Ancient Battle Formations - The Legion, Part I

Wow, it's been a while since my last post.  Sorry for that.  I'll try to get back to my regular posting schedule of once a week on Mondays.
This week I would like to take a look at the Roman style of warfare.  The Romans used the phalanx early on in their military history, but after some time, they developed a new formation that would help them dominate the known world.  This was the legion.

It's in Spanish...or Italian? But hopefully you get the gist.

There were two major types of legion.  The first was the manipular legion, which was composed of maniples, and the centurion legion, composed of centuries.  Century in English means 100 years, and this comes from a latin root.  In the legion formation, it simply refers to 100 soldiers, although in practice it was often only 80.  I won't get into the specifics of the word meanings, or even how many soldiers were in each block of troops.  What I want to talk about is the equipment, and how the legion fought.  For now, suffice it to say that both legion formations had blocks of troops, and the major differences between the two types is that the centurion legion had bigger blocks of troops, had more standardised, and better, equipment, and were raised differently (being paid, professional soldiers as opposed to levies - more on that later). Both types of legion had troops armed with javelins, called pila (pilum for one, pila is the plural), a short sword, called a gladius, and a shield.  They had other armour, as well, but how much, and what type of armour depended on which type of troop we are talking about.

The Manipular Legion

A Hastati fighting with his Gladius.

This formation consisted of several different troop types.  Before the main troops would engage, velites would screen their advance, allowing them to deploy in good order.  Velites were light troops, armed with javelins, primarily.  They were the youngest, and the poorest, of the citizen soldiers, or levies.  They were not mainline troops, and were only expected to skirmish with the enemy's lighter troops.  When their amunition was spent, they would retire to the rear of the formation.

Next came the main formation, consisting of three broken lines of heavy infantry, arranged in a checker-board pattern.  The first line was young men, and poorer land owners.  They were called Hastati.  They wielded the pila, gladius, and shield, and usually had some armour - a helmet, maybe a breastplate, and maybe more.  These were usually young men who had never, or seldom, seen battle before.  They were not relied on too heavily, and would usually break from combat when things got heavy.

And a Hastati throwing a pilum.

Behind the line of Hastati, in the gaps in their line, stood the Principes.  These were men in their prime, and wealthy land owners (though not the wealthiest - these were the equites, or cavalry).  The Principes had similar equipment to the Hastati - pila, gladius, and shield, but usually had more armour, and better quality equipment.  The Principes were the main fighting force of the army, and were expected to do the majority of the serious fighting.  However, if things got bad, it would go to the Triarii.

Triarii were the most seasoned veterans.  Armed with long spears and shields, and wearing the best armour available, they were the most solid fighters available to the manipular legion.  They often would not fight in a battle, but were there behind the Principes, providing a solid backstop and veteran leadership.  If things did get bad, they would step in, and had the ability to turn the tide, or at least hold their ground long enough for the rest of the army to retreat, rally, and re-engage, saving the army from a rout.

Additionally, there were cavalry, the Equites I mentioned before, and other auxiliary troops, such as archers, and such.  However, they were not mainstays, or didn't play a major role in most battles.  The cavalry, for example, had no stirrups, and did not coach their spears like medieval knights, and were, thus, not able to be heavy, shock troops, but were relegated to hitting flanks, and chasing down fleeing enemy troops.  The battle was usually won, or lost, on the performance of the Hastati and Principes.

Equipment of the Manipular Legion

Pilum - This was a heavy javelin used by the Hastati and Principes.  They would throw them before engaging with their Gladius.  They had a long tip, made of iron, and if they struck armour, or a shield, they would often stick in and bend on impact, making them hard to dislodge, and impossible to throw back.  As mentioned, they were heavy, and, when stuck in a shield, would often make the enemy trooper drop, or lower his shield, exposing himself to attack.  The volley of Pila before hand to hand combat often opened up gaps in the enemy formation, which could be exploited by the legionaries, who would press in tight, stabbing with their short swords.

Gladius - The short, straight, double-edged sword was ubiquitous in both legion types.  It was primarily a stabbing sword, not a slashing sword.  This made them deadly in close quarters, which the legion formation would endeaver to create by pressing in against their foes.  This, in addition to the advantages given by the Pila, made them deadly against the Phalanx, which was often employed by the enemies of Rome, or any spear armed troops.  Think of it as fighting in a telephone booth, you can't maneuver the spear to stab, but a short sword is perfect.

Shield - These were generally flat, oval shaped, and made of layers of wood, with hide stretched over the face.  They were much lighter than the hoplon shield, yet still heavy enough to provide adequate protection.  The different layers of wood were overlapped in a criss-cross pattern, sometimes with different types of wood of varying hardness.  Therefore, a spear point or arrow might pierce the hide, and the first layer of pine, only to change course on the layer of oak beneath, and snapping off its head, or making it stick or move to the side rather than going through the shield.

Other Equipment - The Triarii used long spears and formed up in a spear and shield wall, similar to a phalanx, but on a much smaller scale.  The Equites used cavalry spears, and the velites used a lighter, more conventional javelin.

Even unbroken, the Hoplite's spear would be little use in such close quarters.

Rather than continue on to the Centurion legion, I want to discuss why the legion in general was so effective against the phalanx.  I would like to describe an imaginary encounter between a legion and a phalanx.  The Velites skirmish with the Peltasts, while both armies assemble.  The phalanx is having trouble already, due to the broken ground.  They want to set up in one big block, but the terrain is rocky and uneven.  The legion is used to such ground, and already has gaps in its line.  The legion is composed of smaller blocks that fit together.  Each block has its own officers and standards, and they quickly assemble.  They advance on the phalanx, and the Hastati unleash their pila.  The two lines clash, and Hoplites begin to move into the gaps between the maniples of Hastati.  They turn to fight, but their spears are long, and it is difficult to bring them to bear.  The wall of spearpoints has gaps, because of the uneven ground, and from the casualties of the pila volley, and the Hastati rush into the gaps, perfectly comfortable crammed up against each other, and the enemy.  They are able to use their short swords to stab into gaps.

The phalanx has now bulged into the gaps in the legion's line.  Hoplites in the gap are cut off from their officers, with enemy on both sides, and their shields, designed to protect their front, and the man to their right, are not effective against attack from the side, or rear.  The Principes choose this moment to unleash their own volley of pila.  Then they charge the disorganised hoplites in the flank.  The battle shifts.  The phalanx can't react quickly enough to this new attack, because their officers can't even see all the troops.  Suddenly, the Hastati retreat.  Thinking they are winning, and unable to see the rest of the battle, the Hoplites rush into the gap, only to become boxed in, again.  Now the Hastati, taking heart from the unbroken line of Triarii, and bullied by their officers, rally to their unit standard.  They turn and charge back into the fight.  They hit the Hoplites in the flank.  The Hoplites in the gaps are surrounded on three sides, and stand little chance.  They are forced to flee, which creates panic that ripples down the line.  Soon they are running, and the Equites move in to chase them.

Of course, this is just a hypothetical battle, and the legion did not always win.  However, the tactics of the legion were solid, and allowed the legion to consistently win against the phalanx.  Italy, around this time, had several Greek kingdoms, and eventually they were all defeated and Italy was united under Roman rule.  An interesting anecdote from this time period is the origin of the term pyrrhic victory.  After winning an especially costly victory over the Romans, a Greek king, Pyrrhus, remarked that he could nowise afford another such victory.  Sure enough, his kingdom did not last much longer.  He won the battle, but lost the war.


And with that I will end this post.  Next week I will finish up the Legion with a post on the Centurion Legion.