This video is sponsored by Brilliant.
This educational platform has a great offer for our viewers, which you can learn about
at the end of this video!
In the first episode of this series we covered the very earliest modes of organisation and
fighting in the Roman army.
Small bands of clan warriors gradually evolved into a Greek-like hoplite phalanx.
But as the threats that the Romans faced, changed, so did their military.
At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, Rome entered a series of wars with its Samnite
neighbors and suffered some defeats.
It is widely speculated that the army reformed once again during this time of crisis, and
by the Pyrrhic War, the Manipular system was in place.
This is the army which, ninety years later, would defeat Hannibal at Zama, and was commanded
by some of the most notable figures in Roman history such as Scipio Africanus and Fabius
Maximus.
The Romans no longer used the single compact line formation like they had done in the past.
Instead, they used the famous triplex acies, the triple line formation.
Compared to the close order Phalanx of the earlier Roman state, the manipular system
and triplex acies promoted utility and maneuverability around the battlefield.
Individual maniples could be commanded to move and reinforce a certain section quickly
if required before the battle started.
Instead of forming up in three solid lines, the legions would use a quincunx, or checkerboard
formation.
The details of this are unclear in the sources, but it is likely that it increased flexibility
and allowed for retreats through the gaps between the maniples, which were around the
size of a maniple itself, which allowed the units to fit.
In addition, because not all of the legionaries were engaged at the same time, there were
reserves waiting for any potential surprise.
The Roman lines engaged in combat did not fight in this formation however, and instead
filled into a solid line, but the reserve lines remained in their quincunx until it
was their turn to fight.
In this period, the Roman legion was still not fully standardised and each of the three
lines had a different quality.
1,200 Young Hastati manned the front ranks, 1,200 more experienced Principes were placed
in the second with 600 veteran Triarii in the third.
As a screening force, a Roman legion would also field a 1,200 strong force of lightly
armed and armoured Velites to skirmish with the enemy before contact, as well as 300 cavalry.
The Hastati would close with the enemy first, throwing their two Pila and then charging
into the enemy.
After a while, the tired Hastati would retreat behind the fresh Principes, who were then
expected to win the battle.
If this did not work also, both lines would retreat behind the veteran Triarii, and the
army would either attempt to withdraw in good order, or would rely on the Triarii to win.
This formation was able to operate in such a way due to the tactics used and also the
equipment of the soldiers.
The 1,200 Velite light infantry were lightly armoured with a patchwork of leather and fur.
They notably wore a wolf's head on top of their own, probably for recognition by their
own troops.
As for their weapons, they were armed with either five or seven light javelins or darts
which they threw at the enemy line before the battle, in order to soften them up.
When this was done, they had a gladius in reserve in order to engage in close combat
if needed.
For more protection, they also carried a light wooden shield called a parma.
These light troops were the soldiers who would engage unconventional units such as war elephants
or chariots if the Romans faced them, as their flexibility allowed them to perform better
against them than the regular heavy infantry.
After skirmishing, however, this light force would quickly retreat behind the line and
wait for further orders.
It is said that part of the reason Velites were placed at the front of the army was so
that they could ideally challenge an enemy one against one, hopefully defeating him and
gaining glory or promotion for himself.
After falling back behind the line, some sources even state that the Velites would function
as support troops and carry wounded soldiers to the rear, so they could receive medical
attention.
In the main infantry line, the Hastati and Principes were equipped in almost exactly
the same way, but the more experienced soldiers may have had higher quality equipment.
In contrast to the earlier thrusting spear of the phalanx, each soldier in the first
two ranks carried one or two Pila: the Roman throwing javelin.
This weapon, usually thrown en masse just before contact, consisted of a 4 foot wooden
shaft, a thin 2 foot long iron shank and a pyramidal point.
The weight was concentrated just behind the head, so the Pila had exceptional penetration
power.
It would often go straight through a shield and penetrate the flesh behind it, or just
make the shield heavy and unwieldy.
Once the Pila had been thrown, the Romans would draw their signature swords; the Gladius.
This fearsome blade was copied from Iberia at some point in the mid republic and was
mainly a short thrusting weapon, but could also devastate enemies with its slashing power.
Only a few of these swords from the Republican period have been found, and were a bit bigger
than their successors in the Empire.
For defence, these early legionaries carried the large Scutum shield and had a range of
body armour.
The wealthiest soldiers could afford sophisticated mail cuirasses, while poorer soldiers might
only have a square or circular slab of iron wrapped around their torso.
