[gothic-l] Re: Armalist

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at egroups.com, "Anthony Appleyard" <MCLSSAA2 at f...> 
wrote:
>   From: Bertil Häggman <mvk575b at t...> wrote:-
> > ... The great mistake was to employ Germanic soldiers as 
legionaries. ...
> 
> That would have these risks for the Romans:-
> (1) On the battlefield they might be somewhat unwilling to fight 
against their 
> own people, if the enemy were also Germanic.


I don't think that they (Germanic tribesmen) would have been unwilling 
to fight against 'their own people' at all. I don't think that there 
was such a common understanding of 'we' (the Germans) and 'them' (the 
Romans). So they would not have recognised them as 'their own people' 
In the late empire most of the high ranking generals were from 
Germanic elits often Franks such as Rechomeres, Bauto, Merobaudes 
etc.. Patrick Greary showed that these people would have likely looked 
down on their peers who commanded 'only' Germanic warrior bands. I 
think some tribes along the limes feared their Germanic brethren in 
the hinterland more than the Romans. 

Dirk


> (2) They would learn Roman fighting methods and then go home and 
teach them to
> other Germanic tribes.


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