Brennan Furst

11/13/2014

Roman Military Decline

The Romans found themselves in the middle of a war with Germanic tribes descending
out of Denmark whom were migrating South in 113 BCE. These Germans would largely consist
of the Cimbric and the Teutonic tribes, of which the Cimbric was the larger. In their Southern
movement, the Germans would recruit Celtic and Gallic tribes to aid them in their fight against
the Romans. As they pushed South, Rome was very aware of their presence and attempted to
stop them, however they remained unsuccessful in their attempts as they suffered defeat after
devastating defeat. These defeats would come largely due to Romes own incompetence as they
put nobiles after nobiles in charge of their military without having any of them having strong
military leadership.
To the South of Rome, the bastard son of an African king would both take the throne and
kill one of his half-brothers in a political dispute of inheritance. The remaining brother then fled
to Rome in an attempt to garner their aid in settling the matter. After holding court, to which
Jugurtha attended, Rome settled on splitting the kingdom in two; an Eastern and Western
kingdom were born with the Western half going to the illegitimate Jugurtha and the other, more
profitable side going to the Roman ally, Adherbal. Unfortunately for Rome, the Western half was
more militarily capable and Jugurtha was able to easily reconsolidate his kingdom. Again,
unfortunately for Rome, some Italians were killed during this and their own decree had been
challenged. Combined with pressure from greedy equites, Rome now found itself in a two front
war with powerfully incompetent military leadership on both fronts. And while they had
strategically inept commanders in the North, to the South they had so much worse as Jugurtha
was simply capable of bribing of the Roman leadership into not attacking his people.

Brennan Furst
11/13/2014

Romes decision to go to war with Jugurtha was mostly political and a little prideful. The
equites wanted to simply conquer Jugurthas kingdom for the financial potential it had. They
were eager for a reason to declare war, but they were not getting the support that they needed to
do so with the looming threat of the Germans to the North and the defeats they had already
suffered at their hands. With Jugurtha seemingly compliant with a decision handed down by a
Roman judge, it seemed they would not be able to do so. However, Jugurthas military
superiority over his half-brother was too great and he eventually reconciled his kingdom. In
doing so, his armies killed some Italians taking up residence in the Eastern kingdom and he had
killed his brother and Roman ally, Adherbal.
No longer able to ignore Jugurtha for both killing citizens of Rome and for dishonoring
their authority, Rome declared war on Jugurtha in 111 BCE. This was exactly what the equites
wanted all along so that they might increase their own wealth. Jugurtha was capable of delaying
the war for quite some time though by bribing the commanders sent down to fight him into
simply doing nothing. When he could not bribe them he made a quick display of power by
crushing them in their incompetence.

Brennan Furst
11/13/2014

On the Northern front, Rome would suffer a massive loss to the encroaching Germans.
Having already tasted the might that the Germans brought to the battlefield the Romans were
becoming demoralized. Germans, once again pressing the Northern border of Italy, caused the
Roman senate to send two massive forces, although it is worth noting they were still drastically
outnumbered, under the commands of consul Maximus and ex-consul Caepio to intercept the
advancing German horde along the Rhone River. Each commander took position on opposite
sides of the river with approximately 40,000 troops each. Learning that they were advancing on
his side, Maximus sends word to Caepio to join him on his side of the Rhone. Caepio, in his
infinite arrogance, decides to instead move his own forces up the river and cross well ahead of
Maximus own position in an attempt to take all of the glory for himself. His plan, however,
completely backfired, because the Germans were fronting approximately half-a-million warriors
against his own forty-thousand troops. Caepio, knowing hes lost, flees back across the river to
escape back to Rome, letting his army die without leadership. Maximus is then faced with the
issue of dealing with the vastly superior German advance. His position is fortified, unlike the
position of Caepio, but in the end it means nothing against the numbers of the Germans.
Maximus, also, survives the encounter and flees back to Rome. In light of Caepios treachery he
is tried and found guilty for insubordination.
These events would leave Rome bankrupt and without many soldiers to fight against both
the Germans and Jugurthas Numidians. Unless things changed for Rome they would certainly
be destroyed.