What Was Roman Army Basic Training Like? DOCUMENTARY
A live history documentary on what Roman Army basic training entailed. The first 1,000 people to use my link to sign up will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/invicta04221
We continue our Live History series which seeks to use reenactment to bring the past to life. This was made possible thanks to the awesome team at Imperium Romanum: / imperiumromanumyt
This episode is largely based on the detailed account of Vegetius of how the Roman army of the Early Roman Empire was trained to peak efficiency. This all would have begun when a new recruit passed their probatio and set off to join their assigned legion. Over the course of the next four months they would be whipped into shape through basic training. This would first have begun with learning the basic step and engaging in long marches to instill both discipline and proper fitness. Lessons would then progress to basic drill, formation, and combat. Roman army training would continue throughout the long career of legionary soldiers and involved many other tasks such as road construction, striking camp, and conducting mock battles.
We hope you enjoyed this history documentary on basic training in the Roman army. Let us know what other topics you would like to see covered next!
Check out these other Live History episodes which recreate aspects of the Roman Legion
"How Did Roman Cataphracts Prepare for War?" • How Did Roman Cataphra...
"What was Watchtower Duty like on the Roman Frontier?" • What was Watchtower Du...
"What was it like to journey beyond Rome's Rhine Frontier?" • What was it like to jo...
Credits
Research = Chris Das Neves
Writing = Chris Das Neves
Narration = Guy Michaels
Reenactment = Imperium Romanum
#history #documentary #romanarmy
You can watch our whole Live History playlist here: kzhead.info/channel/PLkOo_Hy3liEK8SZVe9b9Wg9xMrHbG_qTI.html What topics would you like us to cover next?
Road building and daily life, raising the camp, marching. :)
how about the training of the usage of siege artillery ?
how they did it grow up in ancient china like the han dynasty
Rome lost 75 % of the time vs Iran
It would definitely be interesting to learn about the logistics of a legion on the march. Food stocking, making camps, scouting for enemies, and keeping everyone in line would be interesting
we've got some videos in the works on that for later this year
@@InvictaHistory Oh nice! Are you working with imperium romanum on that video? Always like seeing their group in your videos
@@InvictaHistory i thought you already did a video covering supply lines and logistics of the Roman army? I'm not complaining btw I love all your videos on ancient Roman history
And that is where wars are won and lost. Julius Caesar said as much, that good generals will know strategy and tactics, but great generals will know logistics. It's one of the biggest reasons for his victory at Alesia, as the Gauls failed to cut his supply lines.
There’s a number of books on that.
Roman Recruits before going to sleep: "This is my gladius. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My gladius is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my gladius is useless. Without my gladius, I am useless. I must strike my gladius true. I must stab harder than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must stab him before he stabs me. I will ... My gladius and I know that what counts in war is not the flesh we pierce, the noise of our thrust, nor the mess we make. We know that it is the stabs that count. We will stab ... My gladius is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its scabbard and its hilt. I will keep my gladius clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ... Before Mars, I swear this creed. My gladius and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. SO BE IT, UNTIL VICTORY IS ROMA´s AND THERE IS NO ENEMY, BUT PEACE!" Hastati´s Creed (or Legionary´s Creed idk)
Beautiful
"Now, what is the NAME of your Gladius, Recruit?"
thumb for who know reference
Fun fact: the word Gladius was also used as the word "dick" :)
@@DefiantSix probably tiberius or something 😂🤣😅
I've definitely wondered about this. To what extent was a recruit expected to already be battle-worthy upon joining? I mean, early on they had to provide their own kit and likely had been groomed since childhood for soldiering as part of their social class.
The early levy republican army was vastly different than the professional late Republic army. Generally during the early Republic, armies would be levied during winter when they can organise into their units and train until the campaigning session of that year starts (generally late spring). So basically, they only get a few months to train, while for the rest of the year the people would be back to their jobs, most being farmers. Only the nobility and the rich could have afforded long term training, but even then it was rarely in any serious professional capacity
The difference is what they were taught growing up focused on their individual skills and more of a self defense kind of thing. The thing is, what made the Legions so effective is their discipline fighting in formation. Compared to most other militaries of the time that was more a group of individual fighters.
