Like the inter-Feuding tribes of Gaul and Britton, Caledonian clans also discovered what it meant to face organized and disciplined forces of Rome.
Like Vercingetorix vs. Caesar in Gaul , they couldn't just slap together a range of rival tribes and expect to get it over the Romans with sheer numbers .. also by this time military reforms by Marius and Augustus had made the army better than ever.... Gone was the levy/conscript system... Soldiers were now full-time career, drawn only from volunteers, with standardized equipment and training.
Augustus had also much improved the logistics of supply.. No longer was the army as restricted [as Caesar was] regarding essential grain, or as bound to the limits of seasonal warfare (ie) a bad season of grain in Gaul, or a campaign delayed through neccesity because crops were not ready, or a campaign in Germania where Germanics were not much into agriculture, hampered movements and the decisions Caesar could make.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
Romans had a tendency to take it out on the whole population of a beseiged location due to built-up frustrations... one need only look at the seiges conducted by Caesar of Avaricum, Gergovia, Alesia, inGAUL (52 B.C.)
Caesar pulled his Legionaries out of one the defeated locations above, not for their own safety, but to prevent them from taking it apon themselves to deal with the occupants in defiance of his wishes. But other times he loosed them off their leashes to vent steam and get booty rewards - coz it was morale boosting.
Jerusalem tribal zeolots like Gallics, Brittons and Caledonians traditionally squabbled amongst themselves to their own detriment...and had Rome not had ongoing domestic issues on their own peninsular that required the legions, the rebels of Jerusalem would have met their fate much sooner.
It was a case of.. "when the cat is away the mice will play".. 😂
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
The benefits to enlisting in the Roman army must have been seen to outweigh the downside, the sheer hard work, the yoke, discipline, marching, building fortified camps, roads, the vine stick, and danger for recruits to consider the option.
Maybe goes to show how hard regular life was for many a Roman citizen without joining the military.
Once the property requirement was dropped in order to join a legion, it allowed many landless citizens to work toward receiving their end of military service land allotment and/or very generous lump sum payment.
Lump sum payments at one time equaled like 13 years of one's military pay grade .Land allotments could be in fertile regions of conquered territory, where they would establish a Roman colony of citizen veterans.. These also acted as reserve force if need be.
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The non Roman Auxilia which were still part of the enlisted standing [imperial] army had it tougher, coz they had to serve more yrs to get citizenship and their pay was less.... for eg; A Roman might serve min. 16 - 20 yrs as legionary before pensioned off, an auxilia 25 yrs.
If one were fortunate enough to be part of the Praetorian Guard, you got far more generous pay than a regular legionary and less yrs of required service (12-16).
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
Some appear to have preferred the grain dole and circuses. There are accounts of allegable conscripts having a thumb or fingers amputated as a means of avoiding service in the legion.
Generally speaking from Augustus on only Roman volunteers were accepted (into legions) , but in later period of Augustus Rome was seriously stretched for military manpower to maintain its frontiers... so Aug. turned to pressing Romans into service and recalling those that had already served..When he died in 14 AD, legions stationed on lower Rhine and Danube frontier mutinied. Germanicus was able to stop this by taking them on campaign into germanica inferior. He was much respected by his legions, coz they were even willing to support him becoming Emperor over Tiberius...but Germanicus was loyal and declined the offer.
Some criticize the grain dole, but it was like gov. giving you a tax break, so you could spend your money elsewhere...lower income folks could now buy luxury items and consumables boosting the trade and commerce in the empire....some say this caused the empire to fall...LoL.
Late 3rd century, Because of interupted grain supply from the east, there was revolt in Rome from disgruntled citizens.. Aurelian didn't mess about and had troops quell troubles by sword. He was an extremely accomplished military campaigner against various barbarians causing the empire considerable trouble and was just what was needed to keep the empire intact,.. but was murdered by officers of the Praetorian Guard.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.
BTW_I ain't saying the grain/bread supplement was not costing Roman coffers a considerable amount, but it was an Empire of excesses.. Not all chunks of the empire made a return for Rome despite taxes being imposed, hence had to be administered, militarily maintained and infrastructure built/maintained at financial loss to Rome. The eastern sector of empire was providing far more than the western. AND administration easier coz the cultures there were more developed - having systems already in place which Rome could utilize.
Mark Antony neglected to take care of infrastructure in the east and this was costing Rome in income coz it effected port facilities, trade and tax revenue. Augustus got to considerably improving such and the coin started to poor in...prior to this the east didnt provide much different to Gaul (about 30-40 million p.a. )..then rising to a few hundred million per year... it built the coffers of Rome into the billions and allowed costly actions like invading and occupying Britannia and to some degree Caledonia and Germania.
-Bulletproof and Waterproof don't mean Idiotproof.