The Roman Revolution is one of the most momentous periods of change in history, in which an imperial but quasidemocratic power changed into an autocracy. This book studies the way the Roman army changed in the last eighty years of the Republic, so that an army of imperial conquest became transformed into a set of rival personal armies under the control of the triumvirs. It emphasizes the development of what has often been regarded as a static monolithic institution, and its centrality to political change.

Contents: Introdution. PART I: THE EARLIEST ROMAN ARMY: The military indebtedness of early Rome to the Etruscans, E. McCartney; The legion and the centuriate assembly, G.V. Sumner; The introduction of Hoplite tactics at Rome, M.P. Nilsson. PART II: THE ARMY AND THE GROWTH OF EMPIRE: Literary sources for the pre-Marian Roman army, Elizabeth Rawson; The principes and the so-called Camillan reforms, M.C.J. Miller; Roman military forces in 223 B.C. (Polybius 2.23-4), D.W. Baronowski; The battle of Pydna, N.G.L. Hammond; The Roman general's authority over Booty, Israel Schatzman. PART III: THE ARMY AND THE END OF THE REPUBLIC: Pilum, gladius, and pugio in the late Republic, P. Connolly; Studies on Caesar's use of cavalry, Pierre F. Cagniart; The army and the land in the Roman revolution, Peter A. Brunt; The supposed manpower shortage of the later second century B.C., John Rich; The Jugurthine war: was Marius or Metellus the real victor?, M. Holroyd; Caesar and the mutiny of 47 B.C., Stefan Chrissanthos. PART IV: STRATEGY AND TACTICS: Polybius, Livy, and the 'Fabian strategy,' Paul Erdcamp; Strategy and politics in Caesar's Spanish campaign, 49 B.C.: variation on a theme by Clausewitz, Pierre F. Cagniart; Roman republican heavy infantrymen in battle (IV-II centuries BC), Alexander Zhmodikov; The Roman cohort tactics-problem of development, I. Kertisz; Tactical reform in the Roman republican army, M.J.V. Bell. PART V: EQUIPMENT, TRAINING, AND THE EXPERIENCE OF BATTLE: The five standards of the pre-Marian legion. A note on the early plebeian militaria, Dusanic Slobodan and Zarko Petkovic; Roman republican training equipment: form, function and the mock battle, I.P. Stephenson; The homogenisation of military equipment under the Roman republic, Michael T. Burns; The face of Roman battle, Philip Sabin; The reality of Cannae, M. Samuels; Single combat in the Roman republic, Stephen P. Oakley; Two Caesarian battle-descriptions: a study in contrast, Robert D. Brown; Caesar's battle-descriptions and the defeat of Ariovistus, C. Pelling.

This second edition examines all aspects of Roman history, and contains a new introduction, three new chapters and updated bibliographies.

This book studies the way the Roman army changed in the last eighty years of the Republic, so that an army of imperial conquest became transformed into a set of rival personal armies under the control of the triumvirs.

The Roman Revolution is a profound and unconventional treatment of a great theme - the fall of the Republic and the decline of freedom in Rome between 60 BC and AD 14, and the rise to power of the greatest of the Roman Emperors, Augustus. The transformation of state and society, the violent transference of power and property, and the establishment of Augustus' rule are presented in an unconventional narrative, which quotes from ancient evidence, refers seldomly to modern authorities, and states controversial opinions quite openly. The result is a book which is both fresh and compelling.

Learn why the Roman Republic collapsed -- and how it could have continued to thrive -- with this insightful history from an award-winning author. In Mortal Republic, prize-winning historian Edward J. Watts offers a new history of the fall of the Roman Republic that explains why Rome exchanged freedom for autocracy. For centuries, even as Rome grew into the Mediterranean's premier military and political power, its governing institutions, parliamentary rules, and political customs successfully fostered negotiation and compromise. By the 130s BC, however, Rome's leaders increasingly used these same tools to cynically pursue individual gain and obstruct their opponents. As the center decayed and dysfunction grew, arguments between politicians gave way to political violence in the streets. The stage was set for destructive civil wars -- and ultimately the imperial reign of Augustus. The death of Rome's Republic was not inevitable. In Mortal Republic, Watts shows it died because it was allowed to, from thousands of small wounds inflicted by Romans who assumed that it would last forever.

On March 15th, 44 BC a group of senators stabbed Julius Caesar, the dictator of Rome. By his death, they hoped to restore Rome's Republic. Instead, they unleashed a revolution. By December of that year, Rome was plunged into a violent civil war. Three men--Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian--emerged as leaders of a revolutionary regime, which crushed all opposition. In time, Lepidus was removed, Antony and Cleopatra were dispatched, and Octavian stood alone as sole ruler of Rome. He became Augustus, Rome's first emperor, and by the time of his death in AD 14 the 500-year-old republic was but a distant memory and the birth of one of history's greatest empires was complete. Rome's Revolution provides a riveting narrative of this tumultuous period of change. Historian Richard Alston digs beneath the high politics of Cicero, Caesar, Antony, and Octavian to reveal the experience of the common Roman citizen and soldier. He portrays the revolution as the crisis of a brutally competitive society, both among the citizenry and among the ruling class whose legitimacy was under threat. Throughout, he sheds new light on the motivations that drove men to march on their capital city and slaughter their compatriots. He also shows the reasons behind and the immediate legacy of the awe inspiringly successful and ruthless reign of Emperor Augustus. An enthralling story of ancient warfare, social upheaval, and personal betrayal, Rome's Revolution offers an authoritative new account of an epoch which still haunts us today.

Historians have long asserted that during and after the Hannibalic War, the Roman Republic's need to conscript men for long-term military service helped bring about the demise of Italy's small farms and that the misery of impoverished citizens then became fuel for the social and political conflagrations of the late republic. Nathan Rosenstein challenges this claim, showing how Rome reconciled the needs of war and agriculture throughout the middle republic. The key, Rosenstein argues, lies in recognizing the critical role of family formation. By analyzing models of families' needs for agricultural labor over their life cycles, he shows that families often had a surplus of manpower to meet the demands of military conscription. Did, then, Roman imperialism play any role in the social crisis of the later second century B.C.? Rosenstein argues that Roman warfare had critical demographic consequences that have gone unrecognized by previous historians: heavy military mortality paradoxically helped sustain a dramatic increase in the birthrate, ultimately leading to overpopulation and landlessness.

In the first century B.C., Rome was the ruler of a vast empire. Yet at the heart of the Republic was a fatal flaw: a dangerous hostility between the aristocracy and the plebians, each regarding itself as the foundation of Rome's military power. Turning from their foreign enemies, Romans would soon be fighting Romans.Swords Against the Senate describes the first three decades of Rome's century-long civil war that transformed it from a republic to an imperial autocracy, from the Rome of citizen leaders to the Rome of decadent emperor thugs. As the republic came apart amid turmoil, Gaius Marius, the "people's general," rose to despotic power only to be replaced by the brutal dictator Sulla. The Roman army, once invincible against foreign antagonists, became a tool for the powerful, and the Roman Senate its foe.