Customer Reviews

Caesar

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In his typical simple & clear substantial style of prose Dodge presents the history of Roman arms & details Caesar's campaigns in impressive & compelling manner.He begins by the changes that took place during the time of Marius from the 2nd Punic War,highlighting then to the life of Caesar & effortlessly narrates his campaigns.His analysis of Ceasar' personality & military skill & with his comparison of the man & his other fellow greats in military antiquity Hannibal & Alexander make some very moving reading,none the least to say truly inspiring.Dodge is one of the greatest military historians ever,& in the case of this book he has travelled to all the battle sites Caesar was involved in,giving more soundness & validity to his account.All of his books are definitely recommended.

I use this as a reference work, but it is also written on a level where I can offer it to people with only a basic interest in Caesar, Rome or Ancient Warfare. A must for ancient's wargamers, historians and students of military history. There have been conflicting opinions, but this work is well worth the reading. If you came here looking for a good work on Caesar's military, or the Roman Army of the 50's BC, buy this one!

No politics, no love story featuring that useless midget Cleopatra. This book is a hard-core military book. Features very detailed accounts of the Campaigns of Julius Caesar.
Buy this book if you want to learn about how Caesar fought wars. Detailed information about on how he designed defensive perimeters, how he made camp, how long trenches were, etc..
Also includes how he made siege on enemy fortifications and laid waste to way too many peoples.
You will learn the many goods, a few bads, and the one ugly (exterminated a whole race in Gaul) on Caesar.

Some time ago I read Dodge's book on Hannibal the Carthaginian General. It was an amazing book. For that reason I purchased and read his book on Caesar. This book was originally published in 1892 its author died in 1909.

Although I have only a paper back edition the book is full of maps and line drawings. These illustrate many things. There are drawings of roman military formations, illustrations of how ships worked detailed drawings of siege lines, towers and the like. The work that has gone into the book is simply staggering.

Dodge has not only compiled a history of Caesar's campaigns but he has written a treatise on war and how it was conducted towards the end of the Roman Republic. The narrative is fresh easy to follow and has not dated like so many other books from that long ago.

Caesar is one of the more significant figures in history. He is known as an author who's works used to be the basis of teaching Latin to schoolchildren. His name initially became the title for the first Roman Emperors. His name became the title of the Russian autocrats "The Tsar" and somewhat later the title of the German Emperor "the Kaiser". His historical legacy was the end of the Roman Republic and the creation of the Imperial system.

His career is remarkable. At the time he first assumed military command Gaius Pompeius (Pompey) was Rome's foremost citizen. Pompey had cleared the Mediterranean of pirates and had waged a successful campaign in the middle east. Caesar was given a military command of what is now northern Italy and Croatia. He used his army to expand that command conquering Gaul effectively an area that is equivalent to modern Switzerland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Dodge describes every battle that Caesar fought in detail. The Gauls had been Rome's enemies for time immemorial. They were brave and talented fighters and their leader Vercingetorix was a first class soldier and a man who was charismatic and able to raise all of Gaul behind him. They key to Caesar's generalship was meticulous planning and the use of field fortifications. Again and again in his life Caesar was able to beat larger armies though careful planning and well thought our tactics.

Prior to Caesar's victories the central authority of Rome had collapsed. The power was divided amongst a small number of eminent citizens who controlled armies in the provinces. Italy was neutral ground. By emerging victorious from Gaul Caesar had forged an instrument that would enable him to become the sole master of the entire Roman world. His armies who had by this time developed a fierce loyalty to him. Caesar decided to move on Rome and to provoke a civil war with Pompey.

Pompey was not only a competent general but had armies in Spain and Greece that were loyal to him. Caesars actions must have seemed at the time foolhardy. However by meticulous planning Caesar was able to emerge victorious. He again used extensive field fortifications to even up the odds against Pompey's troops. After his defeat he went to Egypt had a brief dalliance with Cleopatra and then completed he conquest of the Roman World by defeating the remaining legions loyal to Pompey.

Dodges book not only has illustrations to explain each aspect of ancient warfare but he provides clear maps of each battle with marked units so that the text descriptions are easy to follow. He has other larger territorial maps so that one can put the battle maps in context and follow the logic of the campaigns.

