Rome: Engineering an Empire part 1 of 2

it may have been the largest army of all time, conquering and controlling an

empire

that stretched across the ancient Western world; He was ruthless and disciplined and feared by all, not only by his enemies who died in their millions but by his own emperors who often paid the price. The price of the army's wrath, and yet these soldiers were builders and destroyers who helped spread a culture that became the foundation of Western civilization. What made this army so dominant? How could he govern? That reshaped the classical world and why it eventually falls. This is the story of the Roman war machine in 55 BC.

Rome's greatest general, Julius Caesar, was on the verge of destiny and the Roman army with training tactics and determination superior to those of its rivals had conquered almost the entire Mediterranean region. Caesar himself had already conquered Gaul, now it was France and Belgium and had even greater mental victories. Before long Caesar would use his army to march on Rome and change history forever, but he first planned to invade a distant and mysterious island, an island known as Britain. It was unknown, it was a place that was thought to be inhabited by strange beasts, by savages who painted themselves blue, who offered children as sacrifices.

This is like putting men on the moon. It has no military value, but it is something that you can say that you have done. They have been more far from any room in the year 55 BC. C. 80 Roman ships left the French coast carrying Caesar and 12,000 soldiers across the English Channel when Caesar landed near the white cliffs of Dover. The British tribes were waiting for him. Roman soldiers in full armor and carrying their weapons. and the shields had to jump into the water and advance towards the beach where there were thousands of Celtic warriors running with spears and swords, chariots entering and leaving the water.

It was a critical moment, he finally got enough troops on the beach that they were able to push up and push back the Celts. Caesar's army was able to penetrate only a few miles inland before a storm in the English Channel crushed Caesar's fleet and he was forced to send rescue ships to escape, but he returned the following year with 30,000 soldiers, the The British fought him with hit-and-run tactics, but they were no match for the legions. Their war was not designed to fight massive armies like the Romans, it was largely small scale designed for wars between tribes, they did not have the experience of facing armies like the Romans, but once again a storm in the Channel of the Mancha forced Caesar to return early to the continent with little to show for his two invasions.

The taxes Caesar imposed on Britain in 55 or 54 BC. C. were actually more or less military disasters. he was very lucky to escape because his fleet was shipwrecked twice by storms on the beaches and in terms of success on land with his army it was not his finest moment Caesar was eager to leave Britain for another reason in Gaul now France the Triumph Caesar had conquered to plan a unified revolt the Gauls chose a young chieftain to lead them his name was Vercingetorix which means great leader of warriors he was only in his early twenties but Mike Caesar was brave and cunning he clearly had a very powerful force of personality in leadership , simply because of the discipline that he was able to impose on that very disparate Gallic army, he managed to accomplish some pretty remarkable feats just in terms of uniting it, moving it, and giving Caesar a very difficult time, the golden-headed Caesar, his worst defeat in a battle for the fortified city of Gergovia in central France.

Caesar's army was repulsed, losing 750 men in order to feel Roman blood. A confrontation was looming to decide Caesar's fate. The objectives and Europe itself. Vercingetorix leading his army of 80,000 men to the hilltop city of Alesia in Burgundy, rising 1,500 feet above the plain, was a tragic mistake. Caesar arrived shortly after with fifty thousand men and decided to besiege and destroy his enemy. We are standing on Alicia looking from the exact spot where the army. of the Gauls did when they saw Caesar's troops facing them, surrounding them in the hills and valleys to carry out the siege of Elysium to prevent the gold from escaping.

Caesar began building an incredible ring of fortifications around the plateau, much like this modern reconstruction in France of his arm. atop a circle of barricades and towers eleven miles in circumference in just a few weeks basically shows the spectacular traffic of a season. Remember this is truly spectacular and Caesar himself was extremely proud to have given it in detail in his writings. It was truly a great feat fifty years before Christ to conceive all this. There were towers every 20 years or so that served as watchtowers and also platforms for artillery, especially cannibals, which Caesar made great use of during the Gallic Wars.

Fortifications were more than just barricades and towers. Immediately in front Caesar built two deep ditches and filled one of them with water. I bet I hope you do. Caesar had the rivers diverted to completely fill one of these ditches, so, as we can see, it would have been a very effective obstacle against the Gallic cover. The wall between the ditch and the fence was something easy to do but also very effective. branches with sharp tips that play the same role as barbed wire today. In front of the walls there were more lines of sharp stakes visible on the ground but below the ground was something much more lethal: camouflage stakes to impale oncoming enemies, the extremists are because if it is very simple and very efficient, they dug a little, about a meter deep, they drove a stake into the hole with a sharp point hardened by five and then covered it. with branches as I will describe this process in detail and we found perfect examples of it in recent excavations.

Hope tremendously halted the advance of the Gallic forces while from the towers in front the Romans fired projectiles towards the goals. The system was extremely effective, but as soon as his troops built this large circle of fortifications, Caesar heard another Gallic army approaching to try to break the siege. The Romans had to build a second ring of fortifications around the outside of the first to protect against the second enemy. Caesar's men camped between the two rings. They completed their siege work just in time. Gallic reinforcements soon arrived and attacked the outer ring of defenses. Yotaka Caesar I do it in the vinore remem Caesar wrote that he had to lead the defense he himself could be recognized by his striking red cape he came from his camp to galvanize his regiments when Caesar tells us something like this it means he had a big problem on his hands For two days Caesar led a fierce defense on two fronts against armies from outside and inside, helping Caesar lead the battle was his trusted aide Mark Antony, gradually the Romans stopped gaining the advantage and the Gallic relief army began to enter.

