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Roman
Warfare
The Roman army of the late republic was not a
"standing" army as the people of today would imagine. Being that
mostly farmers made up the ranks of the armies the nation could not
afford to have its farmers sitting around waiting for a battle. What
was done was a general would be charged with using military force to
clean up a situation and would be allowed to gather a certain number
of legions. These legions would be made up of the afore mentioned
farmers who would generally be equipped with standardized weapons to
do battle with. During the Punic Wars, however, equipment was paid
for individually and so only the wealthy could afford to buy the
standard equipment including horses. It is said that some were forced
to simply throw rocks at the enemies. After a battle, however, one
could collect equipment from the dead.
The ones who could afford, would wear a
breastplate, shin plates, a helmet with leather straps around the jaw
which was less cumbersome than the Greek helmets, and iron sheaths
around their groin. The Romans were armed in the western
Mediterranean manner with a short sword and shield compared to the
eastern manner of a spear an d javelin. The Roman infantry was
organized into legions that had more mobility than the Greek or
Macedonian phalanx. The Roman legion was compared
to a meat grinder in that whatever charged the short swords was
ripped to shreds.
After the First Punic War, Cartage was having a similar
economic crisis as Rome. Few could afford the standard
equipment. Carthage hired mercenaries from Africa and Spain who came
equipped with their own arms. During the First Punic War it is
likely that the Carthaginians waged war in the eastern Mediterranean
manner. However, the First Punic War were all navel battles so
the eastern phalanx never faced the western legion in battle. But
after the First Punic War, Rome annexed the Greek Sicily and Carthage
lost some contact to the Greeks. Carthage had lost its navel
supremacy and all the battles in the Second Punic war were waged on
land. It is likely that Hannibal adopted the western manner of
short sword and shield. During the Second Punic War the
Carthaginians were equipped and waged war similar to the
Romans. The only exemption in Hannibal's army were his Celtic,
Spanish, and Numidian mercernaries who were equipped from arms of the
native lands. Another component in Hannibal's force (Mainly
used in Zama) were elephants that were an abundance in Africa.
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