09d: Rise of Militarism

The Roman way of war changed right along with Roman society. No longer could Romans drop the plow after the spring planting, fight all summer long, and then come back home in time for the harvest. More and more, Rome's wars took place over the seas and far away, forcing Roman soldiers to fight for extended periods of time without any chance of coming home - unless they were lucky enough to survive the war. Because the Roman citizens could hardly support themselves under such conditions, the state instituted a salarium, or stipend given to buy important things like food, weapons, clothing, and salt. That said, a Roman soldier was more likely to get killed than get wealthy. His family back at home had to fend for itself, and even if he did make it home in one piece there was no question of a pension. Even though Rome's military was greatly bolstered by the addition of allied troops (who served under the same lousy conditions), the core of trained Romans citizen soldiers was in danger of falling apart. As mentioned before, the small farmer class was already crumbling under the pressure of the latifundia. The optimates who controlled the Senate had proven their determination to stamp out any reforms. Paradoxically, however, a strong Roman military was even more crucial than it had been in Rome's early robbery years.

A century of conquest made Rome maintain a permanent military presence in the provinces to forestall rebellions. As mentioned earlier, Roman promagistrates ruled their provinces like petty kings, with little if any thought for the province's unfortunate inhabitants. Consequently, revolts were numerous, often sparked by reactions to the local publicani. Publicani were contractors who had paid the government for the right to collect taxes in a certain locality. Since the publicani's profit depended on how much money they could extort from a province, they were often very brutal. The proconsul or propraetor was always willing to back up the publicani (for a cut of the take, of course), which only worsened Rome's reputation with the provincials. Finding enough soldiers to keep the peace had become rather difficult. Roman citizens had once considered military service a privilege, not an obligation. No more. The prospect of 20 years spent patrolling dangerous lands in dangerous provinces for minimum pay was a poor recruiting tool. Many small farmers who had somehow survived the establishment of latifundia dodged the draft by abandoning their farms for the city. Even in the city work was hard to find. Most of the skilled craftsmen in the city were themselves slaves. Even the great Roman aristocrats who wished to glorify Rome's greatness by building great monuments naturally had the work performed by slaves. It was far easier for these poor people, once the backbone of the Roman Empire, to find a kindly patron in the city and hang on to him for dear life.

Because the Roman aristocracy wouldn't do anything about the decline of the Roman small farmer, Roman generals such as Gaius Marius (consul 106, 104-100, and 87 BC) and his former lieutenant Lucius Cornelius Sulla (consul 88, dictator 82-79 BC), had to recruit and pay Roman soldiers from the lower classes. They had no choice, but  the precedent they set was disastrous. Marius recruited Rome's first client army in 107 BC, when as consul he took over the war against King Jugurtha of Numidia. He recuited military-eligible citizens whenever possible, but even for a genuine war manpower was hard to find. Thus most of his recruits were landless poor citizens- either Roman or from allied cities - to whom he offered signing bonuses and promised land upon discharge. He also promised citizenship to large bodies of soldiers recruited from allied cities. Once Jugurtha had been captured (thanks mainly to Sulla) and the war ended in 106 BC, trouble broke out in northern Italy. Germanic tribes had been knocking around the Alps for several years, beating the Roman forces sent up to fight them. Holding the consulship twice in a row was against the mos maiorum, but the situation was desperate. Since Rome needed both Marius and his army, he was elected consul four times in a row: for 104, 103, 102, and 101. The Germanic tribes defeated, Marius managed to get elected consul for 100 BC but proved unable to gain any benefits for his faithful troops. Rome was now in a tight spot: because these veteran soldiers had been recruited, trained, commanded and paid by Marius, they were more loyal to their patron Marius than to Rome herself. Revolution was not out of the question. Yet Marius folded his cards, dismissed his client army, and went into retirement. But he would be back. 

Meanwhile, Rome's Italian allies were becoming upset by their unfair treatment. From the beginning of Rome's expansion, allied city-states were forced to contribute men and money to Rome's foreign wars. Toward the end of the second Punic War, some estimates state that two thirds of Rome's armies consisted of soldiers from allied Italian cities. The allies were carrying out their part of the peace treaties and more, but received next to nothing in return: no war profits, no distribution of lands, no bounties, no prisoners of war to serve as slaves. And certainly no rights. Just before his murder in 121 BC, Gaius Gracchus had advocated granting full Roman citizenship to all of peninsular Italy, but all that got him was killed. In 91 BC, another tribune, Marcus Livius Drusus, had introduced legislature leading to full Roman citizenship for all Italians. All that got him was assassinated. The murder of Livius Drusus led to the Social War of 91-88 BC. Once it became clear that Rome would never willingly allow Italian allies the full citizenship, Italian tribes such as the Samnites seceded from Rome, and formed a nation they called Italia. Just as the Confederate States of America was a near mirror copy of the USA, Italia was a near mirror copy of Rome. Just like the American Civil War, the fighting between Rome and Italia was as vicious as it was idiotic. How it might have ended is a mystery. Destiny intervened in the form of a terrorist attack by King Mithridates of Pontus.