Marian Reforms and their Military Effects DOCUMENTARY

[Music] this video is sponsored by skill share learn more about skill share and the exclusive offer they have for our viewers at the end of the video in the late second century BC Rome had defeated and subjugated Greece and Macedonia wiped Carthage from existence and has delivered the Seleucid Empire a devastating blow its fortunes seems to be ever increasing which problems were growing slowly the stress of ever increasing warfare and wealth division in their society was threatening to tear the Republic apart on top of this the militia army of the earlier republic was stagnating and becoming inadequate for facing new enemies due to a lack of manpower soon a threat from the north would emerge that would necessitate the complete overhaul of the Roman military into what was essentially the first Roman imperial army welcome to our video on the marryin reforms of the late Republic in 113 BC a roaming army of Germanic warriors crossed Rome's border on the Danube driven by unlivable climate conditions in their homeland for the next few years they rampaged around Roman territory and defeated a few Roman armies in 105 BC they crushed an army of 80,000 legionaries at a ratio after which the situation became critical the Roman people were terrified and expected the Germanic hordes at the gates of Rome at any time it seemed as though the Republic might fall until one man returned to take command Gaius Marius he had just finished the jagger themed war of the new mediums and was elected consul in absentia during the Year 105 BC upon his return to Rome he began to drastically alter the military in order to combat this new threat his reforms would have a wide-ranging impact both on the legions and the state of Rome it is worth noting that not all of his changes were novel generals before Marius had paved the way for them and had partaken in various different tactics before this time such as the production of the baggage train Marius however both created new methods for the Roman army and permanently instituted the effective methods of the other commanders who had come before him until Marius reforms there was a property requirement to join the citizen militia legions this limited the number of legionaries as they had to supply their own arms and armor and had to own property valued at three thousand five hundred sesterces or more perhaps the most important reform implemented by Marius was to ignore this property requirement he allowed the capitate Kensie of Rome to join the legions those counted by the head the landless poor were now among the ranks of those who could join the legions even though they had no property on top of and because of this Marius arranged for the states to supply the legions with their arms and armour offered Paul recruits the chance to gain a professional soldiers pay and the chance to gain loot and plunder on campaign the masses with little hope of gaining status in any other occupation flogs to Marius new legions in contrast to the earlier Roman policy in which the citizen army would disband after a campaign recruits were now enlisted for a term of 16 years this created a standing Roman army for the first time and drastically increased its quality on the other hand the balanced cross-sectional army of the room people at war was destroyed in favor of an army made up mainly of the landless poor the proletariat this would eventually have grave consequences for the Republic as the poor soldiers became loyal to their generals rather than to the Roman state while this seems like a landmark change it is also possible that these reforms were just the final stage in an already occurring gradual decline in property requirements for the Roman army the organisation of the various Roman units was also completely changed in these reforms the early Manipal system was last recorded being used in the Battle of mirthful in the G Gurfein war of 109 BC as the system had become obsolete and needed replacement the Romans did away with it without sentimentality by 104 BC Marius had discarded four of the five legionary standards which had been used for command and control purposes the Minotaur horse boar and wolf only one remained the Aquila or Eagle this is when the Roman Eagle standard became the emblem of the Roman legions to replace the manopause as the primary tactical unit of the room and military the cohort was adopted compared to the 120 strong Manipal a standard republican cohort was a larger 600 strong unit comprised of six centuries 480 of these men were legionaries whereas the other 120 were non-combatants either servants slaves or tactical support personnel such as engineers the component unit the Roman century was a 100 strong unit commanded by a Centurion in this unit 80 men served as legionaries and 20 men were non-combatants there was also no designated military commander of a cohort itself and it is widely believed that either the most senior centurion took a command or the six Centurions commanded together as a count so the smallest and most personal unit in this system was the con to burn iam this was comprised of ten men commanded by an officer who Vaticanus eight men were legionaries and only two were non-combatants ten quanta Barnea made up a century and sixth centuries made up a cohort it was ten of these new military divisions which made up a new Roman legion of around six thousand men with 4,800 legionaries and 1200 non-combatants the abolition of the manipular system also abolished the three distinct lines of infantry of the mid republic the history print co-pays and triarii were removed and instead three lines of infantry equipped similarly to the earlier printer pace were adopted the form of xxx akise used in the marian legion was different to the one implemented prior to it cohorts were a solid unit with only small gaps in between them compared to the previous Manipal