Today Rome is the capital of Italy. Two thousand years ago it was the most important city in the world. At least a million people lived in this busy, noisy city. It was the center of a massive empire that eventually stretched from England through Europe, Greece, North Africa, and the Middle East.

The empire spread because of the skill of the Roman army. For 400 years, its soldiers were the best in the world. They won so many battles and took over so much land that more than sixty million people lived under Roman rule!

Training

Most soldiers began serving in their late teens or early twenties, and new soldiers trained for four months. Three times a month, they practiced marching so they could cover at least eighteen miles in five hours.

The men carried weapons plus enough food for three or four days. They stored cooking pots, clothes, and camping equipment in packs on a pole over their shoulders.

The packs weighed around 66 pounds. That’s about the same weight US soldiers carry today.

Soldiers practiced running with their armor on. They trained in hand-to-hand combat with wooden weapons twice as heavy as real ones. The men learned how to fight with swords. They practiced throwing a spear called a pilum until they could throw it fifty feet. Soldiers also had to learn how to build bridges and forts, and dig lots of trenches!

The Legion

The Roman army was made up of fighting units called legions (LEE-junz). There were 6,000 men in a legion.

Soldiers in a legion were legionnaires.

Legions had eighty-man units called centuries (SENT-shuh-reez). Elite officers called centurions (sen-CHUR-ee-unz) commanded the centuries.

Roman soldiers fought in looser formations than the Greeks did. This gave them more freedom to move around.

When they were attacking a castle or fort, they sometimes got in the testudo (tes-TOO-doh) or tortoise (TOR-tus) formation.

Men in the first line stood close together holding shields in front of them. The soldiers behind them held shields over their heads. The men were just like turtles going into their shells.

Battle Tactics

A Roman soldier was armed with a shield, a heavy throwing spear called a pilum, and a short sword for close fighting. Before a battle began, legionnaires stood in rows waiting for a signal to begin fighting. If anyone talked, a centurion whacked him on the head with a stick.

Trumpets signaled orders during the battle.

Roman soldiers were to remain calm and ready, not chatty or afraid. Suddenly the sound of trumpets rang out, and soldiers raced forward hurling their spears. The battle was on!

Hannibal and the Alps

Carthage was a powerful city in North Africa. Beginning in 264 BCE, Rome and Carthage battled for control of three islands off the coast of Italy.

The Romans felt safe from an attack by Carthage because its army would have to go over the Alps to get to Italy. The Alps are mountains that run through eight European countries.

In 218 BCE, Hannibal, a great Carthaginian general, led his army over the Alps into Italy for a surprise attack on the Romans.

Hannibal began the trip with tens of thousands of soldiers and thirty-seven war elephants.

The men and animals suffered through freezing temperatures, enemy attacks, and narrow slippery trails. Hannibal lost about 20,000 men and almost all the elephants!

Ancient armies often used war elephants to carry supplies and charge enemy lines.

Hannibal fought battles against the Romans for sixteen more years. Although he won some of them, in the end he was forced to retreat and return to Carthage.

Siege of Alesia

A military siege (SEEJ) is when an army surrounds a town or fort and cuts off its food and other supplies. Julius Caesar was a genius at siege warfare.

Today Gaul is known as France. The Romans took over Gaul for their empire. In 52 BCE, a Gallic tribal chief named Vercingetorix (ver-sin-GET-uh-ricks) rebelled against Roman rule. He and about 80,000 soldiers from different tribes occupied the hilltop town of Alesia.

Julius Caesar was the governor of Gaul. He and his army arrived at Alesia to lay siege to the city. They built a wall about ten miles long around it. They dug deep trenches and filled one of them with water from a nearby river. The soldiers also buried sharp, pointed spikes deep in the ground to stop anyone from escaping.

Roman soldiers cut down trees to make the spikes. Some had hooks on them…ouch!

To keep other Gallic tribes from helping Vercingetorix, Caesar constructed a second wall that was thirteen miles long outside of the first wall!

The Romans also put up tall watchtowers every eighty feet. It’s really hard to believe that they did all of this work in only three weeks!

Sixty thousand soldiers arrived to help the Gauls at Alesia. They attacked Caesar and his men. The Romans were much better fighters than the Gauls, and many enemy soldiers ran away or died in the fighting.

Caesar defeated the Gauls and took Vercingetorix captive. The Siege of Alesia is one of the greatest battles in military history.

The Philosopher-Emperor

Marcus Aurelius was a famous Roman emperor who ruled from 161 to 180 CE.

During his reign, Germanic tribes began to invade Roman territories. Marcus Aurelius led an army into what is now Austria to try to stop them.

The Romans were at the Danube River and saw their enemies massed on the other side. The river was frozen, so the Romans thought they were safe from attack. But the tribes had trained their horses to cross over icy surfaces. They raced across the ice and surrounded the surprised Romans.

The Romans were outnumbered. Marcus ordered his men to get into a huge square and hold their shields over their heads for protection. Enemy troops rushed in to attack them.

Marcus and his cavalry with their horses were in the middle of the square.

The Romans were so skilled in hand-to-hand combat that they knocked many tribesmen off their horses and killed or wounded them. When the battle ended, Marcus Aurelius had won.

Marcus was also a great philosopher. He practiced Stoicism and wrote a book about it. People who are Stoics try to control their emotions and lead brave, honest, and simple lives.

Boudicca, the Warrior Queen

The Romans conquered much of England and ruled the Briton tribes that lived there.

One woman was brave enough to fight the Romans and almost forced them out of England.

Queen Boudicca (boo-DIH-kuh)’s husband was a Briton king. After he died, the Romans tried to take his property. Boudicca was so angry that she convinced other tribes to rebel against Roman rule.

In 61 CE, Boudicca gathered an army of about 100,000 Britons to attack and burn three cities with strong Roman ties. It’s thought that between 70,000 and 80,000 people were killed by Boudicca’s army.

In her last battle, Boudicca’s army greatly outnumbered the Romans. The Romans, however, were much better fighters and killed many Britons in the battle.

The Britons tried to flee, but lines of wagons they’d left near the battlefield cut off their escape route. Knowing that all was lost, Boudicca killed herself rather than be captured.

The Empire Fades Away

As the years passed, Rome began to lose its power. Many of its rulers were weak. Germanic tribes invaded Rome and took over parts of the Empire. The Roman army didn’t get the money or support it needed, and it got harder to hire soldiers. In 476 CE, the glorious days of the Roman Empire came to an end.

When Julius Caesar was a young man, pirates captured a boat he was on. They asked his family for money to set him free. Caesar laughed at the small amount they wanted. He thought he was worth a lot more. He demanded that the pirates ask for more…and they did!

Caesar bossed the pirates around and made them listen to him practicing speeches and reciting poetry. He joined their games and exercised with them. At night, he told them to stop talking so he could sleep!

When Caesar was freed, he quickly commanded a boat, sailed back, and arrested all the pirates and had them put to death.