Who the Roman army was loyal to

[@historydocumentary]

Footage from: HBO's Rome - www.hbo.com/rome Gladiator (2000) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaGrn4Wqj9yHbK8 Cleopatra (1964) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYO5hYqZjK6DhpY

[@-carthage7779]

why u call those paid soliders auxiliaries if they were romans . But when did the same they called them mercenaries ?

[@troll9775]

Is that "booty" flesh or steel?

[@abdovero4255]

Roman mixed race

[@germaniatv1870]

We Germans sacked Rome and we will sack it again.

[@timmholl9238]

Rex Harrison in "Cleopatra." Great role!

[@TetsuShima]

Someone who perfectly understood how to control the soldiers' loyalty was Emperor Septimius Severus. During his reign and after the bloody year of the 5 emperors, Severus mainly focused on carrying out a series of reforms in the army in order to keep the troops loyal (such as allowing them to raise a family during military service), without caring at all that such reforms displeased the senators and citizens, whom he cruelly persecuted during his reign. In fact, Septimius said on his deathbed to his sons and heirs Caracalla and Geta: "Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, scorn all others"

[@carlrodalegrado4104]

The last quote seems like a good strategy to be a military dictator

[@engineeredtruths8935]

Where did you read about this?

[@TetsuShima]

@@engineeredtruths8935 On a popular spanish KZbin channel called "Pero eso es Otra Historia". It's pretty good, actually, in case you know spanish

[@naughtiusmaximus3690]

This was good for him but bad for rome, it bankrupted the treasure and debased the economy which led to rome's fall

[@-carthage7779]

why u call those paid soliders auxiliaries if they were romans . But when did the same they called them mercenaries ?

[@rockstarskolas]

“Loyal to whoever gave them access to the most booty” *some of y’all can relate*

[@ezazfr]

@@derBleistiftkritzler we joke :(

[@revansheir24]

I bet there was some booty in the citys they took. Let the men roam and pillage freely?

[@troll5161]

@@derBleistiftkritzler - 🤓

[@jackdaniels6536]

That means that Ceasar was probably mad thicc

[@TheMessiahOfThe99Percent]

@@derBleistiftkritzler 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[@altan7828]

"Booty is more important than drinking water and food" Booty warrior.

[@babyramses5066]

I read this in his voice too lmao

[@j.t8529]

"Now I tell you this I like yah and I want yah"

[@pervertricojoe8970]

I likes ya, and I wants ya!

[@Soylent2024]

Rome went from bad ass farmers to bad ass Mercenaries.

[@ChumHistory]

Mercenaries???

[@a_l7515]

From a Mediterranean tribe that farms and eats bread and nuts, to becoming the worlds best militaries in the western world.

[@chris.killuminatifreemanso5176]

@alexbrooks Not mercenaries dude 🤦‍♂️ , Soldiers. Read a few books man

[@Soylent2024]

@@chris.killuminatifreemanso5176 pffft. A soldier can still be a mercenary. If a soldiers only reason for fighting, is the potential wealth and booty, with very low allegiance to the state, that's a merc. rEaD a bOoK

[@chris.killuminatifreemanso5176]

Even if he trys to become wealthy through war, he still serves his own country, so he cant be a mercenary. By definition a mercenary fights on behalf another state or master in order to achieve wealth. So, yeah go read a book

[@TetsuShima]

0:15 Gaius Marius is a really underrated character in Roman history. He was the one who defeated the Teutons and the Cimbri during the great invasion to Rome by both tribes. His popularity was so great that he was appointed consul seven times and people nicknamed him "the new founder of Rome". Still, Marius instituted against the many senators who despised him a bloody reign of terror similar to the one his nemesis Sulla would establish years later.

[@naughtiusmaximus3690]

I think everyone heard about the Marian reforms

[@YagizBagdatli]

The teutons?

[@masstv9052]

Didn't sulla have him beheaded?

[@hammer3721]

Sulla wouldn't have been so brutal to Marius' supporters if Marius would have not been brutal to Sulla's supporters FIRST.

