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MODERN ROMANS: A WARNING FOR AMERICA, BRITAIN AND ISRAEL


Chapter 15


Huge Military Expenditures

Burgeoning military establishment to control the far-flung empire have already been mentioned, which required ever-increasing taxes to fund the continually growing expenditures. Solomon in his wisdom said in Ecclesiastes 8:9, “9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man rules over another to his own hurt.” That applies to most empires as well. It certainly applied to the ancient Roman Empire.

Rostovtzeff states: At its peak, "The Roman Empire was surrounded by a ring of military fortresses — in Britain, on the Rhine, Danube and Euphrates; in Arabia, Egypt and Africa" (M. Rostovtzeff, Rome, pp. 210-211).

MR booklet states: “But to support this ever-growing military machine, with all its vast requirements for more fortresses, weapons of every kind, manpower and food, required heavy financial burdens on the government and populace. Taxes were high in order to support burgeoning military needs; the bureaucracy needed to back up the collection and distribution of supplies grew ever more complicated — and corrupted!

“From Diocletian onward, vast armament factories (fabricae) manufactured all arms required for the insatiable military forces. There were fifteen factories in the Eastern Empire for production of shield and arms — Damascus, Antioch, Edessa, Nicomedia, Sardis, Thessalonica, and others. Other cities were centers for production of heavy cavalry armor.

The Western Empire had its vast military-industrial complexes, too.

"There were shield works at Aquincum, Carnuntum, Lauriacum, Cremona, Augustodunum and Augusta Trevirorum, arrow factories at Concordia and Matisco, a bow — factory at Ticinum, a breastplate works at Mantua, sword factories at Luca and Remi, and for ballistae [catapult artillery] at Treviri" (A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, p. 834). Other arms were produced elsewhere.

“Special factories produced bronze armor adorned with silver and gold for officers. Others produced uniforms for the troops and civil services.

"The fabricae must have been large establishments, for their personnel was a substantial element in the population of the towns in which they were situated" (ibid., p. 835).

Rome’s Awesome Weaponry

MR Booklet describes the Roman weaponry:

“Rome borrowed military techniques or tactics from other nations. This gave her the latest effective tools of warfare. In the early Empire, the cool discipline and mastery of arms of her legions always won out in the end over the impetuous fury and more numerous hordes of many of her enemies. She might lose a battle, but she generally won the war.

“The Romans were masters in the art of siege warfare. They built complex towers to overrun the highest walls. They developed huge protected battering rams to break down heavy walled fortresses. Besides the usual small personal arms — swords, spears, shields, bows and arrows — the Romans developed fear-inspiring and devastating heavy artillery, much of it mobile.

“They had catapults that could hurl 50-pound rocks 400 yards or more — nearly a quarter of a mile — wreaking devastating destruction.

“Other catapults could hurl bags of stones — the Roman equivalent of shrapnel. One device called a ballista could hurl a 12-foot flaming spear 2,000 feet or more — over a third of a mile. A huge crossbow device could hurl smaller fire-tipped darts in rapid succession and strike home with great accuracy.”

Rome had effectively become the ‘policeman of its part of the world’ in Europe, Middle East, Asia and North Africa. After World War 2, the U.S. finds itself in the unenviable position of becoming the ‘policeman of the world’ after Britain had to relinquish the role before World War 2 as it could barely keep itself going after World War 2. 

Now for comparison purposes, look at the U.S. budget. For the 2020 Federal Budget, the total budgeted expenditure is $4.746 trillion. Almost 60% pays for mandated benefits such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. 

Interest on the U.S. debt will be $479 billion. The U.S. Treasury must pay it to avoid a U.S. debt default. Interest on the approximately $22 trillion debt is already the fastest growing federal expense.

The remaining $1.426 trillion pays for everything else. It's called discretionary spending. From the discretionary budget, military spending was more than half the expenditure. In military spending, the biggest expense was the Department of Defense base budget at $576 billion. Overseas Contingency Operations were estimated to cost approximately $174 billion. That pays for the war on terror costs triggered by the 9/11 attacks. These include ongoing costs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Military spending included $212.9 billion for defense-related departments. These include Homeland Security, the State Department, and Veterans Affairs. These departments also receive emergency funding of $26.1 billion. Add it up, and the total U.S. spending on defense is $989 billion. This means that the rest of $437 billion must pay for all other programs, the largest of which are Health and Human Services, Education, and Housing and Urban Development.

Compare the U.S. military spending with that of other nations. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated the U.S. military spending at $649 billion for 2018 (which did not take into account the cost of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq/Syria. Compared to that China spends $250 billion, Saudi Arabia $67.6b; India $66.5b; Russia $61.4b, Germany $49.5b and Japan at $46.6b.

Federal revenues are estimated at $3.645 trillion in revenue, leaving a budget deficit of $1.101 trillion, which will go to increase the national debt.

For all these expenditures, America possesses some awesome weapons. But other nations have now developed comparable weapons at a fraction of the cost.

America sends troops to hot spots in the world, wins the short war overwhelmingly. But then Americans leave, and the defeated enemies take control of the vacated areas. In Afghanistan, the U.S. is trying to develop Afghani forces, but the Islamic suicide bombers continue to take a heavy toll. After the U.S. used the Iraqi and Syrian Kurds to win the war against ISIS, President Trump has decided to abandon them and allowed Turkey to attack them to create a zone for Syrian refuges to return. In effect, the U.S. has given away its gains. The U.S. does not win wars anymore.  

God prophesied this condition in Leviticus 26:19. He said that if we refuse to obey His commandments, statutes and judgments, “I will break the pride of your power..." That is what America and Britain are experiencing today, despite still possessing great power.



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