Sh No. 25, Jnuary- February 1971 THE MAGAZINE OF CONFLICT SIMULATION Editorin Chet rector and Co-editor ‘ne Managing Editor ‘Associate Editors ‘Supplament Editor ‘Office Manager Office Statt ‘Adult-Garnes Editor Sid Sackson Diplomacy Editor ‘od Walker Contributing Artist John Kramer Contributing Editors Dave Willams Ray Jonson, Ea Mohrmann Original Editor and Founder STRATEGY & TACTICS Manasine is Cooyright, 1971, Th In This Issue THE ROMAN ARMY, BC 753 to 1453 AD 3 “CENTURION” TACTICAL GAME 13 (BC 100 to 600 AD) cS CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS EASTFRONT: ORGANIZATION OF 19 GERMAN GROUND FORCES OUTGOING MAIL by the Editors 2 GAMES by Sid Sackson 24 Simulations Publications Corp. Printed in USA, ‘Alright ‘esarved. All editorial and gonoral mail should be sent to S&T GAGE REVIEW by James, John, and Kevin Flannagan 25 Bor206,, NY" 10000" AMT charting and wcll tre Pear Oke RR ORE NY eS! (PABSIN REVIEW Edward 6. Weirton 26 Ean adow s$300/oag Send eros or moray orders criy {owing Gow by REFLEX OFFSET. 20 West 22nd St: rion _OIPLOMACY 7 Beat Wales 2 purty done by ASLE BOOKBINDERS, 26 West 15ty St, ADVANCED NAPOLEONICS ty Fred Vietmeye 31 RY. NV. Typography at by THE TECH, 84 Mewachussts comments ang, SRT No, 25/ENCLOSURES: news i Centurion ules of Play Centurion Map Sheet Centurion Counter Shoat (A) Centurion Counter Sheet (8) ‘Sheet ‘TSG Ad/Back tse Lit Feedbck Questionnaire {incon ‘As with past ieuos, this one contains a nuribor ff changes in format. One of the most obvious att thangos i the droping MAIL. “Thorewere numerous gens ata -- 2S DUTGOING MAIL “e INCOMING MAIL as tong as aificiant through OUTGOING MAIL. Actually, this technique fs nothing new, and it was a reqlor etal Customer & Subseribor Inqui (212) 533-1338 i. Sy teasons, The most important wore low reader urstions raised in that section through SUTGOING MAIL. Going through the mail ‘ve find dozene of letters which 2k “Tor Information that would be of generat intrest. Obviously, not all of these letters can be print, Thue for the last fow issues wo have Taken to compiling lists of questions rasa in the mail and answering them in OUTGOING MAIL. Wer suspect that few people will miss feature of mapazines and’ nevepapers op unt the lost thirty or fourty years S&T. like remy Of the Olé periodicals, efor a limited au populority of OUTGOING MAIL toe ut 19 believe that we are probaly right on this one Questions raised in the current mail touched on numerous paints, which we will cover fh the bulk of OUTGOING MAIL. Ono point ied was a basic difference in stitude (Continued on 228.)The Roman nation was inextvicbly bound up ints army._The whole oF tho governmental Sater and sein system was created out of Bnd the wo times In he history when the Roman notions chose to ienore this Tact, and the army, proved disastrous Romulus (c, 780716 BC), te legendary ‘of Mars, Soon after founding the ety {753 BC) he led his mob of eltizane into thei frst war, ‘against the Sabines and thor allies for a3 tion has i, wives. Though Livv says the lomans. prevalled, the fact remain that Romulus nod to. share hie thyone with. the Sobine Titus Totus and, upon Romulus’ death his successor was ancther Sabine, Noma Po pilus, According to tradition, Fomulus dv fed the population into 30 companies (euras) fantury ct foot (100 men} and 9 deeurin ot Forse 110 men}. Thus, the Initia army (@ tus) was, nominally, 3,000 foot and 300 ors, The service wns by family groups and without pay. The curiae formed, in tur, the First assembly (Comita Curtata. It elected the new king, cantirmad death sentences and did Title. There ws no legion at that time anc the maneuver element was the century, OM cars were under the King; the foot and the ‘The next major change sas under Servius Talus, the lst king of Floman origin (the last king, Targuinius Superbus, was Etruscan), He frorgentesd Roman society inte five cases, 753 BC-1453AD by Steve Patrick sy a aL, AE a, a 2 miltgy” bass. The fist clas, valued 3 100,000 asses" or more, had 40 senior cen Turles and 40. junior centuries (the senior They had 1 provide themselves with bronzs helmet, rourd shield, areaves ard breastplate, frst class, Engineer, at this time, were lig to tho bulding of siege engines, The second lass, betwoen 75,000 and 100,000 aes, had 20 conturles and were equipoed ae the firs ‘lass but with 3 long, rather than the round held ana without breastplate, Tho third clas, 50,000 to 75.000 aswes, had 20 centuries and ‘were armed as the second cls, but without ‘eaves, The fourm class, 26,000 to 60,000, Thad 20 cantuties, oo, but wero armed with ‘only the spasr and jowoin. The {ith chat, 11,000" 0° 25.000, had “30. centuries and provided the singers. In addition, the fifth floes hac two cunturics of bugles and tum peters These under 11000 aos in wealth, the Proletarate, were exempt from service, Over nd above this were the equites oF ih, Sheed roan the wealthiest fomiie, A tora of 18 centuries of eavalry were formed and ‘gven 10,000 asses for purchaso of horse and 2.000 asses par year to feed them, Thus, normally, the Romans could field 17,000 foot ed 1 AbD horse Actualy, this arrangement id not moan that ‘the upper classes were more numerous than the test, whieh hal Impartant consoquencos. Se monetary unit, not animals for the frst class, move than all the other Clases combined and, whan’ the ‘centuries viet done by class, rst class voting fst, and frased ‘whan the issue wos decided, Thus, Foil tye frst else voted one woy, the issue It was a rare issue that got down to the third lass before getting decided, with the overthravr ot the kings, the Latin Sates rebelled. and formed the anti Roman ‘Latin League” and the Roman state wont ino a brit eclipse. The Volzc and the Aeaui tary part of tha FHth Contry BC. This finaly fed 10 8 second reorganization of tha city into 21 bes, which were to provide money ard troops, The tribes also formed an asumbly, the Comitia Tributa, and fram their number tame the Tribuai Plebis (which wore initially ‘elected by the Comita Curiatal. More import fn, the Comitia Tribute unike the other omit, id not need