Although it is a soldier's bounden duty to obey orders, in the era without political commissar, the consciousness of soldiers is not much higher. Soldiers with swords can fight bloody battles with the enemy, or they can turn their backs and chop you up. The tragic death of an individual is still a trivial matter, but it is the great thing that the army defeats the enemy without fighting. Therefore, Roman commanders often used some curve strategies to guide these chubas before imposing punishment.
For example, the famous dictator Sura did such an insidious thing in the first Mithraic War. In 86 BC, he led 16000 Roman troops to camp in the plain of Erastia. Confronted with him is the local army with a number of more than 654.38 million. What's even more frightening is that there are few Roman cavalry, but in front of us, this plain suitable for mobile operations is full of a large number of chariots and cavalry. So all the Roman troops were too scared to fight and huddled in the camp all day.
Sura was very angry because she couldn't persuade the soldiers to carry out the orders. But he didn't attack immediately, but silently looked at these grandsons who were pretending to be timid. Then the soldiers began to dig canals and build fortifications all day, and they also increased their workload day after day. Finally, the overwhelmed soldiers understood that they had to fight to avoid the hard work of building fortifications. They couldn't help asking Sura to fight the enemy to the death. Sura also took advantage of the situation and defeated the enemy.
This insidious strategy was not actually initiated by Sura. As early as the Second Punic War, Scipio Africanus, a famous African conqueror, cooked frog-like Roman troops in warm water on the Spanish battlefield. It was Mario and Sura's boss Matt Luce who taught Sura by example.
In BC 1 1 1, King Jugurta of Numidia usurped the throne for murdering the legal heir of Numidia. As an ally of Numidia, Rome declared war on the usurper. However, due to the corruption of Roman nobles at that time, King Jugurta defeated the Roman army in North Africa by attacking for buying. Even forced them to drill a choke door to show their shame. The reason why this defeated army suffered such humiliation was also related to its own disappointment. Under the leadership of the decadent commander-in-chief, they idled around all day. Not only did they not stand guard, they even rationed and sold their own food to buy wine and bread. Instead of building camp fortifications, they robbed the surrounding villages in droves.
Faced with this situation, the Roman authorities arranged for Metterus to replace the original commander in chief in BC 109. As soon as the new commander-in-chief arrived, he was strictly disciplined. However, the new official didn't take office as we thought. He didn't play the old routine of killing chickens and monkeys, nor did he directly punish these lazy and dissolute soldiers. On the contrary, he immediately drove away all businessmen in and around the barracks and prohibited soldiers from buying anything. He also asked the soldiers to bear all the equipment and materials themselves. Although the soldiers are dissatisfied, they can only submit to humiliation.
Then, Mettrus moved every day, and then went on a cross-country March. Every time when camping, soldiers are required to dig trenches and build fences according to the requirements of war. In order to urge the soldiers not to desert, he personally inspects every sentry every day. In the end, frequent labor and strict service made this Roman army learn to abide by discipline again.
Such an example was staged again in 58 AD. At that time, Kolbro was ordered to go to Syria to organize a war with the Parthians. However, in the long-term peace and the laissez-faire of officers, the Syrian legion became sluggish. They * * * wear armor, well-dressed, and don't live in wild camps, let alone participate in the construction of military camps and perform the task of guards on duty.
It's not a good harvest in Corbro. In order to punish their slackness, they were ordered to stay in the wild even in the cold winter. Death penalty for running away and being lazy. Finally, the soldiers learned to observe discipline again, and repeatedly defeated the Parthian offensive in the subsequent wars.
Of course, guidance is only a preventive measure, and mistakes will eventually be punished. Compared with the eastern Qin and Han armies, the Romans punished soldiers more reasonably because of the horror of beheading. As Vegetius said in the Art of War, the army should be severely punished. In the face of those unruly and pampered soldiers, they should be strictly forced to carry out all kinds of training and work and cancel their holidays. If there is still trouble, we should find the culprit and execute him.
Vegetius's punishment principle reflects the relative caution of the Romans about the death penalty. For different degrees of mistakes, the Romans will be sentenced according to the severity of the crime. For the same fault, the commander-in-chief will also give different punishments according to different situations. This can be found everywhere in cases and historical records. If soldiers only make some minor mistakes, they will often be punished by imprisonment. If the crime is serious, the first crime will be punished more severely.
Tacitus mentioned in the chronicle that some soldiers were thrown into prison for desertion. At the same time, a case of being punished for violating military discipline was recorded. In A.D. 14, Pannolia's legions mutinied because of problems such as overdue service, unfair treatment and hard life in military camps. Although temporarily stopped by the governor, some foreign soldiers responsible for building bridges and roads began to plunder nearby villages after hearing the news. They are unscrupulous and will even stop their officers from beating, and will continue to teach after returning to the headquarters of the regiment. So in order to punish them, the governor whipped the soldiers who robbed the most and put them in prison.
