Nic Fields — книжные серии

One of the most powerful men in late antiquity, Attila's peerless Hunnic empire stretched from the Ural mountains to the Rhine river. In a series of epic campaigns dating from the AD 430s until his death in AD 453, he ravaged first the Eastern and later the Western Roman Empire, invading Italy in AD 452 and threatening Rome itself. Lavishly illustrated, this new analysis of his military achievements examines how Attila was able to sweep across Europe, the tactics and innovations he employed and the major battles he faced, including one of his few major setbacks, the defeat at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields in AD 451.

Pompey, or Pompey the Great, was one of the best military leaders of the late Roman Republic. His campaigns against the Marians, his battles in Hispania and his defeat of the Mediterranean pirates launched him to political stardom where he became an ally of Julius Caesar and a member of the First Triumvirate. However, an alliance between two such ambitious figures could not last, and the two became bitter rivals as the Republic descended into civil war. This book tells the complete story of Pompey as a military commander, pulling him out from the shadows of Julius Caesar's writings and examining him and his campaigns on their own merits.

By the end of the First Punic War Carthage had been humiliatingly chased from the high seas, its once-powerful fleet reduced to a handful of triremes. However in 219 BC Hannibal, the eldest son of the charismatic general Hamilcar Barca, began the Second Punic War and was so successful that he threatened to destroy Roman power completely. Hannibal was a cool, thoughtful general, and can arguably be described as the greatest general of antiquity. His genius rested on a mixture of bluff, double bluff, and an ability to use all troop types to their best advantage. The battle of Cannae remains a chef-d'oeuvre to which generations of subsequent generals have aspired.

One of the greatest military commanders in history, Julius Caesar's most famous victory - the conquest of Gaul - was to him little more than a stepping stone to power. An audacious and decisive general, his victories over the Gauls allowed him to challenge for the political leadership of Rome. Leading a single legion across the Rubicon in 49 BC, Caesar launched a civil war which would end the Roman Republic and usher in the Roman Empire, with Caesar at its helm. This examination of the great general's life covers his great victories and few defeats, looking at the factors which lay behind his military genius.

The Imperial Army established by Augustus drew heavily on the nomenclature and traditions of the late Roman Republic, but was revolutionary in its design. He decided to meet all the military needs of the Empire from a standing, professional army. Military service became a career: enlistment was for 25 years (16 in the Praetorian Guard), and men were sometimes retained even longer. The loyalty of the new army was to the emperor and not to either the Senate or the People of Rome. Imperial legions became permanent units with their own numbers and titles and many were to remain in existence for centuries to come.

The Roman Legions were the most highly organized troops of the ancient world, but the process of turning the Legions into the professional force that built an empire, was no small feat. Focusing on the organisational changes in the Roman Army during the Civil Wars, Nic Fields examines the role played by Caius Marius and his far-reaching reforms. With the nuts and bolts detail that readers demand from the Battle Orders series, this is an intriguing description of how the Roman army grew, modernised, rebelled and finally helped build an empire, complete with full organisational charts, photographs and detailed maps.

As Rome's power and influence extended across the Mediterranean, she was destined for a collision with the Carthaginian Empire, a clash ultimately resulting in the decisive Second Punic War. At first the Roman Army was no match for the superior tactics and leadership of Hannibal and his troops. However, talented generals like Scipio Africanus transformed the legions into a formidable fighting force. Covering Rome's catastrophic defeats at Lake Trasimene and Cannae to her final victory at Zama, this book examines the development of Roman tactics and organization through Rome's transition from a city-based state to a Mediterranean powerhouse.

Soon after the Caudine Forks fiasco in 321 BC, the tactical formation adopted by the Roman Army underwent a radical change. Introduced as part of the Servian reforms, the legion had originally operated as a Greek-style phalanx. Now, however, the Romans adopted the manipular system, whereby the legion was split into distinct battle lines, each consisting of tactical subunits, the maniples. Even though still a citizen militia, recruited from property owners supplying their own war gear, it was the manipular legion that faced Pyrrhus and his elephants, the Gauls and their long swords, Hannibal and his tactical genius and the Macedonians and their pikes to name but a few of its formidable opponents. This book looks at the recruitment, training, weapons, equipment and experiences of the legionary at the epoch of the middle Republic, which opens with the last great war with the Samnites (Third Samnite War, 298-290 BC) and closes with the Republic at the height of its imperial glory after the victory in North Africa (Iugurthine War 112-105 BC).

The prototypical 'Roman Legionnaire' often seen on television and in movies is actually the product of nearly a millennium of military development. Far back in the Bronze Age, before the city of Rome existed, a loose collection of independent hamlets eventually formed into a village. From this base, the earliest Roman warriors launched cattle raids and ambushes against their enemies. At some point during this time, the Romans began a period of expansion, conquering land and absorbing peoples. Soon, they had adopted classical Greek fighting methods with militia forming in phalanxes. This book covers the evolution of the earliest Roman warriors and their development into an army that would eventually conquer the known world.

By the outbreak of the First Carthaginian War, Carthage controlled the whole coast of northern Africa. At first, the core of the Carthaginian armies was made up of armed citizens, backed by levies from tributary allies and foreign mercenaries. Later, the mercenaries would become the backbone of these armies. This book explores the heterogeneous mixture of races within the Carthaginian forces, and discusses their clothing, equipment and weaponry. It details their tactical deployment and covers the campaign experiences of the great general Hannibal, who inflicted a number of defeats on Rome, before his eventual defeat at the battle of Zama in 202 BC.

