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Root directory at Military history of ancient Rome The branches of the Roman military at the highest level were the Roman army and the Roman navy. ...
The Roman army is the set of land-based military forces employed by the Roman Kingdom, Roman republic and later Roman empire as part of the Roman military. ...
velites hastati principes triarii equites legionaries auxiliae foederati praetorians vigiles frumentarii accensi rorarii herculanians cohortes urbanae dromedarii bucelarii speculatores immunes clibinarii) ...
This is a list of Roman legions. ...
// Manius Acilius Glabrio -- Manius Acilius Glabrio (consul 191 BC) -- Manius Acilius Glabrio (consul 91) -- Titus Aebutius Helva -- Aegidius -- Lucius Aemilius Barbula -- Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir) -- Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus -- Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (praetor 56 BC) -- Flavius Aëtius -- Lucius Afranius (consul) -- Sextus Calpurnius Agricola -- Gnaeus Julius Agricola -- Flavius Antoninus -- Marcus...
The Roman Navy (Latin: Classis) operated between the First Punic war and the end of the Western Roman Empire. ...
Root directory at Military history of ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a state whose history was often closely entwined with its military history over the roughly 13 centuries that the Roman state existed. ...
The following is a List of Roman battles (fought by the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire), organized by date. ...
Root directory at Military history of ancient Rome From sticks and stones to ballistae and quinquiremes. ...
Roman military engineering is that Roman engineering carried out by the Roman Army - almost exclusively by the Roman legions for the furthering of military objectives. ...
Basic ideal plan of a Roman castrum. ...
The Romans used battering rams, ballistae, siege towers, and later onagers for siege weapons. ...
Disclaimer:This article makes extensive use of images used by kind permission of the Creative Assembly made with the Rome: Total War computer game. ...
The strategy of the Roman military encompasses its grand strategy (the arrangements made by the state to implement its political goals through a selection of military goals, a process of diplomacy backed by threat of military action, and a dedication to the military of part of its production and resources...
The Roman army was primarily based around heavy infantry. ...
See: Structural history of the Roman military The branches of the Roman military at the highest level were the Roman army and the Roman navy. ...
Rome's military was always tightly keyed to its political system. In the Roman kingdom the social standing of a person impacted both his political and military roles. The political system was from an early date based upon competition within the ruling elite. Senators in the Republic competed fiercely for public office, the most coveted of which was the post of Consul. Two were elected each year to head the government of the state, and would be assigned a consular army and an area in which to campaign. From Marius and Sulla onwards, control of the army began to be tied in to the political ambitions of individuals, leading to the political triumvirate of the first century BC and its military resolution. The late Republic and Empire was increasingly plagued by usurpations led by or suported by the miitary, leading to the crisis of the third century in the late empire. Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis ) is a commonly applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by the three simultaneous crises of external invasion, internal civil war and economic collapse. ...
Prior to the Roman kingdom
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During the Roman kingdom Under the Etruscan king Servius Tullius, a person's social standing and wealth determined both their political and military role: following his reforms, a rich man would have had greater voting rights, and greater standing within the military, than a poor man. A further politicization of the military involved officers for a unit not belonging to and being drawn from the class of the military unit he commanded but being selected often through voting. Servius Tullius was the sixth legendary king of ancient Rome, and the second king of the Etruscan dynasty. ...
During the Roman Republic In the republic, the tradition of social class determining military duty continued, despite structural changes - the rich equestrians continued to serve together in the equites for instance - but the lower ranks became less politicized and based upon a mix of social class, age and military experience rather than social class alone. For non-citizens, 25 years in the army was a guaranteed way of gaining citizenship for you and your family. An Equestrian (Latin eques, plural equites) was a member of one of the two upper social classes in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. ...
Despite these changes on the bottom rungs of the military, amongst the army's commanders a process began of politicizing military command. In the Republic, military service made a person of the equestrian class eligible for a wide range of profitable postings: military triumphs boosted a person's career, and military service became a pre-requirement for a number of political posts. Intended initially to ensure that all political leaders had shown dedication and duty serving in the military, the effect was to cause military experience to become of paramount importance to a Roman's political career, with the eventual consequence that armies would become tools for the political goals of their generals, rather than neutrally aligned forces of the state. At the highest level, two consuls were elected each year to head the government of the state and simultanesoult were appointed the commanders-in-chief of the Roman army, and would be assigned a consular army and an area in which to campaign.
