The Marian reforms revolutionised the concept and creed of the Roman army. Prior to the 2ndCentury BC the army was made up of almost every walk of Roman life, class distinctions were at a low and most joined the army to escape from the strict boundaries of Social class. The Marian reforms, named so after the man behind the reforms Gaius Marius, set to improve the status of Rome’s standing army and further instigate a larger internal volunteer corp. The catalyst of these changes was the epic defeat the Romans suffered at the Battle of Noreia in 113 BC, the specific Battle was a route in which a Roman unit of 200,000 lost 20,000 to the battle. Furthermore an extended war in North Africa led to a stalemate situation against Numidia in which no headway was made. Marius served as a legate to Council Metellus, the Roman responsible for the conquest and defeat of Numidia. Marius observed that most frontline Roman units were almost completely made up of citizen militias. In essence Rome did not possess a strong permanent army and whenever the clouds of war threatened Roman general or council was required to raise a standing unit from the citizenry of the state. Most of these un-eager recruits were hastily trained and lacked any experience to confront an enemy armed force. One can safely say that the these units were the Ancient equivalent of cannon fodder, a simple unit of armed men in existence to simply be thrown in the direction of the enemy force.
Marius’s reforms forced the senate to raise an army of professional, full time soldiers, a defence force in times of both war and peace. After much debate at Senate level the grant was given to raise these suggested armies. Within three years Marius did away with the average frontier or Town watch and modified the role into a standing garrison. These units, each with approximately 5,000 to 6,000 men, were to be the precursors to the Roman Legions.
Primary Source:
Plutarch’s Life of Gaius Marius (Content within Plutarch’s Parallel Lives).
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_plutarch_cmarius.htm
Secondary Source:
http://www.unrv.com/empire/gaius-marius.php
http://janusquirinus.org/essays/Apollo/Background/MS1.html
Michael Crawford’s “THE ROMAN REPUBLIC”, Humanities press, 1978.
Peter Connolly’s “THE ROMAN ARMY”, Macdonald Educational press, 1975.
Plutarch’s Lives: The Dryden Edition by Aurthur Hugh Clough, Everyman’s Library, first published 1971.
http://www.germannotes.com/archive/article.php?products_id=677
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/it_rome.html
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_history.html
