Why Was the Roman Arms so Successful

Why was the Roman army so successful?

The Romans were probably the most successful empire ever. However what made them such a driving force was the power and organization behind the fearsome legions of the Romans. To most people the Roman army just seems like a normal army that you hear about. Well it is much more that that, there are a lot of reasons why they are as successful as they were. Here are some of them: weaponry, equipment, organisation, discipline training and its tactics.
Some of the reasons why the Roman army was so successful are to so with their superior weapons and equipment. The weapons include a small dagger called a pugio which was mainly used for use around the camp. Another is the sword also known as a gladius. It was light and short, no more than 15 cm long so soldiers could use it for close hand to hand fighting and stabbing. There was also a spear which was also called a pilum. A Soldier would carry two of them which are just over 2m long. After they were thrown to the enemies they would bend and stick into the opponents shield so they could not use it for protection and it would snap so it could not be thrown back. Also there was the shield (scrotum) which was used to protect most of the body. And finally there is the helmet, also known as the cassis, it is worn on the head. It has cheek plates at the sides to protect them from sword blows and a peak at the back to protect from the enimies coming from behind and also to protect the neck from sunburn because sometimes they are marching all day in hot countries. This helps the roman army to be successful because if they were fighting and they were running around without anything to protect them then they would be easily killed.

The roman army was successful because of the way it was organised. A group of 8 men would be put together and form a group called a tent. 10 tents together would make a century of 80 men. 6 centuries would form together to make a cohort. 10 cohorts together make 4800 men and there you have a legion. When soldiers disobey orders they get punished. The usual punishment they receive is to get flogged which is where they get whipped with a leather strip, but there are worse punishments. If a soldier left their post while on duty or in a battle they would be killed by stoning or getting beaten. If a group of soldiers left their post, one in every ten of them would be killed. This helps the roman army to be so successful because they have the self discipline to reach their goal and they know the consequences if they disobey orders which drives them to be better soldiers.
The Roman Army was successful because it was professional. Romans were very proud of their legion. As a symbol of their pride they had a standard carried by the signifier. If the signifier gets killed then a new one is appointed. This helps them be successful because they have a plan and a goal and they know how to achieve it.
The Roman Army as also successful because of its training. The soldiers would train using wooden weapons. They would train every day, they wouldn’t take a day off even if they weren’t needed to battle. This is because if they are needed to fight and they hadn’t trained in a while and got a bit lazy they wouldn’t be able to fight and be as strong as they normally are. The training adds to the success of the army because if they didn’t train they wouldn’t know how to fight.
The Roman Army was also successful because of its tactics it used. If the army was attacking a town or a group of soldiers they would use their shields and put them together and form a shell shape. This is called the tortoise or the tesudo. Also when the soldiers are in battle they could get tired easily so they would have the soldiers only spend 15 minutes at the front at a time. This helped the army be successful because when attacking a town they would not be expecting what was to happen they wouldn’t think a big shell shape would come up to them and start attacking them. Also when the other army gets tired the Romans will always come out on top.
Some of these reasons are linked together. I am now going to try and make links between these causes and explain those links. One of these links is between training and tactics. This is because when in battle and you are making a tortoise you would need to know how to do it and to do it you would need to be trained to do it. Also organisation, weapons, equipment and training are linked. This is because when going to training you would need to be organised and remember your weapons and equipment.
Some of these causes are more important than others. I am now going to put these reasons into a hierarchy and explain my choices. The most important, I believe, is weapons and equipment. Without them they wouldn’t be able to go to training or battle and most of the tactics include using your weapons. The second is training because to go to battle you would need to know how to fight. The third is tactics, because if you marched just into the area you were going to fight in the enemies would be expecting you.
The Romans were successful for many reasons: Their weaponry, their equipment, their organisation, their discipline, their professionalism, their training and their tactics. All of these reasons rolled together make the great Roman Army.