AHC: How can the Praetorian Gaurd and Imperial Legions be tamed?

[Drewbdu]

Under the Roman Republic and the Early Empire, the Praetorian Gaurd served fairly honorably in defense of their Senators, and later their Emperors. Later on, however, they became increasingly involved in the Empire, killing multiple competent emperors and instating many horribly incompetent leaders, simply because they wanted more pay and favors. Similarly, the Legions came to expect a pay increase pretty much every time an Emperor died. This led to the emptying of the Imperial coffers and a huge rise in instability lasting into the late Empire.

How can this political instability be avoided? How can the Praetorian Gaurd and the Legions be made subordinate to the Emperor, instead of the Emperor subservient to the demands of the former? How would this affect the position of the Empire later in its life?

 

[Superninja76]

Under the Roman Republic and the Early Empire, the Praetorian Gaurd served fairly honorably in defense of their Senators, and later their Emperors. Later on, however, they became increasingly involved in the Empire, killing multiple competent emperors and instating many horribly incompetent leaders, simply because they wanted more pay and favors. Similarly, the Legions came to expect a pay increase pretty much every time an Emperor died. This led to the emptying of the Imperial coffers and a huge rise in instability lasting into the late Empire.

How can this political instability be avoided? How can the Praetorian Gaurd and the Legions be made subordinate to the Emperor, instead of the Emperor subservient to the demands of the former? How would this affect the position of the Empire later in its life?

Not establishing a precedent of buying the legion and the guard's loyalty would help. You buy someone's loyalty enough times, they'll come to expect it. when they don't get it, things don't end well for anyone.

 

[Drewbdu]

Not establishing a precedent of buying the legion and the guard's loyalty would help. You buy someone's loyalty enough times, they'll come to expect it. when they don't get it, things don't end well for anyone.

I’m no expert on the subject, but it seems the political instability began to grow after Hadrian abandoned much of Trajan’s conquests. Would further expansion of the Empire act as a supplement for the pay increases of OTL? Would this create more stability economically and politically, or would it simply fracture an already difficult to administer Empire?

 

[Superninja76]

I’m no expert on the subject, but it seems the political instability began to grow after Hadrian abandoned much of Trajan’s conquests. Would further expansion of the Empire act as a supplement for the pay increases of OTL? Would this create more stability economically and politically, or would it simply fracture an already difficult to administer Empire?

I'm no expert either, but I can tell you that further expansion would be too costly to attempt, at least in my opinion. Imperial legions cannot be as easily supplied from the elbe, and there's plenty of tribes between the rhine and it. Worst case scenario, there's another arminius on rome's hands.

Hypothetically though, expansion of the empire would fix it. It just can't happen though, not on the scale rome needs.

 

[Drewbdu]

I'm no expert either, but I can tell you that further expansion would be too costly to attempt, at least in my opinion. Imperial legions cannot be as easily supplied from the elbe, and there's plenty of tribes between the rhine and it. Worst case scenario, there's another arminius on rome's hands.

Hypothetically though, expansion of the empire would fix it. It just can't happen though, not on the scale rome needs.

What about in the East? The Parthians weren’t very competitive against the Legions, especially later on, and these lands were quite rich. The main issue I see is that the population would probably be particularly hostile to Roman rule. Though, the same could be said of many territories Rome had already conquered.

 

[Arcavia]

I’m no expert on the subject, but it seems the political instability began to grow after Hadrian abandoned much of Trajan’s conquests. Would further expansion of the Empire act as a supplement for the pay increases of OTL? Would this create more stability economically and politically, or would it simply fracture an already difficult to administer Empire?

It's really a Catch-22. More expansion means more loot that buys the loyalty of the Guard, but also a harder to administer Empire. Ultimately, the amount of loot you're getting stays constant while the administrative difficulties grow exponentially. It's fundamentally not a sustainable solution.

