Rich John, Shipley Graham. War and Society in the Roman World

Routledge, 1993. — 328 p. — (Leicester-Nottingham Studies in Ancient Society).This book is the definitive anthology pertaining to Roman military history. The articles contain a plethora of primary source documents, which are about the subject. I find this to be the genius of the book. The books appendix of primary sources and bibliography make this book an indispensable resource for anyone who studies Rome. The glory that was Rome came with a price. Some historians have said at too high a price--the fall of the Republic and the reinstitution of a monarchy. This political change came about for two important reasons. The first reason was that the political structure of the Republic could no longer adequately serve Rome's expanding empire in the last century BCE. Secondly, politically ambitious generals facilitated changes in Rome's military structure from a volunteer force to a professional force. This change gave them total control over the military, which they used to usurp the political power of the Senate. This precipitated the bloody political revolution, changing the government from a republic to a dictatorship and eventually a monarchy. The goal of this book is to examine the importance of the development and the effect that a professional army had on the downfall of the Roman Republic. The focus of this book includes such topics as how the Roman army developed from a volunteer force into a professional, mercenary force, created by generals and politicians who coveted power. Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, Mark Antony, and Augustus are four examples of men drunk with power who plunged Rome into Civil War to wrest power from a weak Senate, which proved to be inadequate in coping with the intricacies of a burgeoning empire. In addition, this book examines how by changing the traditional pay structure, bonuses, and retirement payments made to the legions, these politically ambitious generals changed the traditional allegiance that the legions had to the Republic and essentially not only bought their services, but also brought the legions under their control for their own personal and political gain. This book articles prove that the successful subversion of the Roman Legion's structure for personal gain had a direct correlation in the downfall of the Republic and the rise of a permanent monarchy.