The Roman Military Essay Research Paper

The Roman Military Essay, Research Paper

 THE ROMAN MILITARY

The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire together lasted for over one-thousand years,

and at its height, their extensive territories stretched from the Atlantic Ocean in the West, to the

rivers of Mesopotamia in the East, and from the Sahara desert in the South, to the River Rhine in

Northern Europe. The one factor that made this spectacular feat possible was the exploits of the

Roman Military. The military had succeeded in their expansion campaigns and had successfully

defended the borders against foreign invaders for centuries. The fact of the matter was that the

Roman Military was the deciding factor in any successes or failures the Roman state incurred,

and at its most basic element, it was ultimately the successful strategies and doctrines of the

Roman Army that made their victories so pervasive. This paper will trace the development of

the military from the early Roman period through the Marius. reforms, with an emphasis placed

on the primary battle formations and tactics employed by the Roman Legions.

The early Roman Army was formed under the Etruscan ruler, Tarquin the Proud in the

seventh century B.C.. During this period, the Etruscans fought in the Phalanx formation, with

the primary fighting force made up of native Etruscans. The Romans were relegated to fight as

only skirmishers defending the flanks of the legions, but this would all change under the second

King of the Etruscans Servius Tullius in the mid sixth century.

Tullius. first act was to reorganize the army based on wealth instead of race. Only the

men who owned a certain amount of land were now eligible for military service. Furthermore,

he divided the Army into five classes with each group formed according to their individual

wealth. The richest soldiers formed into eighty centuries, forty of young (ages 17-46) and forty

of old (47-60) called lochoi. This highest class of soldiers were fully outfitted in Greek style

armor. The rest of the men were organized into twenty centuries each and armed and suited

according to their wealth.

The primary formation this early army fought under was the phalanx. The formation was

divided into three different groups of soldiers: the principes, hastati, and the triarii which com-

bined to form the heavy infantry section of the phalanx. Each of these soldiers were equipped

with the hasta long spear, a sword, and fully dressed in armor. Those who could not afford the

necessary equipment were used as skirmishers and armed with a light spears and shield only.

The phalanx legion was generally made up 3000 men and supported by 300 cavalry sol-

diers on the flanks. The men were drawn up into six ranks of 500 men each, which was further

broken down into centuries of 60 to 100 men. The commanding officers of the centuries were

the Centurions, these particular men were, essentially, the backbone of the legions. The phalanx

proved to be a formidable formation under ideal lowland conditions, but its Achilles heel was

that it was highly inflexible in the characteristic broken terrain of central Italy. It proved too

difficult to coordinate movement of the 3000 soldier tactical unit when fighting against the

mobile barbarian opponents, but Rome would continue to use this battle formation up to the

fourth century.

It must be noted that at this particular time, the Roman military was not a professional

army, but rather it consisted of citizen soldiers who were recruited only after a military situation

presented itself. There was no standing army, no pay, and the men primarily volunteered due to

the perception that it was a citizen.s duty and a privilege to serve for his state.

In 390 B.C., Celtic warriors advanced into Rome and, subsequently, defeated all Roman

attempts at containing them. They sacked city after city throughout the state, and finally

retreated after a seven month long siege on the capital. It was at this time that the Romans

recognized that a reorganization was necessary if they were to continue to be the continental

power and, consequently, they abandoned the phalanx formation and replaced it with the

Manipular Legion. This new reform has been historically credited to Furius Camillus, but it is

now generally believed that the reform was the product of many years of gradual change

throughout the fourth century.

The manipular legion now consisted of 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry soldiers, which

was divided into 30 maniples. Whereas before the tactical unit had been the entire 3000 man

phalanx legion, now the tactical unit was the 120 man maniple. Each maniple contained two

centuries of 60 men each. As well, the new formation had the army fighting in waves of three.

The first line were the hastati, the second were the principes, and the third the trairii, with each

of these groups consisting of ten maniples a piece.

Those soldiers who were too young and who could n

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