The Roman War Machine - Season 1 (1999)

This episode investigates historically how Rome became a dominant force in ancient Europe. We’ll take a look at the early battle of Veii, in which the Etruscan kings were routed, to the Celtic sack of Rome and the subsequent reorganization of the army. This same army would to wrest control of the Mediterranean from Carthage in the Punic Wars. Late Roman Republican power struggles would culminate in leading Julius Caesar to the very top as a dictator. This resulted in the formation of the famed Roman army that forged the Empire.

This episode features the points in history where the powerful new Roman military turned against its own leaders. During Roman versus Roman we’ll focus on these civil wars and the reign of the first Emperor of Rome: Augustus.

Roman Siege Warfare details logistics and the mass mobilization of its troops which allowed Rome to conquer all before it. This episode examines the Roman siege equipment, including the devastatingly deadly bolt-firing catapults and stone-throwing ballistae. Furthermore, we’ll investigate the sieges of Jerusalem (in 66 AD) and Masada in Judea. This is followed by a description of common soldier life at a Roman fort, such as Vindolanda on Hadrian’s wall.

Barbarians at the Gate documents that by the second century AD, the people ancient Rome had vanquished had developed territorial ambitions of their own. In this final episode the steady decline of the Empire is sketched, the military reforms of Diocletian and Constantine are touched upon, as is the process of barbarization of the army, before the collapse of the Western Empire in the fifth century.