During the late Republic to the mid Roman Empire In 100 BC Lucius Appuleius Saturninus was tribune and advocated several social reforms, among which was a bill that gave colonial lands to war veterans, a suggestion that was radical and displeasing to the patrician senate, which opposed the measures. Violence broke out and the Senate ordered Marius, as Consul for that year, to put down the revolt. Marius, although he was generally allied with the radicals, complied with the request and put down the revolt in the interest of public order. The political issue of land allocation for Rome's military veterans would return several times to haunt the state including 14 AD when an army in central Europe mutinied over the failure of the state to provide land plots for soldiers. Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, Roman demagogue. ...
After the conclusion of the Social War, certain of Rome's eastern provinces became under threat of invasion and it was neccessary to raise an army to counter the threat. The choice before the Senate was to put either Consul Marius or Consul Sulla in command of an army. There was already a fierce rivalry between the two, in part due to a competitive isntinct amongst the two as successful generals, but more importantly distrust on Sulla's part that Marius held unhealthy ambitious. The Roman Republic was always on guard again any one citizen gaining too much prominence, lest he seize power and restore Rome as a kingdom; thus a series of checks and balances existed, such as consuls having to be re-elected annually. Marius had already served five consulships and enjoyed widespread popularity. The senate made its decision and Sulla was given the job but a short time later the decision was reversed by the Assembly, and Marius placed in command. Already wary of Marius' prominence and revious five terms as consul, and (rightly) suspecting bribery in the securing of the position to command the army (Marius had promised to erase the debts of Publius Sulpicius Rufus, Sulla refused to acknowledge the validity of the Assembly's action. Gaius Marius (Latin: C·MARIVS·C·F·C·N)¹ (157 BC - January 13, 86 BC) was a Roman general and politician elected Consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. ...
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (Latin: L·CORNELIVS·L·F·P·N·SVLLA·FELIX) ¹ (ca. ...
Publius Sulpicius Rufus (c. ...
Sulla left Rome and traveled to the army waiting in Nola, the army the Senate had asked him to lead against Mithridates. Sulla urged his legions to defy the Assembly's orders and accept him as their rightful leader. Sulla was successful and the legions stoned the representatives from the Assembly when they arrived, defying the state's orders. Sulla then commanded six legions to march with him to Rome. This was a momentous event, and was unforeseen by Marius, as no Roman army had ever marched upon Rome - it was forbidden by law and ancient tradition. Marius fled with no great loss of life and Sulla later disbanded his legions and re-established consular government, but the military had been shown to be able to be used as a political tool of individuals. It was a pattern to be repeate more famously later by Caesar.
During the First Triumvirate of Julius Caesar, Pompey and Crassus, each of the triumvirates used military success to enhance their own political and public status. The incredibly wealthy consul Crassus, who had earlier displayed his wealth by entertaining the populace of Rome at a huge party with 10,000 tables, personally raised and funded six legions from his personal wealth. Whilst he did not at this time use them for marching on Rome in direct furtherance of his own career, his desperation to rival the military campaigns of Pompey that led to recognition in the public eye means that his motives are unlikely to have been entirely selfless. Rather, it was another step in the severance of the direct connection between state and troops that saw armies increasingly become tied to their generals' political careers. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
GÄius JÅ«lius Caesar (IPA: ;[1]), July 12 or July 13, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in world history. ...
Pompey, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir [1] (Classical Latin abbreviation: CN·POMPEIVS·CN·F·SEX·N·MAGNVS[2], Gnaeus or Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus) (September 29, 106 BC – September 29, 48 BC), was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman republic. ...
Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives (c. ...
When the triumvirate collapsed, Caesar crossed the Rubicon river and marched his armies upon Rome itself. This turning of an army loyal to its general against the state had occurred before under Sulla, but the circumstances were different this time: Sulla felt at least partly justified in his march on Rome by the alleged and probably real corruption of the political system by Marius, and by Marius' own quest for primacy as a political figure against a political backdrop that sought to prevent any one person becoming too prominent. Caesar, on the other hand, marched his army against Rome purely for his own purposes. It is true that the political manouverings of Pompey, which made it possible for Caesar to be prosecuted on his return to Rome, pushed Caesar into marching on Rome, but the fact that almost the entire senate fled alongside Pompey shows that Caesar's actions were at least perceived to be an act against the state itself rather than the person of Pompey: Caesar's power base was built almost exclusively on the loyalty of the soldiers who had served under him for several years campaigning. Unlike Sulla, Caesar also failed to revert power to the state when the threat of Pompey had been removed, not just keeping his position as de facto ruler of the state but, immediately on his return from defeating Pompey, naming his grand-nephew Gaius Octavius (Octavian) as the heir to his title, a wholly unconstiutional act. In everything but name, the army had placed the first Emperor on the throne of Rome. Augustus Caesar The title Caesar Augustus, given to every emperor of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, originates from this person. ...
