Romans at War: The Roman Military in the Republic and Empire

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The Roman army was huge. It was divided up into groups called ‘ legions ’. Each legion had between 4,000 and 6,000 soldiers. In this collection, we examine some of the unique features of Roman warfare on land and sea. We look at the organisation of the Roman army, its weapons and tactics. And we look at that great spectacle of victory and the dream of every commander: the Roman Triumph. Battle of the Lupia River (11 BC) – Roman forces under Augustus's stepson Drusus win a victory in Germany. BC – Battle of Asculum – Pyrrhus again defeats the Romans but once again suffers significant casualties in the process. The first Jewish-Roman War, sometimes called The Great Revolt, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of Judaea Province against the Roman Empire. [301] Judea was already a troubled region with bitter violence among several competing Jewish sects [301] and a long history of rebellion. [302] The Jews' anger turned on Rome following robberies of their temple and Roman insensitivity– Tacitus says disgust and repulsion [303]– towards their religion. The Jews began to prepare for armed revolt. Early successes by the rebels, including the repulse of the First Siege of Jerusalem [304] and the Battle of Beth-Horon, [304] only attracted greater attention from Rome and Emperor Nero appointed general Vespasian to crush the rebellion. Vespasian led his forces in a methodical clearance of the areas in revolt. By the year 68 AD, Jewish resistance in the Galilee had been crushed. A few towns and cities held out for a few years before falling to the Romans, leading to the Siege of Masada in 73 AD [305] [306] and the Second Siege of Jerusalem. [307]

Battle of the Medway – Claudius and general Aulus Plautius defeat a confederation of British Celtic tribes. Roman invasion of Britain beginsUnder Lucius Mummius, Corinth was destroyed following a siege in 146 BC, leading to the surrender and thus conquest of the Achaean League (see Battle of Corinth).

BC – Battle of the Caudine Forks – Romans under Spurius Postumius Albinus and T. Verturius Calvinus are defeated by the Samnites under Gaius Pontius. BC – Battle of Heraclea – First engagement of Roman and Greek armies, the latter led by Pyrrhus of Epirus, who is victorious, but at great cost. Nero's exploration of the Nile (62–67) – Roman expeditions to Equatorial Africa with the objective to reach the origin of Nile river and recopile information for a possible Roman planned conquest of Ethiopia. BC – Battle of Sentinum – Romans under Fabius Rullianus and Publius Decimus Mus defeat the Samnites and their Etruscan and Gallic allies, forcing the Etruscans, Gauls, and Umbrians to make peace Livy (1905). From the Founding of the City. Trans. Canon Roberts – via Wikisource. (print: Book 1 as The Rise of Rome, Oxford University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-19-282296-9)However, Rome still controlled only a very limited area and the affairs of Rome were minor even to those in Italy [45] and Rome's affairs were only just coming to the attention of the Greeks, the dominant cultural force at the time. [52] At this point the bulk of Italy remained in the hands of Latin, Sabine, Samnite and other peoples in the central part of Italy, Greek colonies to the south, and the Celtic people, including the Gauls, to the north.