Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem
Commander Maximus is the protagonist of this outstanding historical story, which is set in the year 406. On the Rhine, there is only one Roman legion on duty, and these few troops, under the tenacious general’s command, must somehow repel the barbarian hordes. Maximus’ perspective on the fall of the Roman empire creates a taut and compelling narrative.
Veteran warrior Paulinus Maximus, exiled to the Empire’s furthest frontier, guards The Wall of Britannia against the ongoing assault of aggressive barbarian tribes. Maximus achieves his lifelong goal of becoming the Roman emperor’s “General of the West” via bravery, loyalty, wisdom, and achievement. But for the dangerous Rhine boundary defence, Maximus must gather and lead a single legion.
Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem
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On the other side of the Rhine, tribal nations are coming together. Thousands of people are gathering in anticipation of the invasion of Gaul and a subsequent advance into Rome. They can only be controlled by a large river and a cunning general.
Using discipline, trickery, persuasion, and surprise, Maximus defends himself against an army of numerous enemies who are growing more and more desperate. Maximus is urged to declare himself the emperor by friends, allies, and even adversaries. He declines because he is obligated to Rome, a city he has never seen, by an oath of duty, honour, and sacrifice. But something unexpected happens. If his tenacious legion manages to pull off this final, important victory despite overwhelming odds, Maximus will now take the purple robe of the emperor. Rome’s entire existence is in jeopardy.
Eagle in the Snow was first published by Wallace Breem in 1970. It is very reading and just as fascinating as any of the best works of historical fiction from recent years, despite being a little out of date and using several terminology and sentence structures that are no longer used.
The plot centres on General Maximus, commander of one of the last conventional Roman legions, and takes set around AD 406. He is in charge of guarding the border against numerous tribes that want to emigrate from their home regions and settle in areas controlled by the Empire.
Rome, which has been around for more than a thousand years, has outlived its heyday, has reverted to the days when the Senate and people ruled and has been divided into regions ruled by a series of emperors whose priorities are their own fortunes rather than the welfare of the empire as a whole. The government, and the emperors in particular, appear to have lost interest in keeping Rome unified and are now more concerned with safeguarding their friends, their wealth, and the lands nearby.
As a result, the military, which formerly consisted of massive legions of thousands of men, has disintegrated; the remaining legions are now understaffed, underfunded, and frequently employed against other Romans rather than to defend the Empire. In addition, the military faces a lot of opposition and struggles to find recruits and get supplies and weapons.
In these conditions, Maximus is dispatched to the frontier to defend himself against hordes of encroaching peoples on his own. He needs to gather an army, outfit it, and get it ready for combat. He battles the indifference and conspiratorial behaviour of his superiors as well as the fear, hostility, corruption, and conflicts over religion displayed by the people he is supposed to be protecting.
