The Roman Imperial Army Of The First And Second Centuries Ad

For over five hundred years the Romans Empire flourished, conquered and then controlled much of (what was to them) the known world. There are two main reasons they were able to do this. One reason was the policy of "Romanization" that encouraged those that were conquered to become part of the empire, even providing various ways for them to become Roman citizens. The second reason was military force that did the actual conquering that provided the territories to be "Romanized," and then held those areas. These guys really knew what they were doing (at least most of the time), and they did it much better at it than anyone else at the time. The Roman Army is, at the root of it all, the single force that created the largest empire known in western civilization, and maintained that empire for half a millennium. Being somewhat of a fan of the Roman Empire, and especially the military, I chose this book in anticipation of acquiring a bit more knowledge about the subject. The Roman Imperial Army completely exceeded my expectations.

In his foreword (to the first edition) the author presents the thesis: "The booklet on the Roman Army produced in 1956 for the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, has been well received and this has encouraged me to attempt a more extensive version." While I found this to be a rather weak thesis statement, there can be no doubt that Mr. Webster achieved his goal.

The booklet referred to in the paragraph above was fifty-two pages, a mere pamphlet in comparison to this work's two hundred and eighty-five pages of excellently researched text. Every page of text has very detailed footnotes, often taking as much space as the text being referenced. Referring to this work as "little more than a compilatio...

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...and a keen interest in practically any aspect of the Roman Army in the first two centuries CE, this book is guaranteed to provide what you are looking for, and much more. However, as I said above, I chose this book in anticipation of acquiring a bit more knowledge about the Roman Army. There is no doubt that my eyes were much bigger than my stomach in this choice of reading material. This book is so excessively detailed that it is quite a challenge to simply sit down and read it. To begin to understand this work, all but the most well informed reader will need to refer to one of the many footnotes, photograph, drawing, charts, or indices practically every paragraph, and often more than once per paragraph. It is probably best to classify this work as a textbook or reference work rather than something that is appropriate for recreational reading by the normal consumer.