The years following the fall of the republic were peaceful and relatively benign with the military not involving itself greatly in political affairs - such that the term Pax Augusti is often used - perhaps because the military was expending most of its energy in territorial expansion of the empire.
The Roman senate and emperors were not blind to the possibility of rebellion by its troops as generals could gain the loyalty of his officers through a mixture of personal charisma, promises and simple bribes: once the general and officers had a unity of purpose the rigid discipline of the military meant that the troops of this age would normally follow. Only later seemingly did the situation reverse and the soldiers began to dictate action to the officers and generals, raising generals to Emperors even where the generals themselves were completely lacking in such ambition or wishes. However, the state saw itself as relatively safe from such rebellions in the early imperial period. The reason for this safety from rebellion is that for a rebellion to be successful it is necessary for a usurper to gain control of a certain percentage of the army in order to stand some chance of success. Sulla and Caesar had managed such actions because the consular system of that period had concentrated in their hands one out of a large proportion of the small number of armies in service of the state at the time. In the expanding empire, legions under generals were spread out across the extent of the Roman borders and it was not easy for one man to seize control of any great proportion of them, perhaps only commonly being in control of two or so legions. However, later larger-scale wars necessitated the concentration of greater military power in the hands of generals. There is evidence of emperors holding some members of generals' families as hostage to ensure their loyalty.
During the late Roman Empire By the mid Empire the military's involvement in politics had increased to the degree such that 193 AD saw no less than five emperors as armies heralded their generals as emperors or even, as after the death of Pertinax, murdered the Emperor and then sold the empire at auction to the highest bidder. Likewise, from 211 to the accession of Diocletian and the establishment of the Tetrarchy in 286, Rome saw 28 emperors of which only two had a natural death (from the plague). However, there were also 38 usurpers who raised revolts across the empire. Successful usurpers were usually either provincial governors, commanders of a large grouping of Roman legions, or prefects of the Praetorian guard, which had control of Rome, where the Imperial palace still lay. The problem of usurpation seems to have lain at least partially in the lack of a clear tradition enshrined in law and popular will of an agreed method of ensuring succession, and also in the maintenance of large standing armies. The former problem was evident from the very first emperor Augustus and meant that those claiming imperial power via various means, and whether they went on to become emperor or be denounced as usurpers, could all clain some form of legitimacy. The latter problem meant that there were always men remote from their duties and loyalties in Rome and in command or large armies marching under their discipline and command. Augustus (Latin: IMP•CAESAR•DIVI•F•AVGVSTVS;[1] September 23, 63 BC–August 19, AD 14), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (English Octavian; Latin: C•IVLIVS•C•F•CAESAR•OCTAVIANVS) for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, was the first and among the most important of...
The usurpation mania of the third century had profound effects in the military organization of the Empire. One of the most striking changes was the division and multiplication of the Roman provinces. The greater the manpower a provincial governor had under his command, the greater the temptation to make a bid to the throne. Thus, provinces were slowly divided into smaller units to avoid concentration of power and military capacity in the hands of one man.
The maintenance of legions in a "strategic reserve" some distance behind the frontier and close to the emperors must have bee partially attributable to a need to preserve against rebellion by Roman border armies as much as agsint external invasion by an enemy.
Ultimately, the Empire itself was destroyed because of the eventual loyalty of its troops to their commanders over their state. In 470 AD, Odoacer was appointed leader of the foederati troops of Rome, and deposed the Emperor, proclaiming himself King of Italy. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Foederatus early in the history of the Roman Republic identified one of the tribes bound by treaty (foedus), who were neither Roman colonies nor had they been granted Roman citizenship (civitas) but were expected to provide a contingent of fighting men when trouble arose. ...
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