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    The Roman Army

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    The Roman Army was key to Rome's success in building its empire. As the empire grew, more people were compelled to join the army, including those who were not well-off citizens. Soldiers became full-time professionals well-trained in an array of weapons. The army was highly organized into legions of thousands of men each, further divided into cohorts, centuries, and groups of 8. Legionnaires underwent rigorous training and carried significant equipment on marches and campaigns, but also had time for recreation off-duty. Strict discipline, including harsh punishments, helped the Roman Army maintain control over vast territories.

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    The Roman Army

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    63K views20 pages
    The Roman Army was key to Rome's success in building its empire. As the empire grew, more people were compelled to join the army, including those who were not well-off citizens. Soldiers became full-time professionals well-trained in an array of weapons. The army was highly organized into legions of thousands of men each, further divided into cohorts, centuries, and groups of 8. Legionnaires underwent rigorous training and carried significant equipment on marches and campaigns, but also had time for recreation off-duty. Strict discipline, including harsh punishments, helped the Roman Army maintain control over vast territories.

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    The Roman Army was key to Rome's success in building its empire. As the empire grew, more people were compelled to join the army, including those who were not well-off citizens. Soldiers became full-time professionals well-trained in an array of weapons. The army was highly organized into legions of thousands of men each, further divided into cohorts, centuries, and groups of 8. Legionnaires underwent rigorous training and carried significant equipment on marches and campaigns, but also had time for recreation off-duty. Strict discipline, including harsh punishments, helped the Roman Army maintain control over vast territories.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    63K views20 pages

    The Roman Army

    Uploaded by

    api-116627658
    The Roman Army was key to Rome's success in building its empire. As the empire grew, more people were compelled to join the army, including those who were not well-off citizens. Soldiers became full-time professionals well-trained in an array of weapons. The army was highly organized into legions of thousands of men each, further divided into cohorts, centuries, and groups of 8. Legionnaires underwent rigorous training and carried significant equipment on marches and campaigns, but also had time for recreation off-duty. Strict discipline, including harsh punishments, helped the Roman Army maintain control over vast territories.

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    The key takeaways are that the Roman army was highly organized and disciplined, which contributed to Rome's success in building its empire.

    Initially, the Roman army consisted of citizen soldiers who fought on foot with spears and were sent home after battles ended. They copied the organization of Greek armies.

    Over time, as the empire grew, serving became a full-time career and soldiers were stationed in forts rather than sent home. The army professionalized with well-trained, experienced soldiers.

    The Romans

    Why was the Roman Army so successful?

    The Roman Army


    The brilliance of the Roman army was the key
    to Romes success in building its Empire.
    By the end of this lesson, you should know:
    What kind of person joined the Roman army.
    How the soldiers spent their time (when not
    fighting!)
    Why the army was so successful.

    What was the army like to begin with?


    As Roman power grew, more people were made to join
    the army. Why?
    At first the soldiers were the better-off citizens. (Why
    did you have to be well-off?)
    They copied Greek armies and fought on foot with long
    spears.
    They were sent home when a war ended.
    How do you think the growth of the Empire affected
    the following
    who joined,
    how they were equipped, and
    how the army was run?

    How did things change?

    As the Empire grew bigger and


    bigger the army had to fight
    further and further away from
    home.
    Being a soldier became a full-time
    job - they were no longer sent
    home when a battle ended.
    These full-time soldiers were welltrained and disciplined. They had
    to be tough and confident in the
    use of a number of weapons.

    How was the army organised?


    Roman soldiers were grouped into
    large numbers called legions. There
    were between 29 and 30 of these at
    different times.
    Each legion was divided into 10
    cohorts of 480 men.
    Each cohort was divided into 6
    centuries of about 80 men led by a
    centurion.
    Each century was split into 10 groups
    of 8 men who shared a tent or
    barrack room.
    What a lot of people!

    Each legion had a golden eagle carried on a pole. Each


    century had its own standard, or flag.
    To lose your standard, or worse, the
    Eagle, would bring great shame on the
    soldiers concerned.

    This is why a trusted, experienced


    soldier was given the role of standardbearer.

    How did you become a legionary?


    The legions were made up of male Roman
    citizens.
    To join the army you had to be recommended by
    someone in the army, physically fit and of good
    character.
    Recruits had to be at least 20 years old.
    They joined for 25 years.
    They were not allowed to marry whilst in the
    army.
    When they retired they were given money (three
    gold coins) and land to farm.
    The legion also contained specialists such as
    engineers, surveyors, doctors, vets, stonemasons,
    craftsmen, and even torturers and executioners!

    What if you werent a Roman citizen?


    If you were not a citizen of
    the Roman Empire, but
    wanted to join the army,
    you could do so as an
    auxilliary. They were made
    citizens when they retired.
    This picture shows a
    citizenship document
    giving Roman citizenship to
    a soldier named Gemellus.

    What
    makes the
    legionarys
    uniform
    and
    equipment
    so effective
    for a man
    about to go
    into battle?

