Military Reforms of Augustus

[Music] this video was sponsored by the great horses Plus go to the great courses plus calm today to start your free trial in the previous episode in our series on the history of the Roman military we discussed the reforms of the famous Gaius Marius he allowed the capitate Kent C to join the legions introduced the cohort as the standard unit and helps to make his forces logistically self-sufficient and swifter in their movement though the effectiveness of the legions was undoubtedly increased by his actions the Republic was irreversibly damaged in the wake of his reforms a series of civil wars were fought which eventually would lead to the rise of the Roman Empire the most famous period of Roman history welcome to our video on the Augustine reforms and the army of the Roman principle after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC the final war of the Roman Republic came to an end beginning the period of history known as the Roman Empire with his rival Mark Antony dead and his other opponents gone the new princeps Octavian the future Augustus inherited a massive force of around 60 legions swelled by the decades of civil war which had embroiled the Republic demobilization after this period reduced that number to 28 and it was further reduced to 25 after the Varian disaster and the Teutoburg forest the legions would remain near enough around this number for the next 300 years the reorganization of the mana pool system into the cohort and the homogenize a ssin of Roman legionary infantry was discussed in our previous episode but there was an important change which must be addressed the first cohort of all legions were now apparently double-strength broken into five centuries of 160 men each and were under the leadership of a senior Centurion known as the Prima's penis he was the most veteran centurion of the entire Legion and possessed an extremely prestigious rank his cohort also likely consisted of the crack troops and experienced veterans of the legion forming a strong elite corps from which it could build the command structure of a legion was now laid out more clearly with a permanent commander finally being appointed the legatus lagunas latinized as the leggett the stereotypical Leggett was usually a senator in his early 30s who would usually be expected to learn on the job on the battlefield and through reading books after holding the consulship a senator would become a governor or proconsul and would be afforded the title of legatos August appropriate or a if in an armed province this was the Praetorian League of August Asst who would wield Imperium over the legions in that territory on behalf of the Emperor it was in this way that the Emperor would govern through his legate's who held delegated power in specific regions second-in-command of the Legion was the Tribune Isleta Clavius the broad stripes Tribune he was usually a highborn man or an associate of the Leggett in his late teens or early 20s with little prior military experience after a few years of service in order to gain experience he would take the first step on the cursus honorum back in Rome probably becoming a case stir below the Leggett and broad stripes Tribune was the prefect as castrum the camp prefect this office was created by Augustus and was usually occupied by an experienced veteran who possessed considerable knowledge of the Legion and its operations he had general command of the camp and was responsible for logistical and engineering tasks such as the building and maintenance of fortifications and field works commanding the artillery during battle distributing rations to the soldiers and scheduling their daily duties he therefore balanced the often inexperienced senatorial leadership of the Legion with an expert who possessed much technical expertise five further tributes were also notable they performed whatever tasks were allocated to them but were not officially granted command over any part of the Legion contrasting to their broad stripes counterparts junior officers commanded at the sub century level and functioned as crucial cogs in the legionary machine Centurions were assisted by an OP Co who was the second in command and would take a command if the Centurion fell each century possessed a signifier or standard bearer the senior standard bearer of the Legion was called the Aquila fer who carried the revered legionary eagle standard into battle a portrait of the reigning Emperor was also carried by each legions and Magna fur when this portrait was torn down by a legion it was a symbol that revolt was coming the final key position was the Tesar arias or guard commander he would supervise the posting of sentries at night and was responsible for distributing the watch scheduled for the next day a fascinating and often underestimated aspect of early imperial legionaries strength is the individual identity of each unit identity collective pride and cohesion are powerful forces and it is possible the following factors made the Roman legions more comradely and glued together as a unit each Legion was given a number and most rapidly acquired names and titles in a manner which was not always logical this suggests that some legions were resistant to give up their historical identity which was often earned in battle an example of this is the fact that several legions had duplicate numbers no less than three legions were the 3rd Legion for example the identity deeds and origin of a legion was tied to its name such as the Yemen Allegiance 10 13 and 14 gaming that means twin so it is likely these legions were formed by combining two forces together Legion names could also express martial virtues such as ferrata meaning iron sights or full manator meaning Thunderer they even commonly expressed locations in which the Legion had served with bravery and distinction such as Leggio one germanica or Leggio to Ithaca as the first century progressed Emperor's also granted titles to legions for notable or brave deeds the optimist prin caps Trajan named his Leggio 30 LP evict ryx Trajan's victorious 30th Legion after its campaigns in Asia such accolades were not necessarily granted due to victories in combat Leggio 11 laude appear Fidelis Claudius's owned pious and faithful were granted the title upon the Legionaries loyal refusal to follow their mutinous commander in a coup standing at the side of the Legionaries the foreign and peripheral auxilary units serving Rome the auxiliar were completely reorganized and were given regular status within the standing room me the heterogenous and often haphazard auxiliar would be standardized and served in units that were as equally permanent as the legions alongside whom they served in contrast to the legions however they were instead organized into smaller roughly cohort sized units this made it easier to shift these lighter units around the Empire to where they were needed and would also give the legions