* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Roman Army
Roman army of the mid-Republic wikipedia , lookup
Ancient Roman architecture wikipedia , lookup
Roman infantry tactics wikipedia , lookup
Promagistrate wikipedia , lookup
Travel in Classical antiquity wikipedia , lookup
Structural history of the Roman military wikipedia , lookup
Military of ancient Rome wikipedia , lookup
Slovakia in the Roman era wikipedia , lookup
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest wikipedia , lookup
Roman economy wikipedia , lookup
Roman funerary practices wikipedia , lookup
Romanization of Hispania wikipedia , lookup
Roman historiography wikipedia , lookup
Education in ancient Rome wikipedia , lookup
East Roman army wikipedia , lookup
Food and dining in the Roman Empire wikipedia , lookup
History of the Roman Constitution wikipedia , lookup
Culture of ancient Rome wikipedia , lookup
Roman agriculture wikipedia , lookup
Roman army of the late Republic wikipedia , lookup
Roman Army By Mike One of the most powerful forces of ancient times was the Roman Army. This army allowed Rome to conquer the whole Mediterranean Sea. Without this massive Roman army, many modern armies probably would never have become professional fighters. The brave soldiers of Ancient Rome changed the ancient world as well as ours. This report is about how the Roman army did all these things and how they lived. The Roman army is a great example of a fighting force that was unstoppable. The Romans became in need of an army when their neighbors, the Etruscans, attacked and took over the city of Rome. The Etruscans used iron weapons and armor, which the Romans did not own. The Romans were forced to follow the orders of the Etruscan King; he angered the Romans greatly, and the Romans rebelled using the Etruscan’s technologies. The Romans won when they fought a battle at the Tiber River. A brave Roman hero, Horatio, held off the Etruscans long enough to allow the others to destroy the bridge. When the bridge was finally destroyed, Horatio swam across the river and returned to Rome. Rome grew steadily, and its leaders desired the rest of the Italian Peninsula; this started the Punic Wars. Three Punic Wars were fought—one for new territories, one entirely to save the city of Rome, and one to eradicate the Carthaginian menace. The Carthaginian General Hannibal was one of the greatest generals known. He led an attack against Rome that lasted many days. Rome was indeed in peril, and they knew there was little chance to survive. Yet, they still led an attack on Carthage, using ships that they had duplicated that looked like a stranded Carthage warship. When Hannibal received news of this event, he returned to Carthage. Once again, Rome proved to be a powerful force that could not be stopped. The life of the Roman soldier was quite rough; he was to assist in building forts, aqueducts, and other construction projects. War was much different. For battle, he soldiers would be in groups of eight, called a contubernium. There were ten contuberniums in a century, six centuries in a cohort, and ten cohorts in a legion. The first cohort has 800 men instead of 480. That is a whopping total of 6,000 men in a legion. The Romans came up with a genius strategy of scaring away their enemies with their infantry, then rounding the enemies up with a cavalry. The Roman legionary was armed with a short sword, a tower shield, special javelins, and scale mail. These soldiers were the most powerful force in ancient Europe. When Rome became an empire, the army could make an emperor or destroy one. Many emperors wouldn’t have been able to become in charge if they hadn’t used the army, and many emperors would have lived if the army hadn’t destroyed them. One emperor, Caligula, believed he was a god. He tried to elect his horse as consul, then commanded the army to attack the sea because he was angry with Neptune. He was believed to be insane. It was also not uncommon for the Praetorian Guard, the emperor’s personal bodyguards, to kill the emperor. This is the fate that befell the Emperor Caligula and many other hated emperors. The fall of the Roman army began when the Germanic barbarians and the Sassanian Persians attacked the borders of the Roman Empire. Though the emperors had made the army greater in size, their army was unable to defeat the attacking armies. Attila the Hun led armies of barbarian tribes to defeat Rome. Even though he succeeded in controlling all of the western empire, Attila was killed. Rome did live on as Constantinople, and so did the Roman army. Nowadays, many armies use tactics developed by the Roman Army to defeat their foes, and it is likely that armies will continue to do so in the future. Bibliography Chandler, Fiona et al eds. The Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia of the Roman World. New York : Scholastic, 2003. Foot Soldier: The Romans. Videotape. A & E Video, 2001. 50 minutes. Guen, Erich. “Ancient Rome”. World Book. Vol. 16. 1991.