Ancient

Universally admired in 479 BC, the Spartans were masters of the Greek world by 402 BC, only for their state to collapse in the next generation. What went wrong? Was the fall of Sparta inevitable? Philip Matyszak examines the political blunders and...

This is a narrative history of England and France during the Hundred Years War, from the triumphs of Henry V to the defeat of England and the loss of Gascony and Bordeaux – a huge blow to English prestige. It is a military history with technical detail,...

From the moment its last king was expelled (traditionally in 753) the Roman republic had to fight for its very survival. Centuries of almost continuous warfare saw Romes armies evolve in response to a wide variety of threats which were met with mixed...

Since 500 BC the mainland Greeks had been threatened by the Achaemenid Persian Empire. They had suffered major invasions but subsequent attempts to take the offensive had been thwarted. With Alexander the Great's invasion the rules changed. In Macedonia...

The figure of Sejanus has fascinated from ancient to more modern times. Sejanus, the emperor Tiberius' infamous Praetorian Prefect, is synonymous with over-reaching ambition, murder, conspiracy and betrayal. According to the traditional storyline, this...

Throughout most of the classical period, Persia was one of the great superpowers, placing a limit on the expansion of Western powers. It was the most formidable rival to the Roman empire for centuries, until Persia, by then under the Sassanians, was...

While Gaiseric has not become a household name like other 'barbarian' leaders such as Attila or Genghis Khan, his sack of Rome in AD455 has made his tribe, the Vandals, synonymous with mindless destruction. Gaiseric, however, was no moronic thug, proving...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781915070272Author Philip GartonFormat PaperbackPage Count 78Imprint Helion & CompanyPublisher Helion & Company

This is a narrative military history of the emperors Lucius Domitius Aurelianus ('Aurelian', reigned 270-275) and Marcus Aurelius Probus (276-282) which also includes the other reigns between the years 268 and 285. It shows how these two remarkable...

On 31 December AD 406, a group of German tribes crossed the Rhine, pierced the Roman defensive limes and began a rampage across Roman Gaul, sacking cities such as Metz, Arras and Strasbourg. Foremost amongst them were the Vandals and their search for a...

Julius Caesar has been the inspiration to countless military commanders over the last two millennia. Born into an aristocratic family, his early military campaigns, part of his progression along the cursus honorum, included campaigning in the east, Spain...

Manousos Kambouris revisits the epic events of the first Greco-Persian War and the Persian invasion of Greece. He gives excellent detail on the Persian perspective and sets the war in the context of the rise of Achaemenid Persia as the superpower of the...

Lucius Verus is one of the least regarded Roman emperors, despite the fact that he was co-ruler with his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius for nine years until his untimely death. The later sources were strangely hostile to him and modern writers tend to...

For over a thousand years, from the time of the Roman Empire to the classic period of castle-building in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, fortified sites played a key role in European warfare. This highly illustrated history gives a fascinating...

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The battle of Lepanto has long been considered one of the decisive naval battles of history. Yet, the savage fighting on Sunday, 7 October 1571 left the strategic map unchanged and the defeated Ottoman Turks were able to replace their losses and launch a...

In the spring of 73 AD the rock fortress of Masada on the western shore of the Dead Sea was the site of an event that was breathtaking in its courage and self-sacrifice. Here the last of the Jewish Zealots who, for nearly eight years, had waged war...

In the late 3rd century BC, while Rome struggled for her very survival against the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War, Philip V of Macedon allied with Hannibal in pursuit of his dream for a new Macedonian empire. Once Carthage was defeated, however,...

The second volume in John Grainger's history of the Seleukid Empire is devoted to the reign of Antiochus III. Too often remembered only as the man who lost to the Romans at Magnesia, Antiochus is here revealed as one of the most powerful and capable...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781541699250Author Adrian GoldsworthyFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint Basic BooksPublisher Basic BooksWeight(grams) 181gDimensions(mm) 208mm * 140mm *...

Partly as a result of poor commanders and partly because the Romans had an innate and misguided belief in the invincibility of their legions, the first battles against the Cimbri were a series of disasters. These culminated in the Battle of Arausio in...

_The_ _Iliad _dealing with the final stages of the Trojan War and _The Odyssey_ with return and aftermath were central to the Classical Greeks' self identity and world view. Epic poems attributed to Homer, they underpinned ideas about heroism,...

The military achievements of Lucius Licinius Lucullus (118-57/56 B.C.) have been the subject of admiration and great respect throughout the history of the study of warfare. Yet there have been few studies dedicated to a comprehensive examination of...

In a single volume, Empire at War catalogues and offers a brief description of every significant battle fought by the Roman Empire from Augustus to Justinian I (and most of the minor ones too). The information in each entry is drawn exclusively from...

Naval power played a vital role in the Peloponnesian War. The conflict pitted Athens against a powerful coalition including the preeminent land power of the day, Sparta. Only Athens superior fleet, her wooden walls , by protecting her vital supply...

The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, where an Athenian-led Greek force defeated a Persian invasion, is one of the most decisive battles in Antiquity and has been studied for centuries. It is famed as a triumph of the Greek hoplite heavy infantry phalanx...

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...

Of the thousands of commanders who served in history's armies, why is it that only a few are remembered as great leaders of men in battle? What combination of personal and circumstantial influences conspire to produce great commanders? What makes a great...

Julian Romane examines the military events behind the emergence of the Sui and Tang dynasties in the period 581-626 AD. Narrating the campaigns and battles, he analyses in detail the strategy and tactics employed, a central theme being the collision of...

For twenty years, the Roman Empire conquered its way through modern-day Germany, claiming all lands from the Rhine to the Elbe. However, when at last all appeared to be under control, a catastrophe erupted that claimed the lives of 10,000 legionnaires...

A wall in the distant north cuts the world in two. Ruthless seaborne warriors raid the coasts from their war galleys, yearning to regain lost glories. A young nobleman and his kin are slaughtered under a banner of truce within a mighty castle. A warrior...

In The Trojan war as Military History, the author's starting point is the fact that the Iliad, notwithstanding the fantastical/mythological elements (the involvement of gods and demigods), is the earliest detailed description of warfare we have...

The Han-Xiongnu War (133 BC – AD 89) pitted the Han dynasty of China against a confederation of nomadic steppe peoples, the Xiongnu Empire. In campaigns waged on a huge scale by the standards of contemporary Western warfare (perhaps half a million...

Cataphracts were the most heavily armoured form of cavalry in the ancient world, with riders and mounts both clad in heavy armour. Originating among the wealthiest nobles of various central Asian steppe tribes, such as the Massegatae and Scythians, they...

Inside the Roman Legions aims to tell the story of the Roman soldier through a holistic, empathetic examination of what the experience of military service in the Middle Republic was really like. It traces real examples of soldiers described in the...

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Evan Schultheis reconsiders the evidence for Attila the Hun's most famous battle, the climax of his invasion of the Western Roman Empire that had reached as far as Orleans in France. Traditionally considered one of the pivotal battles in European...

Originally warriors mounted on horseback, knights became associated with the concept of chivalry as it was popularised in medieval European literature. Knights were expected to fight bravely and honourably and be loyal to their lord until death if...

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Richard Evans revisits the sites of a selection of Greek and Roman battles and sieges to seek new insights. The battle narratives in ancient sources can be a thrilling read and form the basis of our knowledge of these epic events, but they can just as...