RE: Damned Muslims
October 28, 2010 at 5:45 pm
(This post was last modified: October 28, 2010 at 6:12 pm by Minimalist.)
Dacia was abandoned but I wouldn't say it was "voluntary." They couldn't hold it.
(Again, this is roughly the same time as the series of military disasters in the east which weakened the army and also the survivors brought back a devastating plague. The late 3d century was a rough time for the Romans.)
BTW, don't know if you saw this but:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germ...20,00.html
So it would appear that the Romans remained active in Germany but here I agree with Cerrone. A decision was made that the territory was unworthy of conquest and development and the Romans elected to fortify the line of the Rhine. Yet, the above suggests that the Roman military remained interested in events on the far side of the river and perhaps intervened at times to prop up a friendly chief against an unfriendly one. This would have been standard Roman practice to play the barbarians off against one another.
(Again, this is roughly the same time as the series of military disasters in the east which weakened the army and also the survivors brought back a devastating plague. The late 3d century was a rough time for the Romans.)
Quote:If only Augustus and Tiberius had persisted in straightening the Roman north western frontier to River Elba, Roman defensive posture would have been immeasurable stronger from 180 CE onwards.
BTW, don't know if you saw this but:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germ...20,00.html
Quote:The wilds of Germany may not have been off-limits to Roman legions, archaeologists announced on Monday. At a press conference in the woods near the town of Kalefeld, about 100 kilometers south of Hanover, researchers announced the discovery of a battlefield strewn with hundreds of Roman artifacts dating from the 3rd century A.D.
So it would appear that the Romans remained active in Germany but here I agree with Cerrone. A decision was made that the territory was unworthy of conquest and development and the Romans elected to fortify the line of the Rhine. Yet, the above suggests that the Roman military remained interested in events on the far side of the river and perhaps intervened at times to prop up a friendly chief against an unfriendly one. This would have been standard Roman practice to play the barbarians off against one another.