Ancient Rome XVIII - The Consulships of Gaius Marius

This is the eighteenth of many chapters in History with a Twist of Lime's look on "The Historical History of Ancient Rome." This chapter begins with Rome's involvement in the Numidian succession, leading to war with the usurper Jugurtha in what is known as the Jugurthine War (112-105 BC). Corrupt and ineffective Roman military leadership led to the rise of a new man, Gaius Marius, to take command and use diplomatic strategy to win the war. This was followed up by the threat of Germanic tribes, such as the Cimbri and the Teutones, from the north, and led to two major lapses in the Republican Constitution: Marius being elected consul six times in nine years, and Marius' recruitment of a volunteer army composed of landless Romans and Italians. While Marius was successful in the Cimbrian War (104-101 BC), the reforms he attempted to pass for his troops, such as giving homeless soldiers land and Italian allies full Roman citizenship, led to his ostracization by the Senate. Nonetheless, Marius' military reforms would be followed up by the Roman generals of the future, especially against the Roman government itself. As this is one of many chapters being produced over this project, I would invite you to watch the other chapters dealing with the history of Ancient Rome. They can be viewed seamlessly under this playlist on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtseWnNmHqg&feature=PlayList&p=AF3D8467A06755CE&index=0&playnext=1 References: Cavazzi, Franco. "The Early Roman Republic." Illustrated History of the Roman Empire. 19 June 2008. http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/earlyrep-index.html Kidney, Frank L., et al. "Making Europe: People, Politics, and Culture." Vol. 1. Houghton Mifflin, 2009. Mackey, Christopher S. "Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History." Cambridge University Press, 2004.