Flexibility of the Legion

[Matthew Amt]

On a large scale, I was always fairly convinced that the average Roman general would not bother with scouting too much, since they were confident in their ability to beat the enemy using the sheer power of the legions - a fact that Hannibal used against them at Cannae.

But even a bad general needs to know where the enemy is (whether he wants to fight the enemy or avoid them!), and that means scouting.

Moreover, wasn't Cynoscephelae an 'encounter' battle, with the two sides meeting at the crest of a ridge and being unable to deploy fully before the battle began? Hardly an excellent use of scouts!!

I may be misremembering, but I thought the two armies were camped on opposite sides of the ridge, and neither knew the other was there. The first forces that met were actually foraging parties, each of which called for reinforcements, and the battle grew from there.

Although it must be acknowledged that the Roman system of Consulships in the Republican era resulted in some excellent generals coming to the fore, we should also remember that there were many 'not-so-good' generals who either didn't bother to use scouts, or refused when scouts were recommended by more experienced senior officers under their command.

There were probably plenty of others who used their scouts very well but were still crappy generals! Plus, I don't think the system of appointing generals in the Empire was much better--you mostly had to be a trusted friend of the Emperor.

I believe that the concept of the Roman army as a professional force run in an exceptionally professional way along modern lines does need to be tempered with the realisation that in many cases forces were ad hoc groupings of troops with no experience of working together under leaders whose arrogant belief in the superiority of their troops led to complacency and error. Thankfully (for them) their senior officers and troops often managed to pull the general's fat out of the fire!

True enough, to a certain extent. But that's how any large force was back then, and everyone was used to it. Since warfare essentially consisted of getting your army to the battlefield and then lining them up facing the right direction, training together wasn't that big a deal. Tell the archers to fire first, make sure the infantry holds firm and the cavalry doesn't charge too soon, etc. The whole system could work fine if the basics were covered and the troops were good--as the Romans usually were! Any good generalship beyond that was gravy. Also remember that during the early Empire, legions were based in pairs or in threes, with regular units of auxiliaries nearby that they operated with frequently, so armies weren't necessarily completely ad hoc.

Besides that, many modern forces are very thrown-together! There are all kinds of horror stories from recent campaigns of units not even knowing how to communicate with each other. It was all easier in ancient times!

Valete,

Matthew