Paul Coby here proposes a new system for the recording and mapping of Roman forts and fortifications that integrates all the data, including size, dating and identification of occupying units. Application of these methods allows analysis that brings new insights into the placement of these forts, the units garrisoning them and the strategy of conquest and defense they underpinned. This is a new and original contribution to the long-running debate over whether the Roman Empire had a coherent grand strategy or merely reacted piecemeal to emerging needs. Although the author focuses on several major campaigns in Britain as case studies, the author stresses that his method's are also applicable to elsewhere in the Empire. Lavishly illustrated with color maps, the book is also supported by a website and blogs, encouraging further investigation and discussion.

Paul Coby here proposes a new system for the recording and mapping of Roman forts and fortifications that integrates all the data, including size, dating and identification of occupying units. Application of these methods allows analysis that brings new insights into the placement of these forts, the units garrisoning them and the strategy of conquest and defense they underpinned. This is a new and original contribution to the long-running debate over whether the Roman Empire had a coherent grand strategy or merely reacted piecemeal to emerging needs. Although the author focuses on several major campaigns in Britain as case studies, the author stresses that his method's are also applicable to elsewhere in the Empire. Lavishly illustrated with color maps, the book is also supported by a website and blogs, encouraging further investigation and discussion.

A newly updated edition of this classic, hugely influential account of how the Romans defended their vast empire. At the height of its power, the Roman Empire encompassed the entire Mediterranean basin, extending much beyond it from Britain to Mesopotamia, from the Rhine to the Black Sea. Rome prospered for centuries while successfully resisting attack, fending off everything from overnight robbery raids to full-scale invasion attempts by entire nations on the move. How were troops able to defend the Empire’s vast territories from constant attacks? And how did they do so at such moderate cost that their treasury could pay for an immensity of highways, aqueducts, amphitheaters, city baths, and magnificent temples? In The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, seasoned defense analyst Edward N. Luttwak reveals how the Romans were able to combine military strength, diplomacy, and fortifications to effectively respond to changing threats. Rome’s secret was not ceaseless fighting, but comprehensive strategies that unified force, diplomacy, and an immense infrastructure of roads, forts, walls, and barriers. Initially relying on client states to buffer attacks, Rome moved to a permanent frontier defense around 117 CE. Finally, as barbarians began to penetrate the empire, Rome filed large armies in a strategy of “defense-in-depth,” allowing invaders to pierce Rome’s borders. This updated edition has been extensively revised to incorporate recent scholarship and archeological findings. A new preface explores Roman imperial statecraft. This illuminating book remains essential to both ancient historians and students of modern strategy.

Examines the structure and defenses of an ancient Roman fort, Roman military life, and the campaigns waged by the Roman Empire against its enemies.

Paul Coby here proposes a new system for the recording and mapping of Roman forts and fortifications that integrates all the data, including size, dating and identification of occupying units. Application of these methods allows analysis that brings new insights into the placement of these forts, the units garrisoning them and the strategy of conquest and defense they underpinned. This is a new and original contribution to the long-running debate over whether the Roman Empire had a coherent grand strategy or merely reacted piecemeal to emerging needs. Although the author focuses on several major campaigns in Britain as case studies, the author stresses that his method's are also applicable to elsewhere in the Empire. Lavishly illustrated with color maps, the book is also supported by a website and blogs, encouraging further investigation and discussion.

Uses artefact analyses to investigate complex spatial and community relationships inside the walls of early Roman imperial military bases.

The Byzantine empire was one of the most powerful forces in the Mediterranean and Near East for over a thousand years. Strong military organization, in particular widespread fortifications, was essential for its defense. Yet this aspect of its history is often neglected, and no detailed overview has been published for over thirty years. That is why Nikos Kontogiannis's ambitious account of Byzantine fortifications - their construction and development and their role in times of war - is such a valuable and timely publication.His ambitious study combines the results of decades of wide-ranging archaeological work with an account of the armies, weapons, tactics and defensive strategies of the empire throughout its long history. Fortifications built in every region of the empire are covered, from those in Mesopotamia, Syria and Africa, to those in Asia Minor, the Aegean and the Balkan peninsula.This all-round survey is essential reading and reference for anyone with a special interest in the Byzantine empire and in the wider history of fortification.