Rome's Armies to the Death of Augustus

Roman armies as early national institutions is incorrect; they were temporary militias raised for specific campaigns rather than permanent, reform-driven forces. National armies, as we know them today, are a comparatively recent development. It has been assumed that the Romans had an army similar to the national institutions of advanced, almost exclusively European, powers at the end of the nineteenth century. But the assumption was wrong as is the belief that changes seen in the armies can...