How the Roman Legion Turned Men into Warriors

The Roman Legion carved men into stone-cold warriors, but they weren't always the fearless killing machines they were on the battlefield. Check out today's epic new video to see how the Roman Legion turned regular dudes into terminators.

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[cripplers]

40%-50% survival rate to retirement after 20 to 25 years of harsh service isn’t that bad considering what they were up against.

[TihetrisWeathersby]

The Roman Era is my favorite historical period, Hopefully we get more videos about it

[JAAYKAAY]

As part of the Roman legion, I can affirm that this is pretty accurate

[zogar]

I love the logic the Romans used when coming up with their pilum, or javelin tactics. They knew they used a huge shield to great effect, and that others did, or could adopt it. So, to counter that, they made their javelins. That is why they are so long when they could be shorter. And why they have a barbed tip. Once it gets stuck in a shield, the shield becomes useless and must be dropped. Which would get rid of the enemies best defense.

The barbed tip made it so you couldn't just pull it out. Yes, like many thought, it would do the same if it hit a person too. But if it hit the person it would do enough damage anyway the barb was meaningless. It was for shields. And the length made it so you couldn't just keep trying to use the shield with it in there. Was pure genius.

[FluffyBanana]

Anything rome is absolutely fascinating, No matter what the topic may be

[kryzzan]

2:55 They could either choose to receive I believe 3000 denarii? Or a plot of land, which many legionnaires thought was miniscule for 10-16 long years of hard service, which caused many legionnaires to look to their generals for better payment/reward, which is one of the main causes behind so many civil wars including when Caesar marched on Rome, Augustus fixed this or at least helped by increasing the term for service to 25 years and implementing a standard annual pay of 225 denarii which was later raised to 300 under Domitian.

[hoi-polloi]

One minor correction... the legionaries didn't march 20 miles in a week; they had to march 20 miles in a *day* and *then* set up a fortified camp.

[thegeneral]

Man I love history, especially anything to do during the Roman empire whether it be Rome itself or Gaul, Carthage and anyone else Rome had to deal with.

[mrbored]

I can't be the only one that's happy we're getting this type of video back❤🎉😊

[Beedy]

“Best kind of men.” Good work infographics.

[solidsteel]

Roman legionnaires were not warriors. They were soldiers. They did not seek personal glory but fought as a unit. That's what made her so successful on the battlefield...

[captainamerica]

Not warriors but soldiers with a warrior mentality. There is a huge difference between the two.

[TetsuShima]

Speaking of roman armors, I hate how most movie productions about the Roman Empire depict the soldiers wearing the same type of armor, no matter if the movie is set during Caesar's campaigns or Attila's invasions. I can understand that many productions about Late/Eastern Rome were low budget and had to reuse uniforms from other products about Ancient Rome (being the sword-and-sandal movies of the 60s good examples of that), but there are also high-budget productions like the movie "Agora", in which the soldiers wear completely anachronistic armor, which is simply ridiculous. At least we have the BBC productions (like "Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire" and "Heroes and Villains: Attila") and the "Total War" games, which accurately depict roman armies during the last years of the Empire

[bucksolo]

The mighty Titus Pullo and the dawg Lucias Vurenus from HBOs Rome where real soilders from Julius Ceasars legions and Ceasar wrote about them in his book about the wars he fought in Gaul. Its a good book I recommend you read it if you love Roman history.

[brokenbridge]

A lot of people today would have a hard time surviving this kind of training. I know I would.

[richardpeel]

I live a few miles from the site of the Battle of the River Medway 43AD, the Romans were afraid of the British chariots and sent amphibious armoured auxiliary cavalry across in a surprise attack on the tethered British chariot ponies with orders to hamstring them.
To cross the river it is believed they blew up empty water skins and placed them in their circular shields and used the shield as surf boards with one hand on the horse's saddle pommel while horses swam across.
While the British were distracted by this attack on their ponies the III legion slipped across at a spot where there is a bend in the river. The legate leading them Vespasion later became Roman Emperor. There is now a paper mill on the site where this infantry battle took place.
King Caracatus led the Britons, he was eventually captured and taken to Rome, there is a weird possibility that his son became Pope of Rome.

[curiousconsultant]

So that's where pranking your buddy at a sleepover comes from. Just our inner Roman Legionair 😂

[marcobonesi]

the primipili (the most senior centurion of the first cohort of the legion) must have been some of the most based human beings in history. True walking war machines.

[deusvult]

the average height for men in this time period of between 5 feet and 5 feet 4 inches. Rome wanted men in this height range so that the shield wall was level. Obviously they'd take someone huge, but someone like that was rare, and would get promoted very fast.

[LeatherLaceStudios]

I also assume they took the enemies equipment after the killed everyone in battle or at least the decent stuff