He panicked and scattered, he just disintegrated in panic and ran and his cavalry chased them into the forest and of course Vercingetorix was still there. trapped on the plateau in the fortress vercingetorix and his men had no food left and there were reports of cannibalism first and she received the news of his surrender to Caesar, then she rode to appear before him and sat at Caesar's feet, they took him and They sent it. to Rome as a prisoner six years later, during the celebration of Caesar's victory, he was ritually strangled today. Vercingetorix is ​​a French national hero, a symbol of resistance to foreign invasion in 50 BC.

C. Caesar's campaigns in Western Europe had lasted nine years, leaving him rich and in charge. With dedicated, battle-hardened money, his next big target would be none other than Rome itself, and his former

part

ner in the ruling triumvirate, General Pompey the Great, would be his enemy. Caesar's victories have been acclaimed by ordinary Romans, but among many nobles, Caesar woke up. Fear and jealousy were presented as a threat to her own ambitions to control the Empire and its wealth. The consequences were almost inevitable. Over time, the competition will get out of control. Over time, very few people will have a larger share of the loot.

The super warlords. They were going to be created and the civil war occurred in the 1st century BC. C. will eventually break out between two or three of them in the Senate. Caesar's enemies demanded that he resign from his official position as governor of France and northern Italy. They also demanded that he dissolve his government. army and returned to Rome, but that would have left Caesar politically naked. If he returned to Italy, his military command would expire and he would no longer have the protection from prosecution that being in office afforded him, so he would have been extremely personally vulnerable.

If he had returned to Italy, Caesar offered to disband his army if he were made consul of Rome, but the Senate said no. Meanwhile, the Senate authorized Caesar's rival general, Pompey, to raise additional troops to defend Rome. Caesar was now ordered to disband his army in 49. BC advanced the Rubicon River, the legal border that no commander could cross without the permission of the Senate, they must have known when that alternation was issued that it would have been unacceptable to Caesar and so famously with those words let the dice fly high Caesar crosses the Rubicon and the Civil War begins Caesar swamps we go towards Rome and many towns welcomed him with open arms 80,000 volunteers joined him on his march to confront the puppy when Caesar arrived in Rome the army Pompey and his supporters in the Senate had fled to the Balkans to surrender.

The time had come to regroup, leaving the capital and the Treasury as virtual gifts to Caesar, but the Civil War was just beginning. Dad had other legions in France and Spain and Caesar quickly headed west to fight them as a result of his conquest, which he seized without forging this A very, very effective and battle-hardened army that could stand up to any other army at faced, including other Roman legions in the civil war in Spain and France, there was little fighting. Caesar easily overcame his opponents and many of them changed and joined his side every Roman.

The city in the provinces was also a potential target for any city that opposed Caesar and repented. High above the suburbs of Marseille and southern France lies the ancient cloche village that helps supply Pompey's army, so Caesar ordered the city to destroy the Caesars' detachment. The troops marched along this mountain road in 49 BC. look Masami shows the voie don't think we were queuing here we are on the insurance road that leads to where the city gate was here we found several piles of slingshot stones ready to be used in defense apparently they were the only weapon the villages bell was home to less than a thousand people it was no match for the determined Roman soldiers someone else will match them you know, put them where I'm standing here there was a gate in the wall a protective wall the wall is here and here when the villagers looked and saw to the Romans coming up the access road, they must have been terrified, it is less than 40 years old, they quickly tried to fill the gates with whatever they had on hand, stones and mud bricks, but the villagers' efforts were useless. useless and for having supported Caesar's rivals many villages were sold as slaves the city of la plage was destroyed he is all confused to ensure support deliver all the buildings and use the stones to fill the water Whaler so that no one can live here Once again, the site was completely forgotten for the next 500 years.

It was not until the 5th century AD. C. that the site was again

part

ially inhabited, probably by shepherds after their easy victories in the West. Caesar returned to Rome, but the decisive battles were still ahead. He knew that he had to defeat Pompey head-on to gain control of the Roman state and led his army eastward, towards the Balkans, where the Legion would be found. Roman civil wars were often bloodier because both sides used the same tactics against the other, so casualties could often be quite massive and of course, as in any civil war, the advanced psychological strains must have been very high. difficult for the troops because all regions had the same strict training.

Roman civil wars were usually decided by generalship and here Caesar had The advantage Pompey was aging. It wasn't that decisive. Caesar moved his troops faster. He was also quite good at deceiving his enemies as to his intentions. After a decisive battle, the two Roman armies met in 48 BC. C. in distant Salus, tonorth of Athens. Caesar, rightly against the pups' tactics, got the better of the battle and forced the pups' army to surrender in a winter Civil War for two reasons: first, because his side is more unified than the opposition under Pompey, and the second reason why people don't like to talk, but I think it's important that we have to admit that Caesar throughout the campaigns against Pompey had a series of strokes of good luck.

Pharsalia had a stroke of good luck in choosing Pompey's tactics and strengthening that wing of his army to respond to them. He could have been different, Pompey. He himself escaped to Egypt, but his former ally, the young pharaoh Ptolemy, had him killed upon his arrival. The poppy head was presented to Caesar or arrived three days later. Caesar reportedly cried but realized through his tears that he was now the undisputed master of Rome. He arrived in Egypt. who was immersed in a power struggle, the young Ptolemy was fighting for the pharaoh's throne with his 21-year-old sister Cleopatra, he set out to win Caesar's help in his battle and introduced himself in dramatic fashion, smuggling himself into the presence of Caesar on a rolled up rug.

