Jewish revolt 2

[Goffredo]

Hi, I cann't make a real contribution to your question as I am ignorant of the details but Goldsworthy in his first book (Roman army at war: 100BC-200AD) makes some interesting points on this issue and on this specific case: the romans would immediately send reaction forces counting on the fact that the potential enemies or revolting groups would think twice before starting a fight. They did this even if they weren't really ready. It was a little like bluffing! The romans weren't always READY (as the U.S. Marines are today) in terms of real effectiveness (troop numbers and quality). So, if the enemy or revolters didn't disolve away at the fast approach of a roman reaction force and a real confrontaion did occur, it could very easily happen that the romans get their butts kicked. For a bluff to work repeatedly there has to be some credibility and the romans, with their professional army, perform better than the typical enemy or angry mob. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/ugoffredo.showPublicProfile?language=EN>goffredo</A> at: 8/29/01 11:22:29 am<br></i>