The History Network
The military history podcast specialists, looking at all aspects of war through the ages.

Essentially there are 3 main ways in which finances can be raised with which to use for war: Taxation, raising debt, or simply printing and creating new money. The Romans (among others of course) took a taxation route. It was from around 100 BCE that Roman Legions divided into 10 cohorts of around 400-500 men each. That's 4,000 to 5,000 men in a Legion. Let's assume it was the upper 5,000 figure as there were also some legions with 5,500 men, so we'll average at 5000. In 167 BCE there were 8 of these legions, but by 50 BCE this had almost doubled to 15 - a total of around 75,000 men... Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2111_Financing_War.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 5:29pm UTC

In 1187 Saladin at the head of a huge army crossed the river Jordan. Laying siege to the fortress at Tiberias, inside was the wife of Raymond of Tripoli. Until recently Raymond had been at odds with the new Crusader King Guy of Lusignan. The Crusader army numbered an impressive 20,000, though this was not as large as Saladin's. What it lacked in quantity it made up for however, in quality with heavily armoured knights, horsemen, foot soldiers and crossbow men. When word reached Guy that the siege was underway he decided to relieve the fortress with all haste, taking the shortest route possible straight across the hot arid plains with minimal baggage... The Crusaders had taken Saladin's bate. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2110_The_Battle_of_Hattin.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 11:12am UTC

"Once people began to live in settled villages, they started to identify themselves not just based on their language and culture, but also on where they lived. Farmers became, to a lesser or larger extent, tied to the soil. As villages grew into cities and cities became the centres of larger city-states, kingdoms, and even empires, it became ever more important to define territories in a visible way, and to defend them whenever necessary."

We're discussing Ancient Warfare Magazine volume X, issue Wars at the edge of empires.

If you've enjoyed the podcast over the years why not show your support and help us improve the podcast by becoming a Patron of the show via Patreon.

Direct download: Wars_at_the_Edge_of_Empires.mp3
Category:Ancient Warfare Magazine -- posted at: 1:00am UTC