Roman Military Disasters: Dark Days & Lost Legions, by Paul Chrystal
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Roman Military Disasters: Dark Days & Lost Legions, by Paul Chrystal
Best Ebook Roman Military Disasters: Dark Days & Lost Legions, by Paul Chrystal
Over some 1200 years, the Romans proved adept at learning from military disaster and this was key to their eventual success and hegemony. Roman Military Disasters covers the most pivotal and decisive defeats, from the Celtic invasion of 390 BC to Alaric's sack of Rome in AD 410. Paul Chrystal details the politics and strategies leading to each conflict, how and why the Romans were defeated, the tactics employed, the generals and the casualties. However, the unique and crucial element of the book is its focus on the aftermath and consequences of defeat and how the lessons learnt enabled the Romans, usually, to bounce back and win.
Roman Military Disasters: Dark Days & Lost Legions, by Paul Chrystal- Amazon Sales Rank: #342488 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-11-30
- Released on: 2016-02-01
- Format: Kindle eBook
About the Author Paul Chrystal was educated at the Universities of Hull and Southampton where he took degrees in Classics. He has worked in medical publishing for thirty-five years: now he combines this with writing features for national newspapers and history magazines, as well as advising visitor attractions such as the National Trust's 'Goddards', the home of Noel Terry, and 'York's Sweet Success'. He appears regularly on BBC local radio and on the BBC World Service. He is the author of fifty or so books on a wide range of subjects, including histories of northern places, social histories of tea and of chocolate; a history of confectionery in Yorkshire and various aspects of classical literature and history.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Roman military « disasters » and « defeats » By JPS This is an interesting and valuable book that lists and presents under the title “Roman military disasters” “sixty or so decisive and significant defeats” ranging from the Gallic invasion in the early fourth century BC and the first sac of Rome to the second sac of Rome in 410 AD by Alaric. Alongside the better known disasters, such as Cannae, Carrhae, Teutoburg Forest or Adrianople, there are also a number of lesser known ones, including some – such as Arausio against the Cimbri and Teutones – were the Romans suffered horrendous losses that exceeded some of the better known events. I had however three sets of reservations with this book, hence the three star rating.A first set of problems is about the book’s scope. While the author quotes the Oxford Concise Dictionary definition of a disaster as “a great or sudden misfortune, a complete failure, a person or enterprise ending in failure”, some of the events selected are in fact not military disasters in the strict sense of the term.For instance, the Roman failure to force a river crossing in 171 BC against the Macedonians of King Perseus was certainly a defeat, and a rather bloody one since the Romans lost some 3000 men against (allegedly) a few dozen. However, it was certainly not “a disaster of the first magnitude for the Romans”, contrary to the author’s assertion. Also questionable is the author’s choice of the Boudica’s revolt among the military disasters. The revolt ended with the Romans crushing of the insurrection in a decisive battle. Moreover, the IX Hispana which had attempted to rescue the Roman colony of modern Colchester was defeated, but the legion was not wiped out and the (nevertheless huge) destructions and loss of human life mainly affected civilians, whether Romans or the (numerous) Britons from other tribes that were living in or around the destroyed cities. Also a bit odd is the listing of the sac of Rome by Alaric as a “military disaster”. It certainly was a political and human disaster, but for both the Romans, because of the symbol and because they were on “the receiving end”, and for Alaric and his Goths, because there was no chance they would get what they wanted once they had used (and lost) their bargaining counter.Some choices of military disasters are even more curious. This is the case of the chapter titled “Doom monster – Cleopatra VII”. A first problem here is that the civil wars opposing the Roman warlords were not caused by Cleopatra. To be more precise, the opposition between Mark Antony and Octavius, just like the opposition between Caesar and the so-called Republicans (the high-born Senators who were in fact defending their “right” to share power) pre-existed Cleopatra and the Civil Wars would have taken place without her. A second problem is that only these Civil Wars have been selected as “military disasters” and rate a special chapter, and no others, although all of them were rather “disastrous” in terms of military losses if only because every casualty would be a Roman soldier and because, given the losses and disruptions, they clearly weakened the Empire.Another curious choice is the selection of the Theban Legion Massacre that took in AD 286 as a “military disaster”. This little known episode was about a Legion initially recruited in Egypt and made up of Christians. The Legion was purged when in Gaul by Emperor Maximian for refusing “to comply with Emperor worship” which was both insubordination (refusal to obey orders) and treason. While the story is certainly an interesting one, I am not sure that this qualifies as a “military disaster”. Finally, there is at least one campaign, that of Julian in 363 AD, which could have rated as a military disaster. It is not included, despite the loss of about a third of the Roman expeditionary force, the death of the Emperor in battle and a rather disastrous peace that his successor had to agree too in order to save the remaining two-thirds of the force.In fact, rather than just “military disasters”, it seems that the author has selected just about any significant reverse and defeat that he could find, although by only choosing some civil wars without singling out others, he may have been somewhat selective and perhaps not entirely consistent.A second - and related – issue is that the author seems to have in fact tried to summarise the military history of Roman and its Empire through its military reverses, defeats and disasters. This is an interesting and a somewhat original approach even if another book on military disasters during the Roman Republic has already been published. It does however raise a couple of issues. One is that the author does not have enough space to cover the subject. Another consequence is that while the selected events are generally well or at least adequately described, the summaries between these events tend to be short, sometimes superficial and may even contain inaccuracies or simplifications as the author tries to “cut corners”.The third issue is the number of incorrect statements that are included, probably because the book has been poorly edited. It is, for instance, quite incorrect to state that the First Punic War was only the second time that Rome had to fight against a non-Italian enemy, with the Gauls being the first. This is clearly a slip in editing, since the author also describes the wars against Pyrrhus, the Hellenistic King of Epirus. It is also incorrect to state that Crete or Marseilles were part of the Carthaginian Empire. Both were Greek and rivals/enemies of Carthage. There are quite a few more statements such as these, together with a few repetitions and typos which tend to show that, unfortunately for the author, the editing of this book is not among its strongest points.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Interesting general history. By John E. Larsen This is a very interesting volume that explores the quite lengthy list of Roman military defeats. The number is less surprising when the thousand year plus time frame of Rome is considered. The other thing to bear in mind is that some stages of Rome’s history are less well covered by surviving sources so there are gaps and scant details. Also, it is not comprehensive in the sense that it covers every disaster. The loss of 21st Rapax in 92AD or the damage to the army in Britain in the early 2nd century is not mentioned for instance but these events are known of only in fragments and not much could really be added I suppose.There were still plenty of stories new to me. The famous disasters are covered in some depth but there are reasonable write ups for lesser and (to me) completely unknown battles. There is a heap of small nuggets of information, which makes for a very informative whole. There’s a couple of confusing passages and some minor spelling mistakes not picked up by the spell-checker but otherwise it is very competently put together. There’s a few maps and diagrams but the great bulk is text, which suited me. It’s more a book for the generally interested reader, rather than someone researching specific campaigns or battles. One goal of the book was to reveal how the Roman’s learned from their defeats. I don’t think this is fully addressed but the resilience of the Romans is made very clear.I quite enjoyed reading this book. It left me knowing more than I started with and wanting to learn even more!
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