[@__prometheus__]

@@YagizBagdatli teutones yes a Germanic tribe

[@gnoxgnomolos882]

Fun Fact: Gaius Marius was the uncle of Gaius Julius Caesar

[@UberGringo]

Adopted, but yes

[@C0wb0yBebop]

Didn’t know that

[@jude-kingsleyduckmanton8340]

Marius was wedded to Caesar’s aunt. Marius still lost the civil war to Sulla, his work on the army while he had power is what really paved the way for great generals like Pompey and Caesar.

[@kongming66]

Paved the way, but Caesar really saw the full potential. To paraphrase Sulla when they convinced him not to execute Caesar, "In him, I see another Marius"

[@the_brain_sphere]

Not to mention Bigus Dickus's contribution to the Roman Empire's increase in power and many victories on battlefield

[@craigoliver8712]

"Thwow him to the floor centurion+stwike him vewy woofly"

[@Daniel-uq1yp]

Boomer humor

[@noobieplaya6491]

hahaha i laughed so hard now im lookin for my teeth

[@robertnegron9706]

Phil Mackraken was his General.

[@germaniatv1870]

Until they met the Germans.

[@daniels0376]

Cue 50 civil wars because each general had their own legions

[@diegode415]

"Roman soldiers were loyal to whoever paid them the most" Salt: it's go time

[@christopherg2347]

The game "Imperator: Rome" made the troops becomming loyal to their general a major mechanic. With Soldiers retiring with and becomming the Powerbase off their general.

[@davekerwin2579]

“Look, I'm all about loyalty. In fact, I feel like part of what I'm being paid for here is my loyalty. But if there were somewhere else that valued loyalty more highly, I'm going wherever they value loyalty the most.”

[@LaxiusOne]

Wow, the Roman Army was loyal to Nicki Minaj!

[@CoffeeSnep]

I really love this mental image

[@lewakar]

Chinese water, yes *we're in japan*

[@dik56]

They were loyal to *ASS*

[@dotcom2528]

Sure with that boody Id be thooo Trini to tha bone..... mashup..

[@numbaoneblahajjfan]

@@lewakar what does that even mean

[@MizantropMan]

"The moment we took hostages, we became mercenaries, and mercenaries get paid!"

[@MizantropMan]

@Tadeo Herrera Means you know your movies.

[@blanchekonieczka9935]

There's an excellent series of historical fiction books about ancient Rome. The first one is called "The First Man in Rome" and it's about Gaius Marius. Written by Colleen McCullough who did ten years of research before she started the first book. I highly recommend these books to history lovers.

[@davidhannahmatteson5303]

Marius didn't stand well against Sulla and the Senate.....but his nephew did

[@luckyjamesa.valencia7095]

Also! Julius Caesar Uncle is Gaius Marius! And Julius Caesar full name is Gaius Julius Caesar!

[@thaddaeusrobinson4239]

So give more booty get more loyalty. I’ll remember this for my employees I manage

[@cody1570]

So the generals were able to pay all those dudes at the same time thats alot of money even if he was paying them bare minimum damn

[@marcose1137]

It wasn't just pay, General's promised a lot of things such as land to retire on, basically an ancient 401k. If your general lost, or if a new general took over he probably wouldn't honor the commitments of the old. So loyalty could run pretty deep with them.

[@sebastians.9821]

Good job explaining it in a very concise manner.

[@oveezeeramoz504]

Then: money over passion 💰 Now: money over passion💸🤷🏽‍♂️

[@douvaman]

fun fact: at one point they tried to adopt the spartan agogi at the early years of rome after their victory over Carthage, it didn’t work as they wanted soldiers fast and 10 years of training wasn’t efficient, also there where logistical complications. never the less on batch of elite soldiers where created consisting of 100 soldiers which all drowned in a storm

[@odietamo9376]

Concentrated, accurate information. Thanks.

