Throughout the years the armies of ancient Rome have invaded and conquered most of Europe. For quite a long time other civilizations feared them because of their massive, well trained legions of soldiers. Some people might have read about their feats in battle elsewhere. Often research focuses solely on the strategies and technology employed by Rome in times of battle, but what about the soldiers themselves? People usually think of the Roman military as a well oiled machine that acted precisely and consistently, but there have been multiple documented mutinies throughout the Roman army over time. What kind of training did they go through after they were drafted into the Roman military? Was their training both physical and mental to try to stop such mutinies from happening? What kind of people were drafted into the military? How were the lives of soldiers in ancient Rome? What conditions were they forced into that made them feel the need to mutiny? More importantly, how do these things affect the world today?
In the early Roman Republic, all male citizens were required to perform military duty at some point in their life. Their service normally started during their youth. Citizens that did not show up for the draft were thought of as traitors and they were commonly sold into slavery, as they were not a true patriot. Training in the Roman Republic normally took place throughout a child’s life as they were growing up, however the training came in the form of sports and education instead of going through rigorous training sessions. The lack of formal war training was balanced by mixing young recruits in with veterans of the military. The reason they did not have a strict training regiment was because the armies of the early Roman Rep...
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...y affectionate terms such as 'contubernales,' which means tentmate in English (MacMullen 443). As contubernales, they shared the same food, marched off to posts together, and fought side by side. This term not only applies to the men that you share a barracks with, but the whole group a person was assigned to for service.
Works Cited
Lendon, J.E. Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity. Binghamton: Yale University Press, 2005. Web. .
MacMullen, Ramsay. “The Legion as a Society.” Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 33.4 (1984): 440-56. JSTOR. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
Stout, S.E.. "Training Soldiers for the Roman Legion." The Classical Journal 16.7 (1921): 423-31. JSTOR. Web. 08 Mar. 2014. .
...litary end even the women in Sparta would have been affected by the military ways of life almost as much as the young men. From childhood they were being primed to raise a family, they were taught in the ways of mid wifery, learning the correct manner in teaching the future young men of Sparta and keeping themselves fit to produce fit children.
As shown in document 2 written by the Roman historian, Vegtius, it declares, “But when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it.” this proves that the Roman soldiers became lazy and weren’t able to fight. The document also says, “So our soldiers fought the Goths without any protection for chest and head and were often beaten by archers.” which caused them to lose many battles and the soldiers thought about running instead of fighting the opposing team. The military also became less willing to follow orders given to them and they also became unreliable to their government.
In Document B it states, “[Before the year 400 CE] foot soldiers wore breastplates and helmets. But when, because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely ever wore it. Therefore, they first asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates… and then the helmets. So our soldiers fought the Goths without any protection for chest and head and were often beaten by archers. Although there were many disasters, which led to the loss of great cities, no one tried to restore breastplates and helmets to the infantry. Thus it happens that troops in battle, exposed to wounds because they have no armor, think about running and not fighting.” Also, the failure to enforce conscription weakened Rome because armies need power to hold front since equipment is useless if there is no person to use it. It also didn’t enforce it mostly on the useless people like the rich who don’t contribute very much to society. The second paragraph in Document B it states, “There can be little doubt that the weakness of the late Roman army were largely due to the eventual failure… to enforce regular conscription [draft of soldiers]... The exempted categories were. Numerous. Hosts of senators, bureaucrats, and clergymen were entitled to avoid the draft; and among other groups who escaped were cooks, bakers, and slaves.” This proves how the Roman Army caused the fall of the Roman Empire because of their laziness and failure to enforce
One reason that many avoided Army service was because Roman citizenship was now offered freely, where in prior times military service had been a path to citizenship. The result was less manpower available for Rome. The Roman army was left with no choice but to recruit barbarians, who could in this way both find employment where they had no skills, and hope to obtain Roman citizenship.
“Romans are a people made, not born”, this idea was a common mindset held by the people of the Roman Republic (Burger, 98). The phrase applies primarily to citizenship in the Republic, yet Horatius Cocles proved that displaying virtue demonstrates this idea. In a momentous act of bravery, Horatius Cocles earned his status as a Roman, despite any connection by blood to the empire. Horatio Cocles was an exemplar in respect to Roman ideals and his actions reveal the differences between Greek and Roman principles.
whether ill or benign, on the military endeavors of the peoples in the age of the Ancient Greeks.
In spite of the large gaps between fellow fighting men as a result of cross over social practices and of class structure within the ranks, the progression of the war caused some class boundaries to begin blurring as a need for more officers arose. The Army's initial officer class of 15, 000 men was expanded with the addition of 235, 000 individuals over the course of the war. The either permanent or temporary commissioning of these individuals gave them the title of "temporary gentlemen" ("Service").
Morey, William C. "Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 19." Forum Romanum. 1901. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. .
There were several strengths of the Roman Empire which enabled it to survive for more than four hundred years. These strengths included a strong foundation, having been built off of the Roman Republic; the standardization across the empire of many aspects of life, such as language, law, and especially the extension of citizenship, which made the empire more cohesive and easier to rule; and strong leaders, who were able to utilize the manipulation of the upper class and Senate, and the management of the military.
Morey, William C. "Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 26." Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 26. American Book Company, 1901. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. .
Outward appearance was extremely important to the Romans and the first thing that new recruits learned was to march in perfect form. Once they knew how to march they were then assigned to the legions in which they would remain for the next 20 years of service. (the book) The legions were made up of between 5000 and 5500 men. In a legion there were 10 Cohorts and in those Cohorts there were 6 Centuries. Auxiliary troops, although not usually counted as part of a legion, were part of a legion and could raise the number of men from around 5000 to 6000. The number of legions active in the empire was consistently between 25 and 33. (internet, http://museum.simplenet.com/rome/military/military.htm) The average year for auxiliaries to serve was 25 years or less. After about 20 years in the legions they “graduated” to a veteran cohort, and continued service there for about 5 years. The soldiers who completed their 25 years of military service to Rome were given a “diploma” made of bronze. It was actually a record of their service throughout the years and a copy was kept in soldier’s files in Rome. (the book)
Dio, Cassius. "Roman History - Book 50." 17 June 2011. University of Chicago. 31 October 2011 .
There are many political, economic, sociological causes to the growth and expansion of the Roman republic and later the Roman Empire, but one major factor of expansion that the Romans are most famous for is there Army. There Army was famous for their harsh discipline amongst their own ranks and there mercifulness brutality amongst their enemies. According to our text Roman warfare was characterized by great ferocity and the Roman pursuit of victory was relentless. The Romans had a pragmatic view towards atrocity and massacre that viewed almost any act as justifiable if it eased the path of victory (Goldsworthy 2000) p. 24. The hoplite phalanx which originated by the Greeks and later adopted by the Roman army, demanded great discipline and adherence to orders in order for this group of soldiers...
In order for the Romans to invade and conquer other provinces, they had to spend heavily on their legions. The Roman armies and supply lines became over-stretched resulting in thousands of soldiers being recruited and deployed from Rome into other territories as invaders or defenders. They also depended on soldiers to defend the borders of the lands they had conquered from barbarian attacks which resulted in the increased manufacturing of weapons and more money being spent on soldiers. High military spending left the Romans with very limited resources for other essential government projects such as the building of more public houses and the development of roads and aqueducts as well as leading to inflation. The over-expenditure on the military led the citizens of Rome to refuse the policies and laws enforced by the government and riots were commonplace in Rome during its last century.... ...
Auden, W.H. “The Shield of Achilles.” In The Shield of Achilles, pp. 35-37. New York: Random House, 1955.