History of Warfare: Roman Warfare by Adrian Goldsworthy by Goldsworthy Adrian

Author:Goldsworthy, Adrian [Goldsworthy, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, War, Classics
Amazon: B01FIWCAKW
Goodreads: 146338566
Publisher: Cassell
Published: 2000-04-01T08:00:00+00:00

TRAINING AND TACTICS

‘Their battle-drills are no different from the real thing… It would not be far from the truth to call their drills bloodless battles, their battles bloody drills.’ Josephus presented an idealized view of the army’s efficiency, but while the warriors of many different peoples were well practised in the use of their personal weapons, only the Romans trained both as individuals and units. According to the later military theorist Vegetius, the first thing a new recruit was taught was the military pace: learning how to march in step and keep his place in formation. Personal fitness received a high priority, and there were regular route marches of twenty Roman miles in five hours at the normal pace and twenty-four in the same time at the quick step. On some marches the recruits stopped to learn how to lay out and construct a marching camp. They were taught how to use their personal weapons by practising thrusts and cuts against a 1.8-metre post fixed into the ground. At first they used wooden swords and wicker shields of twice the weight of the normal issue to strengthen their arms. On at least one occasion these wooden practice swords were used as batons by troops quelling a riot. After this they fenced with other recruits, the tips of their swords covered with leather pads to prevent serious injury, and finally whole units would fight mock battles. Cavalry practised a complex series of drills involving movement in formation and the throwing of missiles, culminating in the spectacular Hippaka Gymnasia, or cavalry games.

Training was not just an experience for recruits but a continual activity to maintain a unit’s efficiency. Often the many duties which required the dispersal of a unit hindered its training, but good officers made sure that their men were well drilled and their weapons well maintained. If time permitted at the beginning of a campaign, then most generals exercised their troops to bring them to the peak of efficiency. A monument from the base of Legio III Augusta at Lambaesis in North Africa records a speech made by Hadrian to the army of the province after it had performed several days of exercises. The emperor displayed a detailed knowledge of the units’ strength and current deployment as well as a technical understanding of the manoeuvres themselves. He noted that Legio III Augusta had detached one cohort for service with the proconsul of the neighbouring province, had sent a vexillation of another cohort plus four men from each of the other centuries to reinforce another legion, and provided many small detachments to man small outposts and guard stations, while the unit had recently moved its camp twice. These factors might have restricted the ability of the legion to train as a unit, but Hadrian used them to reinforce his praise for their actual performance. Similarly, when addressing the cavalry of a cohors equitata, he commented that it was difficult for such a unit to perform satisfactorily immediately after an ala, with

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