I hope you all enjoy this little stray away from my original series on the Legions. Due to the much appreciated interest from your side, I decided to make a smaller series about the way the Legions operated, to make sure we are all on the same page as I continue my main series. I'll be making a couple more of these kinds of videos in the future. As for now, the story of the 14th Legion is next!!

An odd note on roman legionnaires that may also account for the crazy levels of stamina they exhibited in battle was the fact legionnaires in a block formation would be rotated in and out of the front rank at approximately 1 minute of combat so they stay consistently fresh and receive about a 7-minute breather before they were upfront again. This is also an impressive feat of coordination as maintaining a battle line while rotating men between the front and back ranks would have required intense displine.

Every legionarre was also part modern day construction worker. The days before battle, two warring bodies would often camp with sight distance of the other. It was extremely demoralizing for most Roman antagonists to wake, only to find rows of palisade with towers and other entrenchments built overnight, the siege of Alesia being an excellent example.

This guy is great, hardly any historians ever actually describe the training, they are usually just like "the legionnaire's intense training made them very effective." Then move on

As a former US Marine, I'm amazed at how similar modern military training is to ancient Roman military training. Not much has changed. In basic training, Marine recruits are first taught close order drill and formation. Then, the next 'phase' begins in which they are taught certain practical survival skills - such as swimming, sowing, first aid training, navigation (using a map and compass), etc. We are also issued our rifles in this 'phase' and taught how to properly operate it (though we are not yet allowed to fire live rounds). The final 'phase' of training was the actual combat training. Getting to *use* all these weapons you were only learning about before (now we got to fire live rounds); learning advanced infantry tactics and maneuvers, conducting combat exercises to practice these techniques, etc. We had to live in the forest pretending we were at war; digging and sleeping in fighting holes, eating nothing but MREs, getting only 1-2 hours of sleep a night, one team of recruits conducting mock patrols while opposing teams conduct mock ambushes, 'shooting' at each other with blank ammunition. The 10-20 mile forced march was also a common thing in Marine training, with each Marine recruit carrying nearly 100 lbs of gear too, just like ancient Roman troops. It's very interesting to see that the modern US Marine Corps follows the same training program and 'curriculum' as ancient Roman military. I guess "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". - 'Phase' 1: The absolute basics. Such as formation, close order drill, physical fitness. - 'Phase' 2: Practical survival skills and basics of equipment/weapons/tools. - 'Phase' 3: Full-fledged combat training. Actually *USING* all the weapons, rather than just learning about them. Actually *DOING* all these infantry tactics and maneuvers, rather than just learning about them.

All this just to become a recruit...Triarii, the veterans who made it to old age, must've been some absolute beasts..going through this training, and then surviving through countless battles for several decades..

Their biggest strength was standardization. They could quickly field large groups of legions, train them, equip them, and navigate them throughout the empire. So in Judea, Gaul, Germania, Hispania, Egypt, or Scythia you might have a local rebellion and kill 2-3 locally based legions, take, the standards, and perhaps capture the governor. For many empires this would be back breaking but for Rome they would field, train, and throw 6 legions back at you the next year to kick you in your teeth. The only group that consistently beat rome in the open field for extended periods of time was Hannibal. Even he was eventually weakened and beaten by Rome's endless supply of soldiers.

When panic and fear hits, you fall back to your training, which is why they emphasized it so much and why it is paramount for success.

Making money is an action. Keeping money is a behaviour, but "Growing money is wisdom" I heard this from someone 💯

Interestingly the part about "lively eyes" was also a desired feature in men recruited to the Swedish Army in the 1700's actually. They wanted applicants to have "good spirit, the sense of being a good comrade and have the ability to sing tunes" as well. I do not know if these requirements were inspired by the Romans though, or if it was just well understood that these features in men made good soldiers.

I think that an important part of Roman army training was the contubernium (“tent-together”), which was composed of eight legionaries, who trained together, fought together and (as the name suggests) always shared the same tent. They also could be rewarded or punished together as a unit. I am sure that these small permanent squads really helped Roman unit cohesion.

