Military

From Rome

The Roman military was very large at its height. It was also a very powerful military that conquered a lot of enemies and captured a big amount of land. They fought numerous battles with their enemies around the borders. "The Roman army was the military powerhouse that conquered most of the known world in classical times." [1]To fight the battles, the Roman military took everyone from the ages of 17 to 46 to serve in the military. One of the Generals in charge of the Roman military was General Gaius Marius. Gaius Marius was in command of a 600 man unit called a cohort. To join the military, you had to enlist for a 6 year service. . If a soldier was killed in combat or captured by the enemy, then his family would receive his pay for the year.Emperors

1 Weapons
2 Famous Battles and Campaigns
3 Formations
4 Legions (and a partridge in a pair tree)
5 References

Weapons

Part of Rome's success as a military empire was due to their advanced weapons. The soldiers had to purchase there own weapons. The lower class could only afford leather armor, but the upper class could afford the plate armorer. A soldier consisted of 12 gold coins a year, look in Economy. Each soldier used one or more of the weapons that are listed below.

Pilum which was a hand-held spear. It was used to disarm an opponent.

Lorica was a heavy brass or steel breastplate worn by the Roman soldiers to protect their chest from anything or anyone that tried to hurt them in battle.

Galea was a helmet that protected their heads. It had a large plume at the top to make the soldiers would look more intimidating to the enemy.

Scutum was a round shield. The scutum was the most important protection of all. It had a large spike on the front and was used in combat to disarm the enemy and strike through their armor.

Javelin a spear that was thrown at the enemy. It was designed to break on impact so it could not be thrown again.

Gladius was a light short sword, that was sharp on both sides so that it could be wielded in both directions.

One "weapon" that wasn't mentioned above was the battle elephant. Elephants were used in battle because of their huge size and ability to carry and pull heavy objects.

Tunica was an undergarment.

Cloak it was made out of silk or cotton and was red to symbolize Rome.

Caligae were heavy boots made for long, fast marching. technology Roman Wars

Famous Battles and Campaigns

One of the great wars is the wars in Gaul also known as the Gallic Wars. Julius was leading this campaign and also ran into trouble with small tribes. The most difficult part was the war against Helvetii, a German tribe who had conquered the land. Julius was almost defeated by lack of calvary.

Another battle was the battle of Cannae. In the battle of Cannae it was the Roman Empire against Cartherage. Rome started to attack Cartherage's supplies and gathered up seventy thousand men to go to war against Cartherage. They made two general counselors and all of their allies. At Cartherage the battle was tremendous, and thousands of Romans died. After a while they decided they were no match for the general Hannibal until the battle of Zama.this is a quote about Hannibal:"He then proceeded to wreak havoc in Italy for many years."[2]

The battle of Zama was in the desert of Zama. It was Cartherage against the Roman Empire again. Cartherage had many elephants and rode them at the Romans, but the Romans let them in and killed all of the elephants leaders. Then using the same tactics and strategy that Hannibal had used in the battle of Cannae, they beat him and had their victory.

Rome has been through many wars, but mostly they would fight in Spain. After Rome invaded Greece (to stop the uprising of a man named Philip V of Macedon), Rome thought of a plan to defeat Greece, the Romans eventually won the battle with their amazing strategy. The second Punic war was a big battle with one of the best generals, named Carthaginian Hannibal. Luckily Hannibal did not have many soldiers left to capture Rome, so when the Roman military came up with a great counterattack, that was led by general Scipio and it made Hannibal's army run back. Later in 202 B.C. Scipio then kept attacking until he ended the war. In the military there were two men that were the strongest and highest officers. Each of them would lead an army group of two legions. These officers were very important when it came to war.

Formations

Roman formations in battle were very powerful and they would succeed in war.The Triplex Acies was the formation used most in their battles. This formation had three different parts. The Acies Prima was used for very strong defense. The Acies Secunda was used for filling up holes when someone would make a gap in the battle field. The last was the Acies Tertia, this would only be used when they got into their formation lines and the first row of soldiers would need help from the second row. Also there were signals used in the battles or wars. The first object that they used to signal was called a Cornu, this was a horn that made a very strong sound. Next there was the Tuba, which looked like a trumpet. Lastly there was the Bucina that gave the soldiers a signal that they should be getting into battle formations.

Legions (and a partridge in a pair tree)

LEGIONS

"Legions, were a large unit of the roman army." The military would have from 3,000 to 4,000 men that were put into four different ranks. The first six ranks in the roman military were called hoplites, and this unit was very strong. The other two ranks were called velites, this team was not that strong and lightly armed. The greatest organizer that came forward and made the legions was Marcus Furius Camillus. He made out men in three different units, the hastati which contained of the youngest soldiers, the pricipes, and the triarii which was all older men. This military was not easy to go threw men had a lot of training and they would need to be ready for anything that would happen. "With the Germanic invasions the legion proved unable to match the barbarian horsemen, rendering it obsolete"