* A huge Thank You to Pen & Sword for having me on this
tour and for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review!
Much has been written about the Roman army and the mighty
legions that conquered their empire and then defended it for centuries against
all comers. But little has been written about the men and units employed when
something more subtle than the march of legions into pitched battle was
required. This is the only book available dedicated to Roman special ops and
the role of the Speculatores, Exploratores, Protectores and Areani. Simon
Elliott reveals the kinds of special operations conducted by the Romans: tactical
scouting ahead of the legions, covert strategic reconnaissance in neighbouring
states, espionage, assassination or abduction of dissidents and enemies,
counter-insurgency, and close protection of Roman officials and commanders.
While such missions were frequently executed by ad-hoc units or individuals
detailed for that specific mission, the author goes on to reveal the evidence
for the aforementioned specialist units. He concludes with an analysis of the
extent to which these various forces corresponded to a modern conception of
Special Forces. These men were the eyes and ears of the Empire, the deadly tip
of the Roman sword.
My review:
The majority of us would probably consider special forces
and special ops as relatively modern, however, by using his fascinating
research Dr Simon Elliott
proves that the Roman armies also had top-notch units - which we would now
class as special forces - working in the service of Rome. This is the only book
currently available dedicated solely to Roman special ops, and in my opinion,
it is ground-breaking!
I didn’t previously know anything about this subject, Dr Simon
Elliott, an expert in the field, presented this vast and complex subject in a
really accessible way. Using some modern examples of special forces and special
ops at the start really helped me understand, because I was more familiar with those, and therefore had something to compare and measure the Roman versions introduced later in the book against. Some of the Roman special forces & ops helped
the armies in ways I wasn’t expecting, which showed how varied and skilled their
job truly was. They had to go to great lengths, all without the aid of the modern
technologies our special forces now have!
I really like how the book is set out; Elliott explains the
book’s layout and framework at the start, this is something he does in his
other book’s too, and it is really helpful to the reader. Although this book will no doubt be invaluable to those researching the subject, I like how the author also makes
his books understandable and accessible to those of us not in academia. I
learnt so much and can’t wait to drop random facts about Roman special forces
and special ops into conversation!
You can buy your own copy here
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