Why Did The Roman Military Militaries

Rome is known for many things and its military was one of them. The roman military helped set the precedence of later militaries. Some of the same traits of the roman military was used and is still used in militaries of today. The Roman military was able to conquer most of the known world due to its military strength. Although the roman military was not the largest it was able to things that only a small group of empires had done before. There are a few reasons why the roman military was able to conquer all of the kingdoms and empires set as its’ target. These reasons are the recruitment and pay of the soldiers, the structure of the legions, the ranking system of the roman legion, how the roman legions camped, the tactics the roman legions …show more content…
The structure of the roman military is still used in modern militaries. The structure of the military made it to where the each of the soldier was grouped together in a small force that was then grouped into a large group. This allowed each roman soldier to develop bonds with his group. The structure of the roman legion is quite simple. Each legion has 10 cohorts. The first cohort had 5 centuries and the rest of the cohorts had 6 centuries. The centuries in the first cohort had 150 men in them. The centuries in the second through tenth cohorts had 80 men in them. The total soldiers in the first cohort were around 800 men and the rest of the cohorts had 480 men. No one actually knows why the first cohort was larger than the other cohorts. “The first cohort guarded the unit’s precious standard, the eagle. Therefore it might be that this unit was considered a special elite” [1]. The first cohort could have been larger than the other cohorts simply due to being the first cohort to face the enemy. The centuries were broken down even more into conturbenium. The second through tenth centuries would have 10 conturbeniums containing 8 men. These 8 men would share a tent in or a room at a fort. Overall each legion had around 5,500 men in …show more content…
The auxiliary units were normally from the distant lands that the romans had already conquered. These units were locals who were asked to join a military campaign. One of the most important aspects of the auxiliary was that they were non-citizens. These units were used heavily in campaigns and frontier defense. The auxiliary units normally stayed in the area (providence) that the unit was created. “For example, the greater part of the Gallic levies were originally stationed on the Rhine” [2]. Other auxiliary units, due to their specialties, were moved around to the other providences. “The Thracian regiments, on the other hand, on account of their special utility as archers, were distributed very widely throughout the Empire during the first century” [2].
Overall, the roman military traits helped shape the militaries that followed the collapse of the roman military and even militaries today. The roman military was able to be so dominating because of the recruitment and pay of the soldiers, the structure of the military, how the roman military camped, the tactics the roman military used, and the use of axillary units. In the end the Western Roman Empire was conquered by barbarian armies. This was a combination of a weaker army and political