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constant play invasion political
upheaval and economic failure during
Rome's crisis of the third century
burned away the principles created by
Augustus while the Imperium Romanum was
resilient enough to survive the years of
turmoil and emerge out of the other side
of the tunnel catastrophic defeats such
as those at aperture center Desa proves
that the Imperial Army was becoming
obsolete
so three emperors of rome Gallienus
Diocletian and constantine began the
laborious process of reforging the
military into a stronger more versatile
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little smarter to understand the
fundamental change which the Imperial
Roman army experienced we must take a
look at the political context behind
that shift the Roman Empire had been
ruled by a single man the Emperor for
almost three centuries however since the
very beginning many or gusty either
chose to rule jointly with a colleague
to spread the burden and secure the
succession or has been forced to
recognize another individuals rule over
a part of the Empire this system worked
well during the peaceful Pax Romana
the third century proves that such a
massive territory under such pressure
could not be ruled effectively by a
single person the fact was made brutally
clear in the political fragmentation
which led to the emergence of the
separatist pal marine and Gallic empires
the former split from the greater Empire
after Valerians defeat and capture at
odessa in 260 and the latter broke away
when the Gallic legions lost faith in
the central authorities abilities who
protect them leading to posthumous
coming to power as a self-proclaimed
resti to toggle erm restorer of gaul
both situations showed a troubling fact
there must be more than one emperor when
Diocletian seized the throne in 284 the
practice of having more than one man in
charge became formalized with the
short-lived tetrarchy system this
allowed for centers of power to emerge
each of which could respond quicker to
external threats fragmentation of power
also occurred on the provincial level
and throughout the late empire old
regions of the principle were
increasingly subdivided with that
context in mind let's move on to the
reorganization which led to the late
Roman army our account will begin with
the Empire's ruler during some of the
most dire years in Roman history
Valerians lesser-known son Publius Luke
Aeneas Ignatius Gallienus it is
important to remember that there was no
single moment which transformed Rome's
legions into the Imperial Army of Late
Antiquity
as it was a continuous process at some
point perhaps in the late - 50s but
definitely by - 6:1 Gallienus began
requisitioning cavalry from across the
central section of the empire still
under his control
eventually this amounted to a large
mounted reserve army of 30,000
controlled by Gallienus
or his best commander Hori olace often
used to reinforce threatened legions
wherever danger was approaching we only
have limited details about this
centralized cavalry force but the
presence of veteran mountain
mauritania in Javanese Ostrow nyan horse
archers legionary cavalry and mounted
Dalmatian tribesmen are attested to its
subsequent victories against Germanic
tribes indicates that despite the
Cavalry's haphazard nature it was highly
competent in order to serve its intended
purpose as a reserve located at a
strategic Nexus which could move
anywhere in good time Galliano's based
his new imperial mounted core at medial
Arnhem modern-day Milan it was placed
there to defend Italy from attack
through the Alps and if called upon
could write north into Gaul or east into
the Balkans far more easily than from
another base while Gallienus his cavalry
was defeated later in the to 60s and the
Emperor himself was assassinated in 268
some scholars argue that the creation of
this force served as the direct
predecessor and inspiration for later
changes others do not agree with this
view but it is clear that Gallienus laid
the foundations for a dual system of
Imperial defense stationary armies would
guard a specific point while a
purposefully created mobile force could
move where it was needed with this
baseline template to work from
Diocletian came to the throne in 284 and
ended the crisis of the 3rd century he
intensified reconstruction efforts at
many ruined frontier fortresses and also
created at least 20 new reconstituted
legions probably smaller ones with a
strength of around 1,000 men each
however one of the Emperor's longest
lasting changes was to the provincial
system which was reorganized to cater
solely towards the maintenance and
convenience of a new Roman army after
decades civilian and military authority
was finally separated forever with new
provincial governors the Vicari slowly
being reduced to handling civilian
administration in their appointed
regions to command the provincial troops
Diocletian created a new military
position known as the Ducks root of the
medieval European title of Duke
professional military officers were
appointed to the position in which they
controlled to the armies of a single
region frontier LeMay or a larger area
