The Horse That Ate the Legion: Rome’s Cavalry's Triumph Over the Infantry

The Horse That Ate the Legion: Rome’s Cavalry's Triumph Over the Infantry

The cavalry 'wings' that probed ahead of the Roman Army played a key role in its campaigns of conquest, masking its marching flanks and seeking to encircle enemies in battle. However, at the very beginning of Rome’s history, it didn’t even have a cavalry, and relied on Greek-style phalanx formations instead. It began as a small cavalry arm provided by the citizen nobility, but this had proved inadequate before the end of the Republic, and Julius Caesar's cavalry was largely made up of hired allies. During the Early Principate, the armies under Augustus continued in this vein, incorporating large numbers of non-citizen auxiliary cavalry units. The provinces came under increasing attack throughout and following the chaotic mid-3rd century, and Rome took lessons from its 'barbarian' enemies in how to improve its military mobility, adopting both new, heavily armored shock cavalry and horse-archers, and vitally shaping the tactics employed during the Dominate.

Today’s guest is Mike Bishop, author of “Roman Cavalry Tactics.” We discuss how the cavalry grew to become the dominant force in Roman field armies by the twilight of the Western Empire. Eight newly commissioned artwork plates and a rich selection of artefact photographs and archaeological sources provide vivid detail and insight, helping to bring to the life the evolving tactics, clothing and weaponry of Rome's cavalry from the 2nd century BC through to the 5th century AD.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaksot(1073)

The American Revolution was a World War in All but Name

The American Revolution was a World War in All but Name

The Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, known as the "shot heard round the world," marked the first military engagements of the American Revolution. Ralph Waldo Emerson named it that becau...

11 Joulu 202556min

How Napoleon and Churchill Used Neuroscience to Make a Better Soldier and More Loyal Public

How Napoleon and Churchill Used Neuroscience to Make a Better Soldier and More Loyal Public

The brain acts in strange ways during wartime. Even in active combat situations, when soldiers are one mistake away from death, many can’t fire on their enemies because their brain is triggering comp...

9 Joulu 202545min

William F. Buckley JR.'s Guide to Friendship in a Polarized Era

William F. Buckley JR.'s Guide to Friendship in a Polarized Era

William F. Buckley Jr., the charismatic intellectual who defined modern American conservatism, was famously skilled at forging friendships across the ideological divide, a talent that helped him both ...

4 Joulu 202539min

What it Was Like Living Through the USSR’s Collapse

What it Was Like Living Through the USSR’s Collapse

The Collapse of the Soviet Union was twice as devastating as the Great Depression for those who lived there. It immediately led to widespread economic chaos and a breakdown of public services, plungin...

2 Joulu 202555min

The Battle of Agincourt, 1415: Longbowmen, Bands of Brothers, and Henry V’s Triumph

The Battle of Agincourt, 1415: Longbowmen, Bands of Brothers, and Henry V’s Triumph

From Shakespeare's 'band of brothers' speech to its appearances in numerous films, Agincourt rightfully has a place among a handful of conflicts whose names are immediately recognized around the world...

27 Marras 202553min

Clarence Dillon: The Roaring 20s Wall Street Baron Who Wrote the Rules for Corporate Takeovers, Junk Bonds, and Bankruptcy

Clarence Dillon: The Roaring 20s Wall Street Baron Who Wrote the Rules for Corporate Takeovers, Junk Bonds, and Bankruptcy

J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles E. Mitchell are names that come to mind when thinking of the most prominent icons of wealth and influence during the Roaring Twenties. Yet the one figure ...

25 Marras 202545min

A Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trails, Horse Stealing, and Becoming Mormon

A Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trails, Horse Stealing, and Becoming Mormon

The American Indian leader Wakara was among the most influential and feared men in the nineteenth-century American West. He and his pan-tribal cavalry of horse thieves and slave traders dominated the ...

20 Marras 20251h

Why Did Rome Fall? Wrong Question. How Did it Last 2,000 Years Despite Changing its Religion, Language, and Government?

Why Did Rome Fall? Wrong Question. How Did it Last 2,000 Years Despite Changing its Religion, Language, and Government?

Rome began as a pagan, Latin-speaking city state in central Italy during the early Iron Age and ended as a Christian, Greek-speaking empire as the age of gunpowder dawned. Everything about it changed,...

18 Marras 202553min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
sita
i-dont-like-mondays
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
aikalisa
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
rss-nikotellen
rss-haudattu
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
loukussa
taskula-trishin