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The Roman army is the set of land-based military forces employed by the Roman Kingdom , Roman Republic and later Roman Empire as part of the Roman Military . For its main infantry constituent and for much of its history, see Roman Legion ; for a catalogue of individual legions, dates and deployments, see List Of Roman Legions . For the non-citizen auxiliary forces of the Roman Empire, see Roman Auxiliaries . For Rome's naval forces, see Roman Navy . ARMY SIZE AND STATISTICS It is estimated by Edward Gibbon that at the height of the Principate the maximum size of the Roman army was around 386,500 troops. However, Antonio Santosuosso argues that if one includes all the allied Foederati troops fighting on behalf of and in the name of the Roman Empire, then the size of the army in the late Roman Empire was closer to 650,000 - 700,000 men. It was very well organized hierarchically. The main Roman soldiers in the Empire were the Legionaries .There were, of course, other soldiers in the army; these were known as the Auxilia . Auxilia were non-citizens recruited mostly from the provinces. They were paid less than legionaries but at the end of their service they were granted Roman citizenship. The smallest group of legionaries was a "contubernium", this was a group of 6-10 soldiers that shared a tent and ate together. There were 10 contubernia in a "century". A century was the next largest group of soldiers. A century was a group of originally 100 men in the Early Roman Republic but later reduced to 60-80 men during the Roman Empire. The next largest group of soldiers were called "maniples". A maniple consisted of two centuries (160-210 men, including the Velites /skirmishers). Next were the "cohorts". These were made up of 3 maniples (480-630 men). A "prima cohors" was the first cohort in a legion; it was much larger than the other cohorts, containing 5 maniples (800-1,050 men). Finally, the largest group in the Roman Army was the Legion .There were ten cohorts including the "prima cohors" in a legion. A full-strength legion contained 5,120-6,720 men, though it was not uncommon for most legions to be under strength. All of these numbers depended on the date (ex. Scipio Africanus reformation, Gaius Marius reformation). The republican army's strength, in peace, was four legions, but the number was increased during wartime. The highest number of legions were 70 after the civil war between Octavian and Mark Antony, when the remainder of Antony's forces joined with Octavian's. The number was decreased to 28 legions soon after, as the economically strained empire could not pay such huge numbers. After the Varus Disaster , only 25 legions remained. TACTICS See Also: Roman Infantry Tactics The Romans generally followed the same basic methods in battle, although adjustments were made depending on the enemy size/type, Roman manpower, terrain/topography, etc. Polybius, the Greek historian the Romans took hostage in 167 B.C., described the Roman army of the middle Republic fighting in three lines called the triplex acies. The position of a soldier on the line would be decided by his age and experience. The Hastati , the youngest, least experienced soldiers were deployed in the first line. The Principes , 20-30 years old and with more experience than the hastati, second, and the Triarii , oldest and most experienced, last. The men on each line would be organized into ten maniples, ten of hastai, ten of principes, and ten of triarii. The maniples would be deployed in a checkerboard formation called the Quincunx , a principe maniple covering the gap between two hastati maniples. The triarii maniples would do the same behind the principe rank. Velites , Roman skirmishers, would place themselves at the very front of the formation and begin firing. The velites would then escape the front by zig-zaging through the gaps in the quincunx formation. It is important to note that even though all ancient armies had gaps in their formation, the Roman gaps were much larger. The legion would then advance toward the enemy, the hastati closing the gaps between maniples to form a shield wall, while maintaining the triplex acies. The principes and triarii would maintain the quincunx, the principes defending the flanks of the now smaller hastati line. Early legions would try to make as much noise as possible, while the late legions would advance silently. About 15 meters away from the enemy, the legionaries would halt, throw their Pila , and charge with a sudden scream. The combination of physical pain from the pila, and the psychological shock of the suddenly loud charge was often enough to rout the opposing force. The hastati would push down the enemy with their shields and stab them on the ground, while the triarii served as a reserve and "cleaned up", killing any enemies that survived the first two lines. When the hastati were exhausted, they would