How Good Were Roman Weapons And Armour?
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- Опубліковано 10 тра 2024
- Historian Tristan Hughes investigates what it was really like to fight as a legionary soldier in the Ancient Roman army. He examines replica weapons, including Germanic and Roman swords, highlighting their design and effectiveness. The Germanic sword, with its asymmetrical design with one cutting edge, is contrasted with the Roman sword, optimized for penetrating armour. The discussion also covers the functionality of javelins ( or pilum) as both throwing weapons and for thrusting, shedding light on the differences between Roman and Germanic warfare tactics.
00:00 - 01:00 Intro
01:01 - 08:21 Swords
08:22 - 15:15 Spears
15:16 - 23:45 Armour
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Gauls HATE this! Learn this one simple trick to expand the Empire.
Five centuries of tricks and an incredible amount of stamina to pull it off
In -390 the Gauls of Brennus annihilated the Roman army and were the only ones to pillage Rome, even Hannibal did not succeed.
It would take 800 years for the Goths to achieve the feat of the Gauls again.
I can't believe there has never been a film about Gaius Marius. Consul of Rome seven times.
They could do soooo many shows based on Rome. I'd watch them all!
there are a large number of shows (many of them from the 1950s, and 60s) that include Marius and his contemporaries, but none that I know of that focus solely on him.
edit - Movies, rather. Not 'shows.'
Therapist: Legionnaire Tristan can't hurt you.
Legionnaire Tristan *hurls pilum and closes in for the charge
“A very long and pointy point” indeed, points are pointy
Really…..I mean, what’s the point?
Not if they're pointless!
@@Raz.C point! taken!
I get the point, thank you!
Touché
This is my new History Channel
Good Video all in all. "My right shoulder is killing me" 😂 Had Tristan ever been part of a modern infantry squad, he'd know. 😁 But then, interestingly enough, at least the fact that your weapon will turn into a pain in the a** during a long march apparently hasn't changed much over the past 2000 years. 😅
I was taught in my school days [60s] that the Roman sword was a Spanish sword design
it did originate when they started colonies in spain
The gladius was indeed Celtiberian in origin
Would that be the spatha? Mainly used by the cavalry.?
@@danielearley5062 The gladius my dude, spatha was longer because it's better on horse back and metallurgy improvements in the days of the empire. Gladius was copied from Iberian designs as they started to expand outside what we know as Italy, as it fit their maniple fighting system better.
@@danielearley5062 The gladius sometimes known as the gladius hispaniensis was the short sword used by 1st Century AD Legions and was originally adopted by Roman troops fighting in Iberia. The Spatha was a long sword only used by Roman Cavalry in the 1st Century AD though much later in the 3rd and 4th century AD when Roman Infantry became much less pure close formation heavy Infantry it was also used by the Infantry.
Roman's being a very pragmatic bunch seem to have adopted all sorts of foreign weapons so the 1st Century Legions were carrying short swords originally from Iberia while their scutum shields and their helmets were originally of Celtic design. Though it should be noted that they were also hard core modifiers of other peoples original designs so while the helmet is based on the Celtic Montefortino design 1st century Roman helmets had added extra ribs and lengthened and changed angle of neck guard. They also did same with the short swards.
The spatha seems a pretty geneic long sword used by a lot of different people though the Romans could have got it originally from Greeks or Gauls. The Pilum seems a unique Italian design though it may have been Samnite in origin. Indeed the only uniquely Roman design seems to be the lorica segmentata. Though this replaced the chain mail used by the troops of the republic originally adopted from the Gauls. Which the Romans later went back too.
Not 100% sure why the lorica segmentata was abandoned for the earlier design. May have had something to do with ease and cost of production. Also the lorica is believed to have a rust problem.
The Germanic warriors mostly used spears...I suspect their swords were secondary weapons. The Romans obviously carried pila as ranged weapons and closed ranks with the scutum and gladius, stabbing as they went. Easier to maintain a stabbing point than a cutting edge with the metallurgy technology they had.
The pila can actually double as a stabbing spear. There are period drawings depicting Romans stabbing at enemy infantry with the pila, and many Roman texts talks about using the pila as a spear against cavalry.
