What military problems resulted in the expansion of ancient Rome?

Answer 1

As ancient Rome expanded by conquest, military problems were small. They involved mapping out battle strategies, and occupying conquered lands they often turned into Roman provinces. Booty from battles were prizes to the legions and thus their "pay" was not a problem. Over time, however, problems did develop. It must be realized that many of the problems that were "military ones" were not the result of the legions or their commanders. Major military moves were often orchestrated from Rome. That being so, we see that the government that began as a common city state, much like other city states, was not created to specifically run an empire. Thus we have a problem whereby the expansion of Rome was not based on a well administered body of government at home. That was one problem.

Secondly, the lands conquered by the legions were often ripe recruiting areas for auxiliary forces that were an immense aid to the legions. This was an asset of Rome's expansion. But as with everything, there comes a limit. Let's march forward to the situation where Rome became a standing empire that was unmatched in the Western world. First there is an opinion of mine, that a well managed expansion, a very slow one in fact, could continue to successfully spread Roman culture and Roman style government much further than it did.

That not being the case, as Rome decided that the danger of over expansion was a threat to the entire empire.

In contrast to this and what supports my opinion is the British Empire. With its Navy and yes firearms, the British Empire was able to control a vast number of nations and peoples. This Empire also had to contend with other Imperialist nations such as Spain and France.

Back to Rome. The military was placed in a position of guarding its borders, not to expand. This gave away the riches that earlier expansions yielded. So now we have a military problem that was the result of an over zealous expansion that now had to end.

The answer to the main question comes down to this: Too many enemies on too much border area. Sounds too easy, and ignores internal corruption, population stagnation, cultural decay and too many slaves. I stand on the my main answer... .