senatorial aermisson tO In the mid Fifth Century. BC, the soeal structure broke down and ule wis given ever {03 decemviraa, instead of the consuls. In 460 the Sabine and Agu nations invaded ard fight of the docemuits Took 10 the Toi, The ‘army, stil organized along” several lines, ‘muting and. marched on Rome, This romptod naw rotors‘The army was organizad into two soparate ‘osties of 4.000 mon, called logianes. Is from this point that tho history of the Iogion bosins ‘A socond and more important reform was the hanging of the besie style of combet. (Sor Fig) By this time, tho consuls wore getting in ‘tested work and could na longer maintain the finturies As a ren, 8 now mogitracy wos freatad the eandor. These two men would be chosen every three to. twelve years (ater, regulary every five years) to poll the citizen: {hip and determine who belonged in what Clase, This power later expanded to. include ‘erecking the morals of the Senators, thereby feiding our modern understoraing of the word ‘The result of a census was 8 grand mustar on the. Campus Martius and this bocome the omits Conturiata, Soar the Comitia Centr: sta had the power to ect consuls with senate Soprowl) and select censors a8 well 38, By 427 BG, to declare war. ‘The strife between the classe tonard the end of the fifth cantury BC led to 2 temporary suspension of the consulate [since only pat Cans could be oloeted consul and the pati ‘ans were being foresd to yield some power fad did not want to permit the plebs to Become consuls, In its place were first three, thon si trbunes, Hovaver, to indicate that they had the powers of the consul, they were officially entitled "military tribunes with con Sular power.” They could, therefore, command the legions Around 430 &C tho concept of dietator vas ‘adooted (earlier dictatorships being historically fomeuthat suspicious), The dictator wes chosen by the consuls. He assumed supreme power for ‘thor se months or the duration ofthe eras, ‘ahlenever tae sorter He, in tum, would pick his Heutenant, called the "master of the hore.” Thus, ihe dictatorship, too, was eser= tially 2 military office, designed to. combat thyeats 10. the government” from. external sources, As. practical matter, the dictatorship, ‘was abolished nth third' century, whieh Urvlerscares the probiem of Caesar becoming stator Tor ie in 48 BC. During this period of the later part of the fifth century BC also evolved the Institution of "tho thumph and the lesser honor, the ovation, The triumph was voted by the Senste. ond could not ba hald without them. However, the Sidirs couls grant their own honor by Sceloiming their itoriousleador as imparetor. Imperator was an honorific rather than a true function but invariably a trlumphator ves also Imperator (although the reverse was often not true). The significance of the tte “imperator” bcomes greater as the end of the Republic ‘rem near As indicated earlier, normally each consul commanded two legions, He could, however, designate 9 lieutenant, called a. legate, 10 command one fgion while he took the other, ‘hereby allowing a total of four separate commands. If more than four legions were ‘aised, the imperium "was granted to the prastore, who were the next elective office below tho consul, If more legiohs wore noodod than there wore consuls or praetors 10 com: ‘mand, then they turned to the previous yoar's Consuls oF praators to command, thereby bbesinning the proconsul snd propraetor con- 201s which proved the cornerstone to admin ‘stration of the colonies and provinces acquired after the First Punic War, Inthe conquest of aly and, ultimately, in the First and Second Punie Wars, Tha First Punic War (263-240 C) enaed with Rome estab lished a3. colonial and naval power. The ‘Second Punic War (218-202 BC) was anothor ‘matter, Rome entered it with the traditional four legions plus some 60,000 allied foot anc 4,000 allied’ horse, ‘The’ Sabinas: mustered '50,000 foot ond 4,000 horse; the Umbrians ‘and Sarsinatians 20,000; the Veneti_ and Cenomani ancther 20,000; a reserve force of 20,000 foot and 1.500 horse of Romans and 30,000 foot and 2,000 horse of allies gave the Fomans a total of 700,000 foot and, 70,000 hors. Yet, duo to detections and othor reosons, the Romans had such 2 manpowar Shortage that they had to buy some 24,000 Slaves and press them into service, In the end, fof course, the Romans won and the Cartho Sinan ost. More importanty, the destruction ‘Of Carthage asa mejor powar left a power ‘ocuum sinco the empire of Aloxander, in tho East, was now badly in decline. As » con ‘qusnce, the Romans bogan to expand into this \ocuum, ist in the eivillzod areas such a the former Punic teritorins In Spain ard Altice sand in Greece, and then into loss chilzed aos uch a Gaul, This, in turn, lod to. the proliferation of proconaulhigs and propraetor. ‘hi to command the troops which had to be $tationed in the provinces, ‘During this period tween the Punic wars and (Coos, the fgion wae evolving Into the orpant zation considered most typical of he Romans (though it wae probably at its peak for only some 400 years out of the 2,000 of Raman history). tn weapons the oblong sheild was the lunivorsai rule: te Spanish sword had replaced the longer Roman sword, the javelin had replaced the hasta asa spear. The artery was Falsod to 2 high level of art. There wore Spoar throwing weapons, such os the catapult and ‘he scorpion, both resembling large erssbons, the former aoing the larger. On the other hon, the Balista and onager were stone throwers — the indirectire weapons of the Roman Army. Inadaition, the Romans had protective devices te enable them to got close to besieged cites, The plteu vss triangular devico, covered by hides, hich the Romane rolled up tothe walle inorder to ig or work the battering ram. The "ortse” was an excellant example of field ‘expediont — the shields were locked together te form a shell undes whieh the Romans could approach a wall without getting speared, They ‘lo employed 3 moweable tower which was suitable for stepping over tho ramparts. Im marching, the Romans employed thres base formations: “awolin