09-12-2012, 05:05 PM
Quote: Do we basically have approximate figures of the population of the western empire in the 4th-5th century? We couls estimate the potential army enrollment based on that.
Whatever the population was, it seems practically irrelevant. The barbarian component was practically ubiquitous.
Quote:Warfare in the 5th century and after needed probably far less manpower than half a millenium ago. Looking a century forward, Belisarius managed to reconquer Africa and Italy with no more than 10-15.000 men.
Which shows how militarily degenerated the WRE was in the 5th century. It could hardly do anything by itself.