Argh this essay is tough

[TheNemesis]

I've been trying to write an essay that I thought was going to be very simple, but it has proved to be a b!tch. I didn't even think to ask the teacher what she meant when she assigned me to do a paper on the Roman Military, I just thought it would be pretty easy. So far I've found pretty much jack sh!t for information, and I'm having trouble writing the paper. I don't know for sure what the purpose of this post is but I just thought I'd let everyone know...Maybe someone has some suggestions? I tryed telling about the equipment they used, but it's turning out to be very bland. I'm about to say screw it and just start typing information off of the websites just so I can get something done. I want to go back to playing Vice City but I'm making myself finish this essay first. ARGH!

 

[TheNemesis]

Back to vice city, I give up.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Go watch Gladiator. Then the essay will be pretty easy for you. The Roman Military pretty much had the Hitler Complex going on. Hitler actually followed a lot of their practices. Divide and Conquer or whatever... They just kept expanding out with advanced infantry and kept claiming land for Rome. The further they spread, the more people they recruited for armies. It expanded until they couldn't expand anymore. There are some really good resources for this somewhere I'm sure. I once saw a show on the History channel about how the Romans had come up with the first designs for camps. They would setup a wall around the camp and setup all the tents in the EXACT same place everytime the camp was constructed. This would give the soldiers a feeling that they were 'home'. The officers would always be headquartered in the same places and their friends would always be in the same places. It was great design and made them even more efficient since they setup camp every night. I'm sure you can find something on the net about how far ahead of their time they were.

 

[Maharaja]

<history nerd talk>

I remember doing a 5 page essay in high school about the Roman military. I argued that its downfall as a fighting force was directly proportional to the numbers of barbarian allies, federati (wow i can't believe i remembered that), it allowed to fight side-by-side with. Basically as more barbarians moved closer to the Roman border, the Roman gov't decided it was easier to ally with them and give them a parcel of land to settle. The barbarians would then fight along side Roman armies against the other barbarians from farther away. So as more barbarians fought for Rome, the crappier Rome's army got.

Of course another interesting paper would be to discuss how the massacre of Teutoberg (sp?) forest ultimately led to the barbarian problems of the 300s and 400s. In 9 AD (or maybe BC) barbarians killed off 3 Roman legions in Germania. After that Rome gave up on ever civilizing Germania. Perhaps if that didn't occur, or if Augustus or later Emperors decided they wanted revenge for that, Rome could have turned those barbarians in happy Roman citizens and put up a better fight against those new barbarians of the 300s and 400s.

</history nerd talk>

 

[TheNemesis]

What's a good search engine besides google? Having trouble finding info :/

 

[TheNemesis]

Make that good info, all I'm finding is sh!t, seriously

 

[Evadman]

The roam army had a fatal flaw IIRC. They all held their spear in the same hands, so they all moved a certan way when they fought. someone took advantage of this and slaughtered them. I forget who though ( alexander? )

 

[Maharaja]

This essay isn't due tomorrow is it? The internet sucks for real research. I never found anything particularly good online. Go to a library if you have time and read something by John Keegan. I've read two of his books for research. Excellent author.

 

[TheNemesis]

Yeah it's due tomorrow...I'm just typing it up as best/fast as I can so at least I get some credit.

 

[RamzaBeoulve]

Good luck man, I hate essays that are like that, cause they're near impossible to write when you can't get much information on the topic.

 

[C'DaleRider]

they're near impossible to write when you can't get much information on the topic.

Unfortunately, there is a TON of information on the Roman Military.....and all of it in the library. Info on weaponry, tactics, leadership (many of the generals were very innovative in their approaches on seiges for instance. I do know that the info exists............did a paper contrasting the military of Rome and that of Sparta.

Was an interesting work and the trouble was there was TOO MUCH info to weed through.

Next time, head on to the library............you won't leave emptyhanded.

 

[Kadarin]

I agree. Overreliance on the internet for serious research is an easy trap to fall into, and you end up screwing yourself when you wait until the last minute to write a paper. I did a quick googlewhack for "roman military technology tactics" and found some guy at ucsu.colorado.edu who wrote a bad essay on the subject, and not much else. Go to the library and crack a book or two...

The History Channel is also a pretty good resource (though not as a quotable source for a paper); I recently watched an episode of "Mail Call" where they did a quick overview of Roman military weaponry, and saw a documentary on the latter part of the Roman Empire, and the reasons why barbarians hastened its fall.