procession,” which was ‘the column formation. "repared edoe.” which twas: the normal battle formation and which ‘would’ be alled a line formation by modern armies; “squared march” whieh was a oquare, ners (abe) were strictly aed for making sioge engines, Along with the engineers were other non-combatants: the ‘rule-skinaers, who eared for the 700.800 pack animals used to transpart the impedimenta and the “drudge.” charged with care for the tons. During this period, the “draft” was conducted ina most informal way. A call was sent ut for the abletedied men of the centuries to 35 somblo in tho Campus Martius, The 24 elected Iribunes were distributed sx por legion as the junior officers The men who asemblad in te ‘Campus Martius wore then chosen at random for sorvioe snd tho rest sont home. Those Claiming physical reasons for exemption woul fen get thei hearing ae be duly punished if they were malingrers or excunel if tir compiains woro vali, The same procedure (wan ud to elect the ivaty, “The romans, 3s was mentionad betore, found themsaives in a vacuum ater the Second Punic War where there was no military force, man for man, which was the equal of he Roman lesionsire, nor was one to arise until the [Neoersin empire swept out of the Eastin the Fourth Century of the Christian Era, Asa result, the Romans bocame inner casted with their ‘energies, lacking “extemal Toes, This began, internally, the period of cv disorder with ihe Grocchi brothers proposing radical reforms and Goius Morivs raising the spectra of 3 monarchy by ‘holding the consulship an “npresicented five consecutive times. During his aaministraton, Marius produced & major reform in the smy. His fist wae tactical, Promoted by the probloms met fight ing the Jugurthine Wars’ end te Germans, Marius reorganized the basic combat Tome: tions aes forth in Figare ‘The second major reform of Marius was the abolition of al property. requirements for service. This was a dual chang. It poned the Fanks to the poor whieh, in turn lessened the food for the rich to serv, Ths teh, having their ovm business ot home, were the true ctizon soldiers in that they were glad to be out fs soon as possible, For the poor, it wa a Possible profession and, in effec. the Marion Tetorms allowed the creation of the profes sional standing army. In turn, the loyalty of tho mon could bo captured by’ tho leader who fengured 3 healthy distribution of booty, there bby making them more loyal to thal com anders than to the government. Less than a Deneration foter, the Impact of thischange was brought home when L. Comalius Sulla was ble to: march on Rome with his legions and size power. In effect, the Marian reforms, “whlen helped make a strong army. also proved the uneoing of the Republic for It gave those Inaividuals who opposed the government the ‘hance to do something about it outaide of the normal political chants, Sulla did it; Marius {eid to do it to Sulla, Crus cid it: Pompey ‘ven roses his own private ary Caesar did. “The Pistory of the Fist Century BC is fied with indivduale who were able to use theie Tegions 0. make themealves polities powers Both tha First and Second Trhamwirates (the second being calle, ironically, "Triumvirate to Restore the Republic") wore coalitions of rrlitary men wo, ia turn, had 2 felling out find nother chil "war. Inthe end, Caesor's fhephow and adopted son, Octavius, whom tsveryone considertd too sickly to be a treat, triumphed and set about creating & new onder ‘The arrangement Octave usad 10 sot up hie regime (BC 30-14 AD] soften overlooked. He id not simply declare himselt_a monarch ‘Cavsar fot hie life because somebody dough that was what he wanted, Actually, Octavius, for Augustus as her is batter know, made @ formal gesture of turning back power to the Senate [though he Kept some for himself). The final arrangement was a5 ingenious a it was (Continved on 8.)of the rived virtually ‘lige able- ‘bodied men of the city and was com ‘manded in the field by the king 10 person. The phelenx was the normal {actisl formation. A isis BRR we HER HWRHWAaeaeee Tria & Vet RBRARAawaAwAAawewee 1, Organization ©. 450 BC. As the Late grow larger £0100 did the army and it nes orgonized into two Meld forces, ‘one under each Consul. The maniple was freoted and 2 novel fighting technique Geveloped, using several successive lies. The frst line, oF hastati were spear farmed infantry using the pllum, oF aver lin. These were the young, promising ‘men of the force and comprised ton ‘moniples of twenty men with spear and fjvelin and another hundred odd with a ang shiota. The naxt successive lines. the principes, was composed of the more experienced men, armed not unlike the hattat. Then eae the tar. comprising three detachments of stxty~odd men each: one of battle hardened veterans, ‘one of lose experienced skirmichers ‘called lites, and one of raw green twoops. As the deployment diagram in dicate, the first two lines Could, 0 3 Serious tight, fallback onto those Bohind luntil @ kind of phaleow wos the result To. complete the legion some 1,200 aunties and 300 cavalry usually hung ‘round on the wings Fig, ML. Organization e. 100 BC. This new organization wos developed partly ‘due to the increasing professionalism of the Roman Army, which was no longer ated on the “nation in arms concopt.” ‘A major change in concept from the “mamputer” legion wax that the more ‘experienced men were in the front line, ‘sth the most experienced on the right Fig. 1V. Legion in Mareh Order. The legion hod 9 detinite order of march a¢ noted here This was proscribed rather ‘oily and ususlly was adhered to. front. Each succeeding cohort was 9 bit greener. The cohort system, while not early 9 Mlexible at the maniple one ermitted the legion a great des! more foughness. This is sometimes relered to 2s the "Marian legion. The normal deployment for this new legion wat in aw woe roar guard Po a a ""ercenarig, the Legion (ess detachments) “"#Meer, “tl ooo oa Ow w BO BY Ba -coror danced guard > TO 3 Fig, V. Organization e, 400 AD. &y the besinning ofthe Fitth Century, the older terms “Tegion” and “cohort” had be ome almost intrehangoobl, tin. (uiehingaierent kinds of woop, rather than different sees of organizations. oMINVS MAGISTER VTRIVSVE MILITIAE ‘COMES Dvx LEGIONES. COHORTES: Vil Organization c. 700 AD. By the Eighth Century, the Empire had become completely Greek. The Army had Changed too, though not so drastically as {es had strong ties with that of 200 years earlier [A wo Tumse Destoyed Bawwana 6 aaa 24 2 Fig, VI Organization ©. 