reform and fall back behind the now charging principes, rotating lines to maintain the fighting men fresh. If the enemy advanced first the legions would stand their ground and throw their pila when the enemy was about 20 meters away. This would also be followed by screams from the soldiers. The shield wall would be formed yet again, but this time the enemy weapons would be pushed upwards as the opposing soldiers swung, allowing the hastati and principes to stab the enemy quickly. The triarii acted as a reserve until the legion began to move forward. By the late Republican period the Roman army was uniformly comprised of swordsmen, armed like the earlier principes and hastati. A legion was still typically deployed in the triplex acies with the more experienced troops to the rear to act as a reserve when the front line broke. As the Roman Army became more professional, it also became more efficient, and by the time of Gaius Marius , the most experienced legionnaires were sometimes put in the front line to lead the charge. When Gaius Marius replaced the five previous legionary standards (Boar, Wolf, Horse, Eagle and Minotaur) with a single silver Eagle, the best troops were gathered into a "first" cohort bearing the silver Eagle. The "first" cohort was always the rightmost cohort in the first line, the most honorable position. Defensive Tactics Testudo/Tortoise See Also: Testudo formation The most common form of defense Roman generals would use was the Testudo Formation . In one version of the testudo, the tortoise, the Roman soldiers would group together to make a semicircle which looked like a tortoise shell. In the original testudo formation, soldiers would form a rectangle; their shields fitting perfectly with one another. A soldier's head and body was protected by rows of shields. The testudo was more mobile than the tortoise, but the tortoise gave slightly better protection. Both forms mainly protected the soldiers from enemy arrows. Cavalry Defense For defense against cavalry, the first rank of each of the front cohorts would make a solid wall of shields, then would level their Pila , forming a wall. The second rank would stab over the top of the first rank's heads and/or throw missiles. The men would then brace for impact and rotate to have their shields face the cavalry. The Romans would use their pila as spears rather than missiles. Orbis The Orbis was the last option a Roman general would take, if the situation looked dire (e.g. surrounded and heavily outnumbered). The formation is literally an orb or circle of men; as orbis means "circle", "ring", or "sphere" in Latin. As was said before this was the last possible option, but it did create several advantages: there was no front or rear, just a solid wall of shields and weapons with the officers and archers in the center giving support where most needed. The Orbis required strict organization and highly disciplined legionaries in order to hold until the last man fell. Offensive Tactics Wedge The wedge (or Pig's Head) was a tactical formation favoured by many Roman generals. The formation took the appearance of a row of saw teeth facing the enemy, which would enable the Roman legion to separate the opposing force and break the enemy's formation. Every "tooth" would have 1 soldier in the first rank, 2 in the second, etc. Generally 10-12 ranks made an individual unit of the wedge formation. This also made the most of the customary weapon of the Roman soldiers, the Gladius or Spatha which were generally around 56-65.5 cm long, as it would force close combat where it would be difficult to wield larger weapons. Charge See Also: Charge (warfare) As the name suggests this tactic consisted of running as fast as possible towards the enemy, without throwing pilas and then engaging with the enemy. Julius Caesar used this tactic effectively against Pompey during the civil war. Pompey simply thought that if his soldiers did not counter-charge, the Roman troops would be out of breath when they reached the enemy front line and unable to use their combat experience to its fullest. To counter this possibility Caesar made his troops stop in mid-charge to catch their breath and re-form. The soldiers would then resume the charge and battle the enemy with their full abilities. WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT See Also: Roman military equipment In an early to mid-Republican era legion legionaries usually bought their own gear. Hastati, the first line, usually had breastplates and occasionally wore lorica hamata, or chainmail. The wealthier principes could afford lorica hamata but they were sometimes seen wearing the cheaper cuiriasses. Both hastati and principes were each armed with a gladius - a short, 60 centimeter sword - and each had two pila (javelins). The Triarii's primary weapon was the hasta, a 2 meter long spear. They were also armed with the gladius and had an early form of the lorica segmenta. All