and organizational advantage against their erstwhile allies if they were to rebel there were three types of auxiliary unit infantry cavalry and mixed numbers in mixed units are heavily debated but infantry cohorts consisted of two sizes 480 or 800 men strong meanwhile aller were either 512 or 768 men strong in terms of their citizenship rights the auxilia were initially Freeborn non-citizens who received full Roman citizenship upon their honorable discharge after 25 years of service under arms Gauls Thracians and Germans feature heavily in the auxiliary forces in particular the Vltava located on the Rhine paid no taxes but were heavily used in war as Tekkit us tells us they were like Armour and weapons only to be used in war he describes eight cohorts almost 5000 men from this small region alone serving Rome at any given time the Romans initially kept the auxiliary units close to their homeland where the unit was raised but this changed after a revolt in 68 and 69 AD and the units were consequently sent to different areas around the Empire though they were fighters the Roman soldiers were also makeshift engineers and builders the most common tasks of this type undertaken by a legionary was the construction of roads throughout the empire these allowed troops to move swiftly and allowed supplies to be delivered efficiently to where they were needed and were therefore important additions to habitually rebellious new conquests units of Roman soldiers would also erect milestones commemorating their leggett or the Emperor of the time which had the effect of figuratively showing the flag projecting Roman power whenever a Roman army or unit would enter hostile territory and came to a halt for the night they would construct their marching camp these were overnight halts for Roman contingents on campaign and they were constructed remarkably quickly providing a simple but effective measure of security for the resting legionaries for defense these swiftly constructed works had a low earth rampart known as the agar about 1.4 eight meters in height and topped with a timber obstacle usually this was the standard-issue pilla moralia a double pointed stake carried by legionaries as a part of their marching orders in order to function as a makeshift caltrop these makeshift fortifications would have the effect of blunting the impact of any surprise charge and causing chaos among the enemy outside the defences was a single v-shaped ditch the fossa which was no more than one point four eight meters in width and 89 centimeters deep entrances to the marching camp which had no gates came in two types first were the entrances defended by titoli short stretches of rampart and ditch set a few meters in front of the main rampart defending the gap which formed the entrance second were those defended by clavicular or little keys these curved extensions of the rampart and ditch had the genius effect of forcing an attackers sword arm to face the rampart denying them the use and protection of their shield within the camp itself tent lines were deliberately laid out and planned in advance each was in its customary and usual space so every unit knew exactly where to pitch their tents at each man knew his place this avoided confusion and added to the speed at which the camp could be put up the Roman tents were standardized and each housed an eight-man contubernium unit the layout of the camp was also incredibly organized and was based on two axes the Via Pretoria led from the entrance of the same name across to the Porta deck umaña intersecting this at a right angle was the vir pranky palace finally the intersection point was known as the praetorium housing the tent of the general himself and the senior officials of the Legion between the rampart and the tents there was a wide open area known as the inter Vallum this space had a dual function both to insured tents were out of enemy missile range thrown from outside the camp and to draw up in battle formations with plenty of space though the marching camp was often a temporary measure during Roman expansion the gradual slowing of this trend gave way to a defensive attitude and more permanent fortresses once an area was conquered the Roman military would lay down a network of turf and timber forts roughly a day's march from one another during the reign of Claudius it was finally recognized that massive sweeping expansions such as that of Caesar and Augustus would no longer occur therefore the wayside forts and temporary winter quarters which the soldiers had inhabited now began to become more permanent Holdings for example the garrison of the Britannic province fluctuated between three and four legions in the first century AD based at their permanent camps known as legionary fortresses three prominent fortresses of this type were at iske Siloam modern Kirlian Dever modern Chester and a baroque um modern York unlike the marching camp there was no typical Roman legionary fortress the layout of each was standardised however there were often considerable differences between individual fortress plans depending on the terrain and the specific needs dictated by the region in which the garrison was located auxiliary units would also garrison sub fortresses between and beyond the legionary fortresses this network of permanent camps and fortresses would form the framework of Roman governor's occupation and control in conquered territories as they were essentially now permanent homes it was crucial that the fortresses were able to provide a tolerable and comfortable environment for the soldiers garrisoned fair it is likely they often succeeded in this as tacit us fund Lee calls the fort's the hearth and home of Roman legionaries the later legacy of Roman permanent entrenchments blossoming into towns and cities was likely a consequence of be comfortable and often economically prosperous nature of these permanent camps when we create our videos as a source we often use the series of lectures called the decisive battles of world 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Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,067,942

Keywords: Armies and tactics, reforms, army, roman army, Augustus, Great courses plus, roman empire, rome, legion, legionaries, actium, teutoburg, auxilary, ancient rome, historia civilis, roman republic, world history, ancient history, kings and generals, full documentary, history lesson, animated documentary, julius caesar, documentary film, ancient battle, military history, roman legion, decisive battles, history channel, history documentary, ancient warfare, roman military, gallic wars

Id: sftPh0SMnvQ

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 03 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/YOUREABOT]

what about Greeks serving in the Roman army. Was there any formation composed of Greeks?

[u/[deleted]]

The Teutoburg Forest

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