Roman Armies
The Roman Army, when it was most powerful conquered what we now call England/Wales, Spain, France, most of Germany, the northern coast of Africa, the Middle East and Greece. The Romans had a large army, with many men. The Roman army was divided into legions of about 5,000 men. Contubernium: consisted of 8 men. Century was made up of 10 contubernium with a total of 80 men commanded by a centurion. Cohorts included 6 centuries a total of 480 men. Legion consisted of 10 cohorts, about 5,000 men. Each legion had a cavalry unit of 120 attached to them.
The lowest level of soldier in the Roman Army was the legionnaire. Most legionnaries were from a poor class, they were foot soldiers. Officers were from the patrician class and bought their own armor and weapons. If an officer wanted a horse, that officer had to provide and care for a horse themselves. Between 5000 and 6000 legionaries made up a legion that was commanded by a legatus. Legionnaires were trained to fight in a disciplined and co-ordinated manner. A whole legion could be punished for failing to fight well in battle - even if the Romans did win the battle itself. Training was brutal and tough but it paid huge dividends for the Romans. A legionnaire was equipped with three main weapons; a Pilum, a Gladius and a Pugio. A Pilum was the todays equivalent of the javelin, it was thrown at enemies to distract them while they attempted to dodge the vicious weapon. Getting hit by a Pilum was bad, its head crumpled on impact and removing it was extremely painful. The Romans had designed this weapon so that they could take the shaft and reattach a spear head. A Gladius was a Romans prime close combat weapon, it was extremely sharp and getting hit by a Gladius was a serious injury. The Pugio was a small Roman dagger used if all else had been lost. Their armor - in spite of what you might have seen in the movies - did not shine. Some armor was made of leather, with metal on the inside. A legionary's uniform included a rectangular shield, a short sword, a dagger, jacket, belt, helmet, kilt, shirt, and sandals. The legion wore special nailed sandals, which were designed to make a loud noise and even create sparks on rocky ground. A new legionary was issued these items. As well as these weapons a Roman soldier carried a curved shield called a Scutum. It gave a Roman Legionnaire a lot of protecttion as it curved around his body. It was also used by the Romans when they used what was known as a tortoise formation to move forward to a target that was well defended. A 'tortoise' was when the soldiers lifted the scutums flat above their heads so that they effectively interlocked and protected them from any missiles thrown at them from on high. When a legion moved camp, they would totally break apart the old camp and march away. When they stopped for the night, they would build a new camp, complete with walls, towers, and even roads. The ancient Romans loved to show off. The Roman legion provided that. Each legion had its own special banner, its own name, and its own number. Within the legion, centuries (groups of 100 men) also had a banner. The legion also had trumpet players, drummers and other noisemakers, so a Roman legion on the march was certainly spectacular. Each legionary served for a minimum of 25 years before he could retire. When a legionary retired, he was given land in the provinces and a small pension. This gave Rome retired but trained military men who could help to protect towns and villages all over the empire. The Roman legion was very organized and very successful. Its reputation as an invincible fighting organization was so great that sometimes, when they moved into a new region, the people gave up without a fight.
Ironically it was the Roman success that lead to their downfall, they over extended and when the countries they conquered started to rise up the couldn't raise enough Romans to fight them all off, their over dependance on slaves meant that when the countries rose up they couldn't produce any more slaves and some say a plague might have wiped out half of the population.
Ironically it was the Roman success that lead to their downfall, they over extended and when the countries they conquered started to rise up the couldn't raise enough Romans to fight them all off, their over dependance on slaves meant that when the countries rose up they couldn't produce any more slaves and some say a plague might have wiped out half of the population.