650 AD. y the ‘early. Byzantine period of the Roman Empire the army had become lergaly ‘cavalry, at fast the mostimporant part ‘Ff. Another change was the increasing luse of Greek, for by this time the Empire spoks that language almost totally. Generally, atypical bate would {ollow aiong the lines of the attached ‘diagramRoman solders: 1. Skirmisher 2 Light infantry 3 Legionary infantry (OW ROMAN RANK STRUCTURE The person who tries t0 force the legion cohort system to. equal the regiment company of modem armies is engaging 2D eihdeteating exercise. This seven more teue trying to make 2 one-to-one equation Detorsen the ranks in the ogion and the Each system, obviously, is governed by 3 ‘number of factors which renuted in the ‘rank structure finally adopted. For the omens the hall mark wor practicality Essentially the legion wat » homogenous ody. The infantry men all fought and {ould fight equally wel! in the front lines fepeating now of the legion in tts greet period of between 100 BC and 117 AD). Simiterly, the cavalry and the auxiliais were homogeneous bodies in that each ‘mun did the same job a8 the next. A 3 Consequence, the distinction” between ‘ranks, which is more necessary today, wm hot only unnecessary but bad for morale The difference between the mils grogeive {and his immediate superior, the imevanes, ‘ore some logic. The immunes were the ‘more experienced and ware either on the ‘tay up 10 higher functions or certainly ‘recognized 38 the outstanding soldier in the line who deserved toe set above the ‘reat mass of the lagionsries. The com: paritom between these two ranks and the privates and corporals of madern ames fensy to make and, in this case, fatty tectrate. ‘From there on. though, com prison beaks down The next level, the sigifers or aquilifers and the lke, shough nominally superior to the immunes, were realy outside the grade structure and-not in the chain of Com: ‘mond. ‘These men did not carry swords nd did mot fight In the tine, Similary, they thd not exercito any command over those below them, side trom whatever Fights attached to their ranks. On the ‘ther hand, the importance of ther jobs, ‘even those carrying the standard, wat Such that they were set above the foot {oldier to cignity the position The true Superior tothe immunes was the eanturion for decurion in the exealry The positon ofthe centurion i the legion lias complex when ane tres to compare ‘with current miltary functions twas bound up, by necenity, in the officer fructure and the very nature of the officer “corps.” To equate the conturion ‘wien an NCO i accurate if one only looks the ranks. When consiaering the function ff the conturion, however, comparison twth NCOs, alone is impossible, Frist, the conturion was tho senor coreor soldi in the legion, the top centurion {rom the politica and transitory nature of the officers. The eenturion commanded ® {ixed body of troops, though be could be ‘sasigned and, of course, promoted. EF Ieeuively, though, there were certain 201 ‘diers for whom the centurion was respon sible. The taining of those men and thelr ‘performance was the centurion’: problem. ‘inh the possible parallelism becween the primus pilus and the dux, there wos none '0f the madern system of platoon sergeant platoon leader, first sergeant ~ com: ‘pany commander. sergeant major — bat Romans, being practic, saw no reston t0 ‘aupicate effort. They decided that a given ‘number of men coutd be commanded by centurion and if the man appointed ‘couldn't do the jb, the solution was not fo add an etsistant or asign an officer t0 ‘uperise, you simply replaced the cen turin with someone who could do itn the senve that strategy can be said 10 comprehend the sum of tactics, the cen turion wor the tactician to the du a6 Exch centurion honed his portion of the command to fine edge and it was ypon this bows that the officer structure woe superimposed. The officers were, particularly in the great days of the Tagins, politica! appointees ‘and not carer officer. To be sure, mil tary ‘service wes not only desired but ‘required for 3 young man who hoped to tise either inthe last days OF the Republic ‘or in the Empire. Nonetheless, an officer potrcian or merely plebian whose familia! Dbuckground had een wealthy. Wealthy ‘men engaged in national service, in Rome, inthe tame manner that nobility England did .'A military carve, at sich, wor unheard of ~ but 2 tour with 9 unit, followed by foreign service or actus governmental work, was the order of the ay, The young aspirant would arive in the Iagion as 2 legate or military tribune (as war the nocmel order in the ealior doy) Sulfa, for example, was legate under \Marivs. The amount of experience the Iegute would get was relative t0 the activ ity of the lagion. Caesar's legates got good training and. became capable of Highly Independent action, ax Antony did during ‘the Civil Wars. Coesar, himsell, did not ‘eally tearm his skis a 3 staier until he twas dux. The legate did not havea fixed ‘Command, nthe zese ofa platoon leader ‘or company commander, but served where the cin wanted him 19 be. He might command a wing OF the army one dy, be lin charge of the comp and baggage the Inert and on the third back in the provinial capita! fighting the pacer wor while the dx, uswtly the provincial governor, hs off laaing the troops. Presuming the legate gor good marks for fis sevice, he would retin to serve in polities! office, ither elective tn the Re ‘public or appointive in the Empire. The feurus honorum or course of honare meaning the offices held trom Aedile to Consul) faded in the Empire t0 bo re placed by such postions at praoteet zich ‘8 the prefect of the grain or fire depart ‘ment or the praetorian