Roman Military Tactics

The Roman army was unbeatable for approximately 300 years, so they must have perfected the art of war at the time. The Roman army’s skill, effective chain of command, discipline, organization, and extensive training enabled it to fight its way to victory. As a matter of a fact, the Roman army’s tactics were so brilliant that they are similar to modern military tactics today. The organization of the Roman army was imperative to its success as a whole. The basis of the Roman army was a legion. A legion is composed of ten cohorts: the first having 800 men and five centuriae of 160 men. The rest of the cohorts consisted of 480 men and six 80 men centuriae: each commanded by a centurion. Each centuria was divided into ten contubernia, where the

Having a well-rounded legion enable the Romans to overcome obstacles that other armies considered unfeasible and heavily time-consuming: such as expansive rivers. The Romans easily engineered temporary bridges to rush troops across rivers and surprise the enemy: then retreating, removing the bridge, and leaving the opposing troops in great awe and confusion. Engineers complemented the artillery operators because they empowered the operators to constantly rain destruction upon the enemy by ensuring that the artillery stayed in a state of operation. Architects complemented the engineers by drawing out blueprints for their innovative creations. Architects also complemented artillery operators by collaborating with them to design artillery that would be the most effective in destroying enemy structures and resulting in the Romans gaining the upper hand and decisive

The cohorts had a clear chain of command: “A legate in charge of a legion of ten cohorts could control his force far more easily. Instead of having to deal with thirty immediate subordinates, he had only direct his ten cohort commanders. These men could themselves be left to control the 480 men under their command. A cohort was far more than the sum of the three maniples composing it. It possessed a clear command hierarchy and was accustomed to operating together as a unit. The result was a far more flexible legion, capable of successfully undertaking complex plans (Goldsworthy 34).” The Romans obviously did not have cell phones back then, so being able to rapidly disperse a command was a major key to victory and preventing the loss of men. These tactics resulted in the conduction of effective military drills. The Roman army was able maintain a wide and shallow line of troops: which poorly trained troops, often the opposition, could not do because staying in such a wide formation would result in the encountering of more obstacles which threw them off and resulted in disorder. The Roman army would easily win swordfight battles because their wider formations “have as high a proportion of its men as possible in contact with the opposing unit, and therefore in the front rank of its formation” (Goldsworthy 177). This wider formation allowed the Romans to swarm, and even double team, the enemy and be