Roman Military Tactics

  • The Roman Army used a variety of tactics against their enemies.

List of Tactics

  1. Ambush
  2. Circumvallation
  3. Contravallation
  4. Cohort System
  5. Double Envelopment
  6. Maniple System
  7. Roman Marching Camp
  8. Phalanx System
  9. Testudo
  10. The Orb
  11. Vastatio
  12. Wedge Formation
  13. Roman Battle Formations

Other Army Tactics

  1. Roman Siege Machines:
    • to destroy the Walls of Enemy Cities and Fortresses and deny them safe havens.
  2. Rotation of Soldiers:
    • the fighting legionaries in the front line were rotated every few minutes, with a fresh line.
  3. Denial of Supplies:
    • Prevention of Food and weapons from reaching the enemy.
  4. Disruption of Enemy Charges:
    • Infantry Techniques for disrupting an enemy charge using Cavalry, Chariots or Elephants.
  5. River Logistics:
  6. High Ground:
    • Digging in on high ground or using a strongly fortified position. Then waiting for the enemy to attack, weakening them through attrition, then conducting a series of sharp counter-attacks.
  7. Catapults:
    • Use of Artillery to weaken the enemy lines prior to an attack: Every Centuria in the Legion had its own Torsion Catapult called a Cheiroballistra. This meant there were 60 Catapults in each Legion.

Roman Authors describing Military Tactics

  • Polybius (c.200-c.118 BCE)
    • ‘The Histories’. They cover the period 220-146 BCE.
    • It includes an eye witness account of the final Fall and Sack of Carthage in 146 BCE.
  • Vitruvius (c.88-c.26 BCE)
  • Frontinus (c.35 – 103/104 CE)
    • Strategemata
    • It is a collection of 4 Books, containing 500 examples of different Tactics.
  • Dio Cassius (c. 155-235 CE)
    • The ‘History of Rome’ written in 80 Volumes covering 1,000 years of Roman history and wars.
    • He describes the Testudo.
  • Vegetius (c.390-c.450 CE)
    • De Rei Militari.
    • A Manual on Military Strategy.
  • Maurice (582-602 CE)
    • He was a Roman Emperor in the East who wrote a Manual on War.
    • The Strategikon was used for the next 1,000 years.

 

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