Slingers hurled lead weights, not stones, though I'm sure they hurled stones in time of necessity. The lead projectiles had standard shapes and weights. They were marked with the identification of their legion. After successful battle they were gathered up and recovered for reuse. They are commonly found archaeological artifacts and have been used to track the movements of legions or detachments from them. There are excellent You Tube programs on how to use a sling and related weapons. They could be very formidible. Consider a volley of low velocity large shotgun slugs as an equivalent. Since their enemies typically had no equivalent missles but only relatively weak archery without compound bows and fired at high trajectories this could be a decisive weapon by breaking up enemy formations and unit cohesion. I certainly wouldn't want to face a volley of well delivered slung lead projectiles.

You forgot the most important thing about the sling! Back then it had more range than the bows of the period. Also they manufactured metal standardized sling ammunition with a hole in it to cause it to whistle. They were often found with derogative messages etched in them. Kind of like how we write messages on bombs we drop. Great job on the video and hope to see more!

Their methods were so good, they're still being taught almost 2000 years later.

Miyamoto Musashi says in the Book of Five Rings that being proficient in only one weapon is just as much of a weakness as being proficient in none. A real fighter needs to know how to properly handle all the weapons available, and know which is the better in each situation. Really interesting to see completely different cultures sharing the same mindset.

Brilliant! This is the stuff I wish we learned in school. Students would be a lot more interested in learning about history if it were thought through human perspective. Great video! Thanks!

They had two-a-days for recruits. And everyone built things and also knew how to tear things down. I think the word 'professional' would describe Roman soldiers and they were many times up against enemies whose training didn't even come close to mastering the military skills of the Romans. Add to this that Rome was a wealthy nation/state and could provide the best of everything their soldiers needed and you have a formula few other nation/states could match.

I just finished reading the art of war by Vegetius, it's amazing and a blessing that such a document survived until today. I highly recommend it, a direct look inside more than 2000 years ago. Makes me feel proud being somewhat descendant of the Roman culture

This is very interesting about the selection process. I believe it is important even today for any successful operation. In my Infantry unit, most of the sub-standard's were discharged with in the first year of service.

A sense of humour being a desirable feat for the legion was unexpected for me.

Hi. So, a Roman mile is slightly longer than a modern mile. I was winded when he said that they marched for 5 hours straight with 60 pounds of gear. When converted that is 22.2 miles in 5 hours, or 4.5 miles an hour with roughly 43.5 pounds of gear. The US army standard training ruck march clocks in at 12 miles in 3 hours, or 4 miles an hour with 69 (nice) pound ruck sacks. Neat!

I always liked the "train harder than the real task at hand" mentality. Makes one good at their job, whatever that is.

There is such a Big potential for a series where the main characters go through this process

Hi and thanks for the video! Lots of things to learn here. You made it very clear that the Roman army had experience and expertise in using all sorts of skills to prevail over their enemies. This also very likely extended to psychological warfare, intimidation etc. There also was a need to maintain an incentive for the Roman population to support this significant pressure of military drafts/recruitment on families and the productive economy. Therefore I am tempted to ask: do we have any reason to believe that some of the written sources you have quoted may have overemphasised some aspects of Roman military power, in order to look good both to enemies outside and to inside political forces? (C.Julius Caesar may apparently have done this in his account of the Gallic Wars). Have we seen discrepancies between descriptions and archaeological findings? Or non-Roman sources? I realise this may well exceed the format or scope of your video! Thanks

0:46 Changes in military recruitment did contribute to the fall of the Roman Republic, but not to the decline of the Empire, and not due to a decline in the power of the Roman military. These changes occurred as part of the Roman Revolution, and they contributed to the Revolution politically by enlisting men living in third world conditions, whose subsistence depended entirely upon their military leaders. These generals took advantage of their troops' allegiance to turn their armies on the State. The recruitment changes were made in 104 BC, and by the reign of Trajan, in 117 AD, the Empire had tripled in size. Most of the best Roman structures were built after these military changes.The Empire became richer and stronger because of the political changes resulting from recruitment changes. Running an Empire with a city-state government turned out to be unsustainable. All it took was a little chaos among a small group of men in a small forum to topple the entire system. The Imperial government had way more to manage, and was able to do so for another 1500 years (if you count the Byzantine Empire, which you should). So if anything these recruitment changes helped save the Roman Empire.

