Audiobook14 hours
Killing for the Republic: Citizen-Soldiers and the Roman Way of War
Written by Steele Brand
Narrated by Tom Parks
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The year 146 BC marked the brutal end to the Roman Republic's 118-year struggle for the western Mediterranean. Breaching the walls of their great enemy, Carthage, Roman troops slaughtered countless citizens, enslaved those who survived, and leveled the 700-year-old city. That same year in the east, Rome destroyed Corinth and subdued Greece. Over little more than a century, Rome's triumphant armies of citizen-soldiers had shocked the world by conquering all of its neighbors.
How did armies made up of citizen-soldiers manage to pull off such a major triumph? And what made the republic so powerful? In Killing for the Republic, Steele Brand explains how Rome transformed average farmers into ambitious killers capable of conquering the entire Mediterranean. Rome instilled something violent and vicious in its soldiers, making them more effective than other empire builders. Unlike the Assyrians, Persians, and Macedonians, it fought with part-timers. Examining the relationship between the republican spirit and the citizen-soldier, Brand argues that Roman republican values and institutions prepared common men for the rigors and horrors of war.
How did armies made up of citizen-soldiers manage to pull off such a major triumph? And what made the republic so powerful? In Killing for the Republic, Steele Brand explains how Rome transformed average farmers into ambitious killers capable of conquering the entire Mediterranean. Rome instilled something violent and vicious in its soldiers, making them more effective than other empire builders. Unlike the Assyrians, Persians, and Macedonians, it fought with part-timers. Examining the relationship between the republican spirit and the citizen-soldier, Brand argues that Roman republican values and institutions prepared common men for the rigors and horrors of war.
Related to Killing for the Republic
Related audiobooks
The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alaric the Goth: An Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaius Marius: The Life and Legacy of the General Who Reformed the Roman Army Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life In Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gladius: The World of the Roman Soldier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAncient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Byzantine Army: The History and Legacy of the Byzantine Empire’s Military during the Middle Ages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pertinax: The Son of a Slave Who Became Roman Emperor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Roman Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gracchi: The Lives and Legacies of the Brothers Who Attempted to Reform the Roman Republic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Year of the Four Emperors: The History of the Civil War to Succeed Nero as Emperor of Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World's Greatest Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ancient Rome: The history of the Roman Empire and its Emperors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sparta: Rise Of The Warrior City-State: 4-In-1 History Of Spartan Warriors, Kings, Queens & Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire – Part 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fall of Rome: The History and Legacy of the Western Roman Empire’s Collapse in the 5th Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265-146BC Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vandals: The History and Legacy of Antiquity's Most Famous Barbarians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century CE to the Third, Revised and Updated Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoman Lives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Middle Ages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Ancient History For You
Meditations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Jesus: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed: Revised and Updated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Magdalene: Women, the Church, and the Great Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eternal City: A History of Rome Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Mexico Their Thoughts about Life Death and the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chariots of the Gods Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Epic of Gilgamesh Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ancient Greece 101: Greek History, Myth, and Civilization Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Agrippina: The Most Extraordinary Woman of the Roman World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5History Is Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of the Dead: The History and Legacy of Ancient Egypt’s Famous Funerary Texts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Histories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roman History 101: From Republic to Empire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Past Mistakes: How We Misinterpret History and Why it Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Killing for the Republic
Rating: 4.666666666666667 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An excellent overview of a “citizen soldier” concept, as seen and understood by the Romans but also modern (especially American) society. Conclusion of the book is very relevant to our view of wars in a democratic world. The only gripe I have with this audiobook is an atrocious Latin of the American narrator who was hacking through Latin names and words with a happy abandon of a true Roman legionary.