Roman Empire Depended Upon Bureaucracy & Navy
The Romans, like all great Empires (save a few exceptions like the Mongol and not even them in totality) actually won because of their bureaucracy- the masses of overweight, underpaid, pasty clerks sitting in warehouses across the Empire counting pennies all day long.
.. Defending ‘land’ is a very modern style of thinking. The Ancients- despite all the poetry they wrote- never defended land. They defended cities, bridges, factories- but never land!
.. If the Mongols had invaded, Rome would’ve simply withdrawn from those lands, allowed the Mongols to bleed themselves out, & shuttled themselves into their port-city-citadels.With navies, there was no way the Mongols could’ve sieged them successfully.