The Roman Legion 

"It was so informal that we don't even have a name for it." We sure as hell do. BATTLE BUDDY!

There is a famous quote from a legionary: "If anyone ever saluted a Tribune, the light must have been really bad." Says a lot about those guys...

Fun Fact: The first legions Gaius Marius raised in 107 BCE after his Marian reforms were enacted were almost entirely from the urban poor and in this one case there was an exception to the norm of the Decanus being selected by the other men of the Contubernium. In Marius' first legions, the Contubernii were organized so that each group had at least one literate man, the appointed Decanus, whose additional duty was to teach the others to read.

Top Down/Bottom Up System *Contubernium* 8 Men, 4 Pairs of 2, Small, informal unit Bottom/UP Decanus- The Leader of the Contubernium (elected by their peers, known for his experience) A Century (1:39) - 80 Men - Rome's most Basic Tactical Unit - 10 Contubernia - 59 Centurions per Region - Top/Down Promotion by Superiors Cohorts (2:51) - 6 Century = 480 Soldiers -10 cohorts in ever legion -Trumpet Call - Bottom/Up System, Institutionalized Command Structure The First Cohort (4:05) - 5 Double Strength Centuries = 800 Men - Very Prestigious, Protecting The Commander Primus Pilus - Highest Ranking Front Line Soldier - Spoke to The Commander, planned/strategized - 4th In Command *Camp Prefect* "The Professional Soldier" - Supplies/Encampment Master - Former Primus Pilus - 3rd in Command *Military Tribune* (6:32) "The Aristocracy/The People of Rome" - Elected position - Son of a Senator, Please The Voters Back Home - (Thin Striped Tribunes)=A bit of a joke) - (Thick Striped Tribunes= Actual Responsibility and Respect) - 2nd In Command, *Legate* (8:10) "The Will of The Senate" - A Senator appointed by the Senate to lead the Legion

"We can safely ignore the thin striped tribunes. They're dead to us." DAMN, SON

The Roman Legion - the only bureaucracy that didn't have communication problems.

And they were all commanded by Bigus Dickus!

"Primus pilus" translates to "first spear."

Primus Pilus Past their Prime. Primus Pilus Past their Prime. Primus Pilus Past their Prime.

Please do a video about the auxiliary units

The organisation of the Roman legion always seemed ridiculously advanced for its time. The discipline was so incredible!

MUH LEGIONS!

0:28 they're called accountibilibuddies

Ah the engineers and the people who do maintenance. Getting no glory for over 2000 years, but without them the army couldn't function. I think not counting them is doing a disservice, they counted them, you can tell just by the grouping names.

8 men one mule. 8 men one tent.

Modern analogue: Contubernium(squad) of 8-10 led by a Decanus(Sergeant). The contubernium is one of ten in a Centuria(Company) led by a Centurion(Captain) with his trusty Optio(First Sergeant).

I like how you kept putting down the thin striped tribunes and said they were a bit of a joke even in their own time lol!

This is great. You include things many other videos on the subject leave off.

You're by far the best historical channel I've watched, glad to see it's not been left to die! Keep up the awesome work man!

Such a beautiful and interesting system, no wonder they were able to annex so much land.

Goddamn. No matter what you gotta hand it to the Romans, only they could make a clusterfuck that actually works really well.

"slept together (not like that)" that's where you're wrong buckeroo.

"primus pilus past their prime" try saying that five times really fast

Why were armies in acient times so much larger than armies in the medieval period?

I have a theory that the 'primus pilus' (which literally means 'first throwing spear') at some point was responsible for setting the range for the other men. In modern armies it is normal that an experienced squad leader will tell his men not to fire, but that when he starts firing, then they will all fire. Junior soldiers are bad at firing guns to early, it's reasonable they had this same issue with Javelin throwing.

So basically, Contubernium = Platoon Century = Company Cohort = Battalion Legion = Brigade

I would be interesting to know how legion supplied replacement troops. Read once that one Caesar´s legion was, after decade of campaigns down to 800 men.

Fuck me, Historia Civilis

The senate as the board. Centurions as foremen. Thin stripes as interns. Thick stripes as children of board members. Legate as CEO. The "helpers" would be 0-hours contract agency staff to do the cleaning. Seems awfully familiar...

"and they slept together" "...not like that"

The term decanus is still used in the greek army

I love seeing your videos pop up in my sub box :)

For the glory of Rome!

pls make a video on roman fort construction.

Great video! Very informative, and I like the slick graphics

I really love these videos. It's always a pleasure when you put a new one up!

7:36 to 7:40, imagine someone like Caesar saying that to his tribune XD

I have watched a lot of Legion breakdown videos but most focused on tactics or basic composition. This was a fresh take on the Legion for me and I appreciate it. Solid work bud.

Absolutely fascinating and enthralling from start to finish. Thank you.

Each one of your videos is better than the last, they're becoming more informative, and more fun to watch! Congrats, and keep evolving!

Who would win? one average Roman Centurion with his 100 men OR 1 British Cold war Centurion tank

Wow amazing video. Ive always wanted to learn about Roman legions in detail.

I love your simple presentation style - I click as soon as I see a video in my feed, always a treat.

so glad you are back to making videos

My favorite channel!

This is one amazing video.

Dude, your videos are so awesome. Super informative, and interesting, every time. Don't stop what you're doing. I'm glad I found this channel, and I'm excited to see where you take it.

I found your channel 3 days ago and I can say you are the best historic channel and one of the best channels IN RU-vid. I've seen every one of your videos and, wow. Keep it up!

Great channel man! Could you do a vid about the average soldier in a roman legion? Day to day life, responsibilities, social structure of the army, training, career progression of soldier, etc.

that's IT i'm playing total war now... thanks a lot :p

This is very well put together and very informative, thank you!

Dude I just stumbled upon your channel by sheer coincidence. Amazing video ! I bow to your magnificence sir !

Thin striped Tribunes where drawn from the Equestrian class, not the Senatorial class and often had previous military experience as Prefects commanding an Auxiluary cohort. They where frequently used as sub commanders by the Legate (one or two detatched cohorts) unlike the thick striped tribune who, as you said, was a young man on his first appointment who was more often considered to be a joke by the experienced Centurions.

I have to say, i've got years studying warfare. Ancient, old, new and modern, but never really understood how a legion works, because it is unlike any other system out there! And