First of all, your book was a fantastic read, and helped put the way cultures in Europe changed after the fall of the Western Empire in a new light in my mind.
Onto the question: I am currently undertaking an self-study project, on which I have chosen to study the Later Roman Legions. My full question is:
This however, for the sake of the project is split into three sections, linking in to the various parts of the main question. The third segment of the project is possibly the most difficult one, and the one that I think requires some outside thought from my own, this segment, in the form of a question being:
For this I am focusing on the problems of the armies organisation and deployement in relation to the Romans attitude to war i.e. did Rome care anough about the organisation of the army as other factors came into play (Christianity's teachings, unrest/civil war, cultural changes etc)? Does the fact that figures later in history took Vegetius' advice (despite the fact that they fought a TOTALLY different form of warfare- i.e. heavy cavalry based, where De Re Military encourages the use of heavy infantry) show that the Roman Elite (bar the Generals) cared little for warfare, even when it was neccesary for a true peace?
I hope that's not too long (or indeed too many questions!) for the "rules".
Many Thanks, Greg Wild