What caused the decline of loyalty and discipline in military in the roman empire?

Answer 1

The Romans, both rich and poor, were loyal to their military commanders because of their oaths. The Romans and all ancient peoples for that matter took oaths very, very seriously. The pre-Augustian soldiers swore their oaths to their commanders and so stood by them.

However, for the poor there was another and even more powerful factor that the oath. Besides opening the army to all freeborn Roman males, the Marian reforms of the army of 107 created a professional army which was designed to be particularly appealing for the poor and which, for many of them was like a lifeline.

Before was creation of a professional army the Roman army was a citizen militia of peasants-proprietors and the poor were exempt from the draft. This is because the soldiers had to provide their own military equipment. Therefore, there was a property threshold for military service. Those who were below the property threshold were considered too poor to afford to pay for the equipment.

The Marian reforms were a response to a serious shortage of eligible recruits. The creation of a professional army involved scrapping the property threshold, getting the state to pay for the soldier's equipment and continuous paid military service. This opened the door to the poor who flocked to the army to have a career, a pay and either a plot of land or a lump sum of money on retirement. The length of the career was 16 years. Augustus lengthened it to 20 years. Therefore, besides being given a lifeline, these poor people who became soldiers became cut off from civilian life and were often stationed far away from their homes. This created such a strong bond with their military commander that in the Late Republic the soldiers were willing to support his use of them to force his political demands through the use of military violence or the threat of its use and during the rule by emperors at one point they quite often hailed him as the new emperor.

Answer 2

Too many auxiliaries, paid people from provinces around Rome, combined with the culture of Rome. At the decline, they started to wear their own uniforms, and not the ones of the traditional legionnaires. There was much tension between ROmans and barbarians.

Answer 3

The Romans, both rich and poor, were loyal to their military commanders because of their oaths. The Romans and all ancient peoples for that matter took oaths very, very seriously. The pre-Augustian soldiers swore their oaths to their commanders and so stood by them.

However, for the poor there was another and even more powerful factor that the oath. Besides opening the army to all freeborn Roman males, the Marian reforms of the army of 107 created a professional army which was designed to be particularly appealing for the poor and which, for many of them was like a lifeline.

Before was creation of a professional army the Roman army was a citizen militia of peasants-proprietors and the poor were exempt from the draft. This is because the soldiers had to provide their own military equipment. Therefore, there was a property threshold for military service. Those who were below the property threshold were considered too poor to afford to pay for the equipment.

The Marian reforms were a response to a serious shortage of eligible recruits. The creation of a professional army involved scrapping the property threshold, getting the state to pay for the soldier's equipment and continuous paid military service. This opened the door to the poor who flocked to the army to have a career, a pay and either a plot of land or a lump sum of money on retirement. The length of the career was 16 years. Augustus lengthened it to 20 years. Therefore, besides being given a lifeline, these poor people who became soldiers became cut off from civilian life and were often stationed far away from their homes. This created such a strong bond with their military commander that in the Late Republic the soldiers were willing to support his use of them to force his political demands through the use of military violence or the threat of its use and during the rule by emperors at one point they quite often hailed him as the new emperor.

Answer 4

This is a two part answer.

Part 1.

The soldiers in the Roman legions had a strong loyalty to their generals for a few reasons:

A. Many legions were based in Roman provinces many miles from Rome, and the closest relationship they had with the empire lay with the general in charge of their legion. As the empire was so vast, most soldiers had never even been to Rome. On that basis, their general was "Rome" and their loyalty was to their general.

B. The other factor was a successful battle. It was common practice for the general of a legion to share the booty of a victory over an enemy or a city they attacked. Thus the soldiers were free to take for themselves the weapons and amour of slain victims and to take a share of the captured booty, such as gold from a defeated city. The soldiers also received compensation from the slaves they captured and sold to slave traders who often followed the legions.

Augustus Caesar, the first so called emperor (this is a term coined by modern historians, the Romans used the term priceps) of the Roman Empire, established absolute rule by the emperor and gained control of most of the army. In a deal with the senate, the senate continued to appoint the governors of the old provinces of the empire and Augustus appointed the governors of the border provinces. The governors were also the military commanders of the legions stationed in the provinces. Since most of the legions were in the border provinces Augustus gained firm control of most of the army.

After the reign of Augustus, soldier loyalty to their generals re-emerged. There were the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD) and the Year of the Five Emperors (193 AD). In these two years four and five men respectively fought brief civil wars against each other over the imperial title. They could do so because of the loyalty and support of their troops. Vespasian and Septimius Severus emerged as emperors by being the final victors of these wars.

The third century AD was a century of military anarchy and the army was the main political force in the empire. Only six men were proclaimed emperors by the senate. Ten men were proclaimed emperors by their troops. Five men who became emperors were sons of men who had been proclaimed emperors by their troops and two emperors were the sons of a man who had deposed the previous emperor with his troops. One man was a commander of the cavalry who became emperor by murdering the previous emperor. Two emperors were killed by troops. Many of these emperors were men of low birth who had become generals by rising from the ranks of the army, instead of aristocrats.

The third century AD there were also 35 generals who headed rebellions by their troops and became usurper emperors. One of them even created a breakaway empire which historians call the Gallic Empire. In 206 Postumus split Britannia and Gaul (and for a short while Hispania) from the empire and became the ruler. After his death five more men ruled this breakaway empire. After fourteen year this area was brought back under the fold of the Roman Empire. All of the usurpations were suppressed.

The famous emperors Aurelian and Diocletian were also generals who were proclaimed emperors by their own troops. In the early fourth century AD Constantine the Great was also originally proclaimed emperor of the western part of the empire by his troops in Britannia and had the support of his troops in Gaul. Later, Constantine fought and won two civil wars: one against a usurper emperor in Rome and one against his co-emperor, Licinius, the emperor of the eastern part of the empire. As a result he became the sole emperor of the whole empire. He managed to do this thanks to the loyalty of his troops.