Logistics of non-Roman/Greek armies

[Metalstrm]

Hey all, are there any books on the logistics of non-Roman armies of the time? I'm particularly interested in Celts/Gauls, Iberians, Ptolemaic, 'barbarian', well... everyone practically

Or websites with some info would also be good.

In particular, can we assume that the Roman logistic system was a common one of the era, or were the Romans more advanced in this aspect?

Thanks.

[Eleatic Guest]

Donald W. Engels: Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army, Los Angeles 1978

Best book I know about ancient logistics.

[Metalstrm]

Thanks a lot mate. Ok so that pretty much covers the Roman and Hellenistic world. I don't think there's much on barbarian logistics is there? I read somewhere that Celtic armies used to have as many noncombatants as combatants but that's pretty much it. If anyone knows anything more...

[Eleatic Guest]

Carthaginians:

Shean, J.F., 'Hannibal's mules: the logistical limitations of Hannibal's army and the battle of Cannae' in: Historia 45 (1996), 159-18

[Metalstrm]

Great thanks

Though I don't have access to history journals

[Metalstrm]

Something related... Do any of those books talk about reinforcement of campaigning armies? I have no idea on reinforcement what soever, and to what degree it occurred. Was it a trickle kind of reinforcement as you see in war games, or was it more reinforcement on a unit-level kind of basis?

[Francois]

About Barbarians' logistic, it's a very difficult problem and I don't think it has been studied before, because of the lack of informations...
But it could be an interesting subject of research... But while I was studying the logistic of the legions during the Gallic War, I found very little informations about the supply of the Gallic armies... Their main problem, as in politic and strategy, was their lack of central command which would have been able to gather resources from different tribes and geographic areas... We have the exemple, if I remember well, of Gallic armies retreating because of supply problems.
We know (from Caesar) they used chariots for the food transport, as showed by the Gallic convoy reaching Caesar near Ilerda.
Vercingetorix used scorched-earth tactic in 52 BC... we may asume that, as the Roman did in such circumstance, he also gathered food and supply...
Caesar tells us that Vercingetorix, as the tribes in South-Wes Gaul which provided him some help, used Roman tactics (like siege warfare). so we could imagine they may have used a similar organisation for their logistic ? With some limits of course...

I wish I could do more research on this very difficult but interesting subject...

[Ironhand]

Rome and Her Enemies
Probably a good beginner start for the tall order you've asked for. A little bit of almost everybody.

[Mithras]

You might all find this a little weird, but this is one of the main reasons I find it so hard to attempt to re-enact the British iron-age or Anglo-Saxon period. I can understand where my food andclothes come from in the Roman army. Its all very modern in outlook.

But a British tribal warrior from mid-Wales? Food? Clothing? Servants? Pay? Shelter? Duties?

And to recreate it ... well, I need some specifics. I'm not doing this for the combat, itsthe logistics that primarily fascinate me. So, I share the fascination with the OP.

[euryalus]

I am sure that, in general, the Romans were experts in terms of the logistics of warfare. However, when they invaded Britain they would have been at a disadvantage insofar as they were operating far from home in a hostile environment, whereas the Britons were on home ground.

Regarding the logistics of the Ancient Britons, we will never really know how they fed their armies as they did not keep written records. On the other hand, the organisation that would have been required to bring thousands of people together in order to construct massive earthworks and monuments such as Avebury or Stonehenge must have been fairly sophisticated - they would, for example, have had to be fed and clothed for lengthy periods. It seems to me that the Ancient British tribes, or rather some of them, were more organised than we might initially think.

[Sean Manning]

One problem is that we hardly ever have reliable information about the size and composition of armies other than Greek and Roman ones. Its hard to study logistics when you can only guess at the strength of an army in men and horses, the number of camp followers and pack animals, etc. I hope to see what we know about Achaemenid logistics one day, but outside of Xerxes' invasion of Greece the subject isn't much studied.

[euryalus]

There seems to be quite a lot of published information on the Boudiccan revolt, and although there is nothing specific on the logistics of the operation, I would have thought that the evidence is there if anyone wishes to find it. For example, after the British had lost their final battle with the Romans, their line of retreat was said to have been impeded blocked by the baggage animals and camp followers - so there must have been some kind of baggage train.

Roman writers may have exaggerated the size of the British force (to mask the shame of the initial Roman defeats), though some books suggest that Boudicca's force contained around 120,000 tribesmen, of whom some 80,000 were killed. A force of that size would certainly have required some form of "logistical" system to sustain it.