 

[catalfalque]

The Roman military was always in a certain degree of flux

The original idea of a land-owning soldier who was a militia citizen and would sign up to fight for his home without need for glory or reward did not survive the expansion of Rome across Italy

Marius's reforms which allowed the poorest to choose soldiering as a profession led to long-term service, and led soldiers to look to their commanders, whether Sulla or Caesar, to provide for them, initially focused on their retirement but later focusing on what could be gained while in service

Standing legions under the Empire was supposed to sort this out, but of course once you have a permanent military it can be used against you, as well as by you. Caesar's legions would not rebel against him because his leadership made them richer, but once you have a permanent establishment under the Empire then rebellion is often against someone they hardly see, and instead of bribery we are looking at blackmail.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Avoiding Sejanus or killing him earlier might be a good start.

 

[Drewbdu]

The Roman military was always in a certain degree of flux

The original idea of a land-owning soldier who was a militia citizen and would sign up to fight for his home without need for glory or reward did not survive the expansion of Rome across Italy

Marius's reforms which allowed the poorest to choose soldiering as a profession led to long-term service, and led soldiers to look to their commanders, whether Sulla or Caesar, to provide for them, initially focused on their retirement but later focusing on what could be gained while in service

Standing legions under the Empire was supposed to sort this out, but of course once you have a permanent military it can be used against you, as well as by you. Caesar's legions would not rebel against him because his leadership made them richer, but once you have a permanent establishment under the Empire then rebellion is often against someone they hardly see, and instead of bribery we are looking at blackmail.

It seems that after 300, the number of emperors murdered by their own troops dropped dramatically. Was this caused by Constantine’s reforms or was there something else behind this much more stable regime in the East (though it was by no means very stable, just more stable than the West). I can only assume Constantine’s reforms were the main cause of this change, so the question becomes, can it be reformed earlier?

If civil and military authorities are separated earlier, say in the second century before the crisis of the third century, could the West have faced its external and internal threats more easily?

http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=fate_of_roman_emperors

Here’s a quick overview of the causes of death for all the emperors including 476-1453. Quite interesting how it transitioned from assassinations by other ambitious potential emperors to a long series of Praetorian and Legionary mutinies then over time back to assassination by other ambitious potential emperors which lasted most of the time all the way to 1453.

 

[Deleted member 114175]

Well, the Varangian Guard was much more loyal than the Praetorian Guard.

Along the lines of the Varangians, maybe recruit the Praetorian Guard as a unit of foreigners with no connections in Rome except with the reigning emperor.

These alternate Praetorians would be distinct from the Late Roman foederati, because they aren't granted land as tribal units, which was the main drawback of that system.

 

[Superninja76]

Well, the Varangian Guard was much more loyal than the Praetorian Guard.

Along the lines of the Varangians, maybe recruit the Praetorian Guard as a unit of foreigners with no connections in Rome except with the reigning emperor.

These alternate Praetorians would be distinct from the Late Roman foederati, because they aren't granted land as tribal units, which was the main drawback of that system.

Getting that sort of guard is actually spectacularily easy, just preserve these guys. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerus_Batavorum

 

[Avrorrange]

For the bodyguards,create at minimum 3 to 4 different bodyguards unit of similar size. IOTL,the Praetorian guard was way too dominant,despite there being the German Bodyguard and the Urban Cohorts(which was just a glorified riot police unit/fire brigade). Provoke rivalry between the different bodyguard units,never unite the command of these units under one person.

In regards to the legions,disband most of them. Regular army units are by nature more prone to revolts than farmer-soldiers. Implement a land for service system where the soldiers have to train in peacetime in return for land(the land remaining state owned and they are not allowed to sell it),and are paid as fully regular soldiers when mobilized to the frontier.These troops should be rotated to the frontiers,but not permanently stay there.

Keep the family members of high ranking officers and their staff hostages in the capital to prevent them from revolting.Rotate these officers every few years.

 

[Drewbdu]

For the bodyguards,create at minimum 3 to 4 different bodyguards unit of similar size. IOTL,the Praetorian guard was way too dominant,despite there being the German Bodyguard and the Urban Cohorts(which was just a glorified riot police unit/fire brigade). Provoke rivalry between the different bodyguard units,never unite the command of these units under one person.

