As the Roman army gradually began to move away from its use of the Greek style of war,
it gained a distinctly unique character of its own.
Flexibility, harsh discipline and good equipment led to success, and others took note.
During their rise, the Roman military system was tested against many other unique military
structures which had been the most lethal during their own time, such as the Carthaginian
mercenary army and the Macedonian Phalanx.
Welcome to our video on the Roman legion’s mortal enemy and how it managed to overcome
the Carthaginians in the third century BC.
In our previous video we explained the structure of the Roman legion at the time of the Punic
Wars, so we shan’t go into full detail again this time.
Their infantry consisted of three lines of heavy infantry; gladius-wielding Hastati and
Principes, backed up by veteran spear bearing Triarii.
This core was screened by a contingent of Velite light infantry skirmishers and are
flanked by experienced squadrons of Equite cavalry.
These legions were standardised formations, and the allied units which usually made up
half of Roman armies had to conform to these tactics, and were not permitted to fight in
their traditional manner.
Carthage was a fundamentally different state to Rome and its armies showed this clearly.
It had a permanent backbone of citizen soldiers from the capital, but these were always heavily
outnumbered by the allies, clients and mercenaries that the Phoenicians could call on, facilitated
by their advanced trading network and vast wealth.
This patchwork of troops were commanded by Carthaginian officers and, unlike the Roman
armies, were permitted and encouraged to fight in their own national styles rather than being
drilled to fight in prearranged formations.
In fact, one of the main challenges of any Carthaginian general was to utilise these
unique styles to their best potential and meld them into one coherent force.
Their primary infantry recruiting pool came from the Libyo-Phoenicians, Iberians and Gauls,
as well as Greeks and others who were recruited as mercenaries.
The Libyo-Phoenicians lived in peripheral settlements surrounding Carthage and were
only one stage removed from full Carthaginian citizenship by the 3rd century BC.
They were recruited by levy from the empire’s hinterland between the Moroccan Atlantic coast
and the Egyptian border, likely being armed as Sarissa/spear wielding phalangites.
However, there is debate about this, as it seems clear in the sources that these troops
re-equipped themselves from the Roman dead at Lake Trasimene.
These were also the hardened soldiers which Hannibal placed on the wings at Cannae, which
held the Romans off successfully.
Iberian troops usually consisted of two main types: scutarii and centrarii.
Determined by their type of shield, the Iberian scutarii used the heavy Scutum shield: large,
flat and oval shaped, serving as heavy infantry.
Whereas the centrarii used the flat, round and circular ‘caetra’, and served that
light infantry skirmishes.
Both variations would be armed with a sword, probably a falcata or even the gladius, and
a triangular-shaped dagger.
The Gaulish infantry which served Carthage were renowned for their ferocity in the charge.
Unfortunately, after the impetus of their charge had disappeared, their lack of formation
left them vulnerable.
The majority of these Gauls were Celtiberians from northern Spain who had invaded from Gaul
in the 4th century BC, in contrast to the Iberians who inhabited the south, or were
the Gauls of northern Italy who joined the Punic army when Hannibal crossed the Alps.
The cavalry that Carthage employed were substantial and incredibly successful, fighting in many
different styles.
The tribal elites of the Gaulish societies in Carthage’s reach formed an elite force
of heavy cavalry which were the most prominent horsemen in Hannibal Barca’s army, with
4,000 men.
They were usually equipped with heavy thrusting spears and slashing swords, having much more
armour than their infantry counterparts.
Hannibal also had a contingent of Iberian horsemen which also functioned as heavy cavalry,
and were likely armed in the Greek style with cuirass, shield and Lance, similar to their
Roman counterparts.
The most famous of Carthage's cavalry were the Numidians.
Originating from the North African Berber kingdoms, these naturally gifted riders used
light, small, but hardy horses which were incredibly nimble, and rode them without saddles.
This fit the Numidian tactic of hit and run perfectly.
Almost completely unarmoured and armed with light javelins, the Numidians would rush into
the fight and throw their javelins at the enemy before swiftly retreating.