The class and tribal based system dissapeared after the Marian Reforms I believe (correction welcome). A wholly professional army replaced it at the centurian level and below. Troops began to train as whole cohorts rather than with thier townsmen or whatever groups of villages were near their towns. A pay scale was established, and, a basic qualifications bar as well. Men were turned away if they were not physically fit enough.
Early Roman Legions would have been a militia which would have been raised from families and social class. When the Legions started to form professional forces they would have adapted a basic training and service contract. That is where the training started to become intense, specialized and of a special operations nature (modern context). A 20 mile march in 5 hours is very impressive indeed when gear is considered.
1. Be fighting age 2. Have arms and legs I am sure your sergeant would find you a suitable job. Let it be carrying the boats and logs or just digging latrines
I just LOVE these recreations. They look really, really good. The attention to detail is great. Why can't movies give us Romans like this?
You're so right! As the intro said, these guys put Hollywood to shame.
Main reason behind it is not really budget.I've already read and heard so many stories about this from guys from reenactment,as well as from schollars.
I'm very honoured by these reactions, I'm in one of the groups associated with Imperium Romanum, and I helped make shields and pila among other things. Many things we do is on a shoestring budged really, relying on our own skills in woodworking, metalworking and tailoring to bring these recreations to life. Research together with a pragmatic and practical mindset are key in this endevour.
@@DeHeld8 Yes, your work is fantastic and brings history to life.
They can, and they do from time to time, you've seen them. Gladiator, The Eagle, etc.
This live action documentary's suit this style of video's brilliantly It makes the soldiers feel alive instead of excellently drawn soldiers. For more general topics or political keep on animated
That's our goal! I've always wanted to seek out the best ways to bring the past to life
@@InvictaHistory Your animation style is also amazing and will probably suit some documentaries better than others
@@InvictaHistory roman full.metal jacket or shawshank redemption😂 mind doing a parody of it
These guys are more professional, organized and disciplined than many a standing army nowadays in the world. Simply marvelous reenacment and amazing story telling. You guys make absolutely splendid videos together.
well they're gonna be in the army for 16 - 25 years so they need to be perfect
Bro they were literally carving dicks into their sling ammunition. Speaking as a currently active airborne infantryman this is pretty par for the course throughout history, we draw dicks all over everything we can get our hands on. Moreover we only know about their level of professionalism and discipline through sources written by high rankingofficials, which would be like taking the stuff a 2-star general reports to a congressperson as a good indication of the state of how the average line company actually functions. Pretty stupid
I'm sure they where also full of jokesters, idiots, bullies and all that but when it came to battles they would get serious, just like most modern militaries today Humans are going to be humans after all
Forced marches are a real big PITA. Military services still do that today as part of their training. Not only in boot camp / basic training, but it will continue particularly for those in the combat arms occupations. There's a lot of posers out there with fantasies of being in the military, standing around with carriers and a weapon looking like a tactitool. But they fantasize of it, but won't actually be in the military doing the real physical training for strength and endurance, and forced marches are part of it. It looks cool posing with a weapon. You'll feel different when you got to go on a hump for 20+ miles carrying full pack and a weapon. Maybe add in a radio, extra ammunition for the platoon / squad, water. Maybe even some mortar rounds per man so that the mortar team has a bunch of extra rounds to better support your platoon with. I remember in the Marines at Camp Pendleton, California, seeing a young man that looked maybe 5 ft 5 inches tall, $1.25 soaking wet, with School of Infantry doing one such hump around the hills of that part of the base. Interceptor Vest + Kevlar Helmet + Loaded pack with radio antenna sticking out the side + AT-4 rocket on the side of said pack. The stuff is heavy as hell and seeing him I could feel the burden. But his load was pretty much equal to anyone else in his platoon. Everybody is loaded with tons of crap. It's part of the training in SOI. And when he gets into his actual Fleet Marine Force unit, it'll be even harder. Oh, speaking of mortars, then there's the guys in weapons company. Those crew served weapons would be broken down and parts distributed so, and they'd go on marches just like the regular 'ol riflemen. The stuff is heavy.
