Rome's Enemies (2): Gallic and British Celts (Men-at-Arms) [Paperback]

Peter Wilcox (Author), Angus McBride (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Men-at-Arms | Publication Date: March 28, 1985

In 390 BC, a Gallic army marched on Rome. A confident Roman army of about 15,000 men that was sent to bar the way, was destroyed. Three days after the Battle of Allia, the Gauls entered Rome, much of which they burned, and demanded a huge bounty of gold to leave the city. During the weighing procedure, Brennus, the Gallic leader, is said to have thrown his sword on to the scales with the words 'Vae victis' - 'Woe to the defeated'. A sentiment the Gauls were soon to experience first hand. This fascinating work by Peter Wilcox explores the history, dress and equipment of Rome's Celtic enemies.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Packed with specially commissioned artwork, maps and diagrams, the Men-at-Arms series is an unrivalled illustrated reference on the history, organisation, uniforms and equipment of the world's military forces, past and present.

About the Author

Peter Wilcox is an expert on Ancient civilisations. He has written numerous articles on the subject, and has authored a number of Osprey Ancient Warfare titles, including all five of the Rome’s Enemies mini-series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (March 28, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0850456061
• ISBN-13: 978-0850456066
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource for Wargamer's not historians, March 30, 2000

By 

Big Mike 0311 "NRA Instuctor" (Nevada United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Rome's Enemies (2): Gallic and British Celts (Men-at-Arms) (Paperback)

Osprey's Men-At-Arms seriesmay be the greatest source for depicting how historical warrior's dressed and may give you a good pallette for painting wargames miniatures, but the facts they quote as history leave alot to be desired. The illustrations are wonderful and the b&w photos of artifacts are interesting but a serious student of history can find better sources other than this book. I give them 5 stars on the pictures but only 1 on the subject matter at hand.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good summary and illustration of Celts/Gauls in Roman times, April 5, 2006

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Red Harvest (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Rome's Enemies (2): Gallic and British Celts (Men-at-Arms) (Paperback)

This work is of the usual Osprey format for use by wargamers and those interested in military history. The author opens with a chronology, then an introduction defining the Celts/Gauls and the associated archaeology and sources. From there the text expands into discussion of the warriors and culture, then arms and armor, followed by warfare, and finally a discussion of the plates.

The plates by Angus McBride are of high quality--vivid, properly proportioned, with well-chosen poses. They illustrate an appropriate variety of Celtic/Gallic warrior styles and equipment. The only negative is that there are only eight plates in total.

Unfortunately, the ancient Celts/Gauls did not use written language so their story is necessarily told to us largely from Roman and Greek perspectives, supplemented by what has been discovered through archaeology. Celtic culture was one of small fort communities and farmsteads, rather than the developed metropolitan centers of Greek, Roman, and various Eastern cultures. While this put the Celts at a disadvantage, it was made worse by the tribal, non-centralized government that was characteristic of the ancient Celts. Strong "federal" governments like Rome gradually and eventually subdued the Celts/Gauls (as Rome had done to other disunited cultures, including the Greek world.)

The Celtic/Gallic army and warrior were to be feared. While lacking Roman organizational structure and engineering capabilities, the warriors proved more than a match for Rome on many occasions. Gauls sacked Rome ca. 390 BC and it was nearly 350 years before Rome conquered all mainland Celts. Along the way Celtic/Gallic forces were a severe threat to Rome on many occasions, especially in the army of Hannibal. Rome owed a number of its military advances to assimilation of Gallic/Celtic equipment.

I highly recommend this work to those interested in Celtic warfare of the classical period (and those interested in learning what the Romans were up against in their early history.)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesomely Osprey!, April 21, 2010

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Mr. Michael Lothian - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rome's Enemies (2): Gallic and British Celts (Men-at-Arms) (Paperback)

Read any osprey publication and you be speaking like an authoritarian by the end of it, jam packed books with detailed information. This book is brilliant, no need to troll through volumes of books to find a few lines of information on Gallic and British celts, the works already been done for you here and compiled in an easily understood format! Hopefully one day i will own every single book they have!!