4 – An Army Fit for an Empire
Throughout the rest of the Roman Republic, successful Roman commanders paid great attention to logistics when leading an army into battle. They were also obsessed with the practice of showing outward confidence and assuredness to the men. Julius Caesar outlined how he would gather military intelligence of the enemy from any source possible including defectors and captives. Commanders usually held a war council to discuss attack strategies and utilize the experience of veterans.
By the time the Republic came to an end, and Octavian became the first Emperor of Rome, commanders preferred an aggressive full-frontal attack (after detailed reconnaissance) and successfully used terror to quell local uprisings. The Romans also readily accepted hostages and peace promises from enemies in a bid to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and perhaps gain a new ally.
Rome first engaged in naval warfare during the First Punic War and won due to its ability to continually build new vessels. Rome didn’t need a great navy in the initial stages of the Republic, and it was only in the first century BC when it began building impressive fleets again. Pompey used a powerful fleet to defeat Cicilia in 67 BC, and Agrippa used 400 ships to attack Sextus Pompeius Magnus in 36 BC. Five years later, Agrippa demolished Mark Antony and Cleopatra’s fleet at Actium. After this victory, Octavian created two fleets; the classis Misenatium at Misenium and the classis Ravennatium at Ravenna. They operated until the fourth century AD.
Under Caesar’s leadership, the Roman army was a virtually indomitable fighting machine, and Octavian had the task of trying to keep the same level of quality in a peacetime setting. Soon after Actium, Octavian created a standing army consisting of at least 28 legions of 6,000 men with a similar number of auxiliaries. In total, he had a permanent army of up to 300,000 soldiers. He increased the service period from six years to 20 years and ensured the legion’s standard (Aquila or eagle) became an important symbol of the army. In fact, the standard bearer apparently received almost as much pay as a centurion.
By the first century AD, the Roman army was equipped so that each legion could last for weeks on its own resources, an essential component of any successful invasion. Each man carried rations, a cooking pot, clothes and personal possessions along with extremely heavy armor. Best estimates suggest the soldiers carried up to 66 pounds when everything is taken into account although it could have been as high as 90 pounds.
The first century AD also saw the Romans develop better siege machines and legions were expected to engineer these machines, build bridges and a number of other specialist tasks. Clearly, there were specialists within the ranks of every legion including armorers, carpenters, physicians and hunters. One legion was normally made up of 10 cohorts of 480 men plus a few hundred horsemen. While you might think that centurions commanded 100 men, they were actually in charge of 80.
Centurions would ride on horseback while their men walked and they could also discipline the soldiers by beating them if necessary. They had a 2-3 foot long staff specifically designed for this purpose. Centurions were highly respected and sought after leaders as they often traveled around the empire where they served with different legions. Apparently, a high percentage of Centurions only left their post due to death rather than being discharged from the military. If you became a centurion, you did so with the knowledge that you were giving your life to the army.