What Was The Role Of Soldiers In The Roman Army

The Roman Empire had a military force unlike anything the world had ever seen. They had one of the biggest empires in world history and ruled it effectively. The Romans were so dominant due to their impeccable training, revolutionary strategies, and easy to follow chain of command
Roman soldiers were among the best trained on the planet. Male soldiers started training at age 16 and before they even touched a weapon they had to learn how to march properly. The Romans viewed marching as uber important because if soldiers were straggling, the group would not be all together and therefore, vulnerable to attack. According to an article from roman-empire.net, “...during the summer months the soldiers were to be marched twenty Roman miles, which
The Romans did what few before them had done, which was actually sitting down and talk about the battle before it took place. In Mark Cartwright's article for the Ancient History Encyclopedia he writes, “Commanders could hold a consilium or war council with their officers to present and discuss strategies for attack and utilise the experience of veteran campaigners.” Those in charge were just as prepared as their soldiers. They knew battles could not be won just by brute force, that's why they took the time to go over strategies. The Romans were also known to use, “suitable reconnaissance by a scouting vanguard of exploratores troops.” (Cartwright) The army commanders would learn about the terrain they were about to encounter and find a way to take advantage of it. Another part of the Romans’ great strategy was who they brought with them to a battle, “One particular innovation of the Imperial period was the introduction of doctors (medici) and medical assistants (capsarii), who were attached to most military units.” (Cartwright) If a soldier was wounded in battle the doctors could try to fix him and get him back into the fight. This helped immensely, especially since the Romans relied on a phalanx formation when in battle. The phalanx is basically just a square, the soldiers remained close together and protected the guy next to him. Just one guy missing from that could have drastic repercussions.
The Roman chain of command was of the utmost importance. Highly trained soldiers and good strategies meant nothing if the soldiers had nobody telling them what to do. And this went far beyond one general telling thousands of soldiers to simply attack. C. N. Trueman explains this well in his article “The Roman Army and Warfare” in it he