Login Probs AND In need of help on essay

[Crispvs]

I know that you have submitted your essay now, but it occurs to me that a simple and probably routine terror tactic was the burning of villages and looting of crops and animals, which would leave those in the wake of an invading Roman army deprived of shelter and food, leading to the miserable probability of death by starvation, cold or both, just for being on the route chosen by the Roman general. The threat of this might lead to calls for capitulation from the people living on the frontline or defection to the Romans simply for the sake of survival.

Caesar routinely talks, in an almost offhand manner, of burning villages as he moved around Gaul.


Crispvs

[Nihonius Legio]

Wow, that would have been a great addition! I wish I was smart enough to have seen that myself, cause I do remember Caesar talking quite alot about taking provisions and such from Gallic villages. Oh well though, I'm happy the paper got a very good grade regardless.

[Nihonius Legio]

Hey all, I have one more paper to write this semester and was hoping you might be able to help me out again. I'm thinking of writing an essay on why Roman campaigns against Parthia/Persia generally failed. As I understand it so far, both parties tended to be at war off and on for centuries and neither was able to gain much on the other. I've read some of Ammianus Marcellinus' descriptions of the Persians briefly some time ago, but I hope you guys might be able to point me in the direction of some other good sources as well, including archaelogical. I'd like to know as much as possible about traits of the Persian army (I know they loved their archers)and anything that might have made them exceptional at withstanding the Romans.
Thanks!

[Crispvs]

Well, two things occur to me.
Firstly, a mismatch in tactics, with the Parthians largely mounted army able to compress the Romans by the use of horse archers so as to create a more compact target for shock troops in the form of cataphracts, before returning to horse archers again. Such tactics are good for holding an enemy in one place and weakening his morale but without infantry on the ground, dislodging a well disciplined infantry army will be very difficult. Similarly, the Romans would have been unable to use their normal tactical range to beat the Parthians on the field as cavalry could ride away again before pursuing infantry could catch up. Thus the most likely opportunity for either side to gain a decisive victory might well be in the area of sieges of towns and fortifications.

Secondly, logistical problems. It was difficult to keep an army well supplied in the desert, so the longer a campaign went on or the further an army advanced, the greater the chance of failure. Hence the Romans never got very far into the Parthian empire and the Parthians never got much further west than Armenia. As mentioned above, for a campaign to be successful, the invading army needed to gain control of towns and fortifications along to the way, both in order to maintain the safety of its own rear and to ensure a reasonable level of supplies could be maintained. Long, extended supply lines were subject to the harsh weather conditions of the desert, as well as the threat of bandits.

I hope this gives you somewhere to get started.

Crispvs

[Robert Vermaat]

I'd like to know as much as possible about traits of the Persian army (I know they loved their archers)and anything that might have made them exceptional at withstanding the Romans.
Thanks!

Best not continue this section, then, but start a new one in 'Allies & Enemies'.

Hey all, I have one more paper to write this semester and was hoping you might be able to help me out again. I'm thinking of writing an essay on why Roman campaigns against Parthia/Persia generally failed.

When you asked this question again in the other section, I'm curious to know why you think that they generally failed.

[Nihonius Legio]

Anyone have some advice on how I can attach my final document onto here if it's in "doc" form? Tried saving it in a different format, but none of the types available are allowed as an attachment on here...If I just copy and paste it in here, the layout goes to heck...

[jvrjenivs]

Well, I think you can upload it to the mainsite. Otherwise, send me a PM and I will send you an email and kindly host it on my website for you.

[Nihonius Legio]

I can't say my essay is anything incredible, but if you'd like to host it on your site that sounds great! Will also mess around a bit trying to figure out how to post it on the main site(I don't quite understand their directions...)