Instead of suddenly revealing herself to him, she was said to have a seductive voice and a type of vitality and liveliness that was extremely attractive. His seduction worked. Caesar used his army to help install Cleopatra as the sole ruler of Egypt under Roman control and then spent several months. Sailing with Cleopatra on a barge down the Nile, he claimed that he was safeguarding the interests of Rome. Egypt was vital for Caesar to control Rome and the eastern Mediterranean. Cleopatra also sought to retain her position as queen of Egypt. A wonderful coalition of the political and the romantic sees a final return to Rome.

Her victory procession was perhaps the largest the Capitol had ever seen that night. Caesar treated some 200,000 citizens as if they were a huge explosion. With Caesar now master of Rome, he freed many of his long-serving troops by granting them retirement properties in Italy and France, but they would soon be called back into service to avenge the general murdered in 46 BC. C. Caesar's power was so undeniable that he had the The Senate appointed him dictator for 10 years and then dictator for life, but many Romans with their republican tradition abhorred this measure and jealousy among his rivals reached a fever pitch on the Ides of March. and in 44 BC.

C. a group of senators attacked Caesar when he arrived for a meeting. stabbing him 23 times Caesar ironically fell dead under a statue of Pompey he got too far ahead of the other competition the only way to try to get things back to normal was to eliminate him in the years before his assassination he began to take on some of the attitude some of the insignia some of the titles of the Roman gods was in a sense killed to prove that he was not a god in a last attempt to return the Roman state to a republic.

Caesar's assassination opened the door to more civil wars. on one side were Caesar's assassins and his supporters, on the other were Caesar's loyalists, including his designated heir, Octavius, and Caesar's lieutenant, Mark Antony, in the decisive battle in Greece in 42. to. Antony now shared the government of the Empire between them, Octavian ruling the West from Rome and Antony the East from Egypt, because Octavian wanted all the power of Rome for himself and Antony's very public love affair with Cleopatra in Egypt gave Taviano the propaganda tool I needed. turning Rome against its co-ruler, it also allows Octavian to portray Antony as the unmanned Roman, the man whom the sybarite Li on the banks of the Nile sells perfumed sweetness to Cleopatra when he should have been there like any proper Roman parading his troops exercising.

The parade ground inevitably required another civil war to resolve the struggle for power. The pivotal battle occurred at sea near Actium, on the Greek coast, in 31 BC. Most of Antony and Cleopatra's fleet was sunk and Antony's land legions began to desert Antony and Cleopatra escaped, but fearing after Octavian's treatment, they both committed suicide. Octavian was now the sole leader of the Roman world and became the first Roman emperor. He took the name Augustus, meaning the revered, and also used his adoptive name Caesar. Many future emperors would also adopt Caesar's name like other leaders throughout history? Russian titles are derived from the word Caesar and so is the German title of Kaiser Augustus. to lose power in the same way that he completely reorganized the Roman army by forming it into 28 legions of about 5,000 men each, he also made military service more permanent by enrolling soldiers not for six years but for 20 years and then, in exchange , 25 soldiers were guaranteed 14 years of pay upon retirement, maintains the idea of ​​legions, but for the first time converts them into permanent regiments and, from then on, some of them last about five hundred years so that the soldiers are loyal to He personally, instead of his generals, Augustus paid the soldiers' salaries directly from the Imperial Treasury, he also paid them annual cash bonuses, and they frequently visited the armies in the field.

It was an oath that each soldier swore each year to the Emperor personally, furthermore, Emperor Augustus and the later Emperor controlled all aspects of the military, all promotions, although of course they could actually have been made locally, had to be approved by the Emperor. Augustus, also created an entirely new branch of the military, auxiliary regiments were made up of non-citizens with specialized skills that the Romans did not have. They weren't very good archers generally speaking, they weren't very good cavalrymen, so they tended to recruit from people who did have those skills. The Romans had often used foreign mercenaries as archers and horsemen for specific campaigns, but Augustus recruited non-citizens for auxiliary units.

For 25 years after their terms, they were granted Roman citizenship, meaning their sons could join the legions. This kept the Roman army vigorous but with a constant supply of new blood. Over time, the ethnic composition of the army changed dramatically under Augustus. The legions were 65% Italian, but a century later the Italian proportion was less than 1% however that did not change the discipline and nature of the army many of its officers still leave Italy the strong continuity but it is also based on strengths and capabilities of all those Provincial peoples who were becoming Roman were acquiring Roman citizenship, so it is still very much a Roman army, but is it Rome that is changing?

Another change that Augustus introduced was the abolition of marriage for any soldier below the rank of centurion, he reasoned that soldiers were more efficient if they were married to discipline rather than wives, there is a brutal side to this. Augustus is ensuring, by disconnecting his armies from the local population, that those armies are prepared to put those people to the sword if necessary, but in reality this rule did not do so. At work, many soldiers kept wives and children de facto and in nearby towns, which was tolerated because the children made good recruits, sometimes on the borders, families lived inside forts, as evidence, as shown in the fort of Vindolanda in the north of England, there are the women, the married soldiers. some of them certainly live inside the barracks buildings.

I mean, in the first buried building we saw, there are quite a few women, women's shoes, babies, footwear, etc., and it seems that, like in later armies, there are several rooms in the barracks buildings. They were assigned to two married soldiers Augustus kept his legions busy gradually expanding the Empire, but expansion could come at a high price, as Augustus discovered when he attempted to conquer Germany, the Romans had built 50 forts along the Rhine, including one rebuilt here in Zonton, Germany, as a base. By his campaign, around 7 AD, the Romans controlled Germany as far as the Elbe River, and Augustus put a man better known as an administrator than a general in charge of Roman operations in Germany.

