Page 136 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

136 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

cOnclusiOn
In conclusion, it was the introduction and - eventually - the exclusive reliance on a pro-
fessional military that removed any direct connection between many non-combatant citizens
and military action. When the Greek city state went at war, it did so as a whole. While only
the able-bodied men within a certain age range were involved in the actual combat, every-
body else was indirectly involved in some way as well - right down to actively taking part in
street-fighting if the need arose. Military action was not merely a fact of daily life; it was one
of the most important aspects of of the political existence, so to speak, of every citizen, in
whose home the panoply, his military equipment, had a special place as it denoted his status
as a citizen.
The introduction of a professional military during the latter days of the Roman republic
and in the Roman empire then removed the direct connection between the normally non-
combatant citizens and military action. This caused the citizens not in some way or another
involved with military affairs to lose contact with the army; not only did war itself become
something remote to many citizens, soldiers were mainly no longer seen as fellow citizens,
but increasingly regarded as being on the fringe of a society that turned into a civil one.
Someone from a Greek city state would probably have thought of soldiers first and foremost
as citizens of his own or a foreign city doing the duty they owed to their own community.
For someone living in a Roman town as early as the first century AD, soldiers were intruders
from a world that was not his own. The establishment of a professional military thus had
30
become the most important tool for demilitarizing society. As a result, active participation of
non-combatants became something totally unusual and out of the ordinary.

30 tac. Ann. 4.4 famously describes a soldier as someone who has failed in civilian life and joined the army as
a last resort.