In the third line were the 600 elite Triarii.
In contrast with the Hastati and Principes, these veteran soldiers were still armed as
Phalanx style spearmen, and were armed with the traditional thrusting spear and round
Clipei shield.
These older troops were so revered that there was a Roman saying, that ‘It has come to
the Triarii’.
This meant that the younger and less experienced soldiers had not managed to gain victory,
so now the more experienced men were needed to step in and sort things out once and for
all.
At the Battle of the River Trebia in 218BC during the Second Punic War, the Triarii were
the soldiers who stayed in formation and held the Carthaginians off while the majority of
the other soldiers still alive ran away.
Roman cavalry during this period has an undeservedly bad reputation, primarily due to their many
crushing defeats, especially against Hannibal and his Numidians in the Second Punic War.
In contrast to this impression, Roman cavalry was generally a highly efficient force which
often gained victory even against higher numbers of enemy cavalry.
The horsemen were primarily drawn from the two wealthiest classes in Roman society and
most were required to serve.
As explained earlier, each legion contained a contingent of 300 cavalry divided into ten
squadrons of 30 men each.
This seemingly small number was supplemented by the Roman allied cavalry, who provided
a 900 strong cavalry force per legion, three times the amount the Romans provided.
Their equipment also underwent a change during this period.
According to Polybius, lightly armoured horsemen with only undergarments were the main contingent.
Throughout this period however, they became more heavily armoured in the Greek style with
cuirasses, more sturdy lances and the Greek shield.
The Greek hostage Polybius also noted that the willingness to see what others did better
was one of the most admirable and deadly aspects of the Roman state.
If they saw another people doing something in a superior manner, such as the use of a
weapon or tactic, they often incorporated that style into their own methods in order
to better themselves.
In a standard consular army, two of these legionary formations existed, comprising around
9,000 men.
On top of this, there were two contingents of both Roman allies and allied cavalry which
usually matched or even exceeded the size of the legionary formations.
Roman Consuls during this time appointed three prefects to command these allied troops.
These allies, known as Socii, were essentially permanent, non-independent military allies
of the Roman state and received many benefits in return for their loss of territory and
independence.
Each Socii remained domestically independent, were protected from their internal rivals
and the Italian peninsula was protected from external invaders.
Even though there were perks to it, many of the allies rebelled at every opportunity,
especially their perennial Samnite enemies.
Despite this, even in their darkest hour after the Battle of Cannae in 216BC, over half of
the Socii population did not betray Rome.
For the vast majority of its existence, the Roman armies of the mid-republican Polybian
legion were at war.
Whether it was the Samnites, Tarentines, Pyrrhus, Carthage, Macedon or the Seleucid Empire,
the Polybian legion honed itself against the best that the world had to offer.
The resulted in huge manpower strains, especially when losses such as Trasimene and Cannae cost
tens of thousands of casualties in only days.
Even victories such as Cynoscephalae cost thousands to the Romans.
In return however, the war machine of the Roman state became a well-oiled mincing machine,
capable of turning and obliterating the successor kingdoms of Alexander the great with barely
any setbacks.
In fact, many scholars have described the Roman army after the Punic Wars as one of
the most battle-hardened forces ever to exist.
It would only get better as time went on.
The social impact of this war intensity on the Roman political system should not be understated.
Before the battle of Cannae, a property requirement existed to join the legions.
After Cannae, desperation had reached a point where even the ban on criminals serving in
the legions had to be lifted due to a need for manpower.
This trend would continue and would eventually lead to the famous Marian reforms and the
proletarianisation of the Roman Army, which we shall cover in the future.
Roman generals often learned how to command their armies while serving the previous generation
of the Roman leaders on the battlefield.
The sponsor of this video - Brilliant has a similar approach to learning.
Instead of passively listening to lectures, you get to master concepts by solving fun
and challenging problems and Brilliant provides the tools and framework you need to tackle
these challenges.
Brilliant’s thought-provoking content based around breaking up complexities into bite-sized
understandable chunks will lead you from curiosity to mastery.
So what are you waiting for?
Support our channel and improve your learning capabilities.
Visit brilliant.org/KingsAndGenerals/ — or click the link in the description and sign
up for free.
The first 200 people will also get 20% off their annual premium subscription!
Our series on the Roman army will continue, so make sure you are subscribed to our channel
and pressed the bell button.
We would like to express our gratitude to our Patreon supporters and channel members,
who make the creation of our videos possible.
Now, you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link the description.
This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch you on the next one.