Marian Reforms and their Military Effects DOCUMENTARY

Sulla once said that he "saw many Mariuses in Caesar", so getting 1 Caesar t-shirt is like getting many Marius t-shirts: bit.ly/2RW5iMS Please, don't buy our merchandise, if you can't afford it and only buy, if you are using your own money.

I like how he used total war games for some visual aid. I'm a big fan of total war so I appreciate it.

Marian was also the uncle of Julius Caesar and fought in Africa against the Numidians.Historians often forget to mention that this helped Caesar defeat the Pompeian army in 47 B.E. in Africa because many cities still had strong feelings for Marian's family. Eventually, the army of Cato would be defeated and one year later, after a brief fight in Hispania against Gnaius Pompeius (the son of), the civil war was over...

Extra trivia: Marius was also responsible for the redesign of the Roman shield into the rectangular tower shields people associate with the Legion today. Prior to this, Roman shields were actually oval. Marius found that this was not conducive for being slung on the back on the march as the tips of the oval would bang the legionnaire on the back of the neck and the back of the ankles. Marius thus ordered the tips of the ovals to be removed for the next gen of shields resulting in the tower shields we associate with Roman infantry from then on until the empire's fall.

But can Skillshare teach me how to bathe in the blood of my enemies and drive the barbaric horde from the gates of Rome?

Mods used in this video: -Divide et Impera -Celticus' Marian Romans HD (WIP) -Petellius' Particle enhanced -GEMFX Best wishes, Malay Archer

I was always furious when the Marian reforms took place in Rome Total War, and my beloved Triarii units became obsolete. =((( Thanks for helping me understand why this happened, 16 years later haha.

Gotta give it to Marius, he did a LOT in a very short amount of time. He's basically Rome's version of Phillip II. Can't wait to see more videos of his career :D

Marius was an hugely important figure in Roman history as his complete overhaul of the army shows. Whenever Rome's very existence was threatened someone like Marius would invariably come along to right the ship so to speak. He wasn't related to Caesar by blood but by marriage, he was married to the sister of Caesar's father (Julia). When Julia died, Caesar's political career was in its infancy but he took the bold and potentially dangerous step of celebrating Marius's memory as well when he conducted her funeral. Sulla was right, there was indeed a lot of Marius in the young Caesar. Thanks for your wonderful efforts.

In italian we call them "I Muli di Mario"...the Mules of Mario, because his soldiers were not only fighters, but also engineers, sappers, builders and so on. The legionnaire myth starts from here.

6:22 "Contubernium" meant "squadron of soldiers living on the same tent", and after the fall of Rome it has been used for people reuniting (or plotting).

I'm so surprised that the wolf didn't become the emblem of the Roman army considering that same animal played a crucial role in the story of the founding of Rome where Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf.

" Service Guarantees Citizenship , Would like to know more" ~ Marian

10:25 Cavalryman in the right bottom corner falls off his horse, then glitches back onto it.

RIP Velites, we'll miss you poor furry bastards.

Marian reforms is a classic example of revolutionary military thinking. Great video.

I like how Marius equipped his soldiers with Kings and Generals t-shirts 9:12. The most underrated reform.

There are some notable mistakes here. 1: The Germans. This is arguably the most deeply entrenched myth of Marius. He did NOT reorganize the army as a result of the Germans. Marius' "reforms" actually took place in 107 BC when he was given command of the war against Jugurtha. Marius was not allowed to raise a new army for the war, but to seek replacements instead. To do this, he broke with the traditional recruitment pattern and sought men as volunteers from outside the normal manpower pool. When Marius took command of the war against the Germans, he disbanded his African army (Made from a mixture of his new volunteers and men raised in more traditional manners) and assumed command of the army of Publius Rutilius Rufus, as he considered them better trained and disciplined. Rufus had raised this army after news from the disaster at Arausio reached him, and brought in gladiatorial drill instructors to train his Legionaries. 2: A Standing Army. The Roman army of the Late Republic is best described as a semi-professional army. Legionaries did not have a fixed service time, and it was common for troops to be disbanded in short order after a campaign similar to previous times, though more and more men did also serve longer as professional soldiers and the army was certainly more permanent in nature now. The old Manipular system and the newer "Marian" army may have even existed side by side for some time, before the Legion organized around Cohorts became the norm. 3: Gaps In The Line. The Triplex Acies used by the Cohortal Legion still had wide intervals in it, and was arranged like a checkerboard. The first line had four Cohorts, while the next two had three. The Cohorts were not stacked directly behind one another, and as before gaps would remain even in battle with the formation. In the Triplex Acies, Roman units were meant to reinforce one another through the gaps in the battleline, not rotate between them. The Cohort was not a better tactical unit because it condensed the men more tightly together. 4: Smaller Things. The Romans did not suffer repeated defeats at the hands of the Gauls and Germans because the latter had better cavalry as is stated at one point, that simply never happened. The Pilum, while it could bend as recorded by Caesar, was not made from flimsy metal that just bent when it hit anything. It was entirely acceptable after all to use the Pilum as a close quarters weapon, as Caesar's Legions did at Pharsalus, 48 BC, and as Antony's Legions did against the Parthians in 36 BC, and in neither of these or future cases was this made harder by the Pilum bending. Legionaries at the time also did not wear greaves, or if so it wasn't as universal as depicted here. The Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus depicts Legionaries from this period, and none of them wear greaves. And these would be the most glaring errors at least. You might imagine I'm hating on the video if your reading this, but I'm not. Huge respects to Kings And Generals for their hard work on the page! However, mistakes are mistakes, and it is always good to correct them. I don't of course mean disrespect here or to discourage them from continuing what you do, just constructive criticism :) Roma Aeterna Est!

Just when I thought I learned everything there was to learn about the Marian reforms, I learned that the eagle was chosen over 4 other animals to represent the legions power. That's amazing.

I believe Marius also redesigned the shield to its perpendicular shape, versus oval previously as part of the "carry your own gear" improvements, so that the shield would not hit the soldier in the back of the legs when marching with it on his back. Great video!