Milvian Bridge AD 312: Constantine's battle for Empire and Faith (Campaign, 296)

1,700 years ago, the emperor Constantine marched on Rome to free Italy from the tyrant Maxentius and reunify the Roman Empire. The army marched from Gaul in the spring of AD 312 and fought its way across the Empire. The defining moment of the campaign was the battle of the Milvian Bridge. This highly illustrated book examines how Maxentius's poor choice of battleground ultimately doomed his army to defeat. Forced back toward the river by Constantine, the prospect of death by drowning caused panic to tear through Maxentius's army, who broke and fled for the bridge of boats. Constantine pressed his advantage and broke through the Praetorian rear guard, forcing even more fleeing troops onto the already overcrowded bridges, which foundered and plunged thousands of soldiers, including Maxentius himself, into the waters. Constantine was victorious--and his march into Rome marked the first step in the conversion of the Roman Empire into a Christian state. In AD 312, the Roman world was divided between four emperors. The most ambitious was Constantine, who sought to eliminate his rivals and reunite the Empire. His first target was Maxentius, who held Rome, the symbolic heart of the Empire. Inspired by a dream sent by the Christian God, at the Milvian Bridge region just north of Rome, he routed Maxentius'army and pursued the fugitives into the river Tiber. The victory secured Constantine's hold on the western half of the Roman Empire and confirmed his Christian faith, but many details of this famous battle remain obscured. This new volume identifies the location of the battlefield and explains the tactics Constantine used to secure a victory that triggered the fundamental shift from paganism to Christianity. Seventeen hundred years ago, the emperor Constantine marched on Rome to free Italy from the tyrant Maxentius and reunify the complete Roman Empire. The defining moment of the campaign was the battle of the Milvian Bridge. This illustrated book examines how Maxentius' poor choice of battleground was to ultimately doom his army to defeat. Ross Cowan ; Illustrated By Seán Ó'brógáin ; Series Editor, Marcus Cowper. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 92-93) And Index.