11-26-2013, 04:28 PM
In my opinion it's impossible forget that the Late Roman Army wasn't ever able to deploy more than 10.000 men on the field, we cannot forget that the late army was highly barbarized (look only at the names of the officers in Ammianus!) , we cannot forget that the Late Roman Army lost in 70 years what Rome had conquered in more than 500 years!
We cannot forget that the Legions of 5000 men were vanished only to be replaced by tactical units of 1000 or 2000 men, we cannot forget that this idiotic choice was taken only for internal political reasons!
When the enemy was creating for the first time gigantic armies and new great political entities, when the Germanic Tribes now could field forces of 50.000 or even 100.000 men, when these confederations were on the move, when new dangerous peoples arrived in Europe, as the Huns, when new powerful statal entities were borning like the Sassanid Persia, you ... what do you decide to do?
You decide to break the legions into smaller units!
Against the Dacians Trajan deployed full Legions 5000 strong, and now, against the Alamans, the Goths or the Franks, you deploy smaller units of 1/5 of the original strenght of the old Legions?
You decide to transform a strategic force of 5000 men, into a small tactical unit of 500-2000 men! This is pure demented madness and someone has the courage to write down that they adapted the army to the new conditions! Yes, what conditions? The new Germanic confederations, greater than ever? To face them you reduce the strenght of the Legions? Please! Com'on!
What they actually did was simply preventing the usurpations and dilapidating the manpower of the Empire in more than one century of civil wars!
All the Late Roman authors, Christians and Pagans, like Ammianus, Libanius or Zosimus, they all cleraly were feeling the military crisis ... but no, for some armchair-general, teaching Histroy, in our unfortunate universities, they are all biased sources, they, who were there, were all wrong in their feelings! Please! Com'on! Try to be serious!
The late Roman army was a weak force compared to the Imperial army of the time of Trajan or Hadrian!
Here on RAT you have a wonderful collection of Roman Helmets! look at them, compare an Imperial Italic to a poor two-halved Intercisa exemplar ... job done! :wink:
As always sorry for the quality of my English.
We cannot forget that the Legions of 5000 men were vanished only to be replaced by tactical units of 1000 or 2000 men, we cannot forget that this idiotic choice was taken only for internal political reasons!
When the enemy was creating for the first time gigantic armies and new great political entities, when the Germanic Tribes now could field forces of 50.000 or even 100.000 men, when these confederations were on the move, when new dangerous peoples arrived in Europe, as the Huns, when new powerful statal entities were borning like the Sassanid Persia, you ... what do you decide to do?
You decide to break the legions into smaller units!
Against the Dacians Trajan deployed full Legions 5000 strong, and now, against the Alamans, the Goths or the Franks, you deploy smaller units of 1/5 of the original strenght of the old Legions?
You decide to transform a strategic force of 5000 men, into a small tactical unit of 500-2000 men! This is pure demented madness and someone has the courage to write down that they adapted the army to the new conditions! Yes, what conditions? The new Germanic confederations, greater than ever? To face them you reduce the strenght of the Legions? Please! Com'on!
What they actually did was simply preventing the usurpations and dilapidating the manpower of the Empire in more than one century of civil wars!
All the Late Roman authors, Christians and Pagans, like Ammianus, Libanius or Zosimus, they all cleraly were feeling the military crisis ... but no, for some armchair-general, teaching Histroy, in our unfortunate universities, they are all biased sources, they, who were there, were all wrong in their feelings! Please! Com'on! Try to be serious!
The late Roman army was a weak force compared to the Imperial army of the time of Trajan or Hadrian!
Here on RAT you have a wonderful collection of Roman Helmets! look at them, compare an Imperial Italic to a poor two-halved Intercisa exemplar ... job done! :wink:
As always sorry for the quality of my English.
