The Legion Of Rome From Republic To The Early Empire

The Roman Legion is a term that can apply both to the entire Roman army, and also, more narrowly and more commonly, to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army in the period of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. But the Roman Navy is not important through the entire Roman history, and there are no regular Navy until the reign of Augustus. Compare to the infantry legion, other branches of the military forces were unimportant neither in their number nor in their functions. The Legion for many centuries was composed exclusively of Roman citizens. The legionaries must be in the Servius Tullius'Constitution, Unless in a period of extraordinary crisis.Every citizen was, to a certain extent, trained to arms during a fixed period of his life; he was at all times, liable to be called upon to serve. But the legion in which he was enrolled was disbanded as soon as the special service, for which it had been levied, was performed. According to the Roman annalists, in the early ages of the commonwealth, the regular number of a legion may be fixed at 4000 to 4200 infantry, and in case of peculiar danger of 5000. But in the period of late republic and the early empire, the regular number varied from 5000 to 6200.The cavalry allocated into the legion was a smaller number, from early republic, their number were fixed at 300. This number was seldom changed during the Roman history. Almost all military victories were depended on the infantry legion. The advantage and exclusivity of Roman military system were reflected in the infantry legion.In the continuous wars that Roman was involved, the legion learnt to their enemy and developed their own constitution, that is, the well known Roman maniple legion. And they used pilum and gladius as their main weapons, together with the scutum. These weapons strengthen the legionaries'combat power. Beside these, the military rules and disciples were very strict. When in the battle field, they carefully encamped even only sleep one night at the certain location. And they had a reward system to encourage the soldiers'bravery.The military system of early republic declined after the Punic war, since then, Marius recruited'captie censi'into the legion. Their benefit linked to the generals, and this leaded the legion to a professional army. The legion have their serial number, title, and every professional characteristic. In brief, the Roman military system and Roman legion were very advanced and unique in the contemporary Mediterranean world. Although they had sometimes been defeated, but depended on their tenacity and their military advantage, they always won their victories at last. And the legions contributed their effect to the rise of Rome.