Traismene and Cannae

[Kagemusha]

I think if we are starting a discussion about conscripts versus professionals is that both in Britain and US the whole conscription system was and still is different. While most countries in European continent had mandatory military service for certain amount of time for all capable males. Germany was example of this.
Results from such conscription are bit different specially if continued by well timed rehearsals compared to drafted conscripts that are shipped out after basic training incase numbers of the professional army are too low for the need of conflict.

So while US and Britain drafted and gave basic training to their men. Germans and for example Finnish simply called in arms their reservist that formed the troops they had been trained previously for.

[Pannonian]

I think if we are starting a discussion about conscripts versus professionals is that both in Britain and US the whole conscription system was and still is different. While most countries in European continent had mandatory military service for certain amount of time for all capable males. Germany was example of this.
Results from such conscription are bit different specially if continued by well timed rehearsals compared to drafted conscripts that are shipped out after basic training incase numbers of the professional army are too low for the need of conflict.

So while US and Britain drafted and gave basic training to their men. Germans and for example Finnish simply called in arms their reservist that formed the troops they had been trained previously for.

Wasn't the German system created as a way around the restrictions Napoleon placed on the Prussian army? If Prussia can only have an army of 100,000, Prussia would have a permanent corps of 5,000 fulltime officers, then have drafts of 95,000 conscripts who are trained and demobbed in time for the next lot, thus giving it access to a paper strength of 100,000 current soldiers plus 500,000 reservists or summat.

[rotorgun]

Polybius has a full description of the selection process. IIRC the Roman territories have an obligation to provide n men for service. The selection will take into account fitness for service, service already rendered, the consul's choice, etc. They then make their way to a gathering point, eventually meeting up on the Field of Mars. When Hannibal marched on Rome in an attempt to relieve Capua, 4 legions had coincidentally just been raised and assembled in Rome.

Also, training might still have been done by parents and parent figures at this point in time. It was Scipio Africanus, during his Iberian campaign, who brought in gladiator-style standardized training.

So, the Roman armies of the period were likely made up of a mixture of full time professionals, recalled veterans (reservists of a kind), and a large number of hastily, but well trained recruits. Their pattern of tactics must have therefore, become predictable to an astute General. Hannibal was certainly an astute tactician. He seemed to have an uncanny knack of getting well inside the decision making process of his Roman opponents.

[Samurai Waki]

The Parthians were also quite aware of the Roman's inflexibility.

[Centurion1]

As someone said before until scipio africanus the romans training was not legion style. They still had more training than other areas of the world at that time but they were not the well oiled machine of the empire at that time. What the Romans had going for them over other nations (not just barbarians but also empires) was their training and discipline. If they did not have men well trained there would have been many routs. The romans (and other nations) have often developed a process of placing newer recruits next to veterans in the battle line, because usually a rout is started because a man sees one of his comrades running, he is usually more willing to fight if his brothers in arms are.