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The Roman Military

The Ancient Roman Military was one of the most powerful military forces in military history. The Romans had conquered most of the eastern world by 64 CE. Ancient Rome lasted from 753 BCE to 476 CE. The Roman Empire lasted roughly 1229 years. One of the key reasons for Rome to success was their military. The military was only about 8% of the Roman population. The Roman Military contained two branches, these branches were the Army of Rome and the Navy of Rome. In this essay, the ranks of the Roman Military, structure and organization of the Roman Military, Requirements to get into the military, training, and tools will all be explained. Key terms such as, cohorts, a unit of about 480 soldiers, and legions, a unit of about 4000 to 6000 soldiers will be used in this essay. The Roman Military was one of the strongest in human history and some of the reasons will be explained.

The Roman military was very complex but, it consisted of five main ranks which were, Legionarii, Immunes, Discentes, Mlites Gregarii, and Tirones. The Legionarii were the commanders and general. The Immunes were soldiers who would’ve been the trained specialists and a discentes would be the trainees to become a Legionarii. Tirones were the basic soldiers of the Roman Military.

Roman soldiers had to follow certain requirements to get into the military. One of the requirements was males had to be at least 20 years old to serve in the Roman Military. Another requirement was that they had to be a citizen of The Roman Empire. The Roman Military was divided into thirty different legions. Each of these legions were made up of 10 cohorts. At the Roman Military’s largest it contained about 30 legions or about 3,750,000 soldiers.

The Roman Military training was very brutal and tested not only their physical strength but, also their mental strength. Soldiers would have to run about 18 miles in five hours each month. Soldiers would train their combat skills by practicing with wooden weapons. The wooden weapons were almost twice as heavy as the weapons used in battle to assist in strengthening the power swing. The Roman Military used many unique tools that they adapted and made their own versions. Every soldier on the battlefield was equipped with armor, shields, and swords. A Roman soldier had armor made of leather straps wound together, which could stop most of the attacks by the enemy. The soldier would also have a shield made out of plywood wrapped in leather this not only could block attacks but, it could be used as a weapon by ramming the enemy with it. A typical Roman sword or gladius was almost 2 feet long. The sword was made out of a diamond blade and steel handle. The Roman Military was the backbone of the Roman Empire, without it Rome would have never become an empire. Rome’s military put fear into their enemies and conquered most of the western world. The Roman Military was arguably the most organized and feared military of its time.

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