08-26-2008, 04:01 AM
The first ones that come to my mind are:
1: Octavian didn't put in place a mechanism for selecting future Emperors wisely. If he had done so -- perhaps having the Senate choose someone -- they might have been spared Caligula, Nero, Commodus and the like. (Not to mention the Year of the Four Emperors, and the travesty of having the Praetorian Guard auction the Empire off to the highest bidder.)
2: Constant attempts to conquer Parthia/Persia. This drained Rome of massive amounts of manpower and money, and created a politically imbalanced condition for far too long. They should have set up a buffer state both empires could deal with.
3: Military overextension -- too much expansion, too fast, created far more border space and military overhead than Rome and its close allies could support (see "Giving up on Germany" above). This caused Rome to rely far too much on auxiliaries and mercenaries -- and, while most of them proved reliable and able allies, this was also the open door that let in the Vandals, Goths, and Huns. With slower expansion, more of the allied territory could be Romanized, and the military needs could have been met with troops who were loyal for more than money and territory.
1: Octavian didn't put in place a mechanism for selecting future Emperors wisely. If he had done so -- perhaps having the Senate choose someone -- they might have been spared Caligula, Nero, Commodus and the like. (Not to mention the Year of the Four Emperors, and the travesty of having the Praetorian Guard auction the Empire off to the highest bidder.)
2: Constant attempts to conquer Parthia/Persia. This drained Rome of massive amounts of manpower and money, and created a politically imbalanced condition for far too long. They should have set up a buffer state both empires could deal with.
3: Military overextension -- too much expansion, too fast, created far more border space and military overhead than Rome and its close allies could support (see "Giving up on Germany" above). This caused Rome to rely far too much on auxiliaries and mercenaries -- and, while most of them proved reliable and able allies, this was also the open door that let in the Vandals, Goths, and Huns. With slower expansion, more of the allied territory could be Romanized, and the military needs could have been met with troops who were loyal for more than money and territory.
Wayne Anderson/ Wander