cohorts) oF bY procuratorships The effoct was the same In-any event — 9 series of goverment service positions open to the able 1 under the Republican system, the praetor, and more often the consul, on Ieaving hie one year erm of office, would ‘be appointed by the Sonate 10 be pr praetor or proconsil and governor of Province. This wos why Caesar was in Gaul. Under the Empire, Augustus vided the provinces such that those without larmioe wore ctl left to the control of the Senate Yor the apgointmant of governors ‘but the trontier provinces wore under the contro! of the Emperor. The imperial appointments, while not necesarly to Drocontutar types, would be to equivalent Deron. For example, some of the prac: torships gained major importance and wore held by men who would have boon Consuls undkr the Republic (the consul: ship by then having degenerated into 2 ought honor surtable for inciting on tombstones) In any event, this was the group of men from which the dux came. The dux war fn ‘charge of the armies, which might be one legion but might be ten or more His iniitary experience was limited to what be ‘might have gotten as legate which, there: fore, returns the discussion to th fon. Officers came and went in Iegion but the centurion romained. The reult wer that, during the great days of the Tegion, ane legion wos about 9¢ 0d a the next. Tey all had a good level of tvining. ‘die to the efforts ofthe centurions,andit ‘remained for the individual ux to other ut his imprint on the legion and make ita rack unit oH uneble to dos0, leave ie the basic ability of the legion battler. Caears famous Tenth Legion wat ‘one which had bean made into 7 crack Lint ehraugh yours of flghting and Caerar’® Dersonalinuones. Though the legion was texible, its forte wes the frontal assault. More sophisticated tactics would be beyond the scope of the Centurions, meinly bscause no centurion, ‘ven a primus piles, would have command ‘or direct influence outside of his ‘oon lesion. For two lagions to fight together required ofticer control. An officer with ability eoutd grasp more subtle tactics and, ‘ike Caesar or Aaripps, wield an effective ‘anmy of several legions in lank attacks tnd envelopments. Lesser fights punch their way thr ad to 1h the enemy be- Cause they lacked the training to compre: hhend more dificult maneuvers and the ‘centurions lacked the authority to eect this eaining beyond their own commands One historical example of poor lendership ‘undoing. the legion would have to. be Var blunders nthe Tevtoburgermald. A ‘more able dux should hove been able t0 void that failing. In the end, therefore, the conturion’s position is not analogous to any which fxist in modern armies. He wos certainly ‘both an NCO and company grade officer with the primus pitas taking 0 the aspects of Tite of legion failed and heads rolled, the fst and ‘most important head would be that of the Genturion. Tt if came to decimation. it ‘might be Wtraly the cate that the con turfon’s head rolled. Az consequence, he responsibilty for success lay on the {houlder: of the centurion in the way no NCO has folt i but, thon, s0 id the authority. The complete contro! over training exercised by the canturion, with the officer only stepping in when "cme time to set vp the order of tattle and acwally deploy the troops, is probably Trequelied since that time. The met of the Roman system is obvious: @ minimum ‘umber of people were used in command {and control and @ maximum ovate for fignting. The percentage of chiefs t0 indians in Roman legions was lower than ‘any army since then. The disadvantage ko becomes apparent. There is no fall {afe. If the centurion blundars and isnot Up 10 the sk, the unit fale. Without ‘anyone exercising effective contol by way {f supervision, the centurion only Mad to ‘newer in butte for the quality of his ‘work Certainty case could be made for tis very grade structare at an effective cate for the decline ofthe army. If the clove 2F the conturions wor high the leon was ‘trong. Poor centrions made poor opont Sand’ thre was nothing'@ don could 0 about ie Many adoptions ofthe legion Stor Hedian come stout becae ofthe ‘ecline in the quality of the Teponary wich, In turn. isthe. flue of the conturins to aia hit men Inthe end the ‘Roman system came down to the sgle feet thet good centuions wuld make agons: which intr could win ste the acto experienc oot on the prt of the du. But the most abe ux Inne world coord not win withovt good(Continued trom pA.) ‘complex for it was true patchwork. No single flomant gave Augustus his power but, taken as ‘whole, he was the syprame ruar, Tho affect trae thatthe average oman was only able 1o hota, in retrospect, that de public was gone, Running through Augustus titles, one can soe the source of his power. Ody, his frst title, tsi only an honor, was ta leom larger as Symbol of tho actual power. This was the old title of imporator. Augustus came by it honestly (uring the civil war with Antony), tout its effect was to show that the ruler was 3 military man lwhethar he was oF wasn’t Evantually, the Emperor was acclaimed ‘im: erator not only upon taking power but also ‘wnenever one ot his generals won a. major Mietory (Ausustus "was the. first and only Emporor 10. allow "a. triumph ‘outside the family), Of course, imperator Is actually the toot of the word emperor. Upon the death of his erstwhile cotriumvir. Lepidus, he assumed the ttle of "Pontifex Maximus,” thereby [ving him contol over she religion. This ttle tas kept by the emoorar wal into the Chris tian ora, Augustus also held the consulship thirteen times but, In fact, The consulship was 2 deod letter as the ral power was elsnwhore ‘nd the Emperor usualy only held io honor the other consul (normaly his heir apparent) ‘Fon his frst year in power. Evontualy. the Consulship was split Betwoon Romo and Con. fantinople and was abolished in the reign of Shstinian (627/868). Oddly, the one thing ‘hich kept the consulship going tor so long Yeas the foet That Ht vas the way the Romans ‘Sted their years lin the consulship of s0-and {0} are to abolish it would have att them in a ‘Quandary. Inthe