The Gothic War [Hardcover]

Torsten Cumberland Jacobsen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1594160848 | ISBN-13: 978-1594160844 | Publication Date: June 26, 2009 | Edition: 1st Edition

The Eastern Roman Empire's Attempt to Reconquer the West and Its Impact on World History

A period of stability in the early sixth century AD gave the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian an opportunity to recapture parts of the Western Empire that had been lost to invading barbarians in the preceding centuries. It was an ambitious plan to attack such a vast territory with relatively few soldiers and resources. Yet Justinian's army succeeded in checking the Persians in the East and in retaking North Africa from the Vandals and Italy from the Ostrogoths, the strongest and most organized Barbarian tribe in the West. The climactic conflict over Italy between 535 and 554--the Gothic War--decided the political future of Europe, holding in its balance the possibility that the Roman Empire might rise again. While large portions of the original territory of the ancient Roman Empire were recaptured, the Eastern Empire was both unwilling and incapable of retaining much of its hard-won advances, and soon the empire once again retracted. As a result of the Gothic War, Italy was invaded by the Lombards, who began their important kingdom, the Franks began transforming Gaul into France, and without any major force remaining in North Africa, that territory was quickly overrun by the first wave of Muslim expansion in the ensuing century.

Written as a general overview of this critical period, The Gothic War opens with a history of the conflict with Persia and the great Roman general Belisarius's successful conquest of the Vandals in North Africa. After an account of the Ostrogothic tribe and their history, the campaigns of the long war for Italy are described in detail, including the three sieges of Rome, which turned the great city from a bustling metropolis into a desolate ruin. In addition to Belisarius, the Gothic War featured many of history's most colorful antagonists, including Rome's Narses the Eunuch, and the Goths' ruthless and brilliant tactician, Totila. Two appendices provide information about the armies of the Romans and Ostrogoths, including their organization, weapons, and tactics, all of which changed over the course of the war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By the end of the fifth century A.D., the Ostrogoths had taken Italy, marking the downfall of the Western Roman Empire. In 527, the new emperor, Justinian, swore to restore imperial Rome to its ancient glory. While he fought to maintain the eastern borders of the empire against the Persians, Justinian's strategy was to retake the lands lost to the Goths: Gaul, Spain, Britain, North Africa. In workmanlike fashion, Jacobsen, former curator at the Royal Danish Museum, provides an operational history of Justinian's campaign from the Battle of Callinicum and the Vandal War of 530 to the battles of Ad Decimum and Tricamarum. Throughout, Jacobsen traces the military strategies and tactical intrigues of leaders such as the Roman general Belisarius and the Goth leader Totila, among others. While Justinian succeeded in re-conquering North Africa, Spain and Italy, his campaigns exhausted the empire and by the latter part of the sixth century, many of these lands fell to the Visigoths, Moors and Lombards. Appendixes detail the equipment and tactics of the Romans and the Ostrogoths. 35 illus., 16 maps. (June 1)
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About the Author

TORSTEN CUMBERLAND JACOBSEN is a former curator of the Royal Danish Military Museum.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Westholme Publishing; 1st Edition edition (June 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594160848
• ISBN-13: 978-1594160844
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,357,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor History, December 15, 2009

By 

Nathan P. Kifer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gothic War (Hardcover)

I recently read this book, and I was very disappointed. The author has done a poor job of researching his material, and I would not recommend it to anyone.
First, the author is not a specialist in this time period. This is not, in and of itself, necessarily a bad thing; people from outside the field often bring new insights and perspectives that can revitalize a stale field. That is not the case here. Primarily, the is a regurgitation of Ammianus, Procopius, and Agathias in a more modern form. His only addition is a good knowledge of the geography around Rome itself; not worthless, but not really new.
Second, his lack of knowledge means that he fails to understand much of what was going on. He fails to recognize, for example, that concepts of ethnicity were much more fluid then than they are now; Goths and Vandals are presented in a much more modern conception of what "nationality" means.
Third, he is rather credulous about his sources. He takes Procopius' figures for the Goths at face value (150,000 in the army that beseiged Rome); a ludicrous number, given that they simply lacked the capacity to feed such a large number of mouths, even for relatively short periods of time. He also assumes that Procopius was entirely honest in his history; something that seems rather unlikely, given that Procopius was definitely trying to inflate Belisarius' reputation (which he later seemed to regret when he wrote his Secret History). In other words, Procopius was unreliable! Yet the other swallows his fish tale, hook, line, and stinker.
That does not mean that this books is without merit. Unfortunately, other sources for this same information are much better; I would not really recommend it to anyone. Try Ian Hughes' Belisarius; not that it is perfect, but it is a much better rounded piece than this.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Enjoyable History, March 7, 2011

By 

Aussie Reader ""Rick"" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gothic War (Hardcover)

"The Gothic War" by Torsten Cumberland Jacobsen is an easy to read and excellent account of the Eastern Roman Empire's campaign to reclaim Italy from the Ostrogoths. Roman armies made up of barbarians under the leadership of Belisarius, one of the greatest Roman generals, and later Narses (the Eunuch), fought for over twenty years to conquer Italy and return it to Emperor Justinian in Constantinople.

The book starts off with Belisarius's successful campaign in North Africa against the Vandals, then his move to Sicily before his final invasion of Italy. We read of the many battles, skirmishes and sieges up and down the boot of Italy and of the numerous battles and sieges for Rome, the eternal City.

The book relies heavily on the five volumes of Procopius's "History of the Wars" but the telling of the tale is excellent and so easy to read that it drags you into the history with ease. The book provides a number of detailed maps and a small number of illustrations (too little really) and a detailed appendix on the `men, equipment and tactics' of the contending armies (Roman & Goth) which is well worth the effort to read.

Overall this book would make an excellent addition to any library of those readers who have an interest in this period of history.