08-04-2013, 01:34 PM
From the mid-republic to the late empire, the Roman army recruited its soldiers via different methods, and at each stage it experienced different problems.
The early-mid republic:
The legions were raised from an annual levy of eligible citizens who owned property, and the auxiliaries were supplied by allied cities and colonies. Every citizen was ready and willing to serve when the state required him to, and each campaign was merely a temporary interruption from civilian life. Nevertheless, during the Punic Wars mobilization rates were extremely high, with more than 1/3 of adult male citizens called up to the legions.
The late republic:
The legions were still raised by annual levies, but a "professional core" began to emerge from soldiers who had served long campaigns. After Marius abolished the property qualifications, many poor Romans enlisted in the legions as a means to make a living. Recruitment, on the whole, didn't seem to be a problem as the army provided a career, regular pay and a possible pension for millions of proletarian Roman citizens. Nevertheless, mass levies of a compulsory nature were still held to swell up the ranks during emergencies, such as the Social War, the civil wars and the Augustan conquests.
The principate:
The army was officially a professional institution with soldier serving 25-year contracts. The legions recruited Roman citizens, the auxiliaries recruited non-Roman natives. Although levies was still held every year, most recruits were volunteers (except during exceptions, such as the Rhine and Danube disasters), mostly because out of a total population of 50-60 million, the army had plenty of manpower to choose from. During times of peace, the army offered poor country people a steady income and medical services. As Roman citizenship spread away from Italy into the provinces, most of the soldiers became non-Italian, and more and more were drawn from sons of veterans.
After Diocletian:
After several plague epidemics and civil wars during the 3rd century, the population of the Roman empire was significantly reduced. After a major military reform, the army was expanded up to double its size, and of course, recruitment became more and more difficult.
Sons of veterans were obliged by law to enlist in the army, volunteers were paid special bonuses, but because military service had become so unpopular, the army still couldn't meet its annual quotas and had to make up its numbers via conscription. Many Germans from outside the empire enlisted, who by the 4th century had formed a significant minority of the Roman army.
The reasons as to why military service had become unpopular in the late empire remains a mystery. At least on paper, service conditions were certainly no worse than during the principate: salaries were raised several times (or had the real worth gone down?), land grant was given on discharge, soldiers were allowed to marry and even live outside the fortress with their families. For most people in the countryside life wouldn't have become too comfortable either to make a military career seem too unattractive.
Or was it that potential fighting men found other professions where they could make a more generous income?
The early-mid republic:
The legions were raised from an annual levy of eligible citizens who owned property, and the auxiliaries were supplied by allied cities and colonies. Every citizen was ready and willing to serve when the state required him to, and each campaign was merely a temporary interruption from civilian life. Nevertheless, during the Punic Wars mobilization rates were extremely high, with more than 1/3 of adult male citizens called up to the legions.
The late republic:
The legions were still raised by annual levies, but a "professional core" began to emerge from soldiers who had served long campaigns. After Marius abolished the property qualifications, many poor Romans enlisted in the legions as a means to make a living. Recruitment, on the whole, didn't seem to be a problem as the army provided a career, regular pay and a possible pension for millions of proletarian Roman citizens. Nevertheless, mass levies of a compulsory nature were still held to swell up the ranks during emergencies, such as the Social War, the civil wars and the Augustan conquests.
The principate:
The army was officially a professional institution with soldier serving 25-year contracts. The legions recruited Roman citizens, the auxiliaries recruited non-Roman natives. Although levies was still held every year, most recruits were volunteers (except during exceptions, such as the Rhine and Danube disasters), mostly because out of a total population of 50-60 million, the army had plenty of manpower to choose from. During times of peace, the army offered poor country people a steady income and medical services. As Roman citizenship spread away from Italy into the provinces, most of the soldiers became non-Italian, and more and more were drawn from sons of veterans.
After Diocletian:
After several plague epidemics and civil wars during the 3rd century, the population of the Roman empire was significantly reduced. After a major military reform, the army was expanded up to double its size, and of course, recruitment became more and more difficult.
Sons of veterans were obliged by law to enlist in the army, volunteers were paid special bonuses, but because military service had become so unpopular, the army still couldn't meet its annual quotas and had to make up its numbers via conscription. Many Germans from outside the empire enlisted, who by the 4th century had formed a significant minority of the Roman army.
The reasons as to why military service had become unpopular in the late empire remains a mystery. At least on paper, service conditions were certainly no worse than during the principate: salaries were raised several times (or had the real worth gone down?), land grant was given on discharge, soldiers were allowed to marry and even live outside the fortress with their families. For most people in the countryside life wouldn't have become too comfortable either to make a military career seem too unattractive.
Or was it that potential fighting men found other professions where they could make a more generous income?