The Battle That Stopped Rome by PS Wells, 0393326438, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Discussion of the fact

Fabulous discussion of the times, the battle and the aftermath for those of us interested in such a review. The text is informative and easily read due to the style of the writing and the format of the discussion. Obviously, it describes the battle but begins with an interesting introduction to the main characters of the story, their motivations and the cultures they interacted within. As a result, the story is brought more to life - but for those interested in this for archaeological reasons, they may be disappointed at the lack of depth. I, however, was thoroughly satisfied and inspired.

A bit thin

This is a workmanlike volume which serves as an introduction to what happened, but it doesn't satisfy - most of the text is context (potted early history of Rome, background to the "German" opponents) with relatively little about, for example, the archaeology of the battlefield. It is embellished, if that's the word, by little bits of reconstruction (the first sentence, quoted above) or attempts to empathise (being told an ancient battle was savage and bloody - surely not!) that add little.

I found the most interesting aspect to be the discussion of why the Romans lost, but this could have been taken much further. Wells argues that they simply underestimated and misunderstood the North European tribes, which seems a fair assessment so far as it goes - but why such a fatal misjudgement in this particular case against a background of success elsewhere? He says he does not accept the "Varus was a bad general" school of thought, but then speculates that V. would have employed - and trusted - local scouts who led his army into a trap. You can't have it both ways.

And the issue that is really left hanging is that pointed to by the title - was this "The Battle That Stopped Rome"? And if so, why? The invasion of Britain took place after the destruction of Varus' legions. Why did Rome succeed there but not in Germany?

Where's the beef??

Having just read the paperback version of this book I must agree with the reviewer from Norwich with respect to it's poor content and structure. While not having studied Roman history at University I have read all the ancient authors that refer to this incident and I must say that the originals are still the best. I found this book very repetitive - the danger of cut and paste without strict editorial control perhaps? In addition, there was an unacceptable amount of padding in the book. The book was a (ladybird version) history of the Roman Republic/Empire, life of Augustus and his family, socio-economic conditions along with a slight review of archaeological finds in the area. The text covering the battle itself was scanty and too short. Basically I was left after reading the book with the question - where's the beef?? The book did not deliver what it promised and I am just grateful that I bought a paperback and not a hardback copy so I wasted less money than I might have. A disappointing read.

Go for the original

Sorry, had i read this before Major Tony Clunns book, in Quest of the Lost Legions I would have given a high star rating, but remember, Maj Clunn actually discovered the battlefield site and has spent nearly 20 years living close to it and with the working with the archeologists and historians. I have been to a meeting with him and it is his lifes passion, which quickly becomes apparent in his book. Also Maj clunn has put a bit of history fiction in it to make it more real, because it was about real people. Go for in Quest of the Lost Legions first.

The Lost Legion

"The Battle That Stopped Rome" is a very interesting book about the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest, which may have been one of the most important engagements in European history. I had not read a great deal about the battle before picking up Wells' book, but I gather that the author is offering a revisionist history based on his interpretation of the archaeology at the battle site, which was finally located in 1987 at Kalkriese in northern Germany.

The broad outlines of the battle are reasonably well understood. Arminius, a member of the Cherusci tribe who had served in the Roman army and had become a Roman citizen, led three legions under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus into a trap east of the Rhine. While the legions were on the march in a column that may have been over two miles long, they were ambushed by Germanic warriors. The terrain and the extended column prevented the Roman units from forming up properly, with the horrific result that 20,000 or so men (and possibly a large group of camp followers) were killed on the spot, ritually sacrificed or sold into slavery. The catastrophe cost the Roman army almost ten percent of its effective strength, revived Roman fears of an invasion by northern barbarians, and may have induced the Romans to halt the expansion of their empire at the Rhine River rather than pressing on to the Elbe.

Wells tends to dismiss ancient descriptions of the battle, arguing that classical historians suffered from the fact that they were not present at the battle, were often writing long after the fact, and were burdened by stereotyped and inaccurate notions of how the Germanic tribes fought. He suggests that the battle did not take place over three days (as the writer Cassius Dio claimed 200 years later) but that the slaughter was essentially over in an hour, with the rest of the day devoted to capturing or killing the survivors.

According to the book's chapter notes, Wells bases his description of a short and bloody battle on historical information about Varus and his legions, Roman accounts of the battle, the archaeological and topographical evidence at Kalkriese, and information from other historical battles. Wells' conclusions may be right, but he could have done a better job of explaining why his analysis of these sources led him to reconstruct the battle as he did. Although Wells offers a gripping description of what must have been a gruesome and terrifying encounter for all concerned, I suspect that his book will not be the last word on the subject.

All in all, Wells' book is a perfectly serviceable introduction for a reader who, like me, is just beginning to explore the history of this period. Having said that, I am brought up a bit short by one of the reviews that I see below, which seems to have been written by a reader with a strong (and seemingly well reasoned) negative opinion of the book. Duly chastened, I nonetheless draw two conclusions:

First, as a newcomer to this period, I genuinely enjoyed the book, read it avidly and thought it was fairly well done. I think you will find "The Battle That Stopped Rome" to be interesting and thought-provoking, as long as you have not already formed strong opinions about what happened on that long-ago day in 9 AD.

Second, the seminal work on the archaeology of the battle seems to be Tony Clunn's "In Quest of the Lost Legions,". I have already ordered that book, and I look forward to learning more about this very important battle.

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