In regards to the legions,disband most of them. Regular army units are by nature more prone to revolts than farmer-soldiers. Implement a land for service system where the soldiers have to train in peacetime in return for land(the land remaining state owned and they are not allowed to sell it),and are paid as fully regular soldiers when mobilized to the frontier.These troops should be rotated to the frontiers,but not permanently stay there.

Keep the family members of high ranking officers and their staff hostages in the capital to prevent them from revolting.Rotate these officers every few years.

I like this idea. It is really a natural extension of existing attempts at curbing the Guard’s power, thus it is very plausible. The Praetorian Guard was reformed to have two prefects IIRC, inspired by the dual consuls of old. This was to create internal rivalry and instability so the Guard would be less inclined to revolt.

I am inclined to believe that the Guard is best suited for major reform after the assassination of Pertinax, the auctioning of the emperorship, and the vengeance of this horrible deed by Severus. IOTL, Severus simply disbanded the Guard and reformed it as a major military unit which basically turned into a much more powerful version of the Guard.

Perhaps if the Guard does more to irk the Emperor he will be less lenient and have the whole lot of them killed for their treason and split the powers of the Guard into multiple smaller and more specialized units. Any thoughts?

 

[Sciox]

One way to reduce the amount of revolts in the legions could be to reduce the length of service (how much is something that I've been trying to work out for a potential roman TL) and rescind the ban on marriages and families. The idea is that poor romans looking to provide for their families could go out and serve for 5 years and when the legions get mutinous the impulse will be tempered by the knowledge that A: I could be killed when I'm going home in a couple months, and B: If I revolt my family will suffer for my mutiny. Reducing the burden of joining the legions would also help bring in more recruits and which would make it less of a blow to the strength of the army to carry out harsher punishments for mutiny en masse (ranging from large scale executions, to enslavement/forced labour, to dismissal without pay or pension, for thousands of mutinous soldiers rather then giving them pardons and recruiting them when they're beaten).

The idea was to pair these reforms with a conquest of Germania and over a couple centuries the establishment of borders of the Oder and later the Vistula so that in the event of mutiny the soldiers are far from Rome and the Princeps and the Empire will have many more old veterans who could be recalled for temporary service. I thought a good point to have the first reforms to service length introduced was by Germanicus (the PoD was Tiberius dies in 16 AD, Germanicus succeeds him and adopts Drusus as his heir, the plan being to have their children Nero and Julia marry but court intrigue would send the plan awry) as one of the causes of the Rhine revolt was that soldiers wanted their length of service reduced, the same complaint is said to have been made by the soldiers in Pannonia when they revolted, a situation which was dealt with by Drusus.

Edit: Forgot to mention, the early Emperor's spend a lot more time out in the provinces campaigning forcing the Senate to shoulder more responsibilities and keeping the Praetorians spread out across Italy and the Empire as without Sejanus acting in Tiberius' stead they don't end up concentrated as one unit in Rome, this however could lead to problems with the urban cohorts.

 

[Max Sinister]

Avoiding Sejanus or killing him earlier might be a good start.

Good point. Among other things, he united the Praetorians in one camp - so they became aware of their real strength.

 

[Drewbdu]

Okay, now we have various means of curbing their power. Let’s say instead of reforming the Praetorian Guard into a much larger unit, Severus instead simply disbands the Guard and recruits loyal foreigners in a fashion similar to the Varangian Guard of the late ERE.

How would this affect the Empire long term? With the threat of the Praetorians gone, will more competent emperors reign? Will the tumultuous third century be more stable, perhaps significantly less destructive?

Also, with the huge sums of money spent on the constant pay raises and donatives IOTL instead being diverted to other matters, would the provinces be better off? Historically they began to decline in prosperity after all citizens were declared citizens, thus raising their tax burden significantly. Far from being reinvested into the provinces, the money was largely spent on the Legions and Praetorian Guard to keep them from killing the Emperor.