Stabbing may have been preferred at certain times, but Roman soldiers were trained to both stab and slash as needed. Roman writers talked about the horrific slashing injuries that the Hellenistic armies suffered (heads and limbs being chopped off) caused by the gladius.
The thumbnail is sick. He looks good as a legionary 🫡
History does not record what happened to the thousands of Roman gladii short swords, helmets, armor, and shields that fell into Germanic hands after the Teutoberger Forest catastrophe. Of the estimated 14,000 Roman legionaries (not counting civilian camp followers), only several hundred, reportedly Roman cavalry escaped the slaughter to bring news to the Roman garrisons on the Rhine. Common sense would likely have had the victorious Germanic warriors using captured Roman arms and armor.
Thus when the Romans launched a massive, 8-legion punitive expedition across the Rhine River in 16 A.D., the legionaries would have been enraged to see large numbers of Germanic warriors wielding Roman gladius swords and wearing Roman Coolus helmets. Some might be carrying Roman scutum shields. Yet Roman history is quiet on this prospect. It belies credulity to think the Germans would have been averse to using any captured Roman arms and armor out of tribal and cultural pride. Germanic pride might have prevented many warriors from wearing Roman armor, helmets, even using the gladius sword but many, including the poorer tribal warriors would have likely used Roman swords, helmets and armor. Wearing Roman gear and using Roman weapons came with its own risk as legionaries would fight harder and be less likely to take prisoners.
you missed the part that Germanic tribes imported Roman swords. Also hamata would be easily adopted to Germanic use because the warrior class wore the same type of armor (and again importing Roman chainmail armor might be cheaper). Javelins similar to pila are also not rare across ancient Europe. Probably scutum is a bit divisive because if you use a different type of shield it might not go with the fighting style of your unit.
I believe you overstate a perceived moral effect when really there is little reason the Roman legions would need any more reason to hate the tribes that killed their comrades and desecrated holy eagle standards. They made a pretty big deal of getting those back.
In contrary we know from other instances that soldiers used what was useful and took armor and wore it. The main issue might be that it was more worthwhile to sell it as loot and there may be a bit of a class distinction that the warrior class would like to be the ones wearing armor. For the levy it may not be affordable or more profitable to get rid of
Great video as always guys.
Tristan as good ever 👍
I really liked seeing the whole process of putting on the kit, with all the bits and pieces, as well as the comparison of the two types of weapons
Great video. Lets get some love for the ERE. The empire lasted until 1453. The evolution of the army from lets say Justinian to Constantine XI.
Can't conquer the world with sub-par kit.
The British did. The War Office (later, the Ministry of Defence) has a long history of issuing cheap sub-par equipment.
The museum in the Teuteburger Wald is great it has many cool finds and an interesting design
In the three times I got there (in the last 6 years) they always got something new
Yessssss man is a total war chad from the good old days.
A wonderful historical coverage video about Roman emporium weapons and Roman opponents Germanic tribe's warriors...thank you history Hit) channel for sharing
It's incredible what hardships and endurance humans can adapt to. For some reason this reminds me of stories from WW2 in the comparison between old soldiers tough feet and fragile feet of new recruits arriving on the eastern front when the experienced soldiers had feet that were immune to blisters because their feet were covered in a continuous callus from having no socks due to poor supply and having to march across Russia
Schön, dass man im Hintergrund eine Bierzeltgarnitur sieht, wir sind ja immerhin in Deutschland :D
The Roman sword was not designed to cut with its edges. Its main function was to stab, it was enough to plunge the gladius three fingers into the opponent. With that he already produced a fatal wound.
At Pharsalus, Caesar had a fourth line of infantry hidden and they used their Pilla as spears to beat back Labienus's cavalry assault and then rout them.
HH dude you look awesome in the battle kit and your eyes are direct to the cause. Bravo.
Let's consider the impact on an infantry charge of multiple pila hitting your line...creates some confusion and gaps in the line. Disciplined line of scutum and gladius meeting a disorganised charge.
The fact he played rome total war makes him so much cooler
The Roman legions were trained to stab at the lower part of the torso, no bones, and to go up into the body, that bypassed the bones into vital areas.