system with larger gaps this along with the increased depth of the new cohorts reduced the tendency of the soldiers to panic and flee as they would feel they had more support and were safe the legions were now on their way to becoming the force of popular imagination a homogeneous force of heavy infantry armed with the Gladius as their primary weapon and a dagger called the Kuhio as a sidearm these new uniform warriors were all named legion re their equipment mostly remained the same but some tweaks were made the iron shank of the Pelham javelin was previously attached to the wooden shaft by two nails however marius replaced one of the nails with a less sturdy wooden peg on impact the peg would snap rendering the peel em useless and bending the shank at a right angle making the enemy even more encumbered by the impaling of their shields as for protection the legionary wore a helmet body armor and Greaves their main protection however was still large scooter shield which covered the soldier from shoulder to shin a legionary would also bash and batter opponents with this shield despite its weight in this way it could be just as offensive as his blade the 1,200 non-combat attendants may seem like a lot of support personnel at first glance but it is important to remember the key role of logistics in warfare without food animals fuel and maintenance an army could not function the reforms did not ignore logistics and the creation of Marius mules was a perfect example of this under Marius legionaries began to carry all of their equipment themselves rather than rely on a cumbersome baggage train this had many positive impacts for the operations of the army the soldiers themselves became conditioned by their heavy load with the physical training increasing their endurance during combat in addition the soldiers carrying their own entrenching equipment allowed for the rapid construction of fortifications camps and earthworks finally the lack of a massive baggage train also allowed the legions to move extremely quickly compared to their prior speed the only drawbacks worthy complaints from the Legionaries about their new heavy workload becoming referred to as Marius mules named so for their heavy packs as the Republic progressed the unpopular nature of horsemanship in Roman society resulted in a severe deficit of cavalry while the Romans were still fighting smaller foes on their Peninsula the smaller cavalry wing they possessed was adequate however as they began to come into contact with larger external foes with fearsome cavalry contingents such as the Germans or Gauls it resulted in serious setbacks despite their lethal heavy infantry after the Battle of Zama Roman armies were almost always accompanied to pay a significant force of non Italian cavalry this became even more pronounced in the time of Marius as he disbanded most of the Roman and Italian cavalry replacing it entirely with native allied cavalry who were often better trained and had specialized equipment from their homeland in his later conquest of Gaul Julius Caesar relied heavily on the famous new midian cavalry and later his Gallic and Germanic heavy cavalry for his victories in that war indeed the final cavalry charge that gained victory at the Battle of Alesia in 52 BC was made by Caesars German cavalry a light light infantry auxilia were also used in place of the earlier weller taste which Marius disbanded various native peoples from around and outside the empire were used including but not limited to German light infantry Balearic slingers Cretan archers and light Spanish melee troops using his newly honed legions and tactics Marius was successful and the Cimbri were defeated once and for all at the battles of a quite sex tie and for Kelly in 102 and 101 BC the reforms had their desired effect on the army making it a standing professional force which did not disband after campaigning allowing it to retain its experience in the coming centuries this would set the stage for the development of the most efficient and deadly army of the ancient world despite the benefits such massive changes would not go without consequence for the Republic because the general of a Roman army was responsible for the payment of their soldiers in both land and coin the armies would often be more loyal to their general than to the Roman state this was exacerbated as the majority of legionaries were now the poorer Pro Lata who desired payment and advancement as a result power began to shift from the senatorial class to the commanders in the field from Marius to sulla Pompey and finally to Caesar this would cause a series of power struggles between various strongmen of Rome which led to a series of civil wars eventually the strain of these immense social changes would result in the rise of the imperial system under Augustus the sponsor of this video skill share is the premier online learning community with more than 22,000 classes that teach videography productivity photography and more modern life is fast paced and demands constant self-improving so Skillshare is 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Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,377,928

Rating: 4.9441271 out of 5

Keywords: Marian Reforms, Military Effects, Gaius Marius, Caesar, Pompey, Cimbri, Cimbrian War, Macedonian war, roman legion, maniple, sulla, pompey, phalanx, hannibal, carthage, seleucids, magnesia, german, rome, roman republic, roman empire, roman army, ancient rome, total war, historia civilis, history documentary, ancient history, kings and generals, full documentary, world history, history lesson, animated documentary, decisive battles, roman battles, military history, armies and tactics

Id: UIRS_PMeVVY

Length: 14min 20sec (860 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 13 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/almoatta]

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