About a dozen years ago there was a reality show where ex-servicemen went through a Roman legion boot-camp. IIRC it took place in England and it was interesting. I've search for it off and on for years but can't find it.
ill look for it that sounds very interesting EDIT: SHIT I CANT FIND IT
@@30cal23 I found it its called Warrior Challenge
^
When you talked about "learning to work together," I was reminded of this film quote from the great James Earl Jones, in a film ("Best of the Best") where he plays an athletic coach: "I'll say this ONLY ONCE: a team is not a team, if you don't give a damn about one another." I'd like to see how how the Romans addressed THAT point.
I love seeing these collaborations with imperium romanum. Two great channels working together for fantastic work.
Thanks for a really great series of videos. I find the military engineering of the Romans fascinating and would love to see a video on that topic
I went into the Army in 1979. My MOS was 11B10, Light Weapons Infantry. Infantry School was not to dissimilar from the subject of the video. Basic was 8 weeks and AIT was another 12 weeks. And the gradually easing a private into the thing was the same as discribed. Slowly adding more equipment until you carried a full combat load. Basic rifle was constant. Cleaning the thing, taking care of all your weapons and equipment. At least the Romans didn't have Airborne School, Air Assault School, Jungle School, Arctic School, Mountain School and a few minor combat and communication schools. To be a good grunt, training is endless. Sometimes exciting, mostly repetition of things you already knew.
STOP YOUR LIES.
@@yecyec3927 What lies? He just explained typical training of a NATO soldier.
The real question is, Harmony Church or Sand Hill?
@@wolfhound45 Both actually. Sand Hill is where I did basic and AIT. Harmony Church for Airborne and Ranger School. Air Assault was at Ft. Campbell. Arctic was at Ft. Greeley Alaska. Jungle was in Panama and Mountain was in Norway. Good times then. Cheers
As always an amazing and informative video from you! Love your work, thanks for your contribution to knowledge !
Fantastic video! I subscribed to Imperium Romanum, great stuff. The Roman Legions were legendary not just for their battle prowess but for their discipline and skill. They were great engineers as well as fighters, and really 99% of their time was devoted to activities outside of actually fighting on the battlefield.
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE VIDEO OMG. Best video of this type currently on youtube. Just a joy to watch
Fantastic informative and well put together .... thank you
Love the footage!! Excellent content, and very unique as well.
Interested and informative video about Rome empires army exercises and actually ready-made before battles ...thanks( Invicta) channel for sharing always (Invicta) sharing a wonderful videos
This was Fantastic!! Well done guys!
More videos of 'live/experimental re-enactment' type videos of antiquity/medieval era units such as this one please. These types of videos is what makes this channel special and distinguishable from other more 'narrative' based history channels on youtube.
it's amazing how you got all this training footage from the roman empire. good job. 👍
I watched Invicta about 5 years ago for Total War battles. Now I come back and am delighted to see both incredible quality history productions but also a thriving channel. This video was excellent.
Love the video ,super fun and helpful .
Love a good video from invicta
Great to see Imperium Romanum youtube guys going places!
Excellent vid as alwaysh
I'd love to learn more about the engineer corps of the legions, especially about the artillery engineers
OMG THE COSTUMES HERE are AMAZING every single ONE!
This is just so perfect.
Awesome video! Very well made.
It would be incredible to see how they put up their forts. The amount of times they put up forts even in the heat of battle in Caesar’s war commentaries is really impressive. It would also be great to see what they looked like, and what they evolved to when they were made more permanent.
There is esily available tons of informations about it.
The video is Awesome the Reenactors make this video 🙌 💯 makes it more Real Life
Nicely informative video
Very cool and realistic video, loved it =)
Awesome stuff
Imperium Romanum is really cool, i love their unique and entertaining style of content, they made how the Roman Army training here alive and believable.
The videofootage makes your videos even more interesting! Fells like a TV documentary
That was awesome thank you.
Fantastic video!!!!
This partnership is awesome!
Imperium Romanum are one of the best history channels on the tubes.
