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During the period of a. d. 350 - 425 the Roman empire was engaged in advanced forms of warfare. The history of Roman warfare during the late periods and during the medical periods has had much study. History of the Roman army of the 4 th and 5 th centuries is less comprehensive.
The book "Warfare in Roman Europe ad 350 - 425 " provides some insight onto the important military and social aspects of the subject. Economic and social factors play a part in the history of Roman warfare. Many barbarian tribes lived along the borders of the roman empire. Although many attacks by the Barbaric tribes occured, it was in the fourth and fifth centuries that the attacks began to overload the Roman defense. Many tribes existed with distinct similarities. It was their economic and social conditions that relate to the attacks on the Romans.
Many of the tribes were nomadic or semi-nomadic. Economic situations were a product of their environment. As the people moved their economic situation would change. In the fifth century several groups of barbarians had moved inside the Roman empire. They had no formal recognition and no fixed home, but before this this the Barabrians had no land to farm, and no secure area.
They had no need for urban life, unless they used Roman administrative institutions. The Barbarians only made a threat to the Roman empire when several groups united to form a stronger group. So therefore, it seem the barbarians were more a nicene than a real threat most of the time because Roman Empire was so strong. The Barbarians had their view of the Roman Empire as a place of opportunity. Because the Romans had so much wealth. Seems to be the reason for many conflicts all through history.
The Barbarians were jealous of the wealth of the Romans, so they have frequent military conflict. It is not known just how frequent, but history can tell us that there was many. Perhaps what made the Roman military so strong was it was very organise. the Late romans was into two groups. They had a field army, and a border troops. The basic strength of the field army was the infantry regiment.
In addition to the fighting regiments they had doctors, chaplains, and staff-officers assign to them. They were very advanced armies. Sometimes the regiments would work in pairs. Also, there were barbarian units fighting for the Romans, but the history of that is in clear. One thing that set the Roman army apart from all others at the time was the advanced equipment of that time.
They had very song armour. They were also equiped with sword, spears, should, and body armour. The romans took pride in their equipment. The standard weapon of the infantry was the spear, and they also wore body armour.
Calvary, or fighters on horses, also used body armour. In addition to fighting equipment soldiers also carried the neccessary personal gear. They carried water bottles, blankets, food and other personal possessions. The preparedness of the army gave it further strength. The finance and recruiting of soldiers for the armies was the biggest expense of Romans in that time.
They spend huge sums to be sure they had the strong armies. Like many modern country today, many people objected to the high spending. Financial problems resulted and many were short term, but they made direct impact on the condition of the armies. During the fourth and fifth centuries the Romans recruited men from inside and outside the Empire. From inside the empire they had volunteers and they also had conscripts. Conscript was like drafting.
They recruited the sons of soldiers first, however, some veterans of the armies did not want to go back in but were recruit anyway if possible. the Roman Empires military was very strong in the fourth and fifth centuries, and one reason was because of the advanced strategy. They were advanced in troop placements and movements, armies coming together during conflict, and armies being based wherever the commander was. This make them more ready to move. Explaining the collapse of the Roman Empire has many theory. One is that the armies became too many barbarians and lost strenght.
Another is that they simply did not have the numbers of troops as the enemy in key battles, such as with the Persians. Whatever the reason, it can be said that the Roman Empires great military strength and strategy has lead to many changes throughout that period in history, and therefore many changes in the evolution of warfare itself. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Economic And Social Roman Empire
