Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425

by Hugh Elton

Despite the importance of warfare in the collapse of the Roman Empire, this is the only comprehensive study of the subject available. Hugh Elton discusses the practice of warfare in Europe, from both Roman and barbarian perspectives, in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. He analyzes the military practices and capabilities of the Romans and their northern enemies at political, strategic, operational, and tactical levels, and covers civil wars, sieges, and naval warfare.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Roman

328 pages, Paperback

First published February 29, 1996

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat dry and scholarly book on a subject I find fascinating. The author details the how and why the Romans fought in the late Empire, discussing everything from arms and armor used in the period through tactics, operations, and strategy, heavily footnoted and cross-referenced. Not history per se (although he does discuss the activities of the Roman army during the time period in some detail), but a good work of practical everyday history.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book that directly attacks the traditional view of decay and "barbarization" of the Roman Army in the late Roman Empire. Given the limitations of the evidence available, the author does a tremendous job incorporating actual data vs. just coming up with a plausible narrative for why this is the case. It's one of the few times that I've seen a history book, let alone a Roman history book, use quantitative data to prove a point. In this case, the author analyzes the names of army officers and of other ranks in Roman records to show that barbarians never made up more than 20-30% of the army Of course, there is a question of how representative this sample might be, but it's the best that can be done given the limitations of archaeology.

If you have an interest in Roman history, and particularly the Roman army, you'll enjoy this book.