Good video 👍🏻
I’ve always wondered this!
Interesting. Just showed up in my timeline so I guess I gotta watch it.
cant wait to see the part about constructing camp and fortifications that was common for the troops in the field
I enjoy your videos 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.
Love your work. Any chance we could get a video about how orders were given to troops on the battlefield?
Classic Invicta
Another interesting training routines the roman soldiers practiced were the wrestling and boxing competitions as well as the use of weight lifting exercises…but then again basically every army and even civilians enjoyed those trainings back then so I guess you wouldn’t have to mention it
Tight!
well the production value of invicta has risen exponentially
Very nice.
awesome
Awesome video! Would you please cover daily camp building?
It never fails to amaze me how so many of the Roman militaries traditions and training is carried on by the US Army. Hope you do a video about the late Roman Army and Byzantine Army training.
Carried on by most modern armies actually.Byzantine army is Roman army and its basic training was basically the very same as in classical Roman army.
Marching, making & breaking camp, how to construct the camp, logistics, find an enemy in the wilderness. Famous defeats, battle formations and so on
love your stuff! However, the centurio was the one carring the vitus, as he held the highest authority in the century. The optio was carrying a different pole, used to keep legionaries from backing up, as the optio stood in the back of the century.
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!😊😊😊
Every drop of sweat in training conserves 10 drops of blood in battle.
Can this be considered the part two of the tragic story of the history of the legion? 6 years and we still patiently wait
that episode was so well put togther
@@Yingyanglord1 and to think it never got past the foundations is sad
@@bflawless8040 yah and iamigne if like if that series happened just like the kurtzseget video on the largest stars it quickly zooms though each of the armour style of the legionares
Fantastic. I am fascinated with the Pilla but at best we only get to see a close up of a recreationist throwing one and not usually with any gusto. I know the legions used both heavy and light pilla. I would like to see ten or twenty recreationists stand in formation with both a light and heavy pilla and scutum shield. And also have some object representing an opposite force of equal number made out of something like bails of hay or other body equivalent. Then pulled on rope towards them as a charge by a team standing behind the legionary recreationists. Then I would like to see how the legionaries three deep would hold their light pilla and stretch back in unison without clashing with one another and if they would take a step as a javlin thrower would as they release the light pilla. Then see them switch to the heavy pilla and repeat the action before drawing their gladus and preparing to take the enemy charge. A second camera should capture the mock enemy being pulled towards them by rope so that we can see the maximum distance possible for hits with a light pilla and how they would impact the objects and bend or get lodged in shields etc and also how the heavy pilla would do this. It would be a bit of effort to set up but it would be great to see light and heavy pilla throw for effect in numbers rather than one or two people throwing without aiming to achieve distance. As far as I know, there are no examples out there for us to see this.
Spear is my favourite weapon,romans threw them with precision and is amazing.
Learning new things everyday, that even in the more modern Roman army. Letters of recommendation were a stipulation, before acceptance into the army.
The ammunition with the phallic design inscribed with "for pompiis ass", history is hilarious.
A great film, although i think some sound effects could Be Times down or Be absent alltogether. For example The bit at 9:37 where pilas are thrown The sound effects reminds me of late 90's video games 🌚
You could make a video about the "contubernium", which I think it was a far Roman precursor of the "camarada" in the Spanish Tercios.
do video on burnswark
In the novel "Beric the Briton,” the Victorian-era military veteran, and prolific author of young-adult educational books called G.A. Henty included a scene where Boadicea astutely observes that the Roman soldiers are incredibly well-coordinated compared to any forces she can muster, "as though bound together by a cord." This phrase is quite evocative. Some people might find Henty's books interesting to read, although they do contain some dramatic, sensational elements intended to hold the target audience's interest. The novels are based on serious historical research, though inevitably limited by the sources available in the late 19th century. The characters' statements generally seem sensible and plausible.
Could you guys do these kind of videos on the Byzantine armies/tactics/weapons and arms??
