Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire the peaking and fall of a great empire.

In the case of Transalpine Gaul, Julius Caesar
finally had enough of the high country tribes
and subjugated them along with all of Gaul.

In earlier yrs the tribes of alpine Gaul would head
south and harrass Roman interests on and near
the coast of the Mediterranean.
this schitt eventually came to a head in 102 BC,
when Gen. Gaius Marius (Battle of Aquae Sextiae)
defeated the tribes, which included Germanics.



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Roman Hispania you can see was largely annexed
by the time of Augustus...
The Iberian peninsula came into Roman hands
after the defeat of Carthage some two centuries
earlier , and gradually Rome pretty much subdued
and pacified all the tribes .. that pocket to the north
held out the longest, not necessarily coz they were
the toughest, but in part coz they didn't pose too much
of a problem to Roman interests in Hispania... but they
too were eventually dealt with and absorbed.

read sir jhon glubbs...fate of empires....you will see how empires all end up.....very good short read....bob

Actually it's kind of hard to understand. Because the blacks didn't take over Rome. The Goths did.

[quote=Starman]Some learnt faster than others...

9 AD, Varus and his legions got destroyed
in the Touteburg by Arminius, yet in 16 AD,
Germanicus and his legions showed the
Arminius and his Germanics a thing or two.

Germanicus didn't have a lot of experience
but history shows he had standout ability
right from the beginning of his military commands..
. and he faced Arminius who had extensive experience
in the Roman army before betraying the trust put in
him and leading Varus into a trap.

But having such extensive knowledge of the Romans
and employing the terrain to attack the Romans
at their most vulnerable, didn't work out against
the talents of Germanicus... Arminius may have
got a little over confident thinking the Romans
would again be a walk over, like in 9 AD.

Germanicus led some big campaigns in 'germania inferior'
and hammered them,.. he wanted to keep going
but Tiberius finally called it off and Germanicus
was posted to the far East of the Empire.




[/quote

]I always wondered why Varus didn't have scouts out, or some guys on point.

'

starman, you offer good insight and history of the romans. seems like they were hardly a steady state or level state enterprise. they were growing or losing ground about all the time. they were winning or losing as it were. egypt's economy was much related to the nile river and how much it's presence could produce. rome's well being was based upon imperial merchantilism.

What amuses me most about this thread is that the two greatest (arguably) military nations in the world turned into market gardeners and fish and chip shop owners.

yeah. somebody will come along shortly and just argue that it's just a case of natural evolution. no problem they'll say, it happens all the time.

Rome started from a relatively insignificant local
small handful of tribes And grew a vast empire,
which requires more winning than losing... and
some give and take.

They initially battled the surrounding Latin tribes
after such forming alliances with them where
if someone attacked part of that alliance the others
had to come to their assistance..with such approach
and growing combined strength they gradually took
over the Italian peninsula and well beyond... in that
time there was the Social War (91-87 BC) where such
Latin allies revolted coz they were supplying lots of
soldier manpower but not getting the benefits the
Romans were.. the result was Romans extended
their rights to them.. and the Romanization of Italy.

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So they went from strength to strength and this
also happened as they conquered more distant
lands and peoples... Some became very good
allies, could earn Roman citizenship and all the
benefits offered [after a period of service in the
non-legionary auxiliary forces] .. the reforms
of Augustus made the auxilia part of the standing
Roman army.

When it's said the Romans "conquered" that doesnt
mean pacified as a whole... Caesar conquered all
of Gaul, but was still dealing with ongoing skirmishes
and even major revolts....about 50% of Roman efforts
on the battlefield, we're dealing with such.
When Caesar was planning to embark on his ambitions
in the new lands of Britannia, he had to first deal with a
serious revolt across areas of Gaul, that was targeting
his legions quartered in Gaul for the winter ((at that time
military campaigns were mostly seasonal, but Caesar
was know to force march his legions through winter
snow to deal with belligerents if necessary )).

Prior to the reforms of Marius, one required a minimum
of wealth to be a legionary, this excluded many Romans
from joining the army.. Marius abolished the requirement
and many laborers (off the rural lands) joined the army.
It was still hard - physically demanding as a soldier,
but it offered benefits you don't get as a farm laborer.
Their background in physical labor also made for a
more hardy soldier.. A real benefit considering what
life as a legionary was like.

One things certain, Rome didn't last well over a 1000 years being kinder gentler.

Got to have real law and order.

ah for the return of the days of charles bronson. that was one man who knew how to solve multiple problems.

The democrats are cheating, lying, and thieving anti-American liberal socialist communist marxist politicians which need to be ostracized ASAP. They must forfeit the election now. They were caught as traitors to the country during a national emergency. There are hundreds of guilty democrats and some republicans. We can start with the democrats in the US congress and work our way thru the ranks to state congress. Do not forget all the obama administration too.