An epic historical biography of the Norwegian king who laid claim to the thrones of Denmark and England.Harald Hardrada is perhaps best known as the inheritor of "seven feet of English soil" in that year of fateful change, 1066. But Stamford Bridge was the terminal point of a warring career that spanned decades and continents. Thus, prior to forcibly occupying the Norwegian throne, Harald had an interesting (and lucrative) career in the Varangian Guard, and he remai...

The third in the Roman Conquests series will briefly cover Rome's first forays into the dark continent during the First and Second Punic Wars, then cover in detail her vindictive final conquest and destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic War. The subsequent long wars against the slippery Numidian prince, Jugurtha, which tested the Roman military system to the limit, also occupy a central place. With a cast of characters including Hannibal, the Scipios, Marius, Sulla and the wily Jugurth...

Explores the critical battle of Carrhae, a fascinating tale of treachery, tactics, and topography in which Rome experienced one of its most humiliating defeats.The Battle of Carrhae is from a heady moment in Roman history – that of the clever carve-up of power between the 'First Triumvirate' of Caius Iulius Caesar, Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus (the Roman general who had famously put down the Spartacan revolt). It is a fascinating tale of treac...

The fascinating story of Republican Rome's gruelling six-year campaign against the insurgent Numidian warlord, Jugurtha.Jugurtha, the adoptive son of Micipsa, king of the Numidians, was initially a much-respected ally of Rome, fighting gallantly alongside the Romans during the Numantine War in Iberia. Over the course of the campaign, however, the ambitious and hot-headed Jugurtha fell in with more unsavoury company, who urged him to stage a coup d'etat and wrest co...

A gripping illustrated narrative of the Cimbrian (or Cimbric) War, in which the armies of the Roman Republic finally defeated the Germanic tribes of the Cimbri, Teutons, Ambrons and Tigurini.Rome's victory in the Cimbrian War was born of a number of huge and devastating defeats at the hands of the Germanic tribes (chiefly the Cimbri and Teutones), who had migrated en masse southwards in the late 2nd century BC. These included the d...

The first dedicated examination of Alexander the Great's final battle and acknowledged tactical masterpiece.In the years that followed Alexander the Great's victory at Gaugamela on 1 October 331 BC, his Macedonian and Greek army fought a truly 'Herculean' series of campaigns in what is today Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. But it was in the Indus Valley, on the banks of the Hydaspes River (known today as the Jhelum) in 326 BC that Alexander would fig...

A fascinating and detailed exploration of one of the most famous warships of the Ancient world - the trireme - and its tactical employment by the opposing sides in the 5th-century BC Graeco-Persian Wars.You may be familiar with the Athenian trireme – but how much do you know about the ram-armed, triple-oared warships that it dueled against at the battles of Artemision, Salamis and the Eurymedon River? How similar or different were these warships to each other? And ...

One of the greatest ambushes in military history, Lake Trasimene was the site of the slaughter of an entire Roman army at the hands of Hannibal during the Second Punic War. An ideal book for all enthusiasts of ancient warfare.Following Hannibal's crushing victory at the battle of the Trebbia, the reeling Roman Republic sent a new army under the over-confident consul Caius Flaminius to destroy the Carthaginian invaders – unbeknownst to him they were ready and waitin...

In this highly illustrated and detailed title, Nic Fields tells the full story of the invasion which established the Romans in Britain, explaining how and why the initial Claudian invasion succeeded and what this meant for the future of Britain.For the Romans, Britannia lay beyond the comfortable confines of the Mediterranean world around which classical civilisation had flourished. Britannia was felt to be at the outermost edge of the world itself, lending the isl...

In the aftermath of Julius Caesar's assassination, Octavian and the forces of the late Republic battled Mark Antony in the battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina in 43 BC.Gaius Julius Caesar's self-declared successor Mark Antony struggled to hold together his legacy. Following an abortive coup attempt by Caesar's adopted son Octavian, two of Antony's legions declared for him, leading to a renewed outbreak of civil war. Antony moved into northern Italy and invaded the...

Nic Fields draws on detailed knowledge of available sources and his own visits to the battlefield to set the battle within the context of its political situation and religious impact upon history. The Battle of the Frigidus River, fought on 5 and 6 September 394 in what is now Slovenia, was a crucial clash between the Eastern Roman emperor, Theodosius (later 'the Great'), and the usurper Eugenius, who had seized power in the Western Empire. The battle was hard fought and lasted two days. A...

A highly illustrated account of one of Ancient Rome's most humiliating defeats, the battle of the Caudine Forks in 321 BC, and how the embarrassment spurred the Roman Army on to eventual triumph.In its long history, the Roman Republic suffered many defeats, but none as humiliating as the Caudine Forks in the summer of 321 BC. Rome had been at war with the Samnites – one of early Rome's most formidable foes – since 326 BC in what would turn out to be a long and bitt...