It was Quintilius Varis, the husband of Augustus, his great-niece and he was given command of the five regions of Germany, but the German tribes were planning a revolt, the leader of the Germans was Arminius, who once fought with the Romans as an auxiliary and knew their tactics, the Romans still trusted him as an ally, making him the perfect person to set a trap in 9 AD, he persuaded Varis to lead his army into this forest in the north. of Germany under the pretext of quelling a local uprising. The other side presented a very compelling story. You know, they say: look, there are problems.

I think you should intervene. and this is the best route to take and they took him through some very difficult swampy country and the Germans just set up a fantastic ambush and that was Varis ignoring warnings of a plot but three whole legions plus his camp followers some 30,000 people in the two from Burgh Forest, most of them would never leave when the Roman commander in Germany, Varis, let his three legions enter this German forest in the year nine AD. was walking into one of the worst ambushes in history, it started to rain and they made their way between the mountain on one side and the swamp on the other side and then came the initial German attack which was launched by Spears from some distance at the beginning, which killed quite a few Romans and confused them.

The German warrior Aeneas had trapped the legions. at their most vulnerable, unable to use the tactics and discipline that made them so powerful in open fields. Imagine the scene in this forest 2,000 years ago with the Romans trapped here in the pouring rain, the chaos, the chariots overturning, the cavalry horses stampeding the Romans. women and children crying and screaming as they died the battle lasted three days and the Romans were wiped out of the 30,000, only a few hundred woods escaped and committed suicide along with their top officers rather than fall into German hands and probably with good reason.

Because the Germans actually treated the captured Romans in a very barbaric way, burning them alive and so on. Varis had his head cut off and was sent to Rome. There was panic in the capital with fears of a barbarian invasion which did not happen, but the defeat was. a terrible blow during the night Rome had lost three legions more than 10% of its army four years later Augustus was wandering around his palace hitting the wall with his hands and shouting quintilius Varis give me back my legions the exact location of the battle was lost to history Until 1987 when an archaeologist using a metal detector like this one found dozens of Roman coins buried here, none of the coins were dated after 9 AD, meaning they were almost certainly carried by viruses.

Legions of medical instruments left dormant during the forest massacre were also discovered. and a cavalry mask had been a silent witness to the slaughter of 2,000 years ago. Rome's expansion plans east of the Brian were put on hold; in fact, when Augustus was dying in AD 14, he urged his successors not to attempt to expand the

empire

further, but the Romans became too fond of conquest as they did. To follow that advice one of the next important targets was Great Britain. The Caesar of Georgia had made two brief invasions a century earlier without much success, but in 43 AD.

The Roman army invaded in earnest. The Emperor Claudius was a civilian intellectual who needed a military conquest to gain credibility among his soldiers. Claudius as Emperor sets out to achieve a military reputation and that is what drives his invasion of Britain and he travels from Rome to the south east of England to be present at the moment of victory of the Roman legions and their auxiliaries. Some 40,000 soldiers landed in southeast England and quickly gained control of southern Britain, like Caesar before them. This Roman army, but a British enemy who had none of the discipline or tactics of the Roman legions, men who like to show off the size of their biceps and drink a lot and fight personally, but it is individual combat, not It deals with the strategic or tactical control of units on the battlefield.

Both Britons did not live in cities like the Romans, in fact the word civilized means that city dwellers, usually the Britons lived in agriculture. towns like this recreation in southern England, some for protection lived in hillforts like Maiden Castle also in southern England automobile from a natural hillside Maiden Castle has walls half a mile in circumference built around 500 BC. C., they were more than anything worrying not only to defend themselves from their enemies but to impress thoseother communities and indeed themselves with their own power, but their power did not greatly impress the Roman army. In 43 AD, a Roman regiment raided the villages and hill forts, including Maidan Castle, against the power of the Romans, the British defenders had little more than slingshots.

Earthworks like this wouldn't have really been a problem for the Romans. They could have attacked and entered a compound like this. I can probably imagine that in no more than a day using artillery. the gates a possible remnant of the Roman victory was found during excavations at Maiden Castle a Roman artillery arrowhead still embedded in a British spy As the Romans progressed in their conquest of Britain, they sometimes encountered resistance fierce, but usually without great losses, but one British commander pushed the Romans to the brink of disaster and that commander was a woman, Queen Boudicca. "Her kingdom in eastern England was annexed by the Romans, but when she resisted Roman rule, soldiers whipped her and raped her daughter, sparking a tremendous revolt by British tribes in 60 AD, led by Queen Boudicca herself, we have a description of her.

She was extremely long and fierce, with long red hair that cascaded to her knees and she wore a large gold necklace, bright piercing eyes and a harsh voice Boudicca's Army. she ambushed a legion killing some. Then 2,000 soldiers destroyed three Roman cities, including London, killing about 70,000 Romanized civilians and the Roman presence was practically eliminated there. She and her army simply killed everyone they found and if. You dig up any of those cities and you get to the Roman layers, there was a great black layer of destruction that can be directly attributable to their activity. The Boudicca rains were so overwhelming that the Roman emperor Nero seriously considered withdrawing from Britain completely.

Boudicca's army had encountered little resistance because most of the Roman forces were in Wales attacking the headquarters of the Celtic priests the druids who inspired the native warriors against the Romans but the Roman army had the last word against Brutaka they encountered his army for an engagement north of London and waited for the British to impetuously charge towards them when the British were close. The Romans then charged at him with their javelins, felling the British with their shields and massacring them with their short swords. Eighty thousand Britons were killed that day and only four hundred Romans.

