Plus the fact that they had zombies.!!!
This thread it seems is limited to the armies which came after the Marian reforms and before the crises of the third century (what most people think of when they think of the Roman Army). What about the success of the Army which existed between the time the Romans learnt that they really did not like being on the receiving end of vae victis and the Mrian reforms, the Army which beat Hannibal? Or the Army which spawned men such as Belisarius and Heraclius?
It was limited to eight years ago.
The big advantage of a Roman legion was flexibility.
With most ancient armies, you were pretty much limited to two plans: “charge that way” or “stand here”.
The commander of a Roman legion in the middle of a battle could say something like “The enemy’s left flank is weakening. Tell Marcus’ cohort to break off its current fighting, withdraw and march across behind our lines, and make an attack over there. Have Gaius’ cohort extend itself to the right and Sextus’ cohort extend itself to the left to cover the gap in the line cause by Marcus’ withdrawal.” and have it get done.
Or more properly (as the Romans employed reserves a lot more than ever before). Tell Ganeus to take his reserve cohort next to the left flank, the troops their are weakening
Also the Roman Army was a combined arms team in many ways, you had dedicated (usually Syrian) archers, engineers and scouts. In addition, the auxillary troops certainly played their role and provided the Romans with additional options. A unit of boatmen from the Tigris river were stationed as Britain at one time.
yeah I know this thread is a Zombie, but the Rome series came out since 2004 and it has some amazing top down shots showing the three lines changing places when the centurions blow their whistles.
One great game where you can see all this is Rome: Total War.
It’s very detailed in the use of weapons and tactics, and it shows all the things people have said in the thread.
Great game, but a little old.
Even before the Marian reforms, Roman tactics were still pretty modular and based on three basic troop “types”.
First order of business was to send skirmishers up front to drive off enemy skirmishers, and once that was done throw as many javelins or slingstones as possible into the enemy before running right the hell away.
Then came the youngest, or poorest soldiers (called Hastati, from the short spears they carried) who’d wear light gear, and similarly throw a couple javelins before either charging in or bracing themselves for receiving a charge.
Behind them came the Principes, (lit “Main ones”) which were the meat of the army. Heavy armour, mostly veterans or adults who could afford better gear. Those would let the Hastati tire the enemy front line, then either charge into any breach, or if none was created by the Hastati they would “make a hole” so that the Hastati could retreat and recuperate while the Principes would get to work on the now-tired enemy frontline.
Meanwhile the Hastati, having reformed, could either just take a breather before tagging in again, or take advantage of their higher mobility (from wearing lighter gear) to swing around the wings.
Finally came the Triarii - the oldest and/or richest soldiers who carried long spears and more or less fought just like Greek phalanxes. If all else failed, it was up to them to just hold the line while the rest of the army either regrouped for another go, or fucked off. They seldom saw battle at all, because most battles would be won (or lost) long before they’d have to commit. In fact Triarii became a byword to mean “desperate situation” or “last ditch effort”.
The genius of this general strategy, which the Marian reforms would later apply within individual units rather than across formations, was that the guys up front were always fresh whereas it’s difficult to rotate phalanxes around or really manoeuvre them at all. They’re *good *at going forward one inexorable pace at a time, not so much at wheeling around or doing quick about-faces. So eventually, by continuous harassment, the Romans would wear down the enemy’s first rank, then the second, etc… while themselves remaining combat effective.
Another piece of anti-phalanx brilliance of theirs was that they didn’t fight as a long line extending across the field, as phalanxes did, but rather in a quincux, similar to the black squares on a chessboard, like so:
VVVVVVVVVV
X…X…X
..X…X
This would force the phalanx to either have half of its men doing nothing, or rush into the holes where their sides would be vulnerable to attack both from the front (the second line of units) and the sides (the sides of the first line, which unlike phalangites and hoplites could just turn around and stab left/right). Also helped with that whole revolving line thing, as well as leaving space where skirmishers could slip into, throw stuff, and get back out to fetch more projectiles.
I encourage you to check out this book, written as if it were a manual for new recruits to a Roman legion. Engaging, straightforward and even sometimes funny: http://www.amazon.com/Legionary-Soldiers-Unofficial-Manual-Manuals/dp/0500251517/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1328650679&sr=1-3-catcorr