The Military Institutions of the Romans eBook Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Download As PDF : The Military Institutions of the Romans eBook Flavius Vegetius Renatus 
The Military Institutions of the Romans (De Re Militari - "Concerning Military Matters") is a treatise by the late Latin writer Flavius Renatus about Roman warfare and military principles as a presentation of methods and practices in use during the height of Rome's power. Renatus emphasized things such as training of soldiers as a disciplined force, orderly strategy, maintenance of supply lines and logistics, quality leadership and use of tactics and even deceit to ensure advantage over the opposition.
The Military Institutions of the Romans eBook Flavius Vegetius Renatus
This is a short but indispensable book for anyone interested in military history. Although the subject matter is the Roman Army's organization and tactics in perhaps the II Century, the book survived the fall of the Roman Empire and was influential through the Middle Ages, and even beyond.Scholars in more recent times have questioned the organizational details of the Roman legions described by the author, but the differences are not very great and the legions themselves evolved slowly through the centuries. Vegetus does however give a clear description of the artillery of each legion, as well as of its bridging train. The size and deployment of each legion's cavalry has also been questioned.
This book was written for the ruling Emperor hundreds of years after the legions were broken up into independent battalions and in the wake of a string of military defeats. Its aim was to convince the Emperor of the need to reorganize the Empire's military along the lines of the early Empire, while pointing out the deficiencies of the then current forces (.e.g lack of training, fitness, shortage of good infantry). There are also chapters on tactics and a collection tactical and strategic maxims, some of which survived to out day (.e.g. "vincit pace, para bellum"). This version of Vegetus work is a XIX Century translation; there are probably others. I have not seen the Latin version of this book, but the translation is certainly clear and reads well. I gave it four stars only because it is likely to be of interest only to specialists; on a list for military historians, it would rate five stars and it is required reading.
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The Military Institutions of the Romans eBook Flavius Vegetius Renatus Reviews
I enjoyed reading the book. I understand at least the author's take on the nature of the Roman Legion. The author is looking back on the past models and writings about the legion and comparing them to his present, where the Roman army is in some kind of disarray. So the juxtaposition of these two time periods was the most interesting part. Whether his sense of the Roman past was accurate or more polished than it actually was is something I would like to understand more about.
Since I am interested in the organization and tactics of the Roman legions I thought this book was pretty informative. But I don't believe the man who wrote this in the 4th or 5th century AD had ever served in a legion. Apparently he wrote this at the order of the ruling emperor who wanted to know how to bring back the success of the legions as they enjoyed in the golden years of the empire. He sets forth many examples of how the old legions functioned in many scenarios. His scenarios were always in black and white and no shades of grey. He basically says over and over, "be smart and win". I think that if he had ever served in a legion he would have known that things in battle are never clear and plans change continuously. So, I found the book sometimes annoying due to his pedantry. But he did give many interesting insights as to how the legion was organized and I found this fascinating so I gave the book four stars.
Full of clarifying logic. No huge magic wand to win wars, lots of little necessities and some not so little, that made me say, “of course.”
The play between Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus the author (c 450 AD) lamenting and identifying the declining military, and perhaps the Roman Empire as well, and Lieutenant John Clarke’s soldierly translation (published 1767,) is worth noting. Both Clarke and Vegetius were under severe scrutiny in their respective times, Clarke by any offense ending his career and Vegetius, his life. Perhaps Clarke let Vegetius speak for him.
By the end, I was reflecting on our own military and political similarities, while our technology is increasing, it seems we are doomed to repeat, but Vegetius says it better than I do.
Interestingly the author, Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus has four names.
By the bye, if you are a gamer, this book should help your strategy.
This is not only a book on military training and strategy, it contains small gems of information about the relationships between others living at that time. Author Flavius Vegetius Renatus continually fawns over the emperor during the three introductions (and with good reason, no doubt) and either repeats someone else’s thoughts or injects his own at times.
On the latter statement, his comments concerning peasant recruits include the following “They are able to endure the greatest heat of the sun, are unacquainted with the use of baths, and are strangers to the other luxuries of life.” Humorous while at the same time a revealing glimpse into the thought patterns concerning their potential soldiers.
The military information goes into detail, and the book is split into three sections that address selecting and training new recruits, organizing the army, and engagement with the enemy. If you are interested in history or want to learn more about how the Romans and others trained and fought, this is an interesting book. It is short and can be read in one to two hours. Four stars.
This is a short but indispensable book for anyone interested in military history. Although the subject matter is the Roman Army's organization and tactics in perhaps the II Century, the book survived the fall of the Roman Empire and was influential through the Middle Ages, and even beyond.
Scholars in more recent times have questioned the organizational details of the Roman legions described by the author, but the differences are not very great and the legions themselves evolved slowly through the centuries. Vegetus does however give a clear description of the artillery of each legion, as well as of its bridging train. The size and deployment of each legion's cavalry has also been questioned.
This book was written for the ruling Emperor hundreds of years after the legions were broken up into independent battalions and in the wake of a string of military defeats. Its aim was to convince the Emperor of the need to reorganize the Empire's military along the lines of the early Empire, while pointing out the deficiencies of the then current forces (.e.g lack of training, fitness, shortage of good infantry). There are also chapters on tactics and a collection tactical and strategic maxims, some of which survived to out day (.e.g. "vincit pace, para bellum"). This version of Vegetus work is a XIX Century translation; there are probably others. I have not seen the Latin version of this book, but the translation is certainly clear and reads well. I gave it four stars only because it is likely to be of interest only to specialists; on a list for military historians, it would rate five stars and it is required reading.
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