Strong nations can only be defeated by themselves. Rome was no exception.

Thank you so much for the deep dive into some generally forgotten details of the Roman Imperial Army, & just what made them such a force to be reckoned with.

Recruits training under professional gladiators has to be the most badass thing that I've heard of Roman military culture.

That's interesting about the slingshot being highly respected. Cassius Dio talks* about the Balearic islanders being awesome at using slings and repulsing a Carthaginian force using them during the punic wars.

Nice video, I hear many translated citations that I remember from translating De Re Militari, very nice to hear. What I also found striking from the book was Vegetius' talking about men from warmer climates bleeding out more easily than men from colder climates due to them having thinner blood.

I expected they were very well trained, but I didn't expect they were that big and so able in multiple abilities beyond sword fighting!! Take on count that, at Imperial Time, average stature was comfortably 10 cm less than today, and if minimum was 168 cm, it means they were all tall, athletic and well built!! Legionaries were real beasts!!!

Man I would give my life to see ancient Rome at its peak. What it really looked like. It must have been so stunning.

I think they actually used lead balls with the slings, not rocks. I vaguely remember watching a video where the Roman army had laid siege to a fort and there were tons of lead balls at the site still to this very day. They had pummeled the fort with lead balls almost like artillery.

As an active duty soldier, there are MANY parallels between the training I've done and legionnaires. Nothing like a good ol Ruck March.

This was a great idea for a vid and very well done! Please do more detailed explorations like this!

Honestly making their practice weapons twice as heavy is brilliant as you mentioned, its like a runner practicing with weighted vest

Dang interesting. I'm glad you emphasized the power of the sling. A well thrown lead projectile from a sling can go further than an arrow. The projectiles were lead usually, and sometimes had interesting letters printed on them, such as "take this!" or "ouch!" kinda hilarious.

I read that Napoleon had a great sense of humour and that's probably why his troops would follow him to the ends of the earth. From my army experience the best NCO's were always very funny men that could yell at you and make you laugh at the same time.

Good video, very nicely put together. Just a question on the wooden training gladius supposedly being twice as heavy as the regular one: I do not remember, is the source of that information Vegetius? Because I have also heard arguments dismissing this practice as, while it would help increase the strength of the recruit, it would also create a different feeling and muscle memory making the movements with the actual gladius less accurate. I have never tried to train with heavier weapons myself, so I cannot tell whether this is true or not.

Great video thanks for posting. I very much doubt any military personnel these days could pass these drills.

Great video and I like how you explore some of the less explained stuff like the humour and the recruitment.

Very well spoken. Clear voice and easily digestible information. Also not too much information so as to overwhelm the viewers. Great content!

This absolute still resonates today. Good, strong men make good, strong soldiers. Discipline and honour also make good warriors.

Imagine what a modern day Roman soldier would look like if Rome never fell.

Important detail: you made friends. You ate and worked with them. You took care of each other, and helped each other with the equipment etc. On the battlefield that was a big advantage. You covered the flanks of your comrades better as a result, and knew that you would not be abandoned. How do I know? I was a Legionnaire in one of my past lives, and I remember a lot about that.

I read somewhere that the sling ammunition was lead shot painted to blend in against the sky and in many cases with crude insults scratched into the lead, though Im sure stone was sometimes used in its place... I cant help but imagine how much more damage a lead projectile would cause.

how many people realistically died from such adverse training, specifically through disease and weather conditions? do you think this was also taken into consideration when finding the appropriate amount of men needed to start the training?