    But was that all the equipment they


    needed? Study the following sources...
    An extract from a letter found at the
    Roman fort at Vindolanda on Hadrians
    Wall
    I have sent you .. pairs of woollen socks,
    two pairs of sandals and two pairs of
    underpants ..
    Vegetius, A Military Digest, 4th century
    AD
    For building the trenches they find it
    useful to have pick-axes, shovels,
    baskets and other equipment always on
    hand
    The young soldier must be given frequent
    practice in carrying loads up to 60lbs
    while marching at the normal speed
    because on difficult campaigns they will
    have to carry their rations as well as their
    weapons.

    Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, written in


    the 1st century AD
    Foot soldiers are armed with a cuirass (body
    armour) and a helmet. They carry two swords ..
    a spear and round shield. In addition .. a saw, a
    basket, a mattock (pick) and an axe, as well as a
    leather strap, a sickle, a chain and enough
    rations to last him for three days. In fact he
    carries so much equipment he is not very
    different from a mule.
    From a modern textbook
    A Roman soldier would march 20 miles a day
    carrying his armour and weapons AND 2 posts
    about 2.4 metres long to make a fence at night,
    a thick cloak to keep him warm and to sleep in,
    his cooking pot, bowl and spoon, a spade to dig
    holes for the posts, corn, dried beans and salt
    for 3-4 days, a bag with spare boots, money,
    dice etc.

    Not only did he have to carry a lot of equipment, but


    training was hard for a legionnaire. He had to...
    March 30km 3 times a month
    wearing his armour which
    weighed 20 kg.
    Do a drill once a day, twice if
    he was a recruit.
    Learn to build camps, swim,
    sling stones, ride, mount and
    dismount from a horse fully
    armed with his shield and no
    stirrups!
    Learn how to use a sword,
    spear and fight mock battles
    with weapons which had
    covered tips for safety.
    So what fighting techniques
    did they learn...?

    Fighting Techniques: The Repel-Cavalry


    Type: DEFENSIVE
    When used:
    - To combat a cavalry charge.
    How it works:
    - The soldiers form a line, with the men at
    the front crouching down with their
    shields in front of them and their spears
    stick out of the gaps. The men behind put
    their shields over the top of the men in
    front, and have their spears ready to
    throw.
    - The spears would stop horses from
    running at the soldiers, often causing
    them to retreat. Those retreating would
    then knock into the cavalry behind them,
    causing a domino effect and making
    themselves easy targets for archers.

    Fighting Techniques: The Wedge

    Type: ATTACKING
    When used:
    - Used aggressively to divide the enemy.
    How it works:
    - The centurion is at the front of the V and the legionaries
    form the sides of the V . They have to stay close together
    to stop the enemy from breaking the line.
    - As the wedge advances, more soldiers join on at the ends
    to divide the enemy even further.
    - Breaking the enemy formation was key to winning on the
    Roman battlefield!

    Fighting Techniques: The Tortoise


    Type: DEFENSIVE
    When used:
    - To advance but remain protected from
    spears, arrows, etc.
    How it works:
    - The Tortoise is square. The men at
    the front hold their shields in front
    of them. The men at the sides hold
    their shields to the sides. The men in
    the middle hold their shields above
    them.
    - The men had to move in close
    formation to ensure that the shields
    were touching so that no missiles
    could get in and injure any soldiers.

    Fighting Techniques: The Orb


    Type: DEFENSIVE
    When used:
    - If part of the army had been split
    off from the main group or
    encircled by the enemy.
    How it works:
    - The legionaries form a circle
    around the officers and the
    archers (these were the most
    important people!) using their
    shields as protection.
    - Seen as a desperate last stand.

    How did they keep so many men


    under control?
    As you have seen, the Roman army was huge.
    How do you think its leaders managed to keep
    so many people under control?

    Punishments and Rewards


    Discipline was very harsh. Centurions carried a vine
    stick which they used to beat soldiers who had
    disobeyed an order. Fines were also common, but
    there were much worse punishments...
    Deserters and soldiers who left their posts or fell asleep
    whilst on look-out were beaten to death by their fellow
    soldiers.
    A particularly horrible punishment was decimation
    where every tenth man in a cohort (chosen randomly)
    was executed by his comrades.

    However, on a more cheerful note, for bravery there


    were awards for different ranks, such as medals, arm
    and neck bands or torques. Gold crowns and silver
    spears were given to officers.

    But surely they didnt


    spend all their time
    fighting?

    No as well as fighting
    major battles, the legions
    built forts, bridges and
    roads. When they were on
    a campaign, they built a
    camp fortified with banks
    and ditches at the end of
    each days march.
    But they did have time for
    relaxation as well what
    kind of activities do you
    think they did when they
    were off duty?
    This picture shows part of
    what is left of Hadrians
    Wall, a defensive wall the
    Romans built between
    England and Scotland.

    Off-duty pastimes clues!

    Homework
    For homework you are going to imagine that
    you are applying to become a Roman soldier.
    Think about what you have learned in todays
    lesson, and use the application form
    worksheet to make sure that you have told the
    army recruitment officers everything they
    need to know about you!

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