Older books tend to become dated and generally newer books are more accessible to readers and contain information that has come to light in recent times. Dodges work is an exception to that rule and is still probably the best history of Caesar's campaigns.

This is the second book by Dodge I have read and it is as good as the first, which was Hannibal. Mr. Dodge goes into fascinating detail of Caesar's campaigns throughout Gaul, Britain, Germania, and finally along the Dalmatian coast against Pompey. Very detailed not only in military tactics but also the political ramifications Caesar caused on the Roman republic. A very fine read.

After re-reading this lengthy & detailed work,one thing that is immediately striking is the modernity of the prose,never at the moment sounding anachronistic as the author comprehensively accounts the personality,motives & campaigns of the great & world altering individual.Dodge gives sound opinions on Caesar as a man & general,highlighting his successes & flaws in equal attention & fairness.As a man,he asesses Caesar as kind & generous to friends,ruthless to other nations.This was a man who could forgive military & political foes,but murder half a million people in the space of an afternoon.His summary on Caesar's generalship is of a naturally talented & able man,admirable for the skills which he showed considering the fact that he was never reared for military affairs,but statecraft.He was a man who profited from his mistakes,was cautious & aggresive at the proper moments,but could be unforgivably reckless in the most dire & useless situations.Dodge gives much stress to Caesar's unbelievable good fortune.Not of an aggressive godly nature as an Alexander,nor as brilliant as a Hannibal,Caesar nontheless places himself in the rank of these great captains by his sheer will & unlimited boldness,the reflection of his self which he instilled in his men,a reflection which ensured his legions as the last remnants of Rome's martial glory,& a skill unsurpassed for it's ability to remain consistent & unflinching in the face of seemingly serious & severe drawbacks.Coupled with his literary,political & statecraft accomplishments,Dodge may perhaps rightly call his subject the greatest man of antiquity.

This book is for those who enjoy ancient history, with an emphasis on military warfare. Dodge rams enough facts and figures down your throat for understanding, but manages at the same time to make it interesting. It is very informative of Caesar's life and the way in which he ran the most dominant army of his time.

The breadth given into each and every detail of this account of Caesar, brings it to life more than many of the others i have read. In many ways, it lacks depth, like the political side of things as well as the life of Caesar. When it comes to the battle itself (which is the main focus) is quiet extravagent, more so than Adrian Goldsworthy, Meier, or any other Caesar historian has done. My problem with this mainly is Dodge's constant attempts to analyze character and greatness, and then presenting his conclusions as fact without alternative. It makes my blood boil that he described Sulla as a cool and collected, calculating man when he is truly a man who relyed on swiftness of action, boldness, and the help of his chosen matron Venus (I am writting a book on Sulla and Marius). Dodge's depiction of Pompey was truly the most upsetting, for he is portrayed as a simpleton, an idiot who is completely unaware of what is going on around him. It is said he has 'some ability', but he is not truly great by merit, but forced to be by the people who built up his image. I would avoid chapter 2 and perhaps 64 and 65 as well, and otherwise I suggest this novel to anyone who is a SERIOUS Caesar historian. If you are someone who is simply intereseted I would think Philip Freeman's or Adrian Goldsworthy's account would be more suitable for you.

I have found this to be an excellent account of Ceasars battles, my only criticism is the lack of information on the training and conditioning of the troops. The book tells of the excellent discipline and fighting skills of the legionaries but not how they got that way. Other than that the book was very hard to put down.

Although Dodge has obviously dedicated a significant amount of time and energy into providing a technically accurate picture of the legions under Caesar's command and those armies that opposed him, he is obviously a product of an aristocratic upbringing. His consistent derision of the post Marian legions, those soldiers of the Capiti Censi was distracting and irritating, and detracted from his credibility as a source. As an infantryman myself in the US Army, and one from a fairly respectable aristocratice background myself, I have found that good soldiers know no class nor blood line. Whereas families may have traditions of service, that should not be equated to a tradition of greatness. I have served with both, and I can hardly imagine that class, other than the level of education, played a role in who was a successful warrior. Few things change with time. Soldiers, and people for that matter, are either good or bad. I dwell on this simply because it's a recurring theme in this book, which distracts the reader from the true importance of Caesar's campaign, which were his genius, his ambition, and his pure skill at commanding his fellow man.