Spare No One - (War and Society) by Gabriel Baker (Paperback)

About the Book

This powerful book examines the ruthless but widely used tactics of mass killing, mass enslavement, and the destruction of cities in Roman warfare. Gabriel Baker convincingly shows that mass violence was vital to Roman military operations as commanders deliberately used brutal...

Book Synopsis

This powerful book examines the ruthless but widely used tactics of mass killing, mass enslavement, and the destruction of cities in Roman warfare. Gabriel Baker convincingly shows that mass violence was vital to Roman military operations as commanders deliberately used brutal strategies to achieve their military objectives and political goals.

Review Quotes

Gabriel Baker provides a grim but important contribution to our understanding of Roman violence: atrocity and massacre were not simply adjacent or ancillary to Roman warfare but rather represented fundamental modalities of Roman military practice, alongside pitched battles and sieges. Military histories that gloss over such atrocities not only sanitize Roman war making but misunderstand it. Baker's book presents us with a clear-eyed and unflinching vision of Roman violence.

How did the Roman Republic build Mediterranean dominance? The focus has often been upon the legions on the battlefield and the senate in the curia. But in this stimulating book, Baker turns the focus to the legions and their senatorial commanders off the battlefield, who visited horrors upon civilian populations. He provides a vivid, detailed account of the effort Romans invested in mass killings and other atrocities, for what purposes, and under what conditions. Baker has staked out the position that Rome's practice of mass violence was exceptionally persistent, often strategically purposeful, and a significant, horrifying contributor to Roman expansion during the Middle Republic.

Spare No One is a must-read for anyone interested in the brutality of Roman warfare: it documents the acts of extreme violence carried out by Roman armies as a matter of routine in all periods, and it explains how and why victory on the battlefield was often followed by mass executions, the enslavement of civilian populations, or the looting and physical destruction of cities. A model of how to craft a narrative that combines careful readings of the ancient sources with modern parallels and interdisciplinary theoretical approaches, this book is an essential resource for the scholarly and general reader alike.

The book is pleasant to read, very inspiring.

The book is well researched and written. It derives from a PhD dissertation and the meticulous research involved in such a work is clearly discernable.A general reader will simply enjoy the well-written book.

The first title devoted to antiquity in the "War and Society" series, Spare No One takes up a grim subject. Nevertheless, it is one crucial to understanding Rome's rise to power.... [The] whole treatment is exceptionally learned, yet aimed at general readers and scholars alike. Recommended.

There is a certain understated pathos to much of the book, a testament to how military history can be a humanistic endeavor, an exploration of the tragedy of conflict without excessive moralizing. Baker's clear-eyed book is a valuable reminder of the disturbing means they used to seek victory.

About the Author

Gabriel Baker holds a PhD in history from the University of Iowa and specializes in Roman and Hellenistic warfare. An earlier version of his biography and the first paperback printing incorrectly listed his affiliation as Georgetown University, which was the publisher's error.