A comment contrasts Roman decimation with Stalin's removal of a large share of the Soviet Union's best officers. The Roman mechanism divided troops into groups of ten, drew lots, and forced the other nine to kill the selected man. Supposedly random punishment could still leave officers and troublesome rank-and-file soldiers with very different survival rates. Decimation was selective terror within a unit, not a precedent for destroying an armed force's professional leadership on the scale of the Great Purge.
Notable Point · 25:56-27:05
Roman decimation was not Stalin's officer purge
A comparison with Stalin's purges distinguishes Roman decimation's selective unit terror from the destruction of an armed force's professional leadership.