This military history of Ancient Rome analyses the empire’s revitalized push against rising enemies to the East. In the century since Rome’s defeat of the Seleucid Empire in the 180s BC, the East was dominated by the rise of new empires: Parthia, Armenia, and Pontus, each vying to recreate the glories of the Persian Empire. By the 80s BC, the Pontic Empire of Mithridates had grown so bold that it invaded and annexed the whole of Rome’s eastern empire and occupied Greece itself. But as Rome emerged from the devastating effects of the First Civil War, a new breed of general emerged with it, eager to re-assert Roman military dominance and carve out a fresh empire in the east. In Rome’s Great Eastern War, Gareth C. Sampson analyses the military campaigns and battles between a revitalized Rome and the various powers of the eastern Mediterranean hinterland. He demonstrates how this series of conflicts ultimately heralded a new phase in Roman imperial expansion and reshaped the ancient East.

A Roman historian examines the motivation and strategy behind Marc Anthony’s invasion of Parthia and the reasons for its ultimate defeat. In the mid-first century BC, the Roman Empire was rivaled only by the Parthian Empire to the east. The first war between these two ancient superpowers resulted in the total defeat of Rome and the death of Marcus Crassus. When Rome collapsed into Civil War in the 1st century, BC, the Parthians took the opportunity conquer the Middle East and drive Rome back into Europe. What followed was two decades of war which saw victories and defeats on both sides. The Romans were finally able to gain a victory over the Parthians thanks to the great general Publius Ventidius. These victories acted as a springboard for Marc Antony’s plans to conquer the Parthian Empire, which ended in ignominious defeat. In this authoritative history, Gareth Sampson analyses the military campaigns and the various battles between Rome and Parthia. He provides fascinating insight into the war that in many ways defined the Middle East for the next 650 years.

“Not just worthwhile for its analysis of the battle, but also for its coverage on Marcus Licinius Crassus’ long career and the rise of the Parthian Empire.” —Medieval Warfare Magazine In 53BC the Proconsul Marcus Crassus and 36,000 of his legionaries were crushed by the Parthians at Carrhae in what is now eastern Turkey. Crassus’ defeat and death and the 20,000 casualties his army suffered were an extraordinary disaster for Rome. The event intensified the bitter, destructive struggle for power in the Roman republic, curtailed the empire’s eastward expansion and had a lasting impact on the history of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It was also the first clash between two of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world. Yet this critical episode has often been neglected by writers on the period who have concentrated on the civil war between Pompey and Caesar. Gareth Sampson, in this challenging and original study, reconstructs the Carrhae campaign in fine detail, reconsiders the policy of imperial expansion and gives a fascinating insight into the opponents the Romans confronted in the East—the Parthians. “The book is very well written and tightly referenced . . . Recommended, especially for those who only remember Crassus as the guy who was played by Laurence Olivier in Spartacus.” —Slingshot

A “splendid” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of history’s most important and yet little-known wars, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, whose outcome determined the future of the Roman Empire. Following Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium. Octavian prevailed over Antony and Cleopatra, who subsequently killed themselves. The Battle of Actium had great consequences for the empire. Had Antony and Cleopatra won, the empire’s capital might have moved from Rome to Alexandria, Cleopatra’s capital, and Latin might have become the empire’s second language after Greek, which was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. In this “superbly recounted” (The National Review) history, Barry Strauss, ancient history authority, describes this consequential battle with the drama and expertise that it deserves. The War That Made the Roman Empire is essential history that features three of the greatest figures of the ancient world.

“Capture[s] the essence of the struggle within Rome for reform and power and dominance . . . a page turner of a book . . . that offers fresh insight.” —Firetrench Following the First Civil War the Roman Republic was able to rebuild itself and restore stability. Yet the problems which had plagued the previous seventy years of the Republic, of political reform being met with violence and bloodshed, had not been resolved and once again resumed. Men such as Catiline and Clodius took up the mantle of reform which saw Rome paralyzed with domestic conflict and ultimately carnage and murder. In the search for stability, the Roman system produced a series of military dynasts; men such as Pompey, Crassus and Caesar. Ultimately this led to the Republic’s collapse into a second and third civil war and the end of the old Republican system. In its place was the Principate, a new Republic founded on the promise of peace and security at home and an end to the decades of bloodshed. Gareth Sampson analyses the various reforming politicians, their policies and opponents and the conflicts that resulted. He charts the Republic’s collapse into further civil wars and the new system that rose from the ashes. “[Sampson] has obviously done a huge amount of research, and yet managed to turn what could be a dry subject into an interesting tale of men battling for control. Far more exciting than Game of Thrones, and with added gladiators!” —Army Rumour Service (ARRSE)

Julian Romane examines the campaigns of Julius Caesar throughout the civil wars that followed his famous crossing of the Rubicon, through to the defeat of the final Pompeian diehards at the battle of Munda. He analyzes Caesar's generalship in the widest sense, with a strong emphasis on the logistical and financial effort required to put his legions in the field and keep them equipped, fed and paid. The attention given to this important but often-neglected aspect sets this account apart from many others. The author discusses the nature of late Republican Roman armies, describing their organization, tactics and equipment. The fact that such armies were employed both by and against Caesar only emphasizes the role of generalship in the outcome. This is followed by a detailed account of the strategic maneuvers in Caesar's epochal duel with Pompey the Great and the resultant battles at Dyrrhachium and Pharsalus. The final campaigns to mop up opposition in Spain and Africa are studied in equal detail to give a complete picture of Caesar's command performance in these history-shaping events.

Despite defeating his opponent Pompeius Magnus at Pharsalus, and the latter’s subsequent murder, Caesar still faced a determined opposition in the Civil War that had engulfed the late Roman Republic. Having become entangled in the intrigues and wars of the East, Caesar gave his opponents time to regroup under the lead of Metellus Scipio and Cato the Younger, scions of two of the Republic’s greatest families. Under their leadership Caesar’s dominance of the Republic was seriously challenged, culminating in a decisive battle at Thapsus in what is now Tunisia. Gareth Sampson describes the campaigns that set the context for the battle, including the role played by the various regional powers drawn into the Roman Civil War. He then recounts the battle itself in detail, analysing the relative strengths of the armies involved, their organization, equipment and tactics. He assesses the opposing commanders and the strategies on the day which led to another victory for Caesar. He concludes with a discussion of the bloody aftermath of the battle and the myths that developed around the deaths of Caesar’s opponents.