Byzantines doesn't existed, they was Roman citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire. The therm "Byzantine" was created by some western ecclesiastics in the middle ages
The Lorica Hamata, (Chain Mail) was predominate armor up to and including the Empirical Period of Rome beginning with the inception of Octavian who became Caesar Augustus. The Gallic Helmet didn't come along until after the conquering of the Gauls and the predominate helmet was a helmet called the Motenfortino style helmet. The plate armor known as the Lorica Segmentata didn't come until later after Caesar Augustus was Emperor and was used all through the Empire up until even 300 Ad.
Lorica "segmentata" is a modern name,how roman called it is not attested.Gallic style helmets in coolus variants(but even montefortino was of celtic origin)did already went to use during Gallic wars of Caesar though Montefortino probably remained the most common model until Augustus.Some soldiers still used it during year of 4 emperors civil war as archeology suggest.
Their training marches in modern units would be like carrying 43.5 pounds for 18.5 miles. In rudimentary footwear.
Most of them wear the sword holder on the wrong side. The issue are the height of the sword holder on the hips so its hard to pull it out…usually the sword holder are on the same side as the shield hand. you basically carry shield left and pull the sword from the left side with the right hand. A other option are the sword are backside mounted on the body. In formation fight it was a need to stay close. The javelins have been picked up from the back of the soldiers, first line didn’t pick any javelin they made the armored protection wall. Second line took the the javelin from the back of the first line and thrown it, if it was still possible the first line moved back and a new second line thrown javelin. It was a repeating throwing similar to a gun fire. In the back of the formation they had sometimes spare javelins prepared by logistics so it was possible to continuously penetrating the other side with javelins.
Just saw ur cataphract video and wondered if you could cover Gallienus’ mobile cavalry in the third century crisis.
Very little is known about it.
@invicta One thing to be precised :) Roman legionary was expected to do LOADED MARCH with 20kg load (+ 10-15kg armour). 20 miles but ROMAN (1480m) not modern miles (1609m). In 5 summer hours not 5 hours in summer. Romans divided daylight time into twelve equal hours, so: 5 summer Roman hours is approximately 6 modern hours. 6h20min in 21 Jun or 5h50min 12 Aug or 5h03min 23 Sep- based on Rome (city) sunrise and sunset time. So avarage speed is not (20*1609m)/5h = 6,43hm/h But sth between (20*1480m)/(6h20min) = 4.67km/h and (20*1480m)/(5h03min) = 5.86km/h So 5km/h looks more likely to be when you carry more than 30kg for 6 hours. BTW. Great material. Imperium Romanum is also great channel. Thx for showing.
Hello history
Wow
What’s the name of the calming music that begins halfway through the video?
excellent recreations, a wonderful way to show history rather than just telling about it. If I could make any suggestions to pretty much all reenactors. The importance of foot drill. Watch the videos, no one is in step lol. Watch modern infantry drill. See how much time is spent marching, in step, always in step. The next is stop attacking each others shields in weapons training. You were training to get past the shield, into the squishy bits. The training focused on thrusting attacks. Now of course slashing attacks happened but, if you focused 90% on stabs then that was your natural attack. There are stories of new recruits slashing during training. Being told, you want to fight like a woodsman felling a tree, then go ahead. They would then be lead to a post and forced to hack it in half with only slashing. This dulls the blade quickly and exhausts the man. So non stop slashing, sharpening, repeating until agonized with exhaustion. You won't make that mistake twice lol
I would watch an entire series on ancient games
4:49 the centurion feather was it that big? damn feel so cumbersome
Just one interesting fact :) pillum or pila was constructed to break after being thrown, so an enemy could not use it. After 1st line had thrown their pilas, they were given one from the 2nd line to throw again.
MI interesserebbe vedere l'organizzazione di costruzione da parte dei Legionari di strade o castelli.
how about archer and cavalry attachments? how many where roman and how many where foreign auxiliaries?
8:15 wow what an exciting duel 😂😂😂
Can you do videos on more non-european or less known civilizations as I feel like that their underrated and seen as lesser even though they were just as interesting and fascinating as the the Roman Empire, Egypt, and Greek?
@The Philosoraptor Exactly! Even the people of Mali or some Native American Tribes.
