A Military Life of Constantine the Great

Constantine’s eventual control of the Roman world was achieved through prolonged military competition within the Tetrarchic system. Hughes begins with Constantine’s service under Diocletian and Galerius, his elevation in Britain and his campaigns along the Rhine. He then reconstructs the civil wars that carried Constantine through Italy, the victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge and the later struggle with Licinius for mastery of the eastern provinces.

The study places battlefield decisions alongside the restructuring of the army, frontier strategy and the political use of victory. Christianity remains essential to Constantine’s historical reputation, but the book asks whether his title ‘the Great’ can also be justified by his record as a commander. It closes with his sole rule, later campaigns and preparations for a Persian war that was abandoned after his death in 337.