03-22-2006, 04:39 PM
I would offer the following suggestions:
1. The military operations of the later empire were on a smaller scale. Why? Money perhaps.
2. But, political instability might be another factor. The emperors were always on guard to hold onto power. Any general with sufficient success and a large army posed a problem. Generals from the Republic were drawn from the senatorial class, which was expected to contribute its sons to the leadership of the army. In the later empire, this class was not used for this purpose, in fact, in many ways, it no longer existed. Generals were trained, it seemed, as professional military men, but had no other function in the body politic. They also did not come from the highest classes of the empire. They were not entrusted with the large armies of previous centuries. The only time large armies were assembled is when the emperor himself was going to take command. This created a limitation on operations. Unless the emperor commanded, the army assembled was likely to be a small one. On the other hand, the emperor could not be everywhere in the empire at all times, so this imposed a further operational limitation.
These aren't my ideas. I gleaned them reading one of Adrain Goldsworthy's books.
1. The military operations of the later empire were on a smaller scale. Why? Money perhaps.
2. But, political instability might be another factor. The emperors were always on guard to hold onto power. Any general with sufficient success and a large army posed a problem. Generals from the Republic were drawn from the senatorial class, which was expected to contribute its sons to the leadership of the army. In the later empire, this class was not used for this purpose, in fact, in many ways, it no longer existed. Generals were trained, it seemed, as professional military men, but had no other function in the body politic. They also did not come from the highest classes of the empire. They were not entrusted with the large armies of previous centuries. The only time large armies were assembled is when the emperor himself was going to take command. This created a limitation on operations. Unless the emperor commanded, the army assembled was likely to be a small one. On the other hand, the emperor could not be everywhere in the empire at all times, so this imposed a further operational limitation.
These aren't my ideas. I gleaned them reading one of Adrain Goldsworthy's books.
"In war as in loving, you must always keep shoving." George S. Patton, Jr.
