Throughout history, no other era was more significant than that of the Roman Empire. The power and influence of the Roman government and it=s rule over the world was accomplished by the Roman Army. The Roman army was the ultimate weapon of war because of the well trained men, their effective weapons and their brilliant battle tactics.The first requirement for a successful army is to have brave and well trained men.Recruits were taught to march and performed parade drill twice a day. They were taught how to build a camp, swim and ride. A Roman was half a soldier from the start, and he could endure discipline which soon produced the other half (Adcock 5).Weapons training concentrated on sword and javelin. For sword training, recruits used a wooden sword and wicker shield, both twice the normal weight. More advanced training consisted of fighting in full armor, battle tactics and mach battles with the points of the swords and javelins covered to avoid serious injury. To a soldier, war was not romantic nor an intellectual adventure: It was a job of work to which he brought a steady, stubborn, adaptable schooled application (Adcock 6). A grouping of men called Legions were the main force in the Roman Empire. In the Republican times the legions were given a serial number (I, II, III, etc.) each year they were recruited. The smallest unit in the legion was the century, made up of one hundred men. Legionaries used javelins to begin the battle at long range and disrupt enemy battle lines before charging forward to engage the enemy at close range with swords and shields. The normal strength of a Legion was four thousand infantry and two hundred calvary, which could be expanded to five thousand in an emergency. The second requirement for a successful army is effective weapons to be used by the well trained soldier. In early Rome, only the wealthiest soldiers wore armor and then only a helmet and breast plate of beaten bronze. (Adki...