if the Emperor deemed it necessary for
example there was a military commander
in one of the Gallic provinces known as
the ducks per Gallia Belgica he
controlled all of the local garrison
forces in the provinces which were Roman
Gallia Belgica this system was far less
rigid than the old provincial one mainly
because areas of jurisdiction were far
more fluid an emperor during the
dominant could respond to the
requirements of the situation at hand
appointing one supreme commander over an
entire point of attack near the borders
and consolidating armies under one
leader rather than having to rely on
several equal commanders working
together the reconfiguration of Rome's
government and military initiated by
Diocletian was continued by his eventual
successor Constantine the Great however
the progression is so seamless that we
often have trouble distinguishing which
Emperor did what what we know is that
between Constantine's victory at the
Milvian bridge and the year 325 the late
Roman army was made however we
unfortunately have very few sources on
such a crucial period in military
history the key fact is that under
Constantine's long rule two distinct
military forces developed armies on the
frontier limit on a and the mobile field
armies committed 10 seas limit on a
inherited the legacy of the old Roman
legions and auxiliar they were
garrisoned on the borders and were used
as a static defensive army much like
those forces had been in centuries past
misunderstandings of the ancient sources
led to a popular belief that limit on a
were low quality and badly armed but
this view has begun to change in recent
years though they certainly possessed
inferior status to their counterparts in
the Akama 210 seas limit on a
contingents were often detached to
supplement the field armies on
Payne then to be known as pseudo
committed ten seas therefore it is
almost certain that the garrison troops
were not just a disorganized rabble but
a highly trained army in their own right
a sub formation of limit on a garrison
troops worthy repent cease so-called
soldiers on the riverbank though it
isn't entirely clear if this was just
another term for frontier armies or a
different force ultimate command of the
various limit on a frontier units lay
with the Dux appointed to that region as
mentioned before such contingents could
be split up consolidated and reorganized
depending on the situation possibly
evolving from galle enos's massed
cavalry army and diocletian's personal
elite Comitatus units were the second
component of late Roman military
organization various mobile field armies
known as the committed tendencies much
like they're less formalized predecessor
komiteh tenses armies were each based at
a central location deep within Roman
territory far away from the vulnerable
frontiers this was a much-needed change
under the old defensive system if Rome's
enemies were able to pass any single
part of the Imperial border it would
take the Empire a long time to shift
forces from other sectors to defeat them
in that time an enemy force could
inflict substantial damage on the
economic and social fabric of the
assailed area and which therefore
weakened it in the future with komiteh
Tennessee standing ready to act behind
the frontier however an internal Roman
army was ready to march in the Empire's
defense at any moment without need for
significant reorganization although they
are shown to be highly mobile armies
committed tensest units however highly
trained they might have been possessed
more infantry than cavalry and were also
sustained by a slow baggage train like
most armies an army of this kind was
physically capable of moving at the same
speed as any other force rather than
being a licensing fast reserve the
crucial difference lay in the
connections that various earliest
units had to the land around them
province fixed legions in the Principate
period performed so many civilian
administrative functions on top of their
army role that their removal would cause
serious disruption in the evacuated area
this is one of the factors which
initially led to the use of sub
legionary vex alati oneís by the end of
the second century and the committed
tendencies were just a logical growth of
these more flexible ideas emperors could
now freely move a large army around the
strategic chessboard without worrying
about administrative leak rippling areas
of the empire or depriving the frontiers
of Garrison's while doing so much like
the earlier legionary system commit
attends his forces were made up of
several tiers and types of unit moreover
they were stationed in the Empire's
boundaries depending on what a
particular area needed areas of
particular importance would have a
larger committed census for instance a
late 4th century document known as the
no titia dignity Atem or the list of
offices informs us that a quiet command
such as that held by the commies or
count of tiger Tania might be assigned
as few as five units to man its local
field army to vex Alessio committed
tendencies to auxilia palutena and one
unit of pseudo committed tendencies in
contrast to this negligible strength the
western roman field army in italy
commanded by the magister militant had a
