Long before the Second Punic War (218 - 201 BC), Rome's influence extended no further than the Alps, and the wars that it fought consisted of small-scale raids and cattle rustling, with perhaps the occasional battle between armies.

Nevertheless, within a century the seeds of an empire had been sown in Iberia, Africa, and the Greek east, and the Roman Republican army became the most successful of its day, establishing standards of discipline, organization, and efficiency that set a bench mark for the later armies of Rome.

With the evolution of the Roman Republic came the...

The Roman Legions were the most highly organized troops of the ancient world, but the process of turning the Legions from what was essentially a part-time citizen militia into the professional force that first made Rome the dominant power in the Mediterranean and then built an empire that stretched across the known world, was no small feat

Focusing on the organizational changes in the Roman Army during the Civil Wars, Nic Fields examines the role played by Caius Marius and his far-reaching reforms, which included having professional volunteers from the lowest social class enter the...

The Imperial Army established by Augustus drew heavily on the nomenclature and traditions of the late Roman Republic, but was revolutionary in its design. He decided to meet all the military needs of the Empire from a standing, professional army. Military service became a career, and pay and service conditions were established that took account of the categories of soldier in the army: the Praetorian Guard, the citizen legionary troops, and the non-citizen auxiliaries. Enlistment was for 25 years (16 in the Guard), and men were sometimes retained even longer. The loyalty of the new army...

Caesar's Legions laid siege to Vercingetorix's Gallic army in one of the most tactically amazing battles of all time. Outnumbered 6:1, the Romans built siege lines facing inward and outward and prevented the Gauls from breaking the siege. The campaign leading to the battle revealed ingenuity on both sides, though in the end Caesar established his fame in these actions.

In 52 BC, Caesar's continued strategy of annihilation had engendered a spirit of desperation, which detonated into a revolt of Gallic tribes under the leadership of the charismatic, young, Arvernian noble,...