Rome MilitarySpending/Overexpansion
-Jackson & Seamus
“America’s seemingly imperial power is more dominant perhaps than any other since the Roman Empire.” - Joseph Nye
Roman Expansion
During Trajan’s rule of Rome, he expanded the borders of the Empire to its greatest height. He conquered a long-time enemy of the Romans, Dacia. Within Dacia’s borders the land was rich with gold and with Trajan’s conquering of the area, the Roman economy grew stronger. But when you expand, you must thin out your military in order to keep the new borders. Eventually the military forces were spread so thin that the borders were un holdable and the troops were forced to retreat from Dacia. This drastically impacted the Roman economy for the worse.
American Expansion
Most of the time when the US conquers a foreign territory, they will instate a democratic government and leave the area. They may leave a couple troops and/or a military base but otherwise we just oversee it as a territory. Some exceptions are the annexation of California, Hawaii, Alaska, and some parts of Latin America.
How Can We Avoid Over Expansion
The US is doing a lot right in terms of not over-expanding currently. Instating democracy and then pulling out most troops is a good way to halt over-expansion and help other countries get back on their feet at the same time.
Rome Spent Lots Of Money On Their Military Just Like America
Roman Military Spending
After Trajan’s rule was passed on to Hadrian the expansion stopped and the military was solely focused on defending the borders. This included the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in northern Britain and the hiring of more soldiers. Around 130 A.D. during Hadrian the Roman army was spending about 383,000 units and continuously growing. The money that could have been so many other things was diverted to the military and that hurt the Roman people more than it helped.
American Military Spending
Last year in the US, the total military spending was $598.5 billion. If you take China, the United Kingdom, India, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and France all of their spending combined is about the same amount as what we spend. This means that we spend too much of our money on the military and that we have a very paranoid government.
Extent Of Military Spending
The new $400 billion military project to create a fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets is 7 years behind schedule. The entire cost of the project is enough to house every homeless person in America; with a $600,000 home!
Sources
http://www.ancient.eu/hadrian/
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/military-spending-united-states/
http://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0053_defense-comparison
http://mrswaltonsblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/rome-if-you-want-torome-around.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/11/military-jet-spending_n_5575045.html