legionaries had a large rectangular shield (scutum) which had rounded corners. By the late Republican period, all legionaries carried a gladius, two pila, a new, larger version of the scutum, and wore segmented armor. Roman Soldier's Main Armor A set of Roman armor would include one of a variety of body armor types (usually designed to be flexible but strong; a Centurion 's body armor differs from that of the legionary), a ''shield'' (with a special design/decoration for each legion), ''leggings'' or ''greaves'', an ''apron'' (for decoration and protecting the groin, mostly made of metal), ''marching sandals'' (with studs on the sole), a ''coarse woolen tunic'', a ''belt'' (showing a soldier's position/rank in the army), and lastly a ''helmet'' (with cheek, ear and neck protection). A helmet might have also held a crest if the Roman was an officer or of higher rank than a peer. Personal Armor
Personal Weapons
Additionally, in the army of the late empire, the ''gladius'' was often substituted by a Spatha (longsword), up to 1 meter long, the rectangular Scutum was dropped in favor of an oval shield, the earlier ''pilum'' had evolved into a differently shaped Javelin - lighter and with a greater range - and new weapon types such as thrown darts ('' Plumbata e'') were introduced. (Santosuosso, A., ''Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire'', Westview, 2001, p. 190) Artillery weapons RANKS High level ranks
Mid Level ranks
Low level ranks
TRAINING Fitness The main prerequisite for a member of the Roman Army was fitness, given the long distances they were expected to march. Group Training Every day the whole of the legion would practice swimming, running, jumping, fencing and javelin throwing. But, before that happened newcomers would do two sessions of military drill and give their oath of loyalty to their Commander and Emperor. Drill and weapons training Both legionary and auxilia troops also did drill training, from fundamentals such as learning Military Step and the exact Formation Of Ranks , to practicing tactical maneuvers. Roman tactics also required the soldier to be able to respond instantly to commands to change the shape of his formation, not simply to fight as a brave individual, as in barbarian armies. This required extensive training and discipline. Weapons training covered how to handle a sword, both to become accustomed to the weight and balance, and also how to deliver injurious blows to an enemy without exposing the soldier's own body to enemy strikes. Roman sword-fighting as talk was in fact fairly restrained and measured - primarily, the sword was to be used to make short stabbing strokes from behind the protection of the Scutum with minimal risk of the soldier receiving counter-strokes. This is in contrast to the rather looser style of slashing blows favored by many barbarian peoples. The soldier was taught not to engage in wild sword-fights with opponents and especially not to lay himself open to his antagonist while aiming his stroke at him. A favoured tactic taught was to knock one's opponents off their feet with a ram of the Scutum (shield) , and then to dispatch him with one or more swift downward stabs whilst he was vulnerable on the ground, all the while remaining protected himself by the scutum, which was to remained raised. They also trained in the use of the thrown javelin and pilum. Times of training Training was usually an all day event, starting at 6 AM and ending at midnight. Occasionally, trainees would have to work two days in a row without a break. Common skills As a minimum, it was expected that all troops would be at least minimally competent at swimming, so as to be able to ford any rivers where it was necessary to cross without the aid of a bridge and also some of them would have to swim in their armor so they could continue fighting. Special skills In an army as organizationally complex as the Roman army, physical conditioning, while stressed, was not sufficient. The most intelligent were trained in the special skills needed by the army, and would become officers or Immunes in areas such as engineering. HISTORY OF THE ROMAN ARMY See Also: Campaign history of the Roman military Structural history of the Roman military Technological history of the Roman military Political history of the Roman military Roman legion List of Roman legions From a few score men defending a small hill town in Italy, through a citizen militia consisting of citizen-farmers raised annually for a short campaign before returning to harvest their fields, the Roman army grew to be a professional standing army of several hundred thousand men. Roman historian Edward Gibbon estimates in his book '' The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire '' that the peak size of the Roman army in the late imperial period was in the order of 375,000 men. BRANCHES REFERENCES Secondary Sources
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