end, the adoption of the ‘custom doting from the year of the founda fion of the world took its place, supplemented ‘with the renal year of the Emperor. Iti the ext title wich isthe key to the power of the Emoeror the "tibunicion power,” The trbuniian power was bestowed ae renewed annually. It allowed the Emperor to convene the Senate, propose legislation to the Comitia “Tibute and have gen ina jurist, This sscured his rule in the Roman state. In the provinoee he divided control with the Senate. ‘Thos near Waly. and ‘not near the frontiers he returned to the Sonate, The rest he kept under ig control. In order to maintain that control, he was given proconsular powers Sand the malus imperiom, which overrode the hominal eontrol whieh the consul had over the froconsul. The Key was that the. Imperial frovinces were the ones where the army was focatod ond, thorefore, only. Augustus had ower to conttol the army. The provinces Cinder imperil “control were governed by legates appointed by Augustus, rather than the Senate, Other tittle touches were the granting of the right of “First Senator.” That postion, opin Imerely. an henor, normally went to der, distinguished senators as an honor from the Sonate, The wick was that he voted ft, Tt tae always nice to have the emperor vote first land thereby set out the “party line," Actually, the one. title Augustus used was, simply, Drincepe or first citizen, It may seem funny In etroxpect ut, infact, unt the reign of Diocletian this concept of princeps being first ‘among equals, rather than appointed by divine Intervention, dominated Roman politic. AS @ result, this peri is generally referred to asthe principate fo distinguish i rom the dominate, Tntroduoad by Diocletian when he favored te tage of "dominus” oF fr, ‘The army of Augustus! time was now an instrument of colonization, (nadaition to a ite othor functions. Veterans were mustered fut In groups and gla grants of land in the Provinces, The names of 8 number af cities in Europe, particularly in France and Germeny, Daa witness to this point: Forum Julius Frejus; Augusta Treverarum — Tear: Colonia Agrippinensis — Cologne: Augusta Vif corum — Augusburg; Caosor Augusta ~ Sar fos The. march of the leglone. through Europe prodvcad a sicond etfect ~ the Roman foads, Although the first major road, the Via ‘Appia, wns built more for elit than military purposes, asthe Romans expanded out of Tray, it nae the army which built the roads (chough, ike the German Autobahns, they were also used by clans) which ron with “erring straightness over the countryside 2% lien form the bats for many roads across Europe today (Watling Steet, the old road from Dover ta London, isa clase example) In the early empire, the legion cost about 1000,000. denarii per legion per year to maintain as they wore now fully paid profes. sionals. By Augustus’ time the first cohort of ‘sch legion was double stenath, though other= iota th Marian formation whieh pushed fut the frontiers, in the two conturies from the death of Caesar to the death of Trajan, the Romans annexed Eaypt, Gyrenacia, Moure- tana, the area of modein Portugal, Britain, Germany west of tho Rhine and south of the Danube, modern Hungary, Rumania, Bula, all of Asia Minor, modern Syria, Lebanon and Tse, Armenia, and Mesopotamia ‘Much is made, during imperial times, of the Army as an instrument of political power and the fact thatthe omperors held thelr thrones, frony times, solely at the will of the leglons, ‘Actually, wile the ogions wore not all that tapriigus, the fact remains that withthe sole ‘exception of Diocletian, there were only two ‘way an emporor lof oiice ~ he died or was Senoaed and usually. kiled). Thero. was no dynastic concept in’ the early empire. Tho SulkClaudians, between Augustus and Nero, Drodiuced tive emoerors. That was not equalled Until the family of Constantius Chiorus (father ff Constantine] gnined power. Therefore, the ies of a usurpe, inthe vay one regards tin rmedioval Europe, did not exist. An emperor Unable to hold power was unfit 19 ean it However, it should aso be noted that, almost Invariably, the nw omperor wae a soldier. This was due to the fact that, wth the decline of the mogistrates as a powerful body, the mil tary wat the pilooo whore a young man could excel Under Augustus was created the most famous Roman military organization, the Praetorian Cohorts, Actually, the Practorion Guard wos ‘an old concopt Scipio Aomilianus had = Praetorian Guard of 600 in the Sacond Cen tury BC. But it was Augustus who created the two Prastorian Prefects in chargo of the nine 500-man cohorts in the ety. This last point wae the erucial one: the Preetorian power lose out of proximity to the emperor, mare ‘than moray from being crack unit Vespasian (09-79 AD), who was the ultimate ctor in the Clvik War aftr Nero's fall (63.60 ‘AD), instituted throp ‘tends Which were tO fhave great Impact. First, his very accession showed thar emperors could ve made outside fof Flome, Second. he began strengthening the ‘rontier legions on the well founded theory ‘thatthe foderated states could not be counted fn to defend the borders, Asa result. the army becamo. totally indepondent ‘of Rime and ould well turn on ite mostr, 98 was all 100 fften ‘the cian. The third. vend. wat the Seliterate process af discouraging Italian en Tistmont and encouraging provincial enlist. ‘mont, While this breadaned tho army. in the hort run, it led, ia the long run, 19 the fate barberiztion wien only those on the tron brs, who had erossed over a short while a, ‘wore enlisted, By the end of the Second CCeritury virtually no Italians sored below the officer’ and prtorian levels and Septimus Severus (193.211 AD) eliminated them feom ‘hose positions. In fact, a law came to be pax that Ttallans could not serve ot all Under the emperors, too, military service ‘became the way to etzenship, Fer exams, in Hagran’s time a veteran, born # noncttizen, oul retire atthe ond of 28 yoars and gain hi {tizonsip. Pur him in a small provincia town thar he vs one of the vary few etizens and he became a lender in the community almost by dofaut ‘The Roman