The Evolution of the Roman Army Part II — The Manipular Legion (Middle to Late Republic, 4TH C

The Evolution of the Roman Army Part II — The Manipular Legion (Middle to Late Republic, 4TH Century BC - 107 BC)In case you missed: Part IThe phalanx system which the Romans had adopted from the Greeks and Etruscans had served the Roman Army well from the 6th century BC up to the 4th century BC, allowing the city state to defend itself against numerous hostiles and even expand their small realm.  However as mentioned in the previous post the phalanx had several weaknesses, most glaring in that the formation lacked mobility, was easy to outmaneuver, and was helpless when outflanked.   The phalanx first showed its weakness in 390 BC when a large army of Celts lead by the tribal king Brennus invaded central Italy. The lighter and faster Celtic army was easily able to maneuver around, surround, massacre the Roman phalanxes. The Celts sacked Rome, destroying much of the city and making off with 1,000 lbs of gold. Throughout Roman history until 410 AD, the first sack of Rome was a large scar on the collective psyche of the Roman people. As the 4th century BC progressed, a new people descended from the hills of Campania in Southern Italy looking to expand their territory. Coming into contact with Rome, the Samnites were able to take advantage of the weaknesses of the Roman phalanx, dealing several terrible defeats in battle. Unlike the territory around Rome, Campania has very hilly and rough terrain which often hindered a phalanxes’ maneuverability. One of the most embarrassing defeats was the Battle of the Caudine Forks in 321 BC when the Samnite Army was able to ambush and surround an entire Roman Army. Rather than engage the Romans, the Samnites merely laid siege to their position, starving out the Romans and forcing them to surrender. The Samnites spared the Romans, who marched back home with their heads held low in shame. For a Roman of the early republic, death was preferable to defeat.Around 315 BC the Romans ditched the phalanx and began copying the tactics of their Samnite enemies. The result was the manipular system, which would be used from the remainder of the Samnite Wars, through the Macedonian invasion, and finally allowing Rome to conquer it’s mortal enemy, Carthage.  The new tactical system was based on a new formation called the “maniple” which basically translates as “a handful”. Each maniple had either 60 or 120 men, and a collection of maniples numbering 5,000 men was called a legion. This was the first time in history that the term “legion” was used. Like the older Roman Army, the new system was a citizen militia based on class in which soldiers had to have a certain amount of wealth to qualify for military service. The Roman state for once began to take responsibility for the arming of its military, providing each soldier with a free sword. However, all other arms, armor, clothing, food, and other supplies were the financial responsibility of the individual soldier.  The structure of the manipular legion itself was based more on experience than social class however.   The manipular legion consisted of three lines, with the maniples arrayed in a “checkerboard pattern” so that each line could retreat behind the other (see chart above). The first line were the “hastati”, named after the hasta, a type of spear. Despite being named after a spear, hastati were armed with a sword, two or three javelins (which they would throw at the enemy before engaging in close quarter combat), a large oval or rectangular shield, a helmet, and either a small bronze plate that covered the chest or a chainmail shirt if the soldier could afford one. Most importantly the hastati were composed of raw recruits with little to no battle experience. The second line consisted of the “principes”, who were armed and armored identically to the hastati, however were composed of experienced veterans. Unlike the earlier phalanx, the hastati and principes had a much looser formation. Shields weren’t locked together in tight formation, rather soldiers were more spaced out giving each infantryman more freedom of movement and more room to use his sword.  Usually after a few minutes of fighting the hastati and principes would switch position, the hastati retreating to the second line, and principes advancing to the front, or vice versa. This gave the soldiers a break from combat, and ensured that the army would not be quickly fatigued.The final line consisted of heavy infantry called the “triarii”, which was a throw back to the old phalanx. Like earlier hoplites, they were armed with a long spear, as well as a sword, shield, helmet, and chainmail cuirass.  The triarii were not only the most heavily armed infantrymen of the maniple, but also consisted of the most battle hardened, combat grizzled veterans.  The idea was that if the enemy broke through the hastati and principes, the triarii would be the last line of defense, forming a shield wall with with spears arrayed in a phalanx like formation. Things were going badly if the triarii were pressed in combat, and if the triarii failed, the battle was lost.Like the slingers of the Roman phalanx, the new maniple system had a forth line of light infantry who were placed at the front of the legion at the beginning of a battle. Armed with javelins, “velites” served as skirmishing troops. When attacking the velites would cover the enemy advance by throwing volleys of javelins at the enemy. When the legion was under attack the velites would slow the enemy advance by throwing volleys of javelins. Once close combat began, the velites would retreat to safe ground and continue to harass the enemy if possible. Velites were typically recruited from the poorest Roman citizens who qualified for military service, and thus could afford less in terms of arms and equipment. Finally, there was the cavalry, which was the most prestigious position within the Roman Army, and were typically drawn from the equites, a very wealthy and powerful social class second only to senators and other politicians. Typically the cavalry were used to guard the flanks of the army, attack the flanks of the enemy, and chased down retreating enemy soldiers.With its looser formation the manipular legion was better able to react to enemy movements and attacks, where as the tight formation of the phalanx was fairly immobile, and couldn’t react if the enemy happened to attack from some direction other than straight ahead. Since the maniple was a smaller unit than the phalanx, it was much easier for armies to coordinate complex movements on the battlefield. With lighter infantry the maniple was also able cover terrain that the previous phalanx couldn’t, and with the legion arrayed in a checkerboard pattern, could move around obstacles without breaking formation.  The maniple proved to be superior to the phalanx when in the 2nd century BC, shortly after the Punic Wars, Rome would begin conquering Greek kingdoms and states, easily annihilating Greek or Macedonian phalanxes who resisted the onslaught. The maniple system would continue to be used until the Marian reforms of 107 BC. By the end of the Punic Wars, the Roman Army had grown from a small citizen militia of 6,000 men, to a massive army of 23 legions, or 116,000 infantry and 13,000 cavalry. The Roman Republic, a de facto empire and soon to be “Empire” found that it’s old system of citizen soldiers recruited by class and wealth could not provide enough manpower for Rome’s military needs, especially when some barbarians across the border deal some of Rome’s worst defeats since the days of Hannibal. In addition, while the maniple allowed for greater flexibility, the units themselves were too small, especially now that Rome would face massive, well organized armies. A general named Marius would step forward with a brilliant solution.To be Continued… -- source link

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