Posted on Mar 6, 2016
(Rome, Sweet Rome) Who would win if any infantry unit vs the Roman Legion?
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"Rome, Sweet Rome" is an alternative history and military science fiction short story describes what might happen if a United States Marine Corps expeditionary unit were somehow transported back to the time of the Roman Empire under Augustus Caesar.
Sci-Fi
Military History
Warfare
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 24
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Given the same weapons or not, my money is on the Marines. The Roman Legions were successful because they never faced another professional army. Their battles by and large were fought versus mobs, mostly armed and armored with inferior equipment, and we all know that a well organized force will invariably defeat poorly organized ones. That being said, I remember one sci-fi story of a solider transported back in time armed only with a pistol. It made him virtually invincible until he ran out of ammo. When asked what function he wanted to perform in that ancient civilization, he choose blacksmith (thinking that his modern knowledge would give him an advantage). As it turned out, he was terrible at it. He ruined swords and other implements because, like most of us, he used modern tools without actually understanding the basics of making them It was a vastly different story in Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The hero of that story was a late 19th century man who had greater knowledge of the basic skills than modern machinists and was able to fabricate bicycles and revolvers among other useful implements.
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CPT Jack Durish
PO3 Steven Sherrill - My father was a maintenance machinist in a factory. If something broke he often had to fabricate replacement parts since almost all production line equipment (at least in that time) was one-of-a-kind. Thus he was a machinist, pipe fitter, welder, carpenter, mechanic, electrician, etc, etc, etc. I grew up learning by watching him (and sometimes carrying his tools). It was a helluva education. Then there was Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Sea Scouts. Another education. School? No so much. Twelve years of grade school, college and law school never made much of a dent in my ignorance, not compared to what I learned on my own. Still, I know that when they cook me down and scatter me, there's going to be a lot more than ashes being thrown away.
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1SG (Join to see)
CPT Jack Durish - Carthage would beg to differ on the Romans never facing another professional army. So would the Macedonians.
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CPT Jack Durish
1SG (Join to see) - You are correct. I meant to say rarely and that devil, hyperbole, took over. Thanks for the correction.
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SGT Aaron Atwood
I'll argue the greek city-states that the Romans encountered also had professional armies even if they were but a shadow of their prowess compared to the Peloponnesian Wars.
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If we went international I would expect the Gurkha battalions of the 19th century would tear a Roman Legion to Shreds, if we plopped any of Roman Legions into France in 1916 they would be decimated by common British, French, Australian or German soldiers in the mud, gore and poisonous gas.
Further back the British longbow archers of Crecy and Agincourt would decimate the Roman legionnaires
What say you historians
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO3 Steven Sherrill PO2 Ed C. SN Greg Wright SGT Forrest Stewart SGT Robert Hawks SPC (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx SSG Leo Bell
Further back the British longbow archers of Crecy and Agincourt would decimate the Roman legionnaires
What say you historians
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO3 Steven Sherrill PO2 Ed C. SN Greg Wright SGT Forrest Stewart SGT Robert Hawks SPC (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx SSG Leo Bell
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1SG (Join to see)
Many of the barbarian opponents the Romans faced basically used melee tactics. When faced with a disciplined armored formation supported by cavalry and skirmishers, they had no chance even with vastly superior numbers. Mounted skirmishers armed with shortbows or javelins such as those employed by the Parthias and Sarmatians gave roman legions fits and frustrated their eastward expansion.
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LTC Paul Labrador
SSgt Robert Marx - the weaponry the Romans used weren't necessarily superior to their opponents. It was actually on par (and sometimes inferior, which is why you see Roman weaponry evolve over time, as they adopted the better stuff from their opponents). What set the Legion apart was it's discipline, tactics and ability to adapt rapidly. A disciplined fighting force has a quantifiable edge over an undisciplined one, even if they are using the same types of weapons.
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LTC Paul Labrador
LTC Stephen F. - true, but they were also ambushed in a dense forest while strung out in marching order and were not given time to form up and mass their combat power. Kinda like what happened with the British on the march back to Boston from Lexington and Concord. Had the minutemen actually formed up on a field of battle to face the redcoats, it would have been a totally different outcome....
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LTC Paul Labrador
MAJ Matthew Arnold - Roman tactical units operated similarly to modern units in the ways of chain of command and initiative . Who do you think we got the idea from in the first place? So I don't think there is necessarily and advantage to a modern unit there.
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Cpl Tou Lee Yang I am going to stay neutral, however I do like Augustus Caesar, he was a genius of tactics and strategy.
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