Edit: 6:55 shows that Guy Fieri was around and even fought the Romans back in antiquity! Legend says he's the real reason they fell. This just proves Fieri's power, longevity, and even capability of traveling through time and space and even intergalactic travel as well as interdimensional travel. This is obviously a historical painting/account, so this is officially Canon. The first half when the narrator is talking about how they learned to march and that being the most important thing for the recruits to know .. I can imagine even way back then some raspy voiced Roman DI yelling at them SINGLE FILE! DRESS RIGHT DRESS AND COVER DOWN PRI!! GET IN STEP! *GET IN STEP!!!* ALRIGHT! YOU ALL WANNA DO WHAT YOU WANT I SEE! YOU WANNA BE INDIVIDUALS! I GOT SUM'N FOR YA THEN! HALF RIGHT *FACE!*

I did not know about the use of the sling! Everything was done in order. First traps like burning bales of hay down an incline, then the catapult, then the archers, then the sling, then the pilum and what was left was slain by sword. The enemy were lucky to have bare chest and sword. How could they lose? It is a formula for success!

I think you missed the most important reason to be taught to march: synchronized (marching in step) is the only way to move large bodies of men efficiently over distances. If not synchronized, their movement becomes chaotic with constant stopping and starting-basically a slow muddle. Roman legions were known for rapid movement over long distances, a nasty surprise for their enemies.

Awesome video man! I already had a good idea on how the Legions worked from Simon Scarrow's novels, but there still where some new things for me in there - the amount of training and organisation in Roman legions never seizes to amaze. Could you maybe add your sources to the video description? I am currently starting to study history and would love to get into some of the sources after watching your video :D

Was there ever a video made regarding the *"many techniques the Romans used to accomplish rains and floods"?* You mentioned you may do one. _Looking forward to such!!_

A very interesting and enlighten and informative video , I did know Romans soldiers used a sling shot or could swim. I just assumed they were trained to march and use the sword and shield.

Pretty impressive that this channel was able to go back in time and record the Roman soldiers marching

Terrific video! I'm fascinated by the specifics of Roman military training.⚔️🏹

As a former Drill Instructor.... I approve of such training....

Love your videos. Would love to see more about the life of Romans. However I highly doubt using the heavier throwing javelins were for better accuracy. You train with what you know. For strength, for sure. But not accuracy. Otherwise they would always be off their mark, due to being used to the heavier weight of the training javs.

That's the first time I've ever heard that ALL legionaries were skilled with the slingshot. Hitherto I'd been given to understand that slingers were a speciality of more lightly armoured auxiliaries. Many thanks for sharing...

Excellent video. I had no idea about the slings that is fascinating. I know most things about Roman military history so it’s truly excellent to find something so fresh as I have never seen that before. Thank you

I'd really like to know who had designed such an effective and complex training structure to become a legionnaire

it was truly based on efficiency and it’s exactly how i would do it. the countryside folk being more accustomed to work and hardships therefore being good as soldiers is purely how my thought process works and idky. never knew the process was THIS extensive

As an unemployed person I found this Informative.

Great video. I'm looking forward to your vid on how they handled floods or crossing rivers, hope it comes out soon!

You sir, just got a sub. This is actually more fascinating that historical battles.

Like, new Subscriber, awesome videos! the direct heirs of the legions were the Spanish "tercios". I'm not sure if you know about them, but if you really like strategy, defense, discipline, team work and military culture, it is a nice topic to dig in. Have a great day!

Man thank you so much for that bit about the slings that the legionaires used. I didn't know that at all and that's badass that you mentioned that.

No wonder the Romans were once upon a time the most feared army. Properly structured training makes you an unstoppable force!

How about a movie showing a guy signing up for the legion, going through boot camp, and eventually getting deployed in the front?

Ceasar had two gladiator schools. They replenished the fifth legion. They will drill ten hours, doing offense and defense patterns, till they fell down. Then, until they didnot fall down anymore. Then they do full training days of ten hours straight, then they were put into the fifth legion. After a month of full training days.

Great content, did 4 years in the Marines plenty enough couldn't imagine 20 years.

Very informative! I've often wondered how things were done back then

Good video! Interesting about the sling. I knew that they were common weapons of the day and very effective in war, but I ddidn't know that the legioonaries used them so extensively. However one critique: The roman soldiers didn't use javelins, they used pilums. While superficially similar, the pilum had several significant advantages for warfare of the day.

Do you guy's know how huge that SLING thing is? It means every legion was effectively a heavy armored archer unit who is excellent at melee. Ancient super soldier.

The logistics fueling all this activity must have been incredible.