The usual problem the British had encountered was that their simple battle tactics charged in a single line. They are not enough to deal with the extremely well-organized Roman legions. Queen Boudicca had two daughters commit suicide rather than await her fate at Roman hands. The Budokan Revolt did little to stop the Romans. Twenty years later, they had conquered almost all of what is now England. Wales and Scotland, after conquering Britain, Rome also expanded the borders at the other end of its empire by adding Arabia as Middle Eastern provinces in 106 AD. This ability to conquer. Territories as different as the winds that swept through Scotland and the Arabian Desert showed the great adaptability of the Roman army.

Operating in deserts is very difficult even in modern conditions, as our soldiers in the Gulf work and testified in ancient times. It is quite remarkable that the Romans developed means of getting around. food, water by donkey and sometimes by camel over long distances in the desert. Furthermore, the use of depots and supply bases was key to the Roman logistics system and they could organize these flight lines over reasonably long distances and even in desert regions, one of the ways in which the Romans defeated these peoples, such as the new Midian from the Arabs, it was by using local soldiers as auxiliaries so that they would use new Midian troops, use Arab troops to defeat these people.

The Empire of Rome in the Middle East included ancient civilizations, not only Egypt, but also Jerusalem and the rest of what is now Israel and further east, the great commercial city of Petra in Jordan, were impressive tombs carved directly into the rock. As the Roman army continued to expand the Empire, the legions became increasingly conscious. Due to their political power at home, the legions were so powerful that they often decided who would be the next emperor by force, if necessary, the army was absolutely crucial in determining who sat on the throne in Rome. Officially, Rome was a kind of constitutional monarchy in which the emperor was approved by the Senate, but in reality, unless he had the backing of the soldier, the loyalty of the soldiers was not going to last long.

The soldiers were the best opportunity to determine the Emperor, but those who guarded him were the Praetorians. Guard in Rome their first test of creating an emperor came when several of them murdered the infamous Caligula in 41 AD. C. and then quickly installed his uncle Claudius as ruler. The Praetorian Guard really enjoyed their pleasant and comfortable lifestyle in Rome. They needed an emperor to protect them, so they dragged. Poor Uncle Claudius, who was a fairly unknown member of the imperial family outside the palace, thought they were going to kill him, but they actually took him to his camp and made him emperor.

The legions stationed far from Rome also had enormous political power later. After the suicide of Emperor Nero and the legions of 68 AD. C. throughout the empire, they literally fought among themselves to install their favorite commander in the highest position. Many high-ranking generals, being senators themselves, could well claim power and were not at all averse to using their power. soldiers to that end, we tend to think of emperors lying symbiotically on couches in the center of Rome, but in reality most of them have fought and fought hard with armies on the borders, being associated with an army, having military experience is key to Anyone wishing to be a successful emperor, any emperor who ignored his relationship with the army did so at his own risk.

This was, I think, Nero's biggest mistake, for example, things were going so well for the most part under Nero's reign that he could have a good time and he forgot to enter the legions bet, but he realized that if loyalty counted, firstly, they would all have remained loyal, but secondly, he would have realized how loyal they were when one or two started to rebel, he immediately threw in the towel and pleaded guilty. The unnecessary emperors firmly believed that when it came to the army you could buy loyalty. Augustus paid the soldiers annual bonuses out of his own pocket, and Claudius gave the Praetorian Guards five years' pay to keep them happy.

In the 2nd century, Emperor Marcus Aurelius is said to have depleted the treasury so much by bribing guards that he had to auction off the palace's valuables and his wife's clothing. The greed of the oil cards reached its peak in 193 AD when Emperor Pertinax was assassinated who held a public auction between two nobles to see who would bid the highest price for the crown, the winner Didius Juliana offered them five years of payment, but it turned out to be a bad deal. A few months later, disgruntled frontier legions assassinated the power of the Roman army to determine who sat on the throne, it was something that would stop the empire.

Throughout its history, for centuries to come, internal wars between legions wanting to gain the Emperor's crown for their own commanders would severely weaken the Empire's defense and make it vulnerable to the large-scale decline and fall of a Civil War. winter for two reasons, firstly, because his side is more unified than the opposition under Pompey, the second reason is that people do not like to talk, but I think it is important that we have to admit that Caesar throughout of the campaigns against Pompey had a series of strokes of good luck. Pharsalia was a stroke of good luck.

I was lucky to choose Pompey's tactics and strengthen that wing of his army to respond to them. It could have been different. The puppet himself escaped to Egypt, but his former ally, the young pharaoh Ptolemy, had him killed upon his arrival. The poppy head was presented to Caesar or arrived three days later. Cease. He supposedly cried, but realized through his tears that he was now the undisputed master of Rome. He arrived in an Egypt that was immersed in a power struggle. The young Ptolemy was fighting for the throne of the pharaohs with his 21-year-old sister Cleopatra, and he set out to win over the Caesars. aided in his battle and introduced himself in dramatic fashion, smuggling himself into Caesar's presence in a rolled-up rug and then suddenly revealing himself to him.

He was said to have a seductive voice and a kind of vitality and liveliness that was extremely attractive. His seduction worked for Caesar. He used his army to help install Cleopatra as the sole ruler of Egypt under Rome's control and then spent several months sailing with Cleopatra on a barge down the Nile. He claimed that he was safeguarding Rome's interests. Egypt was vital to Caesar's control of Rome and In the eastern Mediterranean, Cleopatra also sought to retain her position as queen of Egypt. A wonderful coalition of the political and the romantic finally returns to Rome. Their victorious procession was perhaps the largest the capital had ever seen that night.

