Portal:Military of ancient Rome/Intro

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Animation of the growth and decline of Rome throughout its history.

The Military of ancient Rome (known to the Romans as the militia) relates to the combined military forces of Ancient Rome from the founding of the city of Rome to the end of the Western Roman Empire. Originally consisting entirely of the Roman army, a small navy was added during the Second Samnite War.

The Roman military was an important part of the Roman state. Josephus describes the Roman people "as if born ready armed."^[1]. Its Campaign History stretched over 1200 years and saw Roman armies campaigning as far east as Mesopotamia, as far south as Africa and as far north as the British Isles.

Rome's achieving military dominance relates far less to technology than it does to the social order and the discipline of Roman Legions. This discipline lessened with the emergence of the empire, and this decline in Roman discipline essentially led to catastrophic defeats such as the Battle of Adrianople and various pyrrhic victories such as the Battle of Chalons, the only thing that kept the empire alive for a few more years after the fatal winter of 406 AD.

And even though it is more than 15 centuries after its fall in AD 476, the Roman Empire remains as one of the most formative influences on the history of Europe. Its physical remains dot the land from Scotland to Syria, and its feat of a once united Mediterranean Europe hasn't been bested since.