HISTORY OF WAR
GREATEST MILITARY
DISASTERS
IS ON SALE NOW
The words ‘Romans’ and ‘defeated’ do not sit well as neighbours in one sentence. However, the might of Rome met its match on more than one occasion, and few of her defeats were more devastating than the one inflicted at Carrhae, when Crassus’ legions ran into the guile and determination of the Parthian army.
It should have been a mismatch from the start as 40,000 highly trained, battle-hardened fighting men of Rome descended upon what was thought to be a feisty but less battle-proven Parthian army. As it happened, it was indeed a mismatch, but not as expected.
There were still more questions than answers at the end of this bloody battle. How did it all go wrong? Why was Senator Marcus Licinius Crassus so keen to take on the Parthians in the first place? How was this shocking defeat going to shake the very foundations of the Roman Republic?