Caesar treated some 200,000 citizens and At a great banquet with Caesar, now master of Rome, he freed many of his long-serving troops by granting them retirement properties in Italy and France, but before long they would be called back into service to avenge his general murdered in 46 BC. C. Caesar's power was so undeniable. who had the Senate appoint him dictator for 10 years and gave him the adopted name of Caesar, many future emperors would also adopt the name Caesar, as did other leaders throughout history, the Russian title of Tsar is derived from the word Caesar, like Keyser's German title.

Augustus's title of Emperor was military for the Latin Imperator, meaning victorious general. He had gained power through civil wars and was determined not to lose power just as he completely reorganized the Roman army, forming it into 28 legions of approximately 5,000 men each. He also made military service more permanent by having soldiers enlist not for six years but for 20 years and then, in return, 25 soldiers were guaranteed 14 years' pay upon retirement. He maintains the idea of ​​legions but converts them for the first time into permanent regiments and thereafter some of them lasted for about 500 years so that the soldiers would be loyal to him personally rather than to his generals.

Augustus paid the soldiers' salaries directly from the Imperial Treasury, he also paid them annual cash bonuses, and frequently visited the armies in the field. an oath that each soldier took each year to the Emperor personally, furthermore, Emperor Augustus and the later Emperor controlled all aspects of the army, all promotions, although of course they could actually have been done locally, had to be approved by the Emperor Augustus also created a set. new branch of the army auxiliary regiments made up of non-citizens with specialized skills that the Romans did not have were not very good archers generally speaking they were not very good horsemen so they tended to recruit from people who did have those skills, the Romans they had often used foreign mercenaries as archers and horsemen for specific campaigns for Augustus they recruited non-citizens for auxiliary units for 25 years after their terms the BIR granted Roman citizenship meaning their sons could join the legions this kept to the vigorous Roman army.

With a constant supply of new blood over time, the ethnic composition of the army changed dramatically under Augustus. The legions were 65% Italian, but a century later the Italian proportion was less than 1%. However, that did not change the discipline and nature of the army. many of its officers are still leaving Italy, the strong continuity, but it also draws on the strengths and skills of all those provincial peoples who were becoming Romans and acquired Roman citizenship, so it is still very much an army Roman, but it is Rome. that's changing pom meat was getting older he wasn't as decisive caesar moved his troops more quickly he was also quite good at deceiving his enemies as to his intentions after a decisive battle, the two roman armies clashed in 48 bc.

C. in Pharsalia, north of Athens. Caesar correctly guessed the pup's tactics and forced the pup army to surrender in a winter Civil War for two reasons: first, because his side is more unified than the opposition under Pompey, and second,why people don't like to talk about it. but I think it is important that we have to admit that Caesar throughout the campaigns against Pompey had a series of strokes of good luck to the point that Salus had a stroke of good luck in choosing Pompey's tactics and strengthening that wing of his army to respond to them, could have gone.

Otherwise, Pompey himself escaped to Egypt, but his former ally, the young pharaoh Ptolemy, had him killed when he arrived. The poppy head was presented to Caesar. He arrived three days later. Caesar reportedly cried, but realized through his tears that he was now the undisputed master of Rome. He arrived in Egypt, which was immersed in a power struggle, the young Ptolemy was fighting for the throne of the pharaoh with his sister Cleopatra, 21 years old, he set out to win Caesar's help in his battle and presented himself in a dramatic way, smuggling himself in Caesar's presence in a coil. he rug and then suddenly it was revealed to him.

He was said to have a seductive voice and a type of vitality and liveliness that was extremely attractive. His seduction worked. Caesar used his army to help install Cleopatra as the sole ruler of Egypt under Rome's control and then spent several months sailing with Cleopatra on a barge down the Nile, claiming that she was safeguarding Rome's interests. Egypt was vital to Caesar's control of Rome and the eastern Mediterranean. Cleopatra also sought to retain her position as queen of Egypt, a wonderful coalition of the political and romantic one sees a final return to Rome her victory procession was perhaps the largest the Capitol had ever seen that night Caesar treated some 200,000 citizens. as a great banquet with Caesar now master of Rome freed many of his long serving troops by running them into retirement properties in Italy and in front is the ancient town of the cloche that helps supply Pompey's army, so Caesar ordered the city to be destroyed.

A detachment of Caesar's troops marched along this mountain road in 49 BC. C., you know, presentation of the work done through that work, here we are. On the insurance road that leads to where the city gate was, we found several tubes of slingshot stones ready to be used in defense. Apparently they were the only weapon. The villages. The bell housed less than a thousand people. He was no match for the determined Romans. soldiers someone else will match them you know, put them where I'm standing here there was a gate in the wall the protective wall the wall is here and here when the villagers looked and saw the Romans coming up the access road, they must have been terrified The order of foo is at 4:40, they quickly try to fill the gates with whatever they had on hand, stones and mud bricks, but the villagers' efforts were useless and, for having supported Caesar's rivals, many villages were sold as slaves, the city of la plage was easily destroyed it's all huzi for Sookie, they live on all the buildings and use the stones to fill the wireless water so that no one can live here again.

