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The Roman Empire
had enormous resources at its disposal and was sufficiently
organised to utilise them. This allowed them to accomplish feats
that other civilisations could only have dreamed about. One of the
most ambitious projects the Romans undertook was the building of the
stone wall from the west coast of Britain to the east coast. In
AD122 during a tour of Britain the Emperor Hadrian, as part of his
policy of consolidation, ordered that the wall be built to mark the
most northern border of the Empire. |
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The empire was the
result of wars. Some, like Claudius' invasion of Britain and the
invasion of Dacia by Trajan, were by design; intended to conquer new
lands for glory and for their wealth. Others like the one against
Carthage were simply a power struggle with the winner taking all.
Whatever the reasons for conflict it was Rome's Legions that resolved
it. |
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A Legion consisted of about 5,500 men
organised in units called cohorts. A Cohort would be split up into
Centuries, each led by a Centurion and his assistants, all of which were
professional soldiers. The cohorts were the tactical units of the Legion
and could be used independently, and often served away from the home
base. |
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1 Legion was divided into 10
Cohorts.
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The first Cohort
had 5 Centuries of 160 Legionnaires each.
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The other 9
Cohorts had 6 Centuries of 80 Legionnaires each.
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There would also
be a unit of cavalry attached.
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At first the men that served in the
Legions had to be citizens of Rome, but later this rule was relaxed
and men would earn their citizenship by serving in the army. |
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A Legionnaire was trained as a heavy
infantryman; skilled at fighting with a short sword, called a Gladius,
and a large rectangular shield called a Scutum. |
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Other types of
soldiers like archers, light infantry and cavalry were called
Auxiliaries and were organised in cohorts. Usually these men were from
all over the empire so it would not be unusual for a man from Syria to
be serving in Britain. |
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Wherever the Roman
army went they built temporary marching camps to afford protection
overnight or to act as a base camp in the face of the enemy. As the
Romans conquered territory they built more permanent forts, similar in
design and shape as the marching camps. Most of these forts were built
to billet a cohort of about 500 men but some, called fortresses, were
built to act as a base for a whole legion of about 5,500 men. |
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Below - The fortress
at Deva (in the UK) was built as the base for the XX Legion. A small
town (Vicus) grew around it and the site was later adopted by the
Saxons and then the Normans; who added to it and eventually it became the
city of Chester. |
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