Roman Military Essay Example For Students

Roman Military Essay Roman MilitaryThe Roman army was one of the greatestforces of all times. The Roman army ,at its finest point, was nearly inconquerable. This was due to the discipline of the soldiers, the hard and effectivetraining of the soldiers, the speed at wich new tactics were learned, andto theorganization of the soldiers. From early times right down to the 3rdcentury A.D, the Roman army was based on its legions. A legion varied instrength from four-thousand to six-thousand men, and was subdivided ontoten cohorts. Its leader used the title of legatus. His staff officers werecalled tribuni. Senior non-commissioned officers were called centurions,who varied greatly in rank. The soldiers of the legion were picked men:They were all Roman citizens and received a higher pay than the auxillarytroops ,that is, foreigners who serve with the Roman army. A legion consisited of heavily armouredinfantry foot soldiers. The Roman infantry became a feared force, welldisciplined and well trained. Their weapons were two javelins each anda short thrustingsword. Cavalry was supplied by the auxilaries ,secondline troops, and was organised mainly in units of 500 men. When it was on campaigns the army wasaccompanied by a number of 7 specialists. One was the camp commandant,who was responsible for the organisation of the camp. The Romans were verycareful about their camps. No Roman army halted for a single night withoutdigging a trenches and fortifying its camp. Each soldier took his sharein establishing the camp and striking the camp the next day. Another specialistwas the quaestor, whose duty was to look after all the money matter. thenthere were the engineers and all kinds of craftsmen and artisans. Theywere responsible for siege operations and for the rather primative Romanartillery, which consisted of big catapults and complicated machinesa little like crossbows. These were mainly used for hurling big rocks andstones at the walls of a defence place. The engineers also had to buildthe moveable towers that were used in sieges. The Roman soldiers went upinside these towers so that they could see over the walls of a fortifiedplace and shoot their stones and arrows into it. The engineers also madethe scaling ladders that were used for getting over walls.