One of the most feared weapons in the ancient world, the gladius was lethal both on the battlefield and in the arena. Literary sources tell of the terror it inspired, while archaeological evidence of wounds inflicted is testament to its deadly effect. By pulling together strands of literary, sculptural, and archaeological evidence, renowned expert M.C. Bishop creates a narrative of the gladius' development, exploring the way in which the shape of the short sword changed as soldiers and gladiators evolved their fighting style.

Drawing together historical accounts, excavated artifacts,...

A heavy javelin, normally used as a shock weapon immediately before contact, the pilum was designed with a particular specialty: it could penetrate a shield and carry on into the individual behind it. Relying on mass rather than velocity, at short range a volley of pila had much the same effect on a charging enemy as musketry would in later periods. The design was not uniform, with a wide diversity of types throughout the developmental history of the weapon, but for more than four centuries it remained a vital part of the arsenal of weapons at the disposal of the Roman...

For centuries, the crossbow had dominated the battlefields of continental Europe, with mercenaries from Genoa and Brabant in particular filling the ranks of the French army, yet on the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War they came up against a more powerful foe. To master the English longbow was a labor of years, requiring far greater skill to use than the crossbow, but it was much more flexible and formidable, striking fear into French men-at-arms and cavalry.

This study examines three battles: Sluys (1340), Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356), and shows how the use of the longbow...

In 132 AD, Simeon Bar Kosiba, a rebel leader who assumed the messianic name Simon Bar Kokhba ('son of a star'), led the people of Judaea and Galilee in open rebellion, aiming to oust the occupying Romans and establish their own independent Jewish state. During the ensuing 'Bar Kokhba Revolt' (the Second Jewish War), the Jewish rebels held their own against the crack Roman troops for four years. The cost of this rebellion was catastrophic: hundreds of thousands of casualties, the destruction of Jerusalem as the Jewish capital and the expulsion of the Jewish community from the region, which...

In the two centuries before the Norman invasion of England, Anglo-Saxon and Viking forces clashed repeatedly in battle, with mixed success for both sides. After the Vikings defeated three out of the four great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and came close to defeating the fourth in the 860s and 870s, they conquered and settled large areas of England. The surviving West Saxon kingdom in turn conquered the Viking settlements in England to create the first unified English kingdom in the mid-10th century, before a new wave of Viking raids led to the Danish conquest of England in 1016. Fifty years later...

In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the first of over 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed five beaches in Normandy against fierce German resistance. They were specially trained and task-organized in a range of different landing teams depending on their means of transport, their tasks, and the resistance they anticipated. The first assault infantry were accompanied by tankers, combat engineers, and other specialist personnel, to breach German obstacles, knock out defensive positions, and to defend and prepare the beaches for the follow-on waves. On some beaches the plans worked, on others they...