01-25-2006, 04:40 PM
That the gladius was intrinsically too short cann't be the answer as the romans fought against long sword gauls for centuries! More in general the short gladius was happily and vert effectively used against all types of peoples fighting with long reach blades and spears.
Is it a "fact" that the gladius and pilum went out together along with old the old cylindrical scutum? I am not an expert enough, but I do believe that by the end of the 2nd century things had evolved and the traditional legionary equipment may have been slowly phased out. By the end of the 3rd century even the legion was phased out.
Everyone realized, germanics especially, that set battles against a well balanced roman army was in rome's favor. Even when roman's resumed aggressive campaigning against germanics beyond limes they did not fight large set battles as the enemy did not offer such occasions. (Think twice of Arminius). Think of long wars during Marcus' reign where vexillations were normal practice. Evidently over 150 years a pattern had slowly but surely been set and by Marcus' time wars in the north were quite different than they were during Ceasar's time and Trajan.
As you guys are saying the legions worked more and more like their auxilliaries. The gladius, pilum and large cylindrical scutum were optimized for a type of battle that the romans excelled in. This excellence actually changed the nature of fighting battles as those types of battles became more and more rare, EXCEPT when there were battles against other roman forces. But even in these battles mobility was more important that brute force (roman armies did not need to annihilate the other roman army!). The romans inside the empire could make use of excellent roads and hence cavalry became important. Of course cavalry was already important in eastern theater, but the real impetus for cavalry came from fighting other roman armies. So by the end of the 2nd century the heavy infantry legion was rarely deployed whole, instead detachments were expected to be sufficient for almost all types of operations. Commanders and junior one especially became more and more experienced in using these small forces while knowledge of large set battles became more and more theoretical. On the other hand cavalry officiers became more and more important and indeed some of the most significant and important barracks-century emperors were cavalry officers! By the end of the 3rd century the infantry army was quite different.
Is it a "fact" that the gladius and pilum went out together along with old the old cylindrical scutum? I am not an expert enough, but I do believe that by the end of the 2nd century things had evolved and the traditional legionary equipment may have been slowly phased out. By the end of the 3rd century even the legion was phased out.
Everyone realized, germanics especially, that set battles against a well balanced roman army was in rome's favor. Even when roman's resumed aggressive campaigning against germanics beyond limes they did not fight large set battles as the enemy did not offer such occasions. (Think twice of Arminius). Think of long wars during Marcus' reign where vexillations were normal practice. Evidently over 150 years a pattern had slowly but surely been set and by Marcus' time wars in the north were quite different than they were during Ceasar's time and Trajan.
As you guys are saying the legions worked more and more like their auxilliaries. The gladius, pilum and large cylindrical scutum were optimized for a type of battle that the romans excelled in. This excellence actually changed the nature of fighting battles as those types of battles became more and more rare, EXCEPT when there were battles against other roman forces. But even in these battles mobility was more important that brute force (roman armies did not need to annihilate the other roman army!). The romans inside the empire could make use of excellent roads and hence cavalry became important. Of course cavalry was already important in eastern theater, but the real impetus for cavalry came from fighting other roman armies. So by the end of the 2nd century the heavy infantry legion was rarely deployed whole, instead detachments were expected to be sufficient for almost all types of operations. Commanders and junior one especially became more and more experienced in using these small forces while knowledge of large set battles became more and more theoretical. On the other hand cavalry officiers became more and more important and indeed some of the most significant and important barracks-century emperors were cavalry officers! By the end of the 3rd century the infantry army was quite different.
Jeffery Wyss
"Si vos es non secui of solutio tunc vos es secui of preciptate."
"Si vos es non secui of solutio tunc vos es secui of preciptate."
