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,...
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 a...
The nomadic peoples of central Asia--Huns, Bulgars, Magyars, Mongols--are still known to us for their legendary fighters Attila, Genghis Khan, and Timur Lenk (Tamerlane), as well as for their feats of calculated brutality. (Timur Lenk would leave piles of severed heads in his conquered cities; another tribe sent nine sacks of ears to their khan.) Less studied is the remarkable effectiveness of their battle techniques: For two thousand years, these horse-archer armies were an unstoppable force to sedentary peoples, be they Romans, Crusaders, Chinese, or medieval. Erik Hildinger introduces the...
The nomadic peoples of central Asia--Huns, Bulgars, Magyars, Mongols--are still known to us for their legendary fighters Attila, Genghis Khan, and Tim...