The site was completely forgotten for the next 500 years, not until the 5th century AD. that the site was partially inhabited again probably by shepherds after his easy victories in the West Caesar returned to Rome but the decisive battles were still ahead he knew he had to defeat Pompey head on to gain control of the Roman state and led his army to the east, towards the Balkans, where the Legion would be found. Roman civil wars were often extremely bloody affairs because both sides used the same tactics against the other, so the casualties could often be quite massive and of course, as in any civil war, the psychological strains.

Advancing must have been very difficult for the troops because all legions had the same strict training. Roman civil wars were usually decided by generalship and here Caesar had the advantage. Pompey was getting older, he wasn't as decisive. Caesar moved his troops faster. He was pretty good too. To deceive his enemies as to his intentions after an indecisive first battle, the two Roman armies clashed in 48 BC. C. at first around the outside of the first to protect against the second enemy. Caesar's men kept between the two rings completed their siege work just in When the Gallic reinforcements soon arrived and attacked the outer ring of the defences, a pair of scissors would be needed.

I make a memory of seven years. Caesar wrote that he himself had to lead the defense. He could be recognized by his striking red cape. He came from his camp to galvanize his regiments when Caesar tells us something like this means he had a big problem on his hands for two days Caesar led a fierce defense on two fronts against the armies outside and inside helping Caesar lead the battle It was his trusted lieutenant Mark Antony gradually the Romans did not get the upper hand and the Gallic relief army began to panic and he scattered right away.

He disintegrated in panic and ran and his cavalry chased them into the forest and, of course, Vercingetorix was still there. Trapped on the plateau at Vercingetorix's fortress and his men were out of food and there were reports of cannibalism. Then Caesar rode to appear before him and sat down at his feet. He was taken and sent to Rome as a prisoner six years later, during the celebration of Caesar's victory. Today they ritually strangled him. Vercingetorix is ​​a French national hero, a symbol of resistance to foreign invasion. around 50 BC Caesar's campaigns in Western Europe had lasted nine years, leaving him rich and in charge of a dedicated and battle-hardened money, his next target would be none other than Rome itself and his former partner in the ruling triumvirate, General Pompey the great. would be his enemy Caesar's victories would have been acclaimed by ordinary Romans, but among many nobles Caesar aroused fear and jealousy, he posed as a threat to their own ambitions to control the Empire and its wealth, the consequences were almost inevitable, eventually the competition was going to get. out of control eventually very few people will have a greater share of the loot the speaker Caesar, I remember, Caesar wrote that he himself had to lead the defense.

He could be recognized by his striking red cape. He came from his camp to galvanize his regiments. When Caesar tells us something like this it means that he had a big problem on his hands for two days. Caesar led a fierce defense on two fronts against the armies outside and inside. Helping Caesar lead the battle was his trusted lieutenant Mark Antony. the Romans did not get the upper hand and the Gallic relief army began to panic and scatter, they just disintegrated in panic and ran and their cavalry chased them into the forest and of course Vercingetorix was still trapped on the plateau in Vercingetorix's fortress and his men had no food left and there were reports of cannibalism Vercingetorix upon learning of his surrender to Caesar then rode to appear before him and sat at Caesar's feet he was led away and sent to Rome as a prisoner six years later, During the celebration of Caesar's victory, today he was ritually strangled Vercingetorix is ​​a French national hero a symbol of resistance to foreign invasion in 50 BC.

C. Caesar's campaigns in Western Europe had lasted nine years, leaving a rich man in charge of money dedicated and battle-hardened, his next big target would be none other than Rome itself and his former partner in the ruling triumvirate the general. Pompey the Great would be his enemy Caesar's victories have been acclaimed by ordinary Romans, but among many nobles Caesar aroused fear and jealousy because he presented himself as a threat to their own ambitions to control the Empire and its wealth, the consequences were almost inevitable, eventually competition will get out of control eventually very few people will have a larger share of the loot super warlords will be created a civil war occurred in the 1st century BC.

It will eventually break out between two or three of them in the Senate. Caesar's enemies demanded that he resign from his official position as governor of France and northern Italy. They also demanded that he dissolve the art of Augustus, his great-niece, and was given command of the five regions of Germany, but the German tribes were planning. In one revolt, the leader of the Germans was Arminius, who once fought with the Romans as an auxiliary and knew their tactics. The Romans still trusted him as an ally, making him the perfect person to set a trap. In 9 AD, he persuaded Varus to lead his army. to this forest in northern Germany under the pretext of putting down a local uprising, the other side told a very convincing story, you know, they say, look, there's trouble.

I think you should intervene and this is the best route to take and they took him. A very difficult swamp country and the Germans simply set up a fantastic ambush and that was Varis, ignoring warnings of a plot, but three entire legions plus their camp followers, about 30,000 people, in the Teutoburg Forest, most of them never They would come out when the Roman commander in Germany. Varis let his three legions enter this German forest in the year nine AD. was walking into one of the worst ambushes in history, it started to rain and they made their way between the mountain on one side and the swamp on the other side and then came the The initial German attack which was launched by Spears from some distance at first killed to quite a few Romans and confused them.

The German warrior because Mineus had trapped the legions at their most vulnerable, unable to use the tactics and discipline they did. They were so powerful in open fields that he imagined the scene in this forest 2,000 years ago with the Romans trapped here in the pouring rain, that chaos, the chariots overturning, the cavalry horses stampeding, the Roman women and children crying and screaming. while they died, the battle lasted three days and the Romans were annihilated of the 30,000 only a few hundred who escaped, Varis himself committed suicide along with his main officers before falling into the hands of the Germans and probably rightly so because the Germans in fact They treated the captured Romans in a very barbaric way, burning them alive and so on.