army had 3 turning point which in retrospect, vo crystal ler as beginning the ‘donnwears side. Ona could not say ft really reached plateau and slipood off, In fact, 1 ‘ss a simple as 3 chomge in poliey from ‘Troion's expansion to Hadrian’ consolidation ‘The empite reached {ts greatatt expanse under Trajan, Hadrian, his soccatsor and an. able ruler, began some Boley changes in the basic Jrmy. organization and tactics which were t0 be felt more and mare asthe years went by Whereas Trajan had sd the army for expan: sion and, indeed, Neretotore, the Roman lesion hac always boos an offensive arm, Hadrian decided not to expand any further, He aban ‘oned. Mesopotamia and Armenia, recently (ined by Trajan, end. bagan to. charge the Iopion into a detensive body. Obviously, the ‘hiloronhy of the detere is differant om that of the offense and It takes a diferent st it tacts 16 accomplish each, Whereas botore Hadron, 2 legion served. in many places, Hadrian fixed their duty stations, Moreover, ‘seh provings had the duty of looking after It local legion which meant that the quality of ‘he legion was no longer responsive {0 8 truly ‘contralized standard, The old Javelin began t0 be replaced by a lighter type sbear. The auliries adopted a long sword. The solid uirass was replaced by the more flexible and Tighter Segmontodbreastpiate, consisting of ‘metal strips arranged in parallel rows across the ‘body. Mora. important. with the agions ramaining fixed, the language barrier bevween {Cain west ond Grovk east bogan to arom. ‘The frontiers were now the limes, italy atcitowers with a sentry walking betwee {ham and, fatr, 9 long series of walls such as tee stil Tound in Endand between Newcastle ‘and Carlisle, with eladorata ditches. Rather {han seeking Out and destroying th enemy, the legion"became a fire brigade, putting down incursions where they occurred. On the theory that bridges go both ays, Hdran destroyed the bridges Trajan had built over the Danube, Trajan intended to attock across them: Hod ‘ian footed an attack coming the other vay, More importantly, the army shifted emphasis ‘Tho aula, now Hinely honed, held the tron tir wila the main body was stationed in some ‘ontral location. As 2 result, the ausilia, formerly the miscellaneous talenis of the ales,such a lingers, archers and s0 on, were beets lip to handle the more dificult role of Stopping tho enemy an the frontier, at lest long enough for the legion to come to the rescue, Cortesondingly. the. legion became ‘more ponderous as the ead fer lexiity ecame less, The logon drifted more toward the very. phalans-type formation they. had ‘nce rejected, “Though the army want into dling, 1 re mained the basis for the Emperor's power. ta fect, the Emperor and the wrmy were. the overnment. The ‘Senate's last decree of lay (rae in 780 AD, Soliers now held posts formerly heid by senatorial, Formerly, mili tary necesity had created civil institutions, Now chil necessity changed the military inet tutions, The proctorianeiteally auctioned the lemperorship to Diciusdulianus (1933 AD}, His Succesor, Septimus Severus, dismisses” the fmtire Cohors.Praotoria and. replaced. thom tath norltaians. More imoortanty. uring the ‘eign of Septimus Severus nd his wucere tors, the military fended to become an here tary’ profesion, The total collapse of the FRoman government in the Thitd Century AD sa 26 scldier emperors, all ut one of whom ‘od 9 violont death, For four years, Gaul was a separate nation, During the same tine, large hhumbers- ot borbarars were taken into. the my. The longstanding size of 300,000 be ame 400,000 soldier, A tow of the reigns during the Third Contury ere well adminstord despite their Brevity Gallinos (283-268) "nas particularly, inn vate. Among the milltary reforms he under Took’ wos the becling up at the cavalry Moreover. he benon the policy of puting the farmy under trained military commanders in Sted of eilian governors, In fact, the sana Torlol controls over the army were removed completely in 261 AD, ‘The charset of the army aewally chonged during the Thitd Century. The principal source of soldiers was now the rnltary cart, that was insifiient, then volumtoers were taken, ‘pd finally, conserition, However, the volun. teers were taken from the more backward laren of the empire fer the obvious reason that {he wealthier areas had les reason 10 en ‘courage volunteers, In Toct, entre companies Of Germans ow enlisted under their iets Wen conseription was needed, tis, 100, was not the old quality. Rather than a military gent picking out the men, thoy were provided with 9 quota systom by the large estate Dnners, Obviously, the landowners didn't ‘end their best mars, ali all the quality of tho. army deteriorated” stedliy, The. strict discipline of the old legions was now disap pearing, They suouldn't wear the heavy body farmer ofthe old legions and refused to train 35 hho. Insaberdination war rife ae the all soo. ‘raauant officer iyncnings showed, Yet, the army still maintained an edge. albeit loser ‘one, over thei fos. Ifthe legions of Constan ‘ine ware not at good as the legions of Scipio, nlther were the Germans the enemy. that Carthage was. Obviovsiy, the stage wos set tor another change and this time, again, it cama from the miliary with the accession ‘of Diocletian, the Iiyrian. general. Diecietian’s reign (284305 |AD) rrarked tho end of the prineipate and the beginning of the dominate, Diocletian in- ‘roood the size ofthe army irom 400,000 to 500,000, Ho also reorginined the provinces creating a system of diocese, sx inthe east and 5x in the west, under each of which were 9 fhumber of provines, usually seven or 0. In fot, the whole governmental system intro: ‘duces by Diocletian would not be unfamiliar {02 church-goor what with its vicars an 30 on, the point being hat this was the time tht the Christan Churen wat finally geting 2 firm footing and it 100k its structure trom the evi structure around it which, being, i turn, rested from miltary necessity makes for an intoresting irony. When speaking of wotershads in Roman nis: tory. the reign of ‘Diocletian is eortainly a tmalor