The year is 117 CE, and the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan is at the height of its economic,
political, and military power.
The mighty civilisation would hold strong for another several hundred years before finally
collapsing, in part because nobody could defeat the empire’s legionaries – a well-trained,
well-equipped, and rightly feared fighting force.
While very few of the empire’s contemporaries could stand against these soldiers, what if
we introduced a more interesting challenger into the mix: An M1 Abrams tank, commonly
used by the modern armies of the United States, Iraq, Kuwait, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and
Egypt, transported back to ancient times.
That’s right.
The Roman Empire had plenty of iconic enemies – from the brutal Attila the Hun to the
elephant-riding Hannibal of Carthage – but few could pose a real threat to the empire’s
dominance.
So, it’s perhaps worth asking: If any of these enemies had even one operational M1
Abrams tank, would the sum of Rome’s legionnaires be able to stand against them?
Would the armoured soldiers of the Roman Legion go weak at the knees at the approach of an
M1’s rumbling caterpillar tracks, or would they stand their ground, and use their advanced
military tactics to win the day against their more physically powerful foe?
It’s an epic battle between some of the grandfathers of military innovation and one
of the 20th and 21st centuries most deadly and enduring pieces of hardcore military hardware,
employed everywhere from the Persian Gulf War to the modern skirmishes of the Middle
East.
As in any battle between two legendary forces, we need to first pick our battleground – thankfully,
this is an area where the Roman Empire and the M1 Abrams quite literally have common
ground.
As we just mentioned, the M1 Abrams cut its teeth in the Persian Gulf wars, otherwise
known as Operation Desert storm, in Iraq.
Well over a thousand years earlier, the Roman Empire was fighting against the Sasanian Empire
in the latter half of the Roman-Persia Wars, in what would now be known as the neighbouring
country of Iran.
So, the Middle East is where the game is set for this clash of the military titans.
In terms of strategic terrain, Iraq and Iran are famous for their rugged, mountainous environment
– a battleground bound to be treacherous for any force that isn’t adequately prepared,
hence why guerrilla forces with prior knowledge of the area have always historically had a
home-team tactical advantage.
It’s important to remember that, largely thanks to improvements in both communication
technology and weaponry, modern warfare moves a lot faster than the conflicts of old.
The Gulf War didn’t last a full year – and the Middle Eastern conflicts with the US that
followed haven’t lasted thirty.
Compare and contrast this to the Roman-Persian Wars, which lasted, in total, 681 years.
With the Middle East being a fair battleground between our two combatants, we now need to
look at the combatants themselves – who exactly are we dealing with here?
What are the skills, the load out, and do either of them have any little tricks up their
sleeves?
First, let’s take a look at your standard Roman Legionary.
We’re not talking about a gang of reckless, greedy sell-swords here, nor are we discussing
a terrified gang of teenagers drafted into service by an oppressive ruler.
Roman Legionaries were volunteer troops – half from Rome proper, and half from other territories
in the empire, referred to as the Auxilia.
These soldiers are highly trained, highly organised, and highly motivated – both by
a sense of national and military pride – or, in the Auxilia’s case, the opportunity to
be rewarded with full-blown Roman citizenship – and the status and wealth that came with
being a highly-regarded member of the empire’s heavy infantry.
The Roman Empire was actually more progressive than many of today’s world powers in the
monetary bonuses they offered to their soldiers as motivation for their service.
And of course, while being well motivated and having a good payment plan won’t necessarily
give our Roman underdogs the edge over an M1 Abrams tank, it certainly won’t hurt
their chances, either.
Soldiers that actually want to fight tend to fight better than conscripted armies.
Now, we know the Roman Legionaries were highly trained and revered infantrymen, but what
about their actual equipment load out?
Well, in terms of armour, your standard Roman Legionary would typically be fit with a chainmail
underlayer, topped either by shoulder pads, or in more extreme cases, the army’s trademark
lorica segmentata.
This is the term for the steel strips folded into light but powerful body armour, the appearance
of which is actually pretty synonymous with the mental image of a Roman Soldier, from
Gladiator to Monty Python.
They also wore helmets that covered the entire head, brow, and neck, leaving only the face
exposed.
Down below, they kept it pretty simple with a leather belt and hobnailed sandals.
Another iconic element of Roman Legionary armour is the scutum, a huge, curved, rectangular
shield formed of densely-packed layers of plywood – allowing the legionary to not
only shield their entire body, but form complex shield structures with their fellow legionaries,
though we’ll delve more into that later.
Equally important as the defence is the Roman Legionary’s capacity for offence – that’s
right, we’re talking weapons.
What kind of weapons did these legends of the military world wield, and will they hold
any water against the M1 Abrams Tank?
For warriors so feared, the Roman Legionaries kept things pretty minimalist in their weaponry.
Each legionary carried two javelins known as pilums, designed with an armour-piercing
pyramidal head on the end of a long, metal shaft.
Legionaries would be trained to throw these javelins with devastating accuracy, before
charging in to battle whatever’s left at close range.
This, they’d do with the help of their gladius, a short sword designed for stabbing rather
than hacking or slashing.
As a last resort, a standard Roman legionary is typically packing a pugio, a stout dagger
designed, once again, for stabbing.
Considering that most of the Roman Army’s offensive potential is based around stabbing,
how would they fare against an enemy that could not be stabbed, such as an M1 Abrams
tank?
We’ve seen what the Roman Legionaries are capable of – now let’s take a look at
the M1 Abrams.
Also known as the M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank, this piece of terrifying hardware has
been a mainstay of the US ground force since the 1990s.
Operated by a crew of four, this tank is capable of moving at max speeds of 42 miles-per-hour/69
kilometres-per-hour thanks to its 1500 HP Gas Turbine Engine, almost double the speed
of the fastest human ever measured.
