Roman Battle Tactics 390-110 BC

From the Roman army's origins as war bands of farmer-warriors, mounting only brief, seasonal raids against their equally belligerent neighbours, the Romans developed a militia that adopted the weapons and tactics of the Greek phalanx. They then outstripped their rivals for power with the vital innovation of the 'manipular legion', a much more flexible and versatile battle formation. Fuelled by their willpower and resilience, the Romans'social and tactical organization enabled them to sweep away first the rival empire of Carthage and then the Hellenistic armies of the Greek world. Illustrated with battle plans and colour plates of formations and tactical scenarios, this book explains the development of the military machine that enabled Rome to dominate the whole Mediterranean.

By 390 BC, the organization of the Roman army was in need of change. Fighting in the Greek-style with a heavy infantry was proving increasingly outdated and inflexible, resulting in the Roman's defeat at the hands of the Gauls at the battle of Allia. Following on from this catastrophe and in the next fifty years of warfare against Gallic and Italian tribes, a military revolution was born: the legion. This was a new unit of organization made up of three flexible lines of maniples consisting of troops of both heavy and light infantry. However, at the end of the 3rd century BC, Rome's prestige was shattered once more by the genius of Hannibal of Carthage, causing Roman battle tactics to be revised again. The legendary general Scipio Africanus achieved this, finally destroying the Carthaginian army at the climactic victory of Zama. A wholly new kind of soldier had been invented, and the whole Mediterranean world was now at Rome's feet. This book reveals these two defining moments in Roman military history and the revolution in battle tactics that was the result, examining how the Roman army eventually became all-conquering and all-powerful.

Ross Cowan was formerly a research student at the University of Glasgow where he was recently awarded a PhD for a thesis on the Roman army entitled 'Aspects of the Severan Field Army AD 193-238.' The major themes of the thesis are the organisation of the Praetorian Guard and Legio II Parthica, their recruitment, numbers and equipment. Ross also completed his first degree at Glasgow. In 1999 he was elected a fellow of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland. He has previously written Elite 155 Roman Battle Tactics 109 BC-AD 313. The author lives in Glasgow, Scotland.