Late Roman Army

[oscar]

I remember reading that Anastasius started his career as a tribune in a legion whose name I cannot recall. I also read that the Parthica legion still appears on some records in the early 6th century. I wonder if the last participation of legions as such might not have been the war with Persia(circa 502-506)before dissapearing altogether as a military unit. this was also one of the last wars in which large units were comitted(more than 50,000). as is common knowledge, Belisarius never commanded more than 25,000 troops, of which his personal regiment was the only truly professional unit(numbering perhaps 7,000). who can shed light on this issue?

 

 

The legions dissapered sometime in the late third century. In late empire the romans had a garrison force, largely infantry, on the limes and a strike force of cavalry in key positions behind them.

Roman army always had a lot of mercenaries like the gauls used by Caesar and Crassus or the numids used by Traian in Dacia. In the late emire had less to choose from as germans were on most borders. They were not barbarians and knew the empire well.

 

The legions did not disappear in the 3rd century. The nature of the army had changed but it had certainly not disappeared. If not the legions, then who marched with Constantine in the 4th century? Romans also never used mercenaries in the way we associate the term in a modern sense. While we can find comparisons with auxilia and mercenaries, auxilia was a part of the main army and was integrated within it. They were not simply armed groups of men or tribes for hire to the highest bidder.

 

The degradation of the army in overall effectiveness is well attested in the late imperial period, but the descriptions provided are also not quite right.

[caldrail]

Communites hired barbarian tribes for protection in the late west. Sounds like everyday mercenary activity to me.

[oscar]

obviously the legions could not have dissapearded in the 3rd century. Ammianus mentioned them during his account of Julian

[Rameses the Great]

The legion did not disappear at the end of the later periods of the Roman empire. They just had new faces than what was there a long time ago. They made modifications like any other army. You can train a German man to be just as good as a Roman man, in terms of legions. Celts and Germans poured into the Roman frontier to share in the civilization that Rome had, so they enlisted their troops.

 

The Romans insisted on a Roman general running the army. The Persians were not a big issue to Rome, all they had were numbers. They were conscripts who had short daggers and nice clothes with no armour. The legions would have easily destroyed their ranks with no problems. The problems came from Visigoths, Huns, and Celts. After many years of defeats they banded together and took Rome.

[Caius Maxentius]

Legions were reduced to around 1000-2000 troops in strength due to the changes in structure and makeup of how the army would function as more of a reactionary force. The Froniters were guarded by border forces and troops of garrison quality, while the main field armies were in the back of the fronts and stationed and billeted in cities, not large cavalry vexelations, only one large cavalry force is attested and this was from the reign of Galienus but it was broke up soon after.

 

I agree, and Adrian Goldsworthy points out that during the fourth century, it made sense for army units to be smaller, since pitched battles against the barbarians were relatively rare. The functions demanded of the army were more often oriented towards counter-raids, ambushes and smaller-scale operations, since the barbarians were rarely trying to engage the Romans in large-scale winner-take-all battles.

[caldrail]

And since the smaller roman armies needed to be more mobile to catch enemy intrusions they weren't always in the right place, which to a civilian means guarding them. Therefore they were keen in times of trouble to seek protection.

[sonic]

What is the evidence for the Roman army being largely German? None. It is all circumstantial and has been collected and issued as proof by historians writing between the 1930's and 1970's. The most influential of these were Hoffmann and Alfoldi. Their views are now taken as being self-evident, but a closer look at their arguments shows that the vast majority of the troops could have come from anywhere in the Empire, not just the German tribes on the northern frontiers.

 

If anyone has any specific questions on this, either post or email me.

 

Sonic

[Nikephoros Phokas]

Flavius Vegetius Renatus (c. 385