The Taras were the leading power of the scattered Greek states of southern Italy and built their reputation on the unmatched horse warriors who helped the Taras claim and maintain their power. In this book, expert author Nic Fields examines the Tarentine horsemen in detail, discussing their tactics, weapons and equipment and detailing how they operated as mercenaries throughout the region. With a wealth of contemporary sources and rare artefacts, illustrated with specially commissioned colour artwork and photographs of artefacts, this is an intriguing insight into the everyday lives of these horsemen, revealing how they acquired the skills that enabled them to dominate the region.

Mythical in their own time, the power and status of the Pharaohs of Egypt have remained so through the millennia. In this book, Nic Fields explores the lives of the ordinary soldiers who sustained Middle Kingdom Egypt. Using rare artefacts he reconstructs the day-to-day existence of the Pharaoh's army from archers to hand-to-hand fighters, through to the 'sole-companions' of the Pharaoh. Quoting from ancient sources he narrates sea and land battles in dramatic detail, all the while providing the reader with a rare insight into the minutiae of the soldier's life, from the food he ate to the gods he worshipped.

The Huns were the most feared barbarians of the Ancient world, known to their Roman enemies as the 'scourge of god'. Superb horsemen and excellent archers, they fought with a reflex composite-bow that could penetrate armour at 100 metres. In battle they would rush into the fray with surprising speed and apparent chaos, maintaining an incessant barrage until the enemy was sufficiently weakened; thus their very name came to epitomise swift, merciless destruction. This book explores the rise of the Huns and their development in terms of equipment, tactics and society, from their first attacks on the Goths to the death of the Emperor Justinian, including the great battle of Chalons and the reign of Attila.

Drawn from a wide range of warlike peoples throughout the provinces, especially on the fringes of the empire, auxiliaries were generally not citizens of the Roman empire. The cavalry of the auxilia provided a powerful fighting arm; organized, disciplined and well trained, it was adept at performing both skirmish and shock action. This book details the many roles of the Roman auxiliary cavalryman, including reconnaissance, communication and policing duties, as well as in battle. Motivation for enlisting, conditions of service and experience of battle are all explored, and colour illustrations support the text.

By 390 BC, the Roman army was in need of change, as Greek-style tactics of fighting with a heavy infantry phalanx were proving increasingly outdated. A military revolution was born in the form of the legion, a tool of war better suited to aggressive action. Yet by the end of the 3rd century BC, Rome's prestige was shattered by the genius of Hannibal of Carthage, causing the Romans to revise their battle tactics once more, this time by inventing a whole new kind of soldier. This book reveals these two defining moments in Roman military history and the revolution in battle tactics that they caused, examining how the Roman army eventually became all-conquering and all-powerful.

Formidable and sophisticated, triremes were the deadliest battleship of the ancient world, and at the height of their success, the Athenians were the dominant exponents of their devastating power. Primarily longships designed to fight under oar power, the trireme was built for lightness and strength; ship-timber was mostly softwoods such as poplar, pine and fir, while the oars and mast were made out of fir. Their main weapon was a bronze-plated ram situated at the prow.

From the combined Greek naval victory at Salamis (480 BC), through the Peloponnesian War, and up until the terrible defeat by the Macedonians at Amorgos, the Athenian trireme was an object of dread to its enemies.

This book offers a complete analysis and insight into the most potent battleship of its time; the weapon by which Athens achieved, maintained, and ultimately lost its power and prosperity.

Chariots, the first mobile fighting vehicle, seem to have originated in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. The highly mobile two-wheeled war chariot, carrying a driver and an archer armed with a short composite bow, revolutionized military tactics after 1700 BC. This expensive weapon spread throughout the Middle East and is thought to have reached Egypt with the conquering Hyksos. It spread into Asia Minor, Greece, and was known in Northern Europe by 1500 BC. This book covers the evolution of the war chariot throughout the Bronze Age, detailing its design, development and combat history - in particular its fundamental involvement at the battle of Qadesh.

This book provides a detailed examination of the design, development and construction of the defences of ancient Rome, with a particular focus on the Aurelian Wall - arguably the best preserved of all city walls in the Roman empire.

Constructed to protect the coastline of southern and eastern Britain, the forts of the 'Saxon Shore' are among the most impressive surviving monuments of the Roman occupation of the British Isles, although much about them remains a mystery. In an impressive outlay of money, manpower and materials the frontier system stretched from the Wash to the Solent and included the heavy fortification of the major harbours and estuaries of the east and south-east coast. This book explores the history of this frontier system the ruins of which define the British landscape to this day.

The development of the city-state in the Classical period of Greek history ensured a shift in the nature of fortifications in the region. No longer were fortresses designed to defend a ruler and his entourage, rather the whole of the citizen body had to be protected against any outside threats. The enceintes of these Greek city-states did not have to be very high or strong as city-state conflict was still decided by spear and shield, though some thought was still given to the science of fortification. This book details the construction and ongoing development of the defences that protected some of the most illustrious sites in Greece during the most famous period of her history.