Augustus at War

The Struggle for the Pax Augusta

Lindsay Powell

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781783831845
• eBook ISBN:
  9781473890053
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: History

A penetrating assessment of Augustus as ancient Rome's military commander-in-chief.
 
The words Pax Augusta—or Pax Romana—evoke a period of uninterrupted peace across the vast Roman Empire. Lindsay Powell exposes this as a fallacy. Almost every year between 31 BC and AD 14 the Roman Army was in action somewhere, either fighting enemies beyond the frontier in punitive raids or for outright conquest; or suppressing banditry or rebellions within the borders.
 
Remarkably, over the same period, Augustus succeeded in nearly doubling the size of the Empire. How did this second-rate field commander, known to become physically ill before and during battle, achieve such extraordinary success? Did he, in fact, have a grand strategy?
 
Powell reveals Augustus as a brilliant strategist and manager of war. As commander-in-chief (imperator) he made changes to the political and military institutions to keep the empire together, and to hold on to power himself. His genius was to build a team of loyal but semi-autonomous deputies (legati) to ensure internal security and to fight his wars for him, while claiming their achievements as his own. The book profiles more than 90 of these men, as well as the military units under their command, and the campaigns they fought.
 
The book is lavishly illustrated with 23 maps, 42 color plates, 13 black-and-white figures and five order of battle schematics. With a foreword by Karl Galinsky, this book breaks new ground in explaining the extraordinary achievement of Caesar Augustus.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Karl Galinsky
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Illustrations
• Key to Military Symbols
• List of Tables
• List of Plates
• Chronology
• Roman Names
• 1. Seek and Destroy, 31–28 BCE
• 2. Command and Conquer, 27–19 BCE
• 3. On the Offensive, 18–14 BCE
• 4. Into the Unknown, 13 BCE–9 BCE
• 5. Trouble in the East, 8 BCE–2CE
• 6. World in Tumult, 3–12 CE
• 7. Toeing the Line, 13–14 CE
• 8. Assessment
• Appendix 1. In His Own Words: Res Gestae Divi Augusti
• Appendix 2. Family and Friends: The Men Who Served Augustus
• Appendix 3. Order of Battle: The Army of Augustus
• Appendix 4. Propaganda Wars: The Coins of Augustus
• Glossary
• Place Names
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Plate section