Book
Recommendations
Swords
Against the Senate: The Rise Of The Roman Army And The Fall Of The
Republic
A very readable history of the end of the
Roman Republic and the careers of Gaius Marius and is enemy, Sulla. The Roman
Constitution was unwritten and thus slowly shredded when it was convenient for
politicians to do so. There is a lesson here for us.
The
Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of
Parthia, Central Asia and Han China by Raoul McLaughlin
An
excellent and interesting history. It’s an academic book, so I wouldn’t call it
light reading. But though I am well read in history, I was amazed at the number
of empires, kingdoms, and warlords between the Chinese and Roman Empires during
the period. I learned at lot from it. It is supposed to be a book about
economics, but it is more a book about warfare between these entities. The
Romans were never able to deal with mounted Steppe warriors armed with bows,
especially after the Parthians and their successors obtained steel for scale
armor, swords, and arrowheads from the Chinese. Eventually, the Huns undermined
the western Roman Empire, leading to its fall. Worth reading.
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