Nero's Killing Machine: The True Story of Rome's Remarkable 14th Legion - Softcover

Dando-Collins, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470046384 ISBN 13: 9780470046388

Publisher: Trade Paper Press, 2006

Synopsis

The 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion was the most celebrated unit of the early Roman Empire–a force that had been wiped out under Julius Caesar, reformed, and almost wiped out again. After participating in the a.d. 43 invasion of Britain, the 14th Legion achieved its greatest glory when it put down the famous rebellion of the Britons under Boudicca. Numbering less than 10,000 men, the disciplined Roman killing machine defeated 230,000 rampaging rebels, slaughtering 80,000 with only 400 Roman losses–an accomplishment that led the emperor Nero to honor the legion with the title ""Conqueror of Britain."" In this gripping book, second in the author’s definitive histories of the legions of ancient Rome, Stephen Dando-Collins brings the 14th Legion to life, offering military history aficionados a unique soldier’s-eye view of their tactics, campaigns, and battles.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

The 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion was the most celebrated military unit of the early Roman Empire. After participating in the A.D. 43 invasion of Britain, the legion achieved its greatest glory when it put down the famous rebellion led by Britain's Queen Boudicca. Numbering less than 10,000 men, the disciplined Roman soldiers defeated 230,000 rampaging British rebels, slaughtering 80,000 while incurring only 400 losses—an accomplishment that led the emperor Nero to honor the legion with the title "Conqueror of Britain."

In this gripping book, second in the author's definitive histories of the legions of ancient Rome, Stephen Dando-Collins brings the 14th Legion to life, offering a unique soldier's-eye view of their tactics, campaigns, and battles and exploring the gruesome realities of war in the Classical Age. Based on his thirty-two years of painstaking research into the Roman military, Nero's Killing Machine paints a striking portrait of daily life in the legion as it traces its storied history—beginning with the disastrous day in 54 B.C. when, led into a trap while serving under Julius Caesar, the legion was wiped from the face of the earth.

You'll see how, for decades, the legion struggled to regain its lost status, treading a blood-soaked path and slowly climbing back to glory by fighting first under Germanicus Caesar against Hermann the German, then under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus against Queen Boudicca—vastly outnumbered but determined to preserve honor if not life as it went down fighting. You'll also gain new insights into the lives of the legionnaires—men who, hardened by years of rigorous training and rigid Roman military discipline enforced by often brutal centurions, merged into a close-knit, chillingly efficient killing machine.

Filled with previously unknown details about Roman military practices, Nero's Killing Machine is a riveting, eye-opening history of the men who made Rome great.

From the Back Cover

The Saga of the Most Celebrated Legion of the Early Roman Empire

In Nero's Killing Machine, the second in the author's definitive histories of the legions of ancient Rome, Stephen Dando-Collins brings the 14th Legion to vivid life. Drawing upon thirty-two years of research, he traces the legion's steps as they were wiped out while in the army of Julius Caesar, then reformed only to be savaged again. For decades the men of the 14th would struggle to regain their lost status, slowly climbing back to glory before eventually claiming a legendary victory over Britain's Queen Boudicca, despite being vastly outnumbered. Uncovering new information about the legionnaires' lives and Roman military practices, Nero's Killing Machine is military history at its finest.

Edition details

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0470046384
• ISBN 13: 9780470046388
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336