Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors, and Civilians in the Roman Empire by Antonio Santosuosso (PDF)

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The story of the Roman military machine begins with the crisis that enveloped Rome in the late second century B.C., when soldiers became the Empire’s worst enemy, pillaging citizens and creating social turmoil.In the closing years of the second century B.C., the ancient world watched as the Roman armies maintained clear superiority over all they surveyed. But, Rome also faced an internal situation that endangered the supremacy across the expanse of the Empire. Social turmoil prevailed at the heart of her territories, led by an increasing number of dispossessed farmers, too little manpower for the army, and an inevitable conflict with the allies who had fought side by side with the Romans to establish Roman dominion. Storming the Heavens looks at this dramatic history from a variety of angles. What changed most radically, Santosuosso argues, was the behavior of soldiers in the Roman armies. The troops became the enemies within, their pillage and slaughter of fellow citizens indiscriminate, their loyalty not to the Republic but to their leaders, as long as they were ample providers of booty. By opening the military ranks to all, the new army abandoned its role as depository of the values of the upper classes and the propertied. Instead, it became an institution of the poor and drain on the power of the Empire. Santosuosso also investigates other topics, such as the monopoly of military power in the hands of a few, the connection between the armed forces and the cherished values of the state, the manipulation of the lower classes so that they would accept the view of life, control, and power dictated by the oligarchy, and the subjugation and dehumanization of subject peoples, whether they be Gauls, Britons, Germans, Africans, or even the Romans themselves.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Amazon.com Review As fans of Ridley Scott’s film Gladiator know, ancient Rome could be a violent, treacherous place, one in which might made right. In this well-crafted historical study, Antonio Santosuosso shows that the structure of the Roman military itself was a cause of strife and disorder. In the early Roman republic, military service was deemed a privilege reserved for members of the propertied elite, whose interests were considered to be close to those of the state. As Rome’s empire grew, and with it the forces needed to control Rome’s holdings, its armies increasingly had to rely on a different kind of soldier, drawn from the many conquered peoples the empire embraced and from the rural, landless poor, whose loyalties to faraway Rome were less constant and who saw military service as one of the few means to advance themselves in a class-bound society. As historian Antonio Santosuosso shows, armies at the edges of the empire instead gave their allegiance to their commanders, who harbored imperial ambitions of their own–and who, from time to time, turned their armies around and marched on the capital to claim the throne for themselves. Naturally enough, this made Roman politics an unstable affair, and in fact throughout the third century A.D. an emperor was likely to have come to power through a coup d’état, and to end his days as the victim of assassination. Students of military history and Roman history alike will find much of value in Santosuosso’s survey. –Gregory McNamee From Publishers Weekly In a fascinating sequel to his Soldiers, Citizens, and the Symbols of War from Classical Greece to Republican Rome, Santosuosso traces the rise and fall of the Roman Empire via the rise and fall of the Roman army. By the second century B.C.E., Rome had established dominance in the Mediterranean world through its military conquests and its policy of Romanization of the conquered nations. Yet, internally the relationship between the army and the state was beginning to deteriorate. In the middle of the second century, the army, which until then had come from the ranks of land-owning citizens, was thrown open to all citizens. Numerous social and civil wars occurred in the latter half of the second century and into the first century B.C.E. over questions of Roman citizenship and slavery, the most famous being the slave revolt of the gladiator Spartacus. In addition, since most of the soldiers had no land to return to, they fought battles not for the honor and glory of the state but for the loot they could gain. Thus, commanders bent themselves to the wills of the soldiers in order to ensure loyalty. The Roman army, then, began a slow devolution into a rapacious group of pillagers and still later into an army that served the needs and desires of the emperor rather than the empire. Caesar and Augustus briefly brought the army back to its original purpose. By the time of the late Roman Empire (roughly 450-476 C.E.), however, the army was in such political, social and military disarray that the barbarians poured in over the porous Roman borders and brought the empire to its knees. Santosuosso’s crackling prose and lively narrative provide illuminating glimpses into this history. Maps. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. About the Author Antonio Santosuosso is professor of history at the University of Western Ontario . Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I seem to discover books well after they are published. I have long been interested in the Romans, and this is an interesting take on the role of the Roman armies. It is not a military history, but what I would describe as a combination of sociology and military history applied to this ancient context. It’s a history of how the army went from the embodiment of Roman virtue to controlling the state. It chronicles what the author sees as the decay of the army in the sense it increasingly existed to maintain its own status, corrupting the Empire’s institutions and creating a state based on force and raw exploitation. Essentially, Santosuosso sees the army as destroying the potential of the Empire.I found this to be a thought-provoking read. This book is not so easy to describe, so browse it thoroughly before reading it through. It got this reader, at least, wondering if the Romans could have done better and lasted longer. Suppose Rome could have lasted until the 800s, how would that have changed history?

⭐This is a good book to read for a perspective on Roman history that emphasises the role played in that grand drama by Rome’s legions. The author discusses the changing political, social and economic effects of how the legions were recruited, commanded and paid, as well as providing significant detail on the structure, command and performance of the legions over time. The effects of the military reforms of Marius, Julius Caesar, Octavian, as well as Septimius Severus and Diocletian are given special attention as are their different offensive and defensive strategies.The author weaves historical information and his own insights into a well written story that moves along easily over the long time period covered. His discussion of specific battles (e.g. Adrianopole) and brief character studies (e.g. Marius) add personal detail and improve the general story. The book is both educational and entertaining and strongly recommended.

⭐Excellent insight into how the Roman Empire functioned not only militarily but politically and economically. It is written in a way that makes it easy to understand and appreciate the complexity of Ancient Rome. It is one of my favourite books on Rome,well worth a read.

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