The Roman Army

            Most people think that the Roman Army was the greatest army ever. The reason wasn’t for its size, but for the determination of their soldiers. It was a rather large army though. The Roman Army had a unique structure and strategy. But before the army became the greatest, they fought in the Punic Wars. Those were the first wars that the Romans fought in. And they were victorious!

            The Punic Wars lasted 62 years and were probably the most important wars in Roman History. The war started when the Romans invaded Sicily. Then the Carthaginians won almost every war but the Romans never gave up. The war ended when Hannibal, a Carthaginian General, decided to travel around the Mediterranean Sea and attack the Romans in Zama. They were planning on using War Elephants in their attack. The Romans had never seen War Elephant before. They would be caught by surprise. But their plan backfired. The Romans were ready. After a gory battle, the Carthaginians surrendered in Zama. Now the Roman land was tripled and they were now the Mediterranean’s leading power. They also started a full time army and were ready to conquer new enemies.

            The Roman Army was mainly Infantry Units. Infantry Units are men that fight without horses or War Elephants. All the other civilizations at about 400 BC feared to Roman Infantry. Some of these civilizations were Gaul, Greece, and Macedonia. The Infantry was made up of six groups. Each group had 300 trained soldiers. Together it equaled up to about 4800 soldiers! The groups were called, Hastati, Leves, Principes, Triarii, Rorarii, and Accensi. They would have six lines of the six groups in that order. First the Hastati would go fight and the leves would back them up. Then when it got to gory the Hastati and Leves would back off and the Principes would go fight. They kept rotating until the enemy was defeated.

            Aside from the regular Infantry Units, the army had a legion. A legion is a group of 4000-6000 honorable men. They were the heroes and high class warriors. Their leader was called a Legatus. The Legatus had two types of officers that worked under him. They were the Senior (Tribuni) and Staff (Centurions) Officers. The Tribuni would make the commands. The Legatus gave the Tribuni orders, and the Tribuni, gave the Legion orders. The Centurions were the ones to equip the legion. Each unit had two spears (pilas) and a short sword (gladius).

            Most of the men that were in the army were men looking to make a decent living or they were prisoners of war that had become citizens. Since they were freed they fought for their new civilization. If you were a poor man this was the best job you could get. You would get paid and you could have a good chance of having the life that you always dreamed of when you were able to retire or resign.

            In Conclusion, I was really intrigued by the fascinating information about the legion.  I think it’s cool to have a second army with hero’s and high class warriors.  I also think that the strategies that the Roman Army used were deadly and smart. I bet the Roman Emperor got what he wanted. Now, do you think that the Roman Army was the greatest army ever?