[@rcbryant10]

Eh. This isn't exactly accurate. The entire Republic came down because of this exact problem. The Roman army was getting smaller not just because of the wars, but because the rich oligarchy was taking advantage of the soldiers while they were off fighting wars. They would use legal machinations to basically steal their land and impoverish them. To even be a legionary you had to own a certain amount of land. So the legionary would come home, see what happened and take his family and become part of the urban poor in Rome. The oligarchy was literally destroying the middle class which made up the army. The Grachii basically saw this and this was the lynch pin problem that caused the rise of the Popularii.

[@phylosopherstoned9845]

The middle class is ALWAYS crushed between the poor and the rich.

[@chinojarjos]

Sounds familiar.

[@crusaderACR]

Sounds like the Democrats

[@derel5880]

There was a personal connection between Caesar and his men as well, just like Napoleon got his army when coming back from elba, both of them lived like the average soldier during their campaigns, eating and chattering together every night without luxuries

[@oyundarigalsandorj310]

Loyalty to the Eagle!

[@omarcoming9613]

Yea, um, I would definitely be loyal to whoever gave me access to the “ most booty”

[@dianalindeman1644]

That's logical. It explains a lot.

[@Baz.007]

$$$ corrupts mankind, yet society cannot function in modern times without it

[@kevinc.cucumber3697]

Money isn’t corrupt, we are. That is just our nature

[@masstv9052]

If it wasn't money, we would just be corrupt in any other fashion. Like in a barter system, people would mess with the scales to benefit themselves while ripping off customers for grain, or other products that are weighed. It's just inherently in mankind. That's why Rome tried to set weights and measures to stop this corruption, but having enough people to check every vendors scale is a daunting task. Especially in the frontier areas of Rome. So corruption runs rampant everywhere. It's mostly when corruption is at the top, where abusing the institutions that people rely upon for fairness (like courts, law enforcement, and other similar institutions) that it becomes a problem because the people stop trusting the state/government/rulers and the house of cards collapses.

[@jologszsz]

Before paid: I serve my Country! When paid: MONEY NO LOYAL TO COUNTRY

[@gennarosavastano9424]

Do you honestly believe soldiers who fight for free will be any good?

[@theillusiveman2139]

@@gennarosavastano9424 well, they don' t fight or fight for their favourite side, paid soldiers just don' t care.

[@gennarosavastano9424]

@@theillusiveman2139 paid soldiers care more. That's why best militaries in the world are professional, paid ones with work contracts. Draftiest always been worse

[@rodlu6052]

I love Roman loyalty. Gaius Marius died in stabbing massacre, Flavius Aetius killed by lunatic prince after he defeated the most dangerous invador Atilla the Hun, even Mark Anthony he betrayed but his loyalty remain and die a Roman. Truly Roman is willing to die for Rome.

[@darthanianmakhaan2499]

Yes! I tell my wife this all the time!

[@neymarmessironaldo5881]

praetorians: the highest bidder

[@brixcosmo]

Booty. That universal coinage 😂

[@ignitetheinferno1858]

Rome: We are going to pay you soldiers. General: I’ll triple your rates. Legionaries: Yeah, so Rome? We have elected to make our general Emperor.

[@thisaccountnameiscompletel8949]

In the case of Legions during the Civil war, men were generally loyal to the Generals that had raised them. An example of this would be Caesar’s 10th Legion

[@DustinPlatt]

Thank you Rome for knowing that I could of been paid 10,000 seratace in the Evocate if I was a good Roman soldier. _I don't know how to spell_ *THIRRRRRTEEEEEEN*

[@robby7025]

They were made to sing hymns to the glory of rome to the same melodies still used by militaries today. So the idea of loyalty to the city was always there.

[@TimeForTeletubbiesFAN]

The romans shoulders were also paid in salt. Hence the word salary.

[@angelabender8132]

A mercenary is at the service of another country than his. Soldiers are always paid something without being mercenary. If they were very loyal to their commanders it was in the hope of them emerging as political leaders and being eventually rewarded for their loyalty

[@OdintheGermanShepherd]

Marius vs Sulla is perhaps more interesting than Caesar vs Pompey.

[@sunofpeter2]

The beginning of the end.

[@AdnanShaikh-zh5zd]

Bring booty back to circulation and replace the dollar

[@covaciuadi297]

The man whit the change.