The pilum was good to knock out enemies, but the full purpose was to remove the enemies shields making the enemy defenceless. The pilum was narrower, there are many theories, but one us agreed it was so it was to be extremely hard to remove.
The roman doctrines were to first soften the enemy lines then using the gladius and scutum holding the line striking with the gladius.
Romans took heavy losses, but they nearly conquered germania, it was the emperor that ordered the withdrawal.
The Roman tunic was made of lining not wool, wool came from Britain and others groups, like Germany and only on those stationed on Northern Britain used wool, for cloaks,
Lorica segmentata was one size all.
Just about the one thing right was the marching kit,
Roman military tunics and cloaks (plus togas) were made of wool. There are several inventories and orders that specify that the tunics were made of wool, some of them from Egypt (so they were wearing wool even in the Egyptian desert), and they specify the type of weave and thickness of the thread to be used. People all over the world kept sheep for wool, not just the Britains.
@@fenriss749 well j haven't seen that, but all that j have shown it difficult, even if they could the shield was know useless.
@@robo5013 I seriously doubt that, wool comes from North Europe, and frankly wool in Egyptm suicide, considering the heat.
@@fenriss749that's not the conclusion Tod reached at all.
@@TheAegisClaw my bad I must have forgotten what happened, thanks for correcting me
Tristan clearly likes trying out historical weapons, and seems pretty good at it.. Me, I prefer pen power but, a Japanese armsworth first crack is impressive. Great to see the replica plate armour in action, having viewed the film on the original, kindly on loan to The British Museum, if memory serves.
Some v pointy points indeed! Nice one Tristan and team. 🌟👍
The Roman pilum was also designed to bend once the enemy shield was penetrated, making the enemy shield useless. Love Roman armor. Looks awesome and was far superior.
On anything related to the Roman military I forcibly recommend Schwerpunkt's videos series
Also have to consider the marching speed which was sometimes crazy, they didn't go for a stroll. Just look at how Julius Ceasar pushed his troops down Italy to hunt Pompeius, that was insane. For legionaries marching, we also need to take climate and weather into account, the armor won't help keeping your body warm or keep it ventilated in hot areas like Syria or Egypt. And yeah, you are in for this for at least 25 years, if you manage to live that long ...
Love this!
“Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!”
When varus dressed his legions in all blue and had them make ocean wave noises didnt work as good as i thought it would
Excellent, I would like to add a few remarks, though.
- Sodiers usually wear padding under metal armour ; the Romans called it "subarmalis". It gives better protection and is a lot more comfortable, especially if you carry something heavy on your shoulder. Helmets are also worn over padding - the one shown here probably has it glued on the inside - and I don't think they would move around the head as seen here and in some reconstitutions. Remember that soldiers of the 5th century petitioned the emperor for permission to stop wearing helmets, so they must have been hard to wear, as well as efficient.
- Pilum do well against mail, but not against segmented armour. Anyway, they are primarily designed to pierce shields and make them useless, the shaft falling to the ground and getting stuck in it. Both Gauls and Germans carried shields, so using pilum made sense, even if the tribes were mostly unarmored.
- Markus Junkelman's reconstitution group ("Die Legionen des Augustus") made a 300 km (200 miles) march with roman equipment, but carried only the pilum in the right hand ; equipment was carried on the left shoulder and the shield also on the left, held by a strap. This way, in case of a surprise attack, the baggage could be dropped without having to figure out what shafts to let go of (as would be the case if pilum and baggage are held in the same hand), shield can be grabbed as soon as burden is released and pilum is already in the right hand.
- Incidentally, Junkelman's group noticed that at night, the curved roman shield made an excellent bed.
Barbarians didn't like this :(
Barbarians (βάρβαρος) are all people that are not speaking Greek (or strange greek dialects). This makes Romans Barbarians.
@@Warentester i dont agree with you but sometimes romans act like barbarians
@@Mr.KaganbYaltrk it's true, they considered all outsiders barbarians
I mean the barbarians won in the end.
Yes - Bruder ! Tube - "" Wir Rufen deine Wolfe "". Make you feel Better 😊
Where can one buy one of the Roman swords and pila? Asking for a friend...