It was a general rule that if the Numidians were on Carthage’s side during a battle,
they usually won that battle.
Roman historian Livy singled these men out as ‘by far the best horsemen in Africa’.
Unique forces of mercenaries were also hired to fight Carthage’s wars from all around
the Mediterranean.
Greek mercenaries were purchased to fight in the first Punic War against the Romans,
and were armed in the late-Greek style, fighting in the traditional Macedonian Phalanx of their
homeland.
Likewise, Philip V of Macedonia was convinced by Hannibal during the Second Punic War to
join an alliance against the Romans.
He threatened to invade Italy as well, but this never materialised.
A unit of 4,000 Macedonians did fight at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC - organised in the
traditional Macedonian fashion, with long Sarissa pike and a small round shield.
Elite mercenary units of the famous Balearic slingers and Cretan archers also gave Hannibal’s
army a decided edge over the Roman velites during his invasion of Italy.
The slingers in particular were regarded as a reliable unit by the Carthaginians and many
other forces who chose to hire them in the ancient world.
Carthage's most infamous military unit was undoubtedly their war elephants, with which
Hannibal crossed over the alps in 218 BC.
Pyrrhus first introduced war elephants to Carthage during his wars in Sicily, and the
Phoenicians were so impressed that they immediately employed them to replace their Tyrean chariots.
The elephant employed was the now-extinct African forest elephant, which stood at a
rather small 2.5 meters in height, compared to the Indian elephants which were introduced
to the Greek world by Seleucus.
Because of this smaller size, it is likely that they did not carry warriors on top of
them.
Despite their intimidating and exotic nature, the war elephant was somewhat of a novelty
weapon, used less for its physical than its psychological effect on an enemy who might
have never seen one before.
In particular, elephant charges could reliably spook the horses of cavalrymen into fright,
causing chaos in the ranks.
Against an enemy who did not know how to deal with them, elephants could also cause massive
casualties against massed infantry, who would often panic.
The Second Punic War’s most notable event is probably Hannibal crossing the alps with
his elephants, but because the Carthaginians already outnumbered and outclassed the Roman
cavalry, they were not used in the front lines during battle.
This array of expert, specialised forces created a deadly army which the up and coming Romans
would have to overcome, putting their military structure to the ultimate test.
Though the Roman manipular system was one that promoted flexibility, it was often let
down against intelligent Carthaginian generals by the stubborn Roman mindset, which often
prioritised brute force.
The glory of defeating the enemy in an old-fashioned set-piece battle was extremely appealing to
the dignitas-seeking Roman politician-general, who was always aiming to increase his wealth
and standing in society.
If allowed to engage in a simple set piece battle with no surprises, the efficient Roman
legions would crunch through their enemy the majority of the time.
But this Roman mindset was effectively exploited by Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
At the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, Hannibal knew that the inexperienced and rash Gaius
Terentius Varro would command the Roman army on the 2nd of August.
On that day, he baited the massive and unwieldy Roman force into a trap and annihilated their
force with a clever maneuver.
Mistakes like this did not go unnoticed by the Romans who were defeated at the battles
in the war against Hannibal.
This was exemplified by Scipio Africanus, who supposedly learned from his rival and
used his tactics to great effect at the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC.
While the whole truth is more complex than this, it could be understood that the conflict
between Rome and Carthage was, on the tactical level, a conflict between two opposite military
organisations - a conflict which the Romans eventually won.
The ‘patchwork’ mercenary army of Carthage, with all its exotic units fighting in their
own manner, went up against the standardised and uniform citizen legions of Rome, where
the Roman allies were all trained and drilled in the purely Roman style.
During the Second Punic War, Hannibal made an alliance with Philip V of Macedon.
The latter believed Rome to be finished and attempted to expand his power westward, starting
the first Macedonian war in 214 BC.
This would give Rome the opportunity to begin expanding its tendrils into the Hellenistic
world, and would see one of the most epic clashes of military forces in history: the
Roman Legion against the Macedonian Phalanx of Alexander the Great.
In the next video, we will discuss how the Roman legions matched up against the Macedonian
Phalanx, so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and pressed the bell button.
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