The borders of the Roman Empire were frontiers that were often wild and dangerous. The expansion of the empire after the Punic Wars saw the Roman Republic become the dominant force in the Mediterranean as it first took Carthaginian territories in Gaul, Spain and north Africa and then moved into Greece with purpose, subjugating the area and creating two provinces, Achaea and Macedonia. The growth of the territories under Roman control continued through the rise of Julius Caesar - who conquered the rest of Gaul - and the establishment of the empire: each of the emperors could point to territories annexed and lands won. By AD 117 and the accession of Hadrian, the empire had reached its peak. It held sway from Britain to Morocco, from Spain to the Black Sea. And its wealth was coveted by those outside its borders. Just as today those from poorer countries try to make their way into Europe or North America, so those outside the empire wanted to make their way into the Promised Land - for trade, for improvement of their lives or for plunder. Thus the Roman borders became a mix - just as our borders are today - of defensive bulwark against enemies, but also control areas where import and export taxes were levied, and entrance was controlled. Some of these borders were hard: the early equivalents of the Inner German Border or Trump's Wall - Hadrian's Wall and the line between the Rhine and Danube. Others, such as these two great rivers, were natural borders that the Romans policed with their navy. This book examines these frontiers of the empire, looking at the way they were constructed and manned and how that changed over the years. It looks at the physical barriers - from the walls in Britain to the Fossatum Africae in the desert. It looks at the traders and the prices that were paid for the traffic of goods. It looks at the way that civil settlements - vici - grew up around the forts and fortlets and what life was like for soldiers, sailors and civilians. As well as artefacts of the period, the book provides a guidebook to top Roman museums and a gazetteer of visitable sites

On 10 May 1940 German Fallschirmj ger stormed the Dutch fort of Eben-Emael, south of Maastricht. The brilliantly executed operation was the first signal success by airborne troops in the Second World War and it made the military world sit up and take notice. Improved parachutes and the creation of gliders that could carry troops meant that assault forces could be dropped or landed behind enemy lines. This was a significant new tactic which had a dramatic impact on several of the key campaigns, and it is the subject of Simon and Jonathan Forty's in-depth, highly illustrated history. They tell the story of the development of airborne forces, how they were trained and equipped, and how they were landed and put into action in every theatre of the global conflict. The results were mixed. German airborne forces were victorious on Crete, but the cost was so great that Hitler vowed never to use them in the same way again. The Allies saw things differently. After Crete they built up elite units who would play important roles in later battles -in Normandy, for example, where the British 6th Airborne Division took vital bridges prior to the D-Day landings. These are just two examples of the many similar operations on the Western and Eastern Fronts and in the Pacific which are covered in this wide-ranging book. It offers the reader a fascinating insight into airborne warfare over seventy years ago.

It is said that artillery won the Second World War for the Allies - that Soviet guns wore down German forces on the Eastern Front, negating their superior tactics and fighting ability, and that the accuracy and intensity of the British and American artillery was a major reason for the success of Allied forces in North Africa from El Alamein, in Italy and Normandy, and played a vital role in the battles of 1944 and 1945\. Yet the range of weapons used is often overlooked or taken for granted - which is why this highly illustrated history by Simon and Jonathan Forty is of such value. They stress the importance of artillery on every front and analyse how artillery equipment, training and tactical techniques developed during the conflict. The selection of wartime photographs - many from east European sources - and the extensive quotations from contemporary documents give a graphic impression of how the guns were used on all sides. The photographs emphasize the wide range of pieces employed as field, anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery without forgetting self-propelled guns, coastal and other heavyweights and the development of rockets. The authors offer a fascinating insight into the weapons that served in the artillery over seventy years ago.

On the battlefields of Europe and North Africa during the Second World War tanks played a key role, and the intense pressure of combat drove forward tank design and tactics at an extraordinary rate. In a few years, on all sides, tank warfare was transformed. This is the dramatic process that Simon and Jonathan Forty chronicle in this heavily illustrated history. They describe the fundamentals of pre-war tank design and compare the theories formulated in the 1930s as to how they should be used in battle. Then they show how the harsh experience of the German blitzkrieg campaigns in Poland, France and the Soviet Union compelled the Western Allies to reconsider their equipment, organization and tactics - and how the Germans responded to the Allied challenge. The speed of progress is demonstrated in the selection of over 180 archive photographs which record, as only photographs can, the conditions of war on each battle front. They also give a vivid impression of what armoured warfare was like for the tank crews of 75 years ago.