The Classical Citizen Army and the State Army
Military Doctrine in Ancient Greece and Rome
Oct 10, 2009
The Ancient Greek city-states set the standard of the citizen army, though they owed the example to the Mycenaeans. Any mature owners of land, who therefore had the wealth to afford weapons and armor were obliged to purchase, maintain and, in time of war, use them in the defense of the state.
City-State Armies
Contrary to the makeup of later armies, only the uppermost echelons of society – which in Classical terms meant those with land – were allowed into most army positions. Archers and slingers were drawn from the labour classes but they were not as well thought-of. Greek warrior ethic stressed clashing with the enemy hand-to-hand. Age and wealth were the deciding points of. The Greeks, like many civilizations, regarded a horse as a mark of status, but Greek landscape did not lend itself to horsemanship, and they made little use of cavalry except as skirmishers or flank support.
Macedonian and the First Imperial Armies
The Macedonians under Phillip II and his son Alexander made a greater use of noble ‘Companion’ cavalry as a shock force, outmaneuvering the Persian chariots during Alexander’s conquest of their Empire. They also made use of mercenary and other landless soldiers; those with land and possessions at home would make poor occupation forces in the Indus Valley. By such means Alexander was able to seed his people in new lands that he had conquered.
The Roman Republican Army
Rome of course derived a great deal of its military hardware and doctrine from the Greeks, as well as their Etruscan neighbours (from whom their famous Legion is derived). During the Republican Era, before the Punic Wars (264-146 BCE), Roman army service was citizen-based, with landowning Romans fulfilling an annual obligation of drilling and training, and the maintaining of equipment, in the event the Republic went to war. Phalanx-type formations were used, and the youngest troops were put first, to ensure the continued seasoning of more soldiers.
During this period, Rome’s domains did not extend much beyond Italy itself. However, by the end of the Punic Wars, the entire Carthaginian Empire as well as regions north of the Alps were in Roman control. A part-time citizen army could not maintain an empire that large.
The Marian Reforms
Enter Gaius Marius, a general/politician who in 107 BCE reorganized the Roman Army. Instead of soldiers being landowners, he recruited soldiers from the very lowest of society, making them full-time warriors. The state now supplied a standardized full kit of equipment. He institutionalized smaller segmentations of the Legions to allow for more varied maneuvers. Soldiers received a grant of newly conquered land at the end of their service. The general of the Legion was in charge these matters. Since generals were also politicians in Rome, it meant that they began to use their armies to enforce their. This trend resulted in the fall of the Republic, and the rise of dictators like Julius Caesar, and finally the Emperors.
Again, archers were recruited from non-citizens, but the Romans, after their humiliations at the hands of Hannibal of Carthage, placed greater emphasis on ‘softening up’ their enemies. Roman troops opened battle my throwing pila.
Cavalry continued to be a flanking support and skirmishing system, until late in the Empire when heavy cavalry became important during the numerous barbarian invasions the Empire endured.
Conclusion
The Greek and Roman civilizations show a progression towards soldiering as a lower-class pursuit, orginally a both duty and privilege of the higher echelons. This progression would carry over into the medieval and early modern societies, until the modern world, where the common soldier is often the disenfranchised citizen at home.
Bibliography
Simon Anglim, Phyllis G. Jestice, Rob S. Rice, Scott M. Rusch and John Serrati, Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World: 3000 BC – 500 AD: Equipment, Combat Skills and Tactics, St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
Robert J. Walker, Prologue to the Present: Ancient and Medieval Civilizations, Oxford University Press, 1997.
Narr. Peter Coyote, “Legions of Conquest,” Rome: Power and Glory, Questar Studios, 2000.