one. Before him was the early empire: after him was the lata empire, One dadsion he feached wos that the emoire could. not be effectively governed by ena man in thava ruler had to be close 10 potontial sources of wouble Im order to quash them before they got out ot hail, He theretore efective'y divided acrmini=- aticn in half and in hall again, He decreed that thore would bo two men with the title ‘Augustus wna, in tueh, would choke a eu ‘wenant called Coosa (by then tha tte for the ‘sirapparont). The kes was that after a given ‘number of yaats the August would abdicate In Tavar of the Coesari who, in turn, would pick ‘new Cotsari and’ 20. it would go. with an frganized succession, In asltion, ne Yeauired thot each of the four ruler esablieh his capital rear the frontier of his section. This, then established. the division of the empire into stern and Westorn parts, a vision whieh though eliminates soveral ties, wos to be come permanent, Actually, slthough each ror hed a separate are of responsi al laws wore endcted. inthe name of all four. 3 Situation which contiqued os long as. there wore multlie rulers, Diecletian chose Nico rredia a6 his capital, In Asia Minor, not far from she then city of Byzantium, His caesar, Galeri, was at Sirmium, on the Danute. The ‘Augustus In tha west, Maximian, chose Milano fand. Maximian’s eaeser, Constants Chloris chose Trig. This had) another fer-raching ‘ttect. For the fire time Me eaptal ws not I Flome, in fect, the capital in the West never returned to Rome aguin, It moved again in 403 {To Ravenna whore it remained until the impar {a rgalia were sont to Censtantinople ‘The _melor reformation of the sxmy come under Constantine [308.387 AD}, the winner ff the Civil War which arose after Diceetian and Maximion abdicated and ther success ‘leg shortly thereater, leaving no est ise Succession. In piace of the Praetorian Gud, hich Constantine abolished, were two groups oF imperio!-gunrds. The. firs, the "House holaers and Protectors,” was really no mare tan a political Body. lad with the sons of the wealthy and the nability wo aspired tobe haar the emperor and fulfilled the funetion of Barode troops. The other, the “Scholar,” were {genuine guards in the prastarian wadttion. The ame Scholars was drawn from thelr barracks, whieh resombled classical Gresk sonool in (Qeneral layout. The head of the Scholars was the Master of Otfices, The ‘Scholars were {formed as infantry and cavalry, and the (ater ware both cuiramers and archers There were Seven "Schools" in Constantinope, each 500 strong and commanded by a tribune, though in he Fifth Century the tribures came to be called "counts of schools” “The legions stil survived but they were divided Into "Borderers," who guarded the borders ‘nd the more prestigious reerward legions centrally loeated towns a qarisons. However, the legion had been reduced in strength 10 about 1,000 men end was commanded by a brofect. "in addition, ‘sopsrate cohorts of 250.54 man, under 2 tribune, supplemented, rather than compased the legions, [A hierarchy of lapions now developed. The top were called palatine, because of thelr axsoca- {ion with the empersr, Then came the palatine ‘unitary legions followed by the line and the fecond line. From Constantine on, a mujor overhaul of existing lagions occurred s0 that “by 400 AD only 40 of the 172 foions wer colder than the reign of Constantine, of which two (Gth Augusta and Tih Claudia) were palatine, en line andthe rest ascond line oF ‘without any title, The towns, by now walled, wore guarded by the top ranking legions: the Tromtiers by the. lowest class, most often rmarwed by Germans who had exeanded trom tho avsilia to ene legions proper Tiles became important. At the top ware the “Mast of Foot” and the “Waster of Hore whieh were often combined into one office, 28 "Master of the Soidiry." Those men were sunior counts” and held the" top. fenk of “ilusrious,” since they resided. at court Under ther were the feutenants, the "Mary Counts" who were "Honorabie” In rank. In the provines wore the "Counts," alo of the stious rank, wha Raid the "ste" provinces {and tho Genera in the more vulnerable ones, ‘wth the rank of Honorable. The reat key os thot these commands did not ari oUt of public service, like the old proconsulehips, but ‘were the rewards given by the emperor, per sonal, thereby binding the provincial com ‘anders tothe ruler diretly. 1 wae Constantine, of course, who set up his capital in the old Gresk ity of Byzantium, naming it New ome But seeing it named by ‘the poopie Constantinopalis, of, more fom lary, the City (a corruption of whien f to be found in the modern nome, Istanbul. The ‘effect of this move cannot be messired in that In was from this ity that the Foman tradition wos. continued for another millenium after Constantine founded it Despite the lorge number of Segions, 1 was ‘unlikely thot the Flomans could muster more ‘than 30,000 for any expedition. Constantine enforced the este system on the army making {a matter of law that aon follow father In ‘order that the numbers not decrease further. Mesrucile, the decline oF the infantry con tinued to where the old term for infantiyen, smiles, now meant cavalrymen. 10 gana, the Cavalry os orsinined Into the typer, the eibariarit light cavalry), eataphraets [heavy aval) and suetar All were fitted with coats ff mal from eo to foot ane the it cavity tha learned to fire Bowe while mounted, being ‘Quite deadly at 190 meters The cevary fought In wexilationes, some 500 strong. The foot sliders reverted {rom the heavy scutum t9 3 ‘enaler buckler dei The phalanx tke forms: tion, ight doop, was abandoned inthe Fourth {Century in favor of the German “boars head” formation and. dil. with the javelin as rooped altogether. Effectively, the ifantry became purely defensive, The covally was now the shock arm andthe infantry. the shield behind whien the cavalry would reform. As wae mentioned above, the gion teas paso6 to, essontaly, a double strength cohort while the cohorts completed the innovations (oF Marius by becoming completely indepen ‘Sent unit, now calles 9 mumerae arithenas in