[@vincent5699]

Homage to the Legions of Heaven. Also ROBIN HOOD. - get it?

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

Actually the reason Marius did his reform is because of the Cimbri War. Rome lost almost eighty thousand men more than at Cannae in less then two years to the Cimbri Alliance barbarian invaders. There weren't enough land owners left so Marius hired non land owners. Which was a large majority of the public make population. That's the ACTUAL reason why the Romans became professional.

[@elcaponeholyemperorofnj1169]

“Get your sign on bonus in 10 to 15 years”

[@davidvanderven]

Loyalty, who pays them...

[@RichardRodriguez-cwornolis]

Yup, sounds good to me

[@ashutoshsingh450]

Arthashastra a treatise in statecraft tells about paid army way before Romans... Just wanted to add Also cool video keep up your work

[@theconfederacyofindependen7268]

Thats the similar thing that hit the IGE like a Mach 10 freight train so in 1808, the IGE was an old army which was loyal to their government but lead to too many wars and battles so throughout the years, the IGE slowly switched to paying its soldiers which lead to thousands if not millions of soldiers being enlisted, cause of the Hercheal Family especially, Gualota S. Hercheal, Gulonta S. Hercheal, and king Gwomnotta K. Hercheal the ballsy whose king of the IGE during the era, until 1918 when the GE formed with 22.76M total personnel and a powerful 70K ship strong navy, but due to limited money, it quickly declined in a manner of 30 years until the IGE was established in 1955, where the Imperial Guamanian Armed Forces became the first Guamanian Military whose Soldiers are well-paid and are not loyal to one of the general or their government but both they are loyal to, and by 2052, the I.G.G.A.F and later the U.R.A.F had 12.7T Total Personnel, by its re-arming, it has just under 91 Nonmillion Total Personnel

[@JobbyBoucher]

a certain uncle of Julius Gaius Caesar . his story is a great read

[@Anakinfrank]

While they were unpaid they were generally fighting for their own land right?

[@dardalion3199]

Yes. To be in the legion you had to own at least some land, often given to them by their fathers when they came of age to join the legion.

[@Groggle7141]

Wait, the soldiers were unpaid at first? Who would go into battle, risk their life, possibly get traumatized, and receive nothing in return? You would have to be hardcore, but Rome's army would have to be very small because nobody would join.

[@Gizz101]

People were different back than smartwr and stronger

[@randomelite4562]

@@Gizz101No they weren’t. There aren’t any significant genetic differences between historical people and us. Diet and environment did more to change populations than genetic changes. Soldiers fought for the same reasons many did later on and even today. Money, adventure, and a fuck ton of other reasons

[@jamesmartinez2427]

I think these are what would become The Mercenaries in more modern times in a sense those who hire mercenaries would be like a general today if you follow the connection

[@alfredobecerra2878]

Overspending and corruption, one of the reasons the Roman Empire decline. This led to lack of loyalty within the military, as they started to hire mercenaries, mainly from Germania. They also started to mint lack of gold and silver 🪙 💰 for their monetary system.

[@rogeriopenna9014]

A bit simplified. The Roman armies until 110 BC were not only unpaid. Only citizens who OWNED LANDS could be in the armies. If I am not mistaken, that applied to Roman citizens and also the socii. The logic is that only citizens with property would fight to defend the property and thus be loyal. Problem is... Land owners were getting scarce at the end of the Republic because ultra rich slave owners were getting latifúndi bigger and bigger... Then at Arausio, Rome lost 120 thousand soldiers... the entire Italy was devoid of men at age to fight and who owned land. And the Nordic threat persisted. Romans were scared. 1 million barbarians on the loose on Gaul that could return to Italy at any moment and there would be no army to have them. Enter Gaius Marius and the capite censi

[@richievela2463]

Gaius Marius-- the 'Conflict of the Orders' 287 BC.

