Why The Roman Army Was So Successful

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Why the Roman Army Was So Successful By AD 100 The Romans had conquered an empire that stretched 3000 miles from Scotland all the way around the Mediterranean Sea. The Roman Empire included about 50 million people of different races, speaking many different languages and adoring many different gods. This vast empire lasted hundreds of years. So how did the Romans come to build and control such an empire? The Roman Empire grew strong because it had a very good army to first conquer and then control all the other lands. But what made the Roman Army the great fighting force they were? There were many reasons for their success. They were highly organized and disciplined. They had excellent, health, fitness and training. They established well run camps and forts and they had amazing weapons and tactics. Each of these factors contributed to their success and is explained in detail in the following sections. Organization was a big thing for the roman army. There were 30 legions in the entire army, each legion having around 5000 men. That is a fighting force of about 150000 men over all. The fact that they could keep them organized is really extraordinary. The officer in charge of the legion was called a legate. Each legion was divided into ten groups called cohorts and these cohorts were divided into six centuries of about 80 men. They were divided into cavalry soldiers, artillery operators, infantry foot soldiers and archers. Each legion also had a special flag and design on their shield. This helped them to recognize each other in battle. The organization of the army made them successful because they had strict rules and they knew exactly where they should be and what they should be doing. Each soldier knew exactly what he needed to do in Battle and this helped the army to be unbeaten as a whole. The Roman army was very strict and this discipline helped

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