De Re Militari

Vegetius' late Roman text became a well-known and highly respected 'classic' in the Middle Ages, transformed by its readers into the authority on the waging of war. Christopher Allmand analyses the medieval afterlife of the De Re Militari, tracing the growing interest in the text from the Carolingian world to the late Middle Ages, suggesting how the written word may have influenced the development of military practice in that period. While emphasising that success depended on a commander's ability to outwit the enemy with a carefully selected, well-trained and disciplined army, the De Re Militari inspired other unexpected developments, such as that of the 'national' army, and helped create a context in which the role of the soldier assumed greater social and political importance. Allmand explores the significance of the text and the changes it brought for those who accepted the implications of its central messages.

De Re Militari by Vegetius is the famous strategy book written in times of the Roman Empire. It explains how they organized their armies, battles, sieges, and war strategies. This is the complete official edition and it contains the 4th part (how to perform sieges, city defenses, and naval warfare) which is not included in commonly available basic editions. De Re Militari is essential to understand European strategy and war due to the fact that, besides describing the military might of Rome in practical terms, it was also used by generals and rulers in the next centuries and the Middle Ages to organize European armies, conduct sieges, reinforce castles, train soldiers, and conquer enemy nations. So much so that generals would be judged and measured in warfare skills by their knowledge and understanding of Vegetius.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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A 5th Century training manual for the organization, weapons and tactics of the Roman Legions. Vegetius's "De Re Militari" was the only major work of Roman military science to survive from classical times. It was widely studied in the Middle Ages and was a key source for Medieval warfare and siege tactics.