Reading Group--Caesar's Legion

[mmadsen]

Awhile back, I was looking for a quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War on capturing the enemy's forces and making them your own:

1. Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best
thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact;
to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is
better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it,
to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire
than to destroy them.

I can't pretend it's particularly enlightening...

 

[Rashak Mani]

You should keep in mind that SunTzu lived in a time where many chinese kingdoms fought each other. Most soldiers would have no qualms about changing sides once captured. They all look alike anyway.... The same lessons would be harder for Cesar vs Barbarians...

 

[mmadsen]

Chapter VIII -- Broken Promises (continued)

Caesar convinces the major towns of western Spain to throw out their garrisons and takes the region without bloodshed. So far, so good.

What he doesn't realize is that a Pompeian fleet from Greece has seized one of his ships from his undefended port in Sicily, joined forces with another squadron of ship in Marseilles, defeated one of his fleets in the Mediterranean, and arrived at Tarrogona -- a godsend as far as General Afranius [is] concerned.

Afranius, who has sworn to stay out of the war as part of his surrender agreement, gathers 3,500 of his discharged troops and loads them up on board Nasidius's warships to join Pompey in Greece.

Hence the chapter title: Broken Promises.

 

[Maldur]

It seems these Roman generals are not as Honourable as they claim to be. Strange that Ceasar didn't see this coming. Is he less ruthless against romans? Later it happens again! And ceasars response gets more violent.

legionair arer discharged and 're'recruited by the thousands, and because the generals seem a bit preoccupied get treated worse every day. The shine and benefits of joining a legion are reduced immensely.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Shark I saw your book list on the other thread... and hijacking a little the thread I would like to know the opinions of any of the thread members about these two books:

Black Hawk Down: A story of Modern war - Mark Bowden

Band of Brothers - Stephen Ambrose

or should I go for the Citizen Soldiers - Stephen Ambrose ?

 

[mmadsen]

Black Hawk Down: A story of Modern war - Mark Bowden
Band of Brothers - Stephen Ambrose

I loved Black Hawk Down. My only complaint is that it's a bit hard to follow a story with that many characters. Band of Brothers is still waiting in my to-read pile. It's a "bargain book" at Barnes & Noble right now -- $5.

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Hey there Rashak Mani. I can highly recommend Citizen Soldiers and Band of Brothers. Both are excellent books on WWII Infantry combat. I haven't read Black Hawk Down, but I have heard it is good.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[mmadsen]

Strange that Ceasar didn't see this coming.

He seems quite blind to the fact that he angers and humiliates people left and right, and they might not like that. He seems to be a very charismatic, powerful guy -- and he seems to believe his own hype.

 

[mmadsen]

Chapter VIII -- Broken Promises (continued)

Speaking of broken promises:

...Caesar would have disapproved when he heard that General Fabius had let the senior centurions of the 10th Legion take their discharges back in January. Now, as he marched from Spain with the 10th, Caesar sent out recalls to every one of them. Under the terms of their original enlistment they had to make themselves available for up to four additional years' service if their general required them and had to hand in their names and addresses to the local authorities wherever they went in their retirement.

First, of course, I'm sure it's unpleasant to finally retire and then get called back to war. More interestingly though, those Romans certainly are modern. The bureaucracy tracks you for recall wherever you move? They've got a system, those Romans!

 

[Rashak Mani]

The individual legion is probably recruited/set up in the same small region... shouldnt be too dificult to track em down... ARent retired legionaires given plots of land ? That could also be a means of keeping tract of their location....