[@TheCaesarion]

Back then in the early republic it was more respectful for the aristocrats and common folk to March. Aristocrats got more glory and helped the most ambitious get consulships while Common folk got land. Eventually the marches got long multi seasoned wars and thus they established permanent service and yearly salary for military

[@mohammedsalimahmed5230]

If I'm honest I'd be more scared to go against an army who's fighting solely based on loyalty Vs Paid soldiers. Just ask NATO/Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan for example.

[@phylosopherstoned9845]

Philip II also reformed his army into paid professional army long before Marius.

[@xavierzaxavier5873]

Basically he just created a mercenary role 😂😂😂😂😂

[@zamlat8118]

It was not just about pay, it was also (and maybe more) about land grants after retirement.

[@microraptor1155]

Also the general would often pay for his men's armour as well

[@DoubleBourbonBaconCheeseBurger]

They were loyal to their general.

[@davebusink2019]

It goes the same way. Not just you making that loading action. Aka k

[@JoseGarcia-io2pr]

You said that so matter of factly I don’t think both myself nor you noticed it lol.

[@CrossTheGoat]

Money. Play Crusader Kings 3, you'll understand.

[@randolphhobson5017]

my loyalty is honor

[@harizakmal8227]

Loyalty come with prices

[@babyramses5066]

What did the Roman legionaire say to the booty? "I likes ya and I wants ya ..."

[@TheLastofHisName]

Hears booty- cue Beavis and Butthead laughs

[@GeorgeEstregan828]

Phillip II of Macedon: First paid professional army?! Wow ok!

[@slightliestupid9]

Couldn’t mess with the 13th tho

[@jamesbeckham7046]

Private army is very dangerous throughout history.

[@Valast]

Dont forget that marius was the dictator of rome during that time and was even kinda respected by Hannibal for his tactics

[@Shadowkiller-dq2ju]

So from an army to mercenaries

[@afriendlycadian9857]

I also think their loyalty to their generals also depending on the generals relationship with his men was he respected a good soldier etc

[@brycemcqueen2235]

Auxiliary troops too

[@eduardomartinez7247]

He said " booty " 😂

[@mmmkay3447]

That's a lie. All us total war players know that you only had to build an Imperial palace and suddenly you'd get an event of Gaius Marius reforming the army.

[@vipinkumar7]

This is almost true to most armies before the concept of country came Soldiers were loyal to the leader of their land or leader who pays well just that

[@mathewfonger7048]

Loyal to just one man.

[@stevehartshorn2226]

They became mercenary

[@anmoldalal16]

The birth of modern professional sports.

[@TheSunMoon]

Unlike footballers these days; getting paid millions, but fake their injuries!

[@thomasgomez6218]

Pretty much what America is turning into rn. That GI bill looks tastier than serving what this country stands for.

[@METVWETV]

My name is Gladiator

[@fbi1307]

So explained what a mercenary was without saying it directly

[@mikebar42]

He meant it when he said "booty"

[@robertcairns5746]

The Assyrians had the first paid professional standing armies

[@zhaydenlol]

"One of the world's first"

[@NerdyEd]

Wow. Tech salaries and Corporations are modeled after Roman armies.

[@alkasqadri9530]

And Khalid Ibn Walid (RadiAllahu anhu) the muslim general alone defeated the superpower with his small army.

[@lancecorporalveteran0621]

Essentially by the time Marius had initiated his reformes Rome was already paying for a professional army it simply did not recognize it officially as such So all Marius did was codify by law officially a paid standing army.

[@TheRepublic4]

If I am correct Gaius Marius was actually related to Julius Caesar, his uncle if I’m correct (though I may be confusing my historical figures because I just remember Caesar’s uncle was a major figure and was ousted by Sulla which put him on the run in his youth.) [I spent my Teenage years reading Roman History so my memory is a bit spotty, someone fact check me in comments]

[@JokinglySeriousHuman]

"Which is perfectly understandable as one would want to be paid well for putting their life on the line" Meanwhile, modern day conscription 💀

[@jaggerangel5564]

Denari is helluva drug

[@feskijulmisa3142]

America modern Rome.

[@costasyiannourakos6963]

Apparently we now go down that road again with mercenaries and companies providing them.

[@gahlainrigh5927]

What kind of question was that? Salt obviously.