Valentinian

Amen to that

I think that Marius and Caesar combined probably formed much of what became the Roman Army in the last days of the Republic and the Empire. Caesar is by far one of the most talented, innovative and celebrated generals of all time, this was due to the fact that he used not only his charismatic persona, but he also utilised the ground to his advantage, he trained his troops well, knew his army back to front and were the strongest parts of the legion lay but a lot of his victories came through gut instinct, he thought like a general as well. Caesar's military prowess was unrivaled and his armies quite near to invincible.

Thats true...before the time of Marius all those who wished to become part of the army were required to purchase their armour and feed themselves (which didn't make the life of a soldier very appealing) but they were given freedom, they would explore with the army conquer territory and of course there's always the booty from pillage and burn. After Marius though something came about which would change Roman history for ever, Marius actually paid the legionaries to fight for him and paid for their armour and food etc. This meant that the armies were loyal to him and not to the Senate, it also meant that they were armed professional soldiers which scared the bejesus out of the absolutely corrupt Senate

I was doing the same as ...except for Marius...pretty closely connected though wouldn't you think. But apart from info on Marius I found something better, others who are interested in Roman Histroy just as much as I am...or even more. Admittedly there probably isn't something that I can tell you that you don't already know but hell I'm here for the fun of it. Particularly interested in military history so you'll probably find me in there mostly. Talk to ya later, Valentinian P.S - I like vodka too!!!!!

Practically everyone payed tax in some form...along with the army and the cesspool senate taxes were what made the world go round

America like all great superpowers will eventually collapse from the weigh of its own imperialism and pigheadedness...its the same with all superpowers from Rome to the 21st century. The EU is a ver good example of how one day all of Europe will be regarded as a single state, more superpowers are on their way through, one of those being China as well...and eventually I have no doubt that they will collapse as well...responding to the quote: "QUOTE The availability of open lands, slavery, a labor shortage in our early history, political unrest and poverty in other countries brought immigrants to the U.S. Romans were more apt to colonize overseas. Hm I dunno, you still have a large scale mixing of populations in the form of slaves and immegrants to Italia, and particularly to Rome. Its these areas that form the tempo of political and social life in their entire empire." You can find the same osrt of thing in america too, although they aren't called slaves what do the millions of absolute minimum wage workers in America get for their hard work, practically zip and the government doesn't seem to be doing anything about it, that was the same for Rome, not superpower can exist without the sheer manpower of a vast majority of semi-slaves. The politics of America dont seem to be so cut-throat though, back during the days of the Republic and the Empire the political arena was a death trap...

Going back to whoever had tthe army makes the rules....Caesar capitalised on the whole private citizen army idea which Marius first used. He payed troops to fight for him and paid for their food, clothing, armour etc...and so after a few years and a few successful campaigns...he had quite effectively created his own army completely loyal to him...and slightly anti-senate because they were mostly plebeian and what normal plebeian liked the senate...i mean really

I think a couple of thing mar his rise and reign. He was rather cold-blooded and manipulative, especially when he was younger; for example having no hesitation (along with Antony and Lepidus) proscribing death for many Romans so that he could deliver their land to Antony's legions. I also think he had no intention of dismantling the Republic or its institutions, but his political manipulations led to a centralization of power that made any reversion to the Republic impossible after his death. He made a grevious error in not giving a vision for a post-Augustan Republican Rome, something I think he would have wanted. A great man none the less, but he loses points for these things. I can see where your're coming from

Yeah Augustus was pretty good...although his reign (even though he was the first) is slightly marred by the fact that the Julio-Claudians did such a terrible job of ruling the newly formed empire...eg. Caligula and Nero

Thats true though...all men were bisexual...they were supposed to have a wife to make an heir with and a male 'companion' to share their lives with, fight in battles with etc.

Marcus Aurelius because he was a scholar as well as a great leader of his people

Pompeius is right...the Republic could not be saved, however it seems to be evident that what made Caesar the great leader of men that he was, was the fact that he did not want to be the King of Rome. By the time of his invasion the Republic was hopelessly corrupt, because of the greedy Senators...and you cant say that he wanted to appease the Senate because he was a populares...the people were Caesar's ally. If Caesar had not march the massive Senatorial army which was being massed would have crushed him and Rome would have deterioated even further. If there was anything wrong with what he did it was marching into the Senator's trap with his back unprotected.

Hey new guy here....I vote Marius because although I think that Sulla relied way to much on his subordinates to carry out his orders and interpret them to his desire. Whereas Marius had a much firmer grasp of the ramifications of the battle. Don't forget that Sulla was in fact Marius' pupil as well. I also think that Marius men were also much more loyal to him and would fight to the bitter end, unlike Sulla's soldiers who were not nearly as loyal. But despite that....it would have been one hell of a brawl.