Varis had his head cut off and was sent to Rome. There was panic in the capital with fears of a barbarian invasion which did not happen, but the defeat was a terrible blow, only a few hundred escaped from the forests and committed suicide along with them. his senior officers instead of falling into the hands of the Germans and probably rightly so because the Germans actually treated the captured Romans in a very barbaric way burning them alive and so on. Varis' head was cut off and he was rolled. There was panic in the capital with fears of a barbarian invasion which did not happen but the defeat was a terrible blow overnight Rome had lost three legions more than 10% of its army four years later Augustus wandered around his palace banging on the walls with his hands and shouted quintilius Varis da I returned to my legions, the exact site of the battle was lost to history until 1987, when an archaeologist using a metal detector like this one found dozens of Roman coins buried here, none of the coins It dated after 9 AD, meaning they were almost certainly carried by viruses.

Medical instruments that were left inactive during the massacre in the forest and a cavalry mask that was a silent witness to the massacre 2,000 years ago were also discovered in the legions. Rome's expansion plans east of the Brian were put on hold, in fact, when Augustus was dying in AD 14. He urged his successors not to try to expand the empire further, but the Romans had become too fond of conquest to follow that advice; one of the next important targets was Britain. Caesar of Georgia had made two brief invasions a century earlier without much success, but in 43 AD the Roman army invaded in earnest.

Claudius was a civilian intellectual who needed a military conquest to gain credibility among his soldiers. Claudius as emperor sets out to achieve a military reputation and that is what drives his invasion of Britain and travels from Rome to the south-east of England. To be present at the moment of victory of the Roman legions plus their auxiliaries, some 40,000 soldiers landed in the south-east of England and quickly gained control of southern Britain like Caesar before them, this Roman army, but a British enemy It had none of the discipline or tactics of the Roman legions, the men who like to show off the size of their biceps and drink a lot, and you can fight personally, but it's about individual combat, it's not about strategic control or tactical units on the battlefield, a good reason because, in fact, the Germans.

He treated the captured Romans in a very barbaric way, burned them alive and so on. Varis had his head cut off and was sent to rol. There was panic in the capital with fears of an invasionbarbaric thing that did not happen, but the defeat was a terrible blow overnight in Rome. He had lost three legions, more than 10% of his army. Four years later, Augustus was wandering around his palace, hitting the wall with his hands and shouting, Quintilius Varis, give me back my legions. The exact location of the battle was lost to history until 1987. , when an archaeologist used a metal detector like this one he found dozens of Roman coins buried here.

None of the coins were dated after 9 AD, meaning they were almost certainly carried by viruses. Legions also discovered medical instruments that were left dormant during the forest massacre and a cavalry mask. He was a silent witness to the massacre 2,000 years ago. Rome's expansion plans to the east of the ryeom were put on hold. In fact, when Augustus was dying at age 14, he urged his successors not to try to expand the empire further, but the Romans had become too fond of conquest. To follow that advice, one of the next major targets was Britain. The Caesar of Georgia had made two brief invasions a century earlier without much success, but in 43 AD.

The Roman army invaded in earnest. Emperor Claudius was a civilian intellectual who needed a military conquest to gain credibility with his soldiers Claudius as the Emperor sets out to achieve a military reputation and that is what drives his invasion of Britain and travels from Rome to the southeast of England to be present at the time of the victory of the Roman legions plus auxiliaries of some 40,000 soldiers who landed in south-east England and quickly gained control of southern Britain like Caesar before them, this Roman army, but a British enemy who did not It had none of the discipline or tactics of the Roman legions, the men who liked to show off the size of their biceps and drink a lot and get into fights personally but it was about individual combat it was not about the strategic or tactical control of units in the battlefield most of the britons did not live in cities like the romans in fact the word civilized means city dweller typically the britons lived in agricultural villages like this recreation that helps supply pompey's army so that caesar orders the city ​​destroy a detachment of Caesar's troops marched along this mountain road in 49 BC.

C. Zenón sama shows the voice below three who were queuing here we are on the safe path that leads to where the city gates were here we found several tubes of slingshot stones ready to be used in defense apparently they were the only weapon the villages the bell housed less than a thousand people is no match for the determined Roman soldiers someone else will match them and put them where I'm standing here there was a gate in the wall the protective wall the wall is here and here when the villagers looked and they saw the Romans coming up the driveway, they must have been terrified, oh it's in doing it for 40, they quickly tried to fill it. the gates with anything had stones and mud bricks at hand, but the efforts of the villagers were useless and for having supported Caesar's rivals, many villages were sold as slaves, the city of la plage was destroyed, it is very confusing To ensure this report, they leveled all the buildings and used the stones to fill the wireless water so that no one could live here again.

The site was completely forgotten for the next 500 years. It was not until the 5th century AD. that the site was again partially inhabited, probably by shepherds after their easy victories. In the West, Caesar returned to Rome, but the decisive battles were still ahead. He knew that he had to defeat Pompey head-on to gain control of the Roman state and led his army east toward the Balkans, where Legion would confront Legion. Roman civil wars often exceeded bloody affairs because both sides used the same tactics against the other, so casualties could often be quite massive and of course in any civil war the advantage of psychological stress must have been very difficult for the troops because all the legions had the same strict training.

Roman civil wars were usually decided by the generalship and here Caesar had the advantage. Pompey was getting older, he wasn't as decisive. Caesar moved his troops faster. He was also quite good at deceiving his enemies as to his intentions after an indecisive first battle. Two Roman armies clashed in 48 BC. C. in distant Salus, north of Athens.