Do you have some idea on how much of their success was due to the massive size advantage they possessed? Obviously the programs they implemented was vital regardless. By the way, this is an excellent description of the screening and training procedures. Thanks for an excellent video.

The stones they fired from slings also had small holes in them which meant that they made a whistling sound as they flew through the air.

Using a heavier training weapon than a real weapon is a bit tricky I think. The advantage is undoubtedly the building of muscles, the real weapon is then felt as lighter and it seems to be much easier to maneuver with. But in case you are a swordsman, I think it is important for you to practice with the weapon of your choice. To get used to the weight of the weapon, how balanced it is etc. etc. Of course in the case of the Romans who did not perform complex swordfighting I suppose, but rather the stabbing, it makes more sense to train mostly with a heavier training weapon than to train with real swords.

This was an enjoyable video that I watched from beginning to end which is very rare for me. Well done, expertly handled and submitted.

They also had 3 darts in their shield. The army also needed the engineers.

I can see you becoming one of those big history channels. keep with the good work, mate!

One thing that was not mentioned in talking about a stab vs a slash. It takes less room to make a stab than it does a slash. You can tighten your front line more if you are stabbing than if you are slashing.

Could be totally wrong but I'm guessing the modern day evolved form of vaulting in gymnastics comes from ancient horse vaulting. Gymnasts use a vaulting table now but the older version was actually called a horse. If those are connected that's pretty cool!

A question which bug me is what was the long term recruitment system for Legions especially after battlefield losses , extended campaigns or years in garrisons

Great video. Romans were amazing warriors. Respect.

Truly love history. Good channel as well. Thoroughly enjoy your content.

“The discipline of the Romans made them triumph over the tall height of the Gauls, the strength of the Germans, the cunning of the Greeks and over all the other populations of the world" Vegetius, De Re Militari

Roman's used a Pilum. A shorter type of Javelin. It allowed them to carry multiple.

Amazing! That is the type of training, drill, discipline, orderly cohesion, professional leadership, unit to unit coordination & tactical skill that remained unseen in all of Europe till the emergence of the Swiss fighting men who came pouring out of their Cantons in the early 14th Century.

I doubt you'll ever read this Filaxim but I'd like to have the bibliography you used to make this video! Great content too, keep up!

a stab is a lot faster to implement, harder to block, can be done in tighter formation, and most of all doesn't involve significant movement of the shield. So a tight pack of interlocked men can use weight and momentum to ram a charge right into a phalanx of spearmen or slashing swords, and if locked into battle can stab away at their opponents with great effect. Other types of attack favour longer weapons and higher skill. This stab-charge also results in extreme casualties in the enemy, rather than just opening jabs and chasing them away - and when you think about the way the Greek phalanx aligns to the left and relies in a secured flank, a solid destructive fearless charge - especially by troops that can change flank and direction - is devastating.

These men were tough dudes, no wonder they conquered Europe, North Africa and the Middle East... great video btw!

Fantastic video, perfectly narrated!

This is good; however, the biggest Roman invention is the military organizational structure which was inspired from a nest of bees. Can you do a video on this?

This was very informative and background provided more than enough visual stimulus. Also I found your voice very pleasant to listen to, do you happen to narrate professionally? Exellent performance.

I am retired today, but after 28 years of Army service I still remember fondly all the marching and running songs ... and the long marches. Well, those... not so fondly lol.

I was a Canadian Infanteer for almost 10 years, and a lot of the training we did actually parallels what the roman legions did. obviously modified to modern standards. we did a 6 month training program (3 months basic, 3 months battleschool) and literally the first thing we learn, before breakfast on our first day is how to form up, and walk in formation. Its cool to think that some random roman 2000 years ago went through a similar experience to little ole' me.

Love love love your content! Great work!❤️

I always wonder... What if a legionnaire looted a weapon and liked it, and wanted to train with a spear or longsword? Could he keep it as a secondary weapon? Wouldn't jt be nice to have 1 spear between those short gladii?

It's incredible how advanced the Roman empire was. They were built so well and were uniformed as an army should be

This is why the NCR could never win the Second Battle of Hoover Dam without the Courier’s help.