Four Random Books 35: Romans!

The opening compares broad illustrated surveys, legion-by-legion reference works, and a commander study as complementary ways into Roman military history.

A long excerpt explains centurion seniority, cohort command, promotion routes, and the gaps that make Roman officer careers difficult to reconstruct.

Liddell Hart's Scipio study is recommended as a provocative interpretation, with the warning that its Roman history also serves a modern argument for armored warfare.

The Scipio excerpt follows a covert seizure of Locri, Hannibal's failed relief attempt, and the morale value Scipio drew from the encounter.

The aftermath at Locri becomes a case study in discipline, divided command, and how historians judge a controversial decision from incomplete evidence.

The histories of Legio XV Primigenia and XVI Gallica show how destruction, disloyalty, abolition, and re-formation shaped Roman units.

Legionaries formed the backbone of a broader force containing auxiliaries, archers, spearmen, cavalry, and frontier garrisons.

The Hadrian's Wall excerpt follows changing materials, widths, milecastles, turrets, forts, roads, depots, and supply bases across the frontier system.

The closing excerpt rejects the image of a continuously manned battle wall and explains the system as surveillance, delay, access control, and support for mobile forces.