesar" which I also highly recommend.) So I am still looking not for the chronology or facts of history but rather more about the people who actually produced the results that we read about.

I don't usually like books with heavy glossy pages because many publishers use that device to throw together a book that is heavy on photos and short on content. This is NOT the case here. Dr. Adrian Goldsworthy put together a great book, heavy on detail, well written and organized into a small package. He devotes more effort into discussing the practical and operational evolution of the army than he does with the politics of the army. If you want to understand the political evolution of the army, this work will leave you short. But then again, that's not what the book is about. As the Empire collapsed at its "ending", the tactics of its enemies had improved while the Roman Army hadn't evolved fast enough to meet the threat effectively. It would have been nice if Dr. Goldsworthy had taken some time to discuss this at greater length. But the book still gets 5 stars from me.

The definitive work on the subject, thoroughly researched and quite accurate for the most part, despite the quibbling amongst the other reviewers who also gave it 5 stars. Everyone's an expert on the Roman Army, it seems. But few people are expert on war in general and the way it has been conducted across the millennia and around the globe. If you had been Cortez, would YOU have burned your boats upon landing? Or diverted a river to flood an enemy city, as the Mongols did? Would you have had catapults fling bread made of grass into the besieged camp of Pompey's men in Greece, to show them that, though your men were starving, they were willing to eat grass to win? Goldsworthy is a true expert, and moreover, his book is graced with illuminating illustrations. If you want the best there is on the subject, go with Goldsworthy.

This is a sometimes dry but always fascinating review of what we know about the Roman military. While classical literary sources are used, the real meat comes from archeologists. Lots of glossy photos of monuments, relics, and re-enactors. The latter are the most humorous part of the book. Americans look at our Civil War re-enactors and get a chuckle - going back 1800 years to Roman times looks like an excuse for men wearing skirts and metal helmets in public. This is a serious work, one that ought to be on the shelf of every Hollywood movie writer and director, at least!

As a reader of history, I must say that I enjoyed this subject very much. I am just now getting into this era and reading all bio's that I can find on the various Ceasars, but I read this one first to get an ideal of how the army was organized and their make up and I was not disappointed. Adrian Goldsworthy is becoming by far my favorite author for historical events. I have read several of his works and he has done an outstanding job in this edition. It helped me to understand how the Roman Army operated and helped me to understand a lot about them. I would recommend this book to anyone who like me is just starting to read about this period of history, you will not be disappointed.

Dr. Goldsworthy ist im englischen Sprachraum wahrscheinlich der populärste wissenschaftlich-seriöse Autor zur Alten Geschichte. Wenn man dieses Buch liest, weiß man warum. Wenn er "Complete" im Titel schreibt, dann meint er wirklich "komplett". Das Buch umfasst von der Mitte der Republik bis zum Ende Westroms wirklich alles. Von Taktik, Strategie, Schlachten und herausragenden Persönlichkeiten bis zu Sold, Adjustierung, Alltagsleben, Festungsbau, Religion, Friedensbetrieb, römische Bäderkultur u.vm. u.v.m. Ein sehr gutes Gesamtwerk zur römischen Armee für Leser jedweden Niveaus an Vorwissen, also definitiv auch für den neu Interessierten. Das Buch ist populärwissenschaftlich im positiven Sinn. Es ist auf wissenschaftlichem Niveau, es fehlen lediglich die Quellen- bzw. Literaturverweise, welche der nicht-akademisch/wissenschaftliche Leser ohnehin ignoriert. Bei Goldsworthy's Ausbildung, Werdegang und bisherigem Werk kann man auch ohne Verweise ruhig davon ausgehen, dass das Geschriebene belastbar ist. Weiters beinhaltet das großformatige Buch sehr viele Abbildungen. Die meisten sind sachdienlich, der Rest schön anzusehen. Für mich hätte es ein bisschen weniger sein können, aber da der Inhalt darunter nicht leidet und sogar superb ist: 5 Sterne und dringende Leseempfehlung für jeden

This is likely to be the best overview of the Roman army out there. Goldsworthy’s book, like most of what he has written, is very accessible to a nonacademic reader and packs a great deal of what is available about the Roman Army. The book discusses its evolution throughout the ages, from the militia soldiers that fought Hannibal, passing by the professional soldiers that followed Caesar into Gaul culminating in the armies that fought the Barbarian Invasions in Late Antiquity. The author relies on an extensive number of sources, including a vast array of archeological evidence (lists, grave inscriptions, monument details, letters, buildings etc) which contribute to a more wholesome perception of how the army was organized and how the soldiers and commanders thought. One gets both a top-down view on how the army operated considering the perspective of the commanders and a bottom-up perspective of the daily life of soldiers. I particularly liked how Goldsworthy emphasizes on what there is still no consensus (like the overall grand strategy of the Roman state) and on what there is simply not enough evidence to form a coherent picture (like the rank and promotion structure). To support all this there is a vast collection of pictures, illustrations, and frameworks throughout the book, which I cannot emphasize enough how helpful they are in making the theme more palpable. The paperback edition is printed in very high-quality paper as well, which enhances the experience. A small drawback is that the book puts a lot of emphasis on the army of the Principate period, so if you are looking for more details on how the army was structured in the early republican times or in Late Antiquity maybe you will need to look elsewhere. However, I’m not entirely sure as how much of this focus is simply because we have more evidence for the army structure during this period. Overall, this is a great resource for anyone interested in the topic.

Excellent facts

El libro trata de una manera muy clara la organización del ejército romano y de sus mandos, sus acuartelamientos y modalidades de combate y vida "civil" de los soldados, especialmente durante la época imperial, pero sin dejar de lado los orígenes del mismo y su evolución en el Bajo Imperio. Las fuerzas navales sólo se tratan en el período de las guerras púnicas y luego no se hace más mención. En general, muy buena la explicación de las carreras de los mandos superiores e intermedios. Ilustraciones muy interesantes, apoyando el texto.

Love the details of this book