Impact of roman siege warfare on social/economic inequality?

[nadu98]

Hi. I am currently writing a thesis on roman siege warfare.

Recently I came across Scheidels 'great-leveling' thesis, stating that mass-mobilization warfare, state failure, transformative revolution and plagues are four phenomena that level economic inequality between rich and poor. As siege warfare is quite often a form of mass mobilization warfare and total war, one would expect that in some cases economic inequality between rich and poor would level.

I would like to apply Scheidels thesis on sieges involving the roman republic and empire. Scheidel gives some examples of how sieges may contribute to leveling social inequality, but does not extend too much on the topic.

Do any of you know some examples of sieges where this thesis could be applied to (even if it is in a very minor form)?

Or do you rather think that the thesis does not really apply to roman siege warfare?

Excited to hear some of your responses and thanks in advance :)

[Novosedoff]

Sounds more like the British rather than Roman topic to me, when you say leveling the inequality.  Although, as far as I remember, both levellers and diggers failed in the UK, their political agenda served to be a further inspiration for William Godwin and the popularization of anarchism in Europe. 

Of course, in the normal world where I live the silver-spoon kids ain't apt to be in the very front-lines getting hit by the charge of the enemy artillery. This once made a renowned Russian general even say "Give me a squad comprised of elite offsprings, and I will end any war within a week". Surely you may be living in a different imarinary world of Don Quijote and Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, where kings and nobility are fighting side by side with ordinary men.  But the statistics must shed some light on their mortality rates from participation in such fights.  To my best knowledge emperor Augustus encouraged his senators to take their sons with them to the senatorial meetings, so they could learn there the rules of the game. The military cursus honorum didn't seem to be life threatening either. 

The same applies to plagues because apparently the rich can pay to afford better care by best doctors. The only exception to that is when the overall level of advancements in medical sciences is at its bottom, in which case having a better doctor can hardly add up to increase the chances of survival. Btw I reckon malnutrition is no different from the plague, as far as the survival chances are concerned.

I ain't so sure  about the meaning of the state failure and transformative revolution, so I leave them with no comment.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Novosedoff

[caldrail]

Siege warfare is a specific event in one location with fixed numbers (usually) of forces involved - mass mobilisation theories do not apply.

[James Lawrie]

On 10/12/2022 at 3:25 AM, nadu98 said:

Hi. I am currently writing a thesis on roman siege warfare.

Recently I came across Scheidels 'great-leveling' thesis, stating that mass-mobilization warfare, state failure, transformative revolution and plagues are four phenomena that level economic inequality between rich and poor. As siege warfare is quite often a form of mass mobilization warfare and total war, one would expect that in some cases economic inequality between rich and poor would level.

I would like to apply Scheidels thesis on sieges involving the roman republic and empire. Scheidel gives some examples of how sieges may contribute to leveling social inequality, but does not extend too much on the topic.

Do any of you know some examples of sieges where this thesis could be applied to (even if it is in a very minor form)?

Or do you rather think that the thesis does not really apply to roman siege warfare?

Excited to hear some of your responses and thanks in advance

And now you have me racing off to read Scheidel so I can think on this.

Best of luck with the thesis, it sounds like an interesting angle.