@@thegreatjay1245 lol blame them for not keeping record on paper...
something ive been wondering about is if they had any form of medical discharge we know after they finished there years of service they got land or a large leaving bonus but what if they were injured to a point of not being able to work anymore they did look after the injured, so if someone were to survive, and be treated but say they had lost a leg in the process what would happen? what about things that are super common today such as arthritis caused by lugging around all that weight? would they be given clerical roles so they could finish off there service, or were they just let go to fend for themselves? what if they were a year of finishing there service? or high ranking? would they get some kind of reduced payout? I think this would be a really interesting topic to cover as it shows the more human side of the roman war machine
They did have a medical discharge system and depending on the reason. They could Still be honorable discharged for medical reasons. Also while its not fully verified, its suspected they became non combatants in the supply trains they were already made up of civilians and slaves
I would like to see video about Romans legions in provinces like Syria or Egypt, how the soldiers were kept in numbers.
This is probably how LIFE OF BRIAN's Biggus Dickus began his career.
These guys handle their weapons so gingerly
Im mad this video is over so fast
5 years training for each Roman soldier. Hi from Syracuse NY USA everyone
I would like to see the topic of how the Roman army used horses, how they trained soldiers or centurion’s with them. That sort of insight.
We have an episode covering part of that. "How Did Roman Cataphracts Prepare for War?" kzhead.info/sun/fNRqeJmrq5Zteqs/bejne.html
@@InvictaHistory Thank you, I will watch this video later.
The Tortuga is the cutest military formation.
What is roman recruit daily foods during training?
the daily life of a legionary during wartime next?
This makes me wonder if individual Cohorts were raised up, and trained as one or were replaced individually. ..,And I wonder if they ever had a dreaded “Stop Loss” system in place.
It might be that occasionally large group that was recruited together was also trained together but in many othe cases recruits went on training as individual.When man was accepted to army he often had to travel to garrison and unit which was far from where he lived and for this purpose he was given special traveling bonus in money from emperor to get to that place.From preserved Roman military manuals it is clear that soldier was gradually teached to fight individually than in small groups,in centuries,cohorts and bodies as large as that they were equal to real-size armies.Part of training were even mock battles and military hunts of wild animals both of which might include several thousands of soldiers.We also know from manuals and preserved letters that smaller groups of soldiers used to be sent on extra specialist trainings like in artillery use or archery.
How would left handed soldiers fit in to the Roman military if at all? I have always wondered if there weren't at least some applications for lefties if only to throw enemy soldiers off balance since it would not be something commonly seen and might therefore give you an advantage at least in certain situations. I would appreciate any input on this topic.
I’m assuming they’d tell you to learn with the right , or you suck lol
They dont let left handed soldiers be part of the infantry. Or at the very least, they try to train left handed soldiers to become proficient with right handed fighting. Roman military is a lot about uniform and formation. A roman soldier protects his left with his shield, and his right is protected by the shield of his comrade beside him. His shield also protects the right of the soldier to his left. So each soldier is responsible for a sector, having a left-handed soldier in the mix could mess this up.
They turned them right handed
Left-handedness is considered a disability for the military in their time.
Most cultures force soldiers to be right handed. Some skilled warriors were allowed to use their left arms tho, mainly for duels or skirmishes. And Romans heavy infantry engage more in skirmishes than Greek hoplites/Pikemen do
It would be cool to see a show that would be daily life of Roman soldiers like the GoPro footage that you got out of Iraq or Afghanistan.
I’m imagining the boot camp scenes from Full Metal Jacket overlaid with this…
It is funny the difference between reenactors and actual soldiers. I was in the infantry and even off duty when walking with friends we would be in step without even trying to be where the reenactors are almost always out of step.
at 10:17 you can see how enlisted soldiers never change
I would like to see a video on how non-Romans were brought in and trained in the Roman army
Im assuming we are talking about Auxiliaries' training. I think it depends on what combat style they hail from but if it was infantry they were trained in the same fashion as legionnaries but there are some ideas that they were slightly different depending on the fighting style of their nations. Auxiliaries when became part of the legion had almost the same combat level of legionnaries but less prestige of course. Imperium romanum has a video about this.