Considering the Roman Legionaries are literally foot soldiers, being massively outpaced by
a far stronger foe definitely isn’t a good sign.
But things get worse for our plucky legionaries when you consider the Abrams’ armour: Weighing
68 tons, the tank boasts thick metal armour designed to withstand improvised explosive
devices, rocket propelled grenades, and enemy tank fire.
The latest iteration is also fitted with M250 six-barrelled smoke grenade dischargers, allowing
it to create a blinding smokescreen around itself at a moment’s notice.
A thrown pilum is likely to inflict the same damage as flicking a toothpick at it, much
to the frustration of the unfortunate Roman Legionaries, and don’t even think about
going at it with a gladius unless you like the idea of being crushed.
That, finally, brings us to the weaponry you can expect from a modern M1 Abrams.
Namely, a devastating canon, and two different but equally dangerous machine guns.
There’s the M256 120mm smoothbore cannon, capable of firing M829A4 advanced kinetic
energy and advanced multi-purpose (AMP) rounds that would likely turn a gang of even the
toughest legionaries into a fine, red mist.
The two secondary weapons are the 12.7mm machine gun, and the 7.62mm M240 machine gun, both
of which could dish out a devastating level of damage to combatants without modern ballistic
armour, like the legionaries.
It seems like an almost depressingly one-sided battle.
In theory, couldn’t a single one of these high-tech death machines mow their way through
the entire Roman Empire?
Well, on a one-on-one basis, definitely, but the story is never that simple.
Two key factors in this battle are numerical advantages and battle tactics.
A Roman Legion is formed of an impressive 5,000 troops, divided into cohorts of 480,
each of which is then divided into “centuries” of 80 to 100 troops.
Much like modern infantries, this allows for not only a large overall force, but a great
degree of independence between them, that allows for impressive tactical versatility.
An M1 Abrams is a devastating piece of military technology, but it can only fight one battle
at a time, and its greatest offensive weapons – the smoothbore canon and its two machine
guns – have finite ammunition.
Any method of defeating the M1 Abrams Tank would likely lean on this vast numerical superiority,
with the ability to act independently and draw the tank’s attention as necessary.
The problem with many of the Roman Legion’s most well-known tactics is that they simply
weren’t designed with a combatant like the tank in mind.
Take, for example, the testudo – or “tortoise” – formation, wherein the legion converges
and interlocks their shields to deflect projectiles as they move towards their targets.
While this would have worked fine for spears, arrows, and other non-explosive hand-thrown
projectiles, the plywood scutums wouldn’t offer much protection against a hail of bullets
or the blast of the tank’s canon – or even just the crushing weight of the tank’s
tracks.
The same can be said for other traditional tactics, like the triple line and the wedge
formation.
Tanks are a piece of technology so immune to conventional weapons that a whole new class
of anti-tank weaponry had to be built to deal with them.
However, there is one feather in the Roman Legion’s cap: Long-term endurance.
In addition to their weaponry and armour, each legionary would carry a pila muralia,
a forked pole carrying miscellaneous supplies including: Up to fourteen days of rations,
a wicker basket, a saw, a length of leather, a shovel, a sickle, and a waterskin.
Legionaries would also carry a pick axe around their belt.
These supplies would not only allow the legionaries to survive on the battlefield for two weeks,
but would also give them the tools to live longer off of the natural resources presented
to them by the land around them.
It’s worth remembering that this particular showdown is happening in the mountainous terrain
of the Middle East, where adaptable guerrilla-style forces have always had an advantage.
The 5,000-man legion could split into its small and manoeuvrable centuries, allowing
it to wage a stealthy and covert war of attrition on the M1 Abrams from the hills, making occasional
tactical sacrifices but preserving the majority of their forces.
For highly trained soldiers up against a noisy and large tank, remaining alert and hidden
shouldn’t be that challenging a task.
An interesting fact worth remembering about the M1 Abrams tank is that, much like the
ammo supplies that power its dangerous weaponry, the very fuel that allows the tank to move
is equally finite.
The tank’s engine has great mileage, by all accounts, but ultimately can only really
last for 265 miles/426 kilometres before needing to refuel.
And while the M1 is actually extremely versatile in the fuel it can utilise – including gasoline,
diesel fuel and jet fuel – you’re highly unlikely to find any of these lying around
on the battlefields of ancient Iran or Iraq.
And here, the Roman Legion has its perfect advantage, because even if the tank did potentially
have reserves of fuel and ammunition elsewhere, the tank would be seriously vulnerable while
replenishing their supplies.
If the legionaries could keep their centuries spread out and mobile around the battlefield,
considering their vast numerical advantage of 5,000 to one, they could deplete the tank’s
ammunition and fuel until all that was left was a stationary metal hut.
At that point, it becomes a type of battle that ancient warriors are far more familiar
with: Siege warfare.
The Roman Legion would simply camp out around the now immobilised tank – possibly even
digging trenches around it with their shovels in order to further prevent its escape – until
the four operators of said tank ran out of supplies like food and water.
Then, they would have only two choices: Go out fighting against a numerically superior
force of highly-trained melee combatants, or surrender to the Roman forces and be captured.
Either way, in spite of having inferior weapons and armour in pretty much every regard, this
is how a roman legion – through leveraging its numerical superiority and tactical flexibility
– could defeat an M1 Abrams Tank.
The question of what these legionaries will do with their newly captured M1 Abrams Tank
is probably a discussion for another video…
Hungry for more tank knowledge?
Check out “Top 10 Most Powerful Tanks” and “The Deadliest Tank of World War II.”
Thanks for watching, we’ll see you next time!