In addition to flogging and confinement, punishment is also a common means. In the Biography of the Twelve Kings written by Suvitonius, it is recorded that Augustus disarmed the soldiers who made other minor mistakes and stood in front of the commander's camp with sticks or mud for a day. This seems like a joke, but it can also make soldiers realize their mistakes, which not only achieves the purpose of punishment, but also does not offend soldiers too much. Compared with reckless catching and killing, it has to be said that it is a more realistic punishment principle.
Although the Romans are a very realistic nation, they also have their own unique hobbies, which are reflected in the punishment as a strange landscape.
In 58 AD, Kolbro sent his men to guard Armenia. He warned against engaging the enemy easily. However, the junior officers disobeyed their orders and were defeated. Kohlbrau didn't say much. He was referring to the ancient punishment measures, which directly ordered soldiers who disobeyed military orders to camp outside the fortifications. Soldiers who know that they have made a mistake can only look at the safe camp and reluctantly roll up their bags and go outside to reflect.
The disciplinary measures taken by Lu Coles in his early years are even more incredible. In 73 BC, he led an army to pursue Mithradati VI of Asia Minor. As a result, in an encounter, some soldiers fled shamefully. Afterwards, Lou Coles asked the deserters to dig trenches with their clothes in order to make the soldiers deeply aware of their mistakes. It was not enough for him to watch it alone, so he took the whole army to enjoy the naked feast mixed with sweat and shame.
However, the strong have their own hands. Urien, a famous apostate emperor, has a high attainments in shame drama. In 357 AD, Caesar, as the western part of the empire, went to Gaul to organize troops to resist the German invasion. In a battle, 600 elite cavalry under his command braved the cold and fled, leaving the infantry to fight with the enemy. After the war, urien immediately put each of them in women's clothes. In the military camp, he was laughed at by his comrades in the army. Finally aroused their sense of shame, took the lead in the next battle, and let the Germans who often fought naked taste the horror of women's clothing bosses.
Of course, humiliation can only be dealt with people with shame. When necessary, the Romans would still use the most direct and severe punishment to regulate military discipline. The most famous punishment belongs to the law of flogging and killing.
As the name implies, this punishment is to draw lots among the soldiers who made mistakes and randomly select one out of every ten people to be executed. As for whether to kill with a stick or stone, it depends on the specific situation. This kind of punishment carries out a very severe death penalty, but it avoids the unreality of putting all soldiers to death. Although random selection is unfair, it can also make the remaining soldiers feel guilty and make up for it.
The earliest recorded Shiyi murder case was the war with Wolsey people in 47 1 BC. In the long years since then, it has been the highest punishment tried and tested by the Roman army. During the Spartacus Uprising in 73-7 1 BC, crassus adopted this ancient cruel punishment to rectify military discipline. Make the army that has been defeated many times before brave and good at fighting. In the Parthian War in 36 BC, soldiers fled because they gave up hard heaps of siege mounds and were killed by Anthony. Only two years later, in 34 BC, when Augustus conquered Illyria for the second time, he executed two centurions of a brigade because the soldiers of the brigade escaped and were flogged among the soldiers. He also ordered the rations of this army to be changed from wheat to barley for livestock, and finally he was able to conquer this long-term unruly land.
In addition to flogging, direct execution is also the most common severe means. For example, Joseph recorded in the Jewish War that when Titus besieged Jerusalem, he had to transport wood from far away, which made the cavalry have to go to the wild to find forage and food. But when the cavalry let the horse eat grass, the Jews came to steal the horse. In order to curb this careless behavior, Titus executed a cavalry who lost his horse as an example.
Chronicles also record that after the mutiny of Pannonia Legion was suppressed by an eclipse, Deluce, the son of Emperor Tiberius, executed the first criminal who incited the mutiny. Almost at the same time, the mutinous legions in the Germanic provinces also surrendered the culprit because of the repentance of the soldiers. The perpetrators held a public trial in front of soldiers. If the soldiers think they are guilty, they shout and kill the criminals with their swords. Sowetonius also recorded that Augustus executed a centurion who was absent without leave.
Although there are many dramatic punishments for the Romans, and many punishments are not particularly severe, these punishments can directly hit the hearts of soldiers. It not only inspires the soldiers' sense of shame to correct their mistakes, but also avoids violating the soldiers' emotional bottom line. Compared with the rough one-size-fits-all, this punishment method adapted to local conditions is also an interesting attempt.