Amazon.co.uk Review
The
Pax Romana was never optional, it was always imposed. The Roman army both disseminated and enforced Roman civilisation on its Empire, first subjugating recalcitrant peoples, then turning them into good Roman citizens ripe for recruitment into the army. At its height, the Roman army never numbered more than 400,000 soldiers, but with these troops it controlled a region stretching from Scotland to Arabia. It was the world's first professional army, with a formal administrative structure, officer corps, regular pay and, most importantly, thorough training, making it the model for the armies of all modern nation states. The legendary discipline of the Legions enabled them to conquer unruly barbarian hordes and impose the Roman peace throughout the Empire. The Roman army, albeit in a drastically modified form, continued under the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire until the fall of Constantinople in 1453, making it, at nearly 2,000 years old, one of the longest-lived and most conspicuously successful institutions in history.
The Roman War Machine consists of four 50-minute documentaries made for The History Channel in 1999 and spread across two tapes. They chart the rise and development of the army in an absorbing if fairly standard documentary format, with plenty of academic talking heads wheeled out to fill in narrative details. Most interesting are the demonstrations of Roman equipment and battle tactics by re-enactors such as the Ermine Street Guard (although made for the History Channel with an American narration, most participants are British). The computer-animated sequences are distinctly minimalist.
On tape 1, "First Our Neighbours, Then the World" examines the growth of the Roman state and its army from the early battle of Veii, in which the Etruscan kings were routed, to the Celtic sack of Rome and the subsequent reorganisation of the army that went on to wrest control of the Mediterranean from Carthage in the Punic Wars. Late Republican power struggles culminating in the dictatorship of Julius Caesar resulted in the formation of the professional army that forged the Empire. In "Roman versus Roman", the Civil Wars and the reign of Augustus as first Emperor of Rome are charted. The story continues on Tape 2. --Mark Walker
Synopsis
Documents life in the Roman Army, with reconstructions and computer animated strategy. Contains two episodes: 'First Our Neighbours, Then The World' and 'Roman Versus Roman'.
