Inevitably,
these inquiries carry us to the tip of the fall of Rome. One immense cause for
Rome's decline was due to, ironically, the vastness of its military.[1]
The Roman legions had an enormous amount of land to protect. This immense
empire at its height stretched around the Mediterranean Sea completely, to the
Euphrates River in the east, North to Scotland and South to the tip of the
Sahara desert.[2]
[1] N.S. Gill, “The Size of Roman Legions,” About, accessed November 13, 2012, http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/romemilitary/qt/051611-Size-of-the-Roman-Legion.htm.
[2] Lynn Harry Nelson, “Rome at Its Height:
The Roman Empire,” Medieval History, accessed
November 10, 2012, http://www.vlib.us/medieval/lectures/roman_empire.html.
Rome
never possessed more than twenty-eight legions.[3]
A complete legion was formally made up of 6,000 men, but in most
cases they consisted of fifty-three hundred men incorporating officers.[4]
These legions were made up largely from volunteer
soldiers from the general public, this being a large difference from the
traditional Greek way of doing things. [5] Not
only were the troops incredibly small for such a vast amount of land, but they
were spread out across the empire to put down raids and at times were not
readily available to protect some of Rome's most prized areas.[6]
To remedy this, Rome employed a large number of auxiliary units,
which roughly numbered the same amount as the combined legions and equipped
Rome with soldiers to take up arms at any moment.[7]
These auxiliaries were Rome's first means of resistance and were not paid as
much as the legions.[8]
They did, however, serve to double the size of the army between the reign of
Augustus to Diocletian and the civil service doubled in this time as
well. [9]
[3] “Organization of the Roman Imperial
Legion,” UNRV, accessed November 8,
2012, http://www.unrv.com/military/legion.php.
[4] Ibid.
[5] “The Roman Legion,” Minimum Wage Historian, accessed November 12, 2012, http://minimumwagehistorian.com/2011/10/25/the-roman-legion/.
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Who Were They,” Legvi, accessed November 12, 2012, http://legvi.tripod.com/cohorsiitalica/id19.html.
[8] Ibid.
Astounding as
these vast numbers are, Rome was larger than its legions could occupy.
Averaging two million square miles, the amount of soldiers in Rome was simply not
enough to properly defend its massive borders.[10]
Invariably, Rome was frequently stretched to its limits. It's legions were
required to secure its citizens against barbarian invaders who frequently led
bloody revolts against the Empire and as a result of this, were constantly
pushed to move back and forth across the vast miles of territory the Empire
encompassed.[11]
Not at all differently, our own American military is stretched out across vast
amounts of territory.[12]
[10] “On The Borders,” PBS, accessed November 2, 2012, http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/frontiers.html.
[11] Andrew Curry, “Roman Frontiers,” National Geographic, last modified
November 2, 2011, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/roman-walls/curry-text.
[12] “Organization,” Army, accessed November 12, 2012, http://www.army.mil/info/organization/.
As both of
these superpowers are entwined in their vast military standings, it is easy to
see how in this same area they could be entwined in their subsequent declines.
This huge military presence that both have in common undoubtedly has it’s downfall.
In light of our own nation, for example, it has proven to be quite expensive, costing America an
estimated 700 billion a year excluding other more recent war costs.[13]As
the Roman army was extended to its breaking point because of the incredible
amount of territory it had conquered and now had to secure, the American
military is continually being detailed as extended to her breaking point by the
extent she goes to to engage in foreign policy. [14]
In an
interview with Ted Koppel, Americas recent involvement in Afghanistan
and Iraq was observed,[15] Koppel
openly observing how these wars were inevitably a great burden to the American
economy while not being immediately recognized by the American public.[16]
He questions whether or not American's would have funded these wars had they
been asked to pay a tax on them, and it is the opinion of many citizens that
the amount of finances poured into our nations vast military influence should
be poured into different aspects of our nations future.[17]
In the midst of
all these patterns, there are the obvious questions. What happened to Rome
because of her vast military presence and massive borders? In light of the
wealth and fame Rome had achieved, the answers are striking. To defend her
massive border, Rome was forced to spend exceedingly on her military.[18]
The inevitable strain on the economy was met by much confusion and disillusion
from her citizens.[19]
Many citizens were no longer willing to support Rome's armed forces, and the
level of national pride that had once flourished in Rome began to dwindle.[20]
Furthermore, it was unavoidable that Rome eventually did not have enough
financial weight coming into the Empire through taxation as it did going out
of the Empire through military spending to sustain it's enormous government.[21]
Irrevocably, this resulted in devaluation of currency, evaporation of the
middle class, and sky-rocketing inflation.[22]
One cannot help but ask in light of such compelling patterns between Rome and America, "Could American government be on the same path?" Indeed,
wars are a costly commodity and America in recent years has been no stranger to
this. Could the influence of the Cold War and the War on Terror have influenced
America more negatively than it has positively by causing her to see the need to further defend
herself to the extent of her own demise? Although these questions can only be
debated today, there is no doubt that they will be answered before the American
public in the near future. Is it possible that such historic events such as the
fall of powerful Rome were meant to serve as warning signs to powerful future
nations like our own? Could we be ignoring the most important references and
examples that we have? With these questions in light, let us move on to our
next point of reference between these two joined by such peculiar events
throughout the course of history.
[18] Jari Eloranta, “Military Spending Patterns In History,” EH, last modified February, 5, 2012, http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/eloranta.military.
[19] Richard Bonney, "France, 1494-1815," in The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe c. 1200-1815, ed. Richard Bonney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)
[20] Marjolein ’t Hart, "The United Provinces, 1579-1806," in The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe c. 1200-1815, ed. Richard Bonney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
[21] Ibid.
[22] N.S Gill, “Fall of Rome – Why Did Rome Fall,” About, accessed November 16, 2012, http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/romefallarticles/a/fallofrome.htm.
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