Marian reforms
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The Marian reforms of 107 BC were a group of reforms proposed by a Roman republic statesman and army general named Gaius Marius.
Before the Marian reforms, many men who wanted to join the Roman army were unable to do so due to land ownership prerequisites, which in turn limited the size of the Roman army. All of the soldiers of the pre-Marian Roman army also had to supply their own equipment, which limited the cavalry to noblemen only because of the price of horses and gear. In turn the poorer Romans were limited to becoming units which carried inexpensive equipment.
Gaius Marius also standardized training and equipment throughout the Roman Legions, which also aided in the conquest of surrounding territories. All generals and Roman Emperors who came into power after him followed his example of military excellence.
After the Marian reforms were passed, anyone from any subjugated region, regardless of land ownership or income, was eligible to enlist in the Roman legions if he were a citizen. Most professional soldiers served for 25 years, at the end of which they were given a pension, at first by their general and later by the emperor, in the form of land in the province in which they had served. This program of land grants was instrumental to the process of taming foreign lands and civilizing border provinces. Foreign auxiliaries who served next to the legionaries of Rome were granted with Roman citizenship for themselves and their families.
These reforms were instrumental in the growth and success of the Roman military machine and resulted in the continued success of the Roman Empire, but pleas grew in importance and demanded representation in the Senate, so it was an important step to the Roman Republican civil wars.
Previously ephemeral in form, at the end of the 2nd century BC Marius reformed the legions to be a professional force drawing from the poorest classes, enabling Rome to field larger armies and providing employment for jobless citizens. However this put the loyalty of the soldiers in the hands of their general rather than Rome itself, and after several civil wars the Republic was abolished.
The Cohort legions of the late republic and early empire are often called Marian legions. Following the Battle of Vercellae in 101 B.C. Marius granted all Italian soldiers Roman citizenship. He justified this action to the Senate by saying in the din of battle he could not distinguish Roman from ally. This effectively eliminated the notion of allied legions, henceforth all Italian legions would be regarded as Roman legions. Thus the three different types of heavy infantry were replaced by a single, standard type of Legionary based on the Principes
The role of allied legions would eventually be taken up by contingents of allied/auxiliary troops, called Auxilia. Each Legion had a same size or near same size Auxilia (auxiliary), which contained specialist units, engineers and pioneers, artillerymen and siege craftsmen, service and support units plus units made up of non-citizens (who were granted Roman citizenship upon discharge) and undesirables. These were usually formed into complete units such as light cavalry, light infantry or velites, and laborers. There was also a reconnaissance squad of 10 or more light, mounted infantry called Speculatores who could also serve as messengers or even as an early form of Military intelligence service.
During these reforms, the Legions were also organized into permanent cohorts for the first time. Prior to this cohorts had been temporary administrative units or tactical task forces of several maniples, even more transitory than that of the legions of the early republic themselves. Now the cohorts were six to ten permanent units, composed of five to eight centuries each led by a centurion assisted by an optio, a soldier who could read and write. These came to form the basic tactical unit of the legions. The senior centurion of the legion was called the primus pilus, a career soldier and advisor to the legate.
Every legion had a baggage train of 500–550 mules, or about 1 mule for every 10 legionaries. To keep these baggage trains from becoming too large, Marius had each man carry as much of his own equipment as he could, including his own armor, weapons and 15 days' rations or about 50–60 pounds of load total. To make this easier, he issued each legionary a forked stick to carry their loads on their shoulders. The soldiers were nicknamed Marius' Mules due to the amount of gear they had to carry themselves.
A typical legion of this period had around 4,000–5,000 legionaries as well as a large number of camp followers, servants and slaves. Legions could contain as many as 6,000 fighting men divided among several cohorts, although later in Roman history the number was reduced to 1,000 to allow for greater mobility. Numbers would also vary depending on casualties suffered during a campaign; Julius Caesar's legions during his campaign in Gaul often only had around 3,500 men.
External Links
- [An article on the Marian Reforms at unrv.com]
- [Marius' Mules] The Roman Army Before and After the Marian Reforms.
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