Is Islam A Death Cult?

[Leonardo17]

The Roman army started to collapse when it started hiring German mercenaries in return for money. Machiavelli is also very critical of mercenary troops. Since you can’t really rely on volunteers to go and die on the battlefield, conscription seems to be the best method because it teaches you a lot when you are a young individual.
 
And reminder: I’m an advocate of peace. There are no two democratic nations who went to war with each other up to this day. So war fare is murder. No to War / Peace V

what did in the imperial roman army in wasn’t mercenaries,  but a system of imperial succession that always overtly or tacitly required backing by military force.    consequently the soldiers found the upside in being instrumental in enthroning the winning contestant for the crown far outweigh the down side in losing the bid to enthrone their rival emperor.    So the army gradually degenerated into a cadre force for forming conscript mob forces to fight civil wars.

…and the cause of this was the very brutal nature of the empire since its beginning. A legionary would enlist in the Roman army for a period of 25 years. In modern language that’s a death sentence. The term “decimation” is a practice that existed in that Era. If a military unit lacked discipline, they would kill every 10th man in that unit. Crucifixion was a real practice. Those who dares to follow the rebel slave Spartacus (6000 of them) were crucified along the road from Rome to south Italy. So yes, they were the major civilizing force of the world at the time. But no they were as brutal (perhaps more brutal) than any other power-based empire that followed them in the middle ages. Their economy was 100% based on slave labor and their power was based on a military machine that was designed to conquer and conquer and conquer. Just think of the size of their dominion. Why would anyone want to have such a huge amount of territory without having sailing methods or motorized vehicles? (We’re talking of an era in which it took perhaps a week or two to move from one city to the other.
 
So whatever. Maybe they were doomed to crumble at some point anyway