Avalon Celtic
It has a pointy point AND a symmetrical, symmetrical handle! (Just playing, dude obviously knows his stuff)
The reenactors who I know , Wear their full armor and train in it . Break ing in the footwear is a chore.
I sincerely doubt the legionnaires retained a pilum as a close range weapon. The idea as i understand it was to throw both your pila while the opponents were less than twenty yards away. Creating obstacles, opening the line, individuals exposed to combined line of scutum and sword infantry meeting them.
Probably depended a lot on the tactical situation. At the battle of Pharsalus expecting his Cavalry to be swept away by greatly superior Pompeian horse deployed a Infantry flank guard who were ordered not to throw their spears but retain them to fend off the cavalry. As this was a specific order this would imply that the standard practice at this time was to throw the pila and then get stuck in with the sword. In much later Roman (Byzantine) manuals the instruction was to throw the spear and then engage with the Sword if fighting Infantry but retain the spear if fighting cavalry.
The pila is perfectly functional as a close quarters weapon used for stabbing. There are period drawings depicting Romans stabbing at enemy infantry with the pila, and multiple Roman texts talks about using the pila as a spear against cavalry.
The pila a great weapon was only good as the man who threw it!!!
Most were one shot affairs good enough to scare you thats fir sure
good job thanks
Funny to think my German mom's hometown on the Rhein (a Roman military outpost town) may very well have seen the few that escaped bring the news of Varus to the Roman Empire.
Those pilums would break or bend on impact, so they would not throw them back at you.
Ingo! I'd recognize that slice anywhere. Is there a German word for unexpectedly recognizing someone?
A bit kiddy ... Tristan obviously knows the answer to most the questions he’s asking, as do we. Still, nice to see the channel focus on Roman military history
Agreed, the listeners are not stupid.
@@SB-sj4uz speak for yourself 😅
@@markdotinc8371 so you're saying you're stupid. Fuck me it's like he is talking to a five year old. Lmao.
It's aimed at a general audience. You might be surprised how many viewers don't know as much as you.
@@skepticalbadger I never meant to insult your intelligence ...
Pretty good 😊
It is pleause to see you.
Ave , true to caesar
The rise and fall of the empire
Amazing it lasted so long
753bc to 410ad
Plus another 1000 years in the East. Byzantium only fell in the XV century. In total it lasted 2 millennia!!
Is that Fabrizio Romano in the thumbnail😅🤣🤣🤣
Holy smokes, he's only 27? Woof.
Shout out to rome total war.That's cool
Sharp
"In time of peace prepare for war."
-- Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Si vis pacem para bellum
With the spear you can’t get through armour but you would go for the face same with sword or legs then you can finish off hand to had is dirty
Thing with germans vs romans in teutoburg forest most history channels miss, is that germans were not germanic tribes, but rebel roman legionaries of germanic descent, who knew and used roman tactics and weaponry, while roman legion was bunch of green horns with no experience. So it was not german military tech vs roman military tech, it was roman experienced vs roman noob
I thought it was just Arminius that was a former Roman legionary, not the whole Germanic fighting force. I could be wrong here, but my understanding was that Arminius essentially led his former tribe in Teutoberg and afterwards tried to unite the Germanic tribes. Either way, the Germanic side had someone from the Roman side to understand their weapons and tactics
Please do not stab holding the sword like the right guy in the blue jacked, you will probably hurt your wrist xD
"Vare, redde mihi legiones!"
6:52 Shout out to everyone else who is here because they grew up playing Rome: Total War
Well balanced for a sword?
Roman swords optimised for penetrating armour? In over 60 years I've never seen any such suggestion either for Gladius or Spatha. Both were broad bladed for maximum effect against unprotected flesh.
As a modern a grunt carry all that gear would suck.
The one main difference is Tristan is a historian and a Roman Legionary would have been trained to do that. Months and probably more likely years of being on the move with his gear. These men were strong and had tremendous endurance.
Arminius knew the strengths and weaknesses of both sides as an axillary and Roman citizen but also as a Germanic Chieftain. He planned the attack as best as he could using what he had at hand. Varus, on the other hand was arrogant and ignorant and walked into a trap that should have been obvious.