massive total of 44 different units it
was made up of 5x alati of palutena one
vex Latia committed texas eight Leggio
palutena 22 auxilia palutena 5 Leggio
committed census and two detachments of
studio committed tenses with that it is
worth discussing terminology for a
moment what were these different late
unit types and what role did they play
firstly vex alati Oh in this context
refers to units of about 500 to 600
cavalry rather than detachments of any
kind from larger legions secondly when
discussing auxilia in the late empire we
are speaking of a very different unit
than the stereotypical
skirmisher of the principle which
replaced the republic's well it is in
fact there seems to be little difference
in armament and tactics between the
legions and auxilia in this period both
were heavy infantry forces each about
1,000 to 1,200 strong far smaller than
in previous eras thirdly is to clarify
the term palutena this phrase translates
roughly as palace troops in latin and
they were accordingly highly prestigious
units which served as the
highest-quality cavalry and infantry in
all of the committed tenses of the roman
empire we see late Rome as a period of
decline which generally gives rise to
the image of a late Roman soldier as an
inferior unit however these palatini
forces in particular were extremely
formidable Julian's clash against the
allamani in 357 illustrates this well
when the Roman right-wing cavalry was
driven away by the Germans it is likely
that the entire flank would have
collapsed if not for the two units of
Xillia palutena the kanuti and branti
who bravely held the line against
overwhelming numbers until
reinforcements arrived after the Battle
of Milvian bridge in 312 ad the
victorious constantine finally dissolves
the Maxentius supporting praetorian
guard this put an end to the institution
who had often played such a pernicious
role in determining Imperial politics
throughout the centuries since they
first murdered Caligula in 41 the
position of Praetorian prefect was
deprived of almost all of its power
opening up a vacuum which constantine
filled with a new Imperial Guard the
scholar palatini who were answerable to
the Emperor and often served closely
with the Akama to ten seas in battle
despite being a separate entity whilst
defending the Emperor at his household
the average scale a Guardsman would be
on foot
however in order to accompany their
emperor in his command role on an active
battlefield scollay were also elite
cavalry men who served a tripartite role
protecting the Empire's ruler advising
him about the best course of action and
being his elite reserve units of the new
late Roman Imperial Guard are described
in the noticia dignity Tata and included
the scholar Scutari orem Sagat arora a
unit of elite horse archers and the
scholar Scutari orem kleban ree a
contingent made up of highly trained
super heavy cavalry just as late Roman
military organization was being
reconfigured towards a more purposefully
defensive focus far greater emphasis was
also being placed into the construction
strengthening and maintenance of
increasingly formidable fortifications
within Imperial borders such as military
bases and cities than had been the case
previously sites for new bases were
chosen solely for their defensive merit
walls were higher thicker and often
included artillery platforms towers
projects it outward from the walls
allowing defenders to shoot and throw
missiles across the entire length of any
attackers line gateways into this new
generation of fortresses were lesser in
number and narrower in width but were
always stronger and more easily defended
by a garrison defensive trenches tended
to be larger and shaped with a flat
bottom rather than the v-shape they had
been during the principal parallel with
this development curtain walls began
construction beginning in the late third
century these would protect many of the
Empire's threatened provincial towns and
cities from any attack which might
breach the newly vulnerable frontier
reflecting the uncertainty of the age
competition between rival cities may
also have played a part in the
construction of fortifications picture
the craftsmen and construction workers
of one city looking across the river and
seeing their rival with a superior wall
that naturally would not do and so they
would probably compete to be the better
defended stronger fortifications of this
kind
reflected a less confident Imperial
Roman army attacks on military bases and
civilian centers was now a real
possibility and it was not a certainty
that even if the military managed to
meet the invaders in battle that they
would win the late Roman Empire
especially when it came to its military
was a time of pragmatism and maintenance
a time when the obsolete methods of the
Empire during its Universal Pax Romana
were replaced by what was necessary to
keep the Empire alive in an age of
increasing danger Casius do famously
said that rome after Marcus Aurelius
descended from a kingdom of gold to one
of iron and rust
however without these reforms Rome would
undoubtedly have fallen centuries
earlier than it eventually did our
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