Imagine a hundred Germanic troops rushing forward against two hundred pila clattering against them and tripping half of them.
The roman sword is lighter sronger easyer to stick fast and to SHLASH!!!!!
Better steel as for as grip the pommel at the end was very useful in not loseing your sword! Both are good the Roman is good plus. took yrs of design
27? not 47?
Varus
Slight correction: the verutum is the smaller, throwing spear, and the larger spear, the pillum, is for stabbing. (Or vice versa, depending on the source.) They're not all generically called pilla.
Tristan is kinda scary, right? I wouldn't want to be a Roman soldier in a dark barbarian forest somewhere facing off a crowd of guys like that.
The Romans were equipped with their own spears too - not just pilum.
And the throwing darts
Roman Legionaries were only ever issued their 2 pilums, gladius and Scutum.
@@graham5716early roman legion had the triarii. Older veteran Spearman used as a last resort. But yes in this period it was pila, short sword and shields for everybody.
Yes The Barbarians won in the end but a lot of years later. By then the empire was decaying internally and they hadn't fought a major foe in like 200 years or so. This made the Roman armies not as experienced. Remember he said later on they changed to chainmail which was cheaper and wasn't as good as this armor shown here honestly. So by the time the barbarians won it was a very downgraded Roman army. Also one other thing, the Romans did buy a lot of mercenaries in the latter part of the Empire which made the Army less cohesive as a fighting force.
In the final years of the Empire many legions were in fact made by "romanized" German mercenaries. Curiously, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (the original one), a new ”Holy Roman Empire of the German People" was formed, and lasted until the Napoleonic wars!
This was the official adoption of the Roman civilization, alphabet, Latin language (in the official documents), Christian religion.
The Germanic sword is more like a falchion
Really? The loss of 3 legions was "one of the worst defeats ever?" I guess you don't want to hear about the 2nd Punic war, then...
Mate, your referring to them as "the Germans" instead of 'Germanic' doesn't exactly scream historical/academic rigor.
I think it's more of using vernacular for a lay audience. Wouldn't fly in an academic paper, but to someone new to learning history, it sounds more familiar.
I don't want to get stabbed with any of those.
A pilum is not a spear it's a javelin
RAD
Tristan Hughes is 27?? 😮 Wtf 🤷🏻♂️
Why didn’t Roman use AK47 instead?
Because the cartridge was not compatible with NATO standards.
... so you don't have to. 😂
Bet they wish the had backpacks
He's 27?! He looks 40
Pointy point😂
Why Germans did not copy Roman weopons?
The roman war machine was equipped by the state as a professional force. The Germania tribesmen only had access to simple weapons like long spears and small wooden shields. Nobility had swords and chain mail armor.
I'm looking at them bare legs an can't help buy think of Ticks, Fleas, Mosquitoes.
Homeboy is pretty small and weak. Now saying the struggles he was faced with were fake, just saying that a 6’4” guy from Minnesota could do it better
Size wise I imagine he was similar to the men in the Legions. :D
A German spear would be a perfect weapon against berserker warriors.
Okay but Tristan I wear reproduction caligæ on the regular and I want to know, did you find them as comfortable as I do?
Another snivley, whine Britt!
That German expert was talking a lot of crap
This guy may be a history expert, but he has no clue how to use weapons
Roman laziness is the reason Germany do not speak a Romance language today.
LoL no offense man, but those Romans were in much better shape than you. Or maybe they hopped on a plane to get to Germany, idk. 😁
No way human bone is that weak...especially working out your whole life they get stronger. BS.
Germans don't like this
boring. test more. talk less.
This bloke has never carried anything heavy in his life
I laughed at the stupidity of this as its been tested the REAL WAY millions of times already lol total waste of time it appears History Hit puts its energies into. Downvoted and blocked as i have a lot better options. Now if you had stated in your title you were examining it with modern technology or something else that would be different
This isn't an airport, no need to announce your departure
Stop spamming and jog off.
Hey there an outside. Go take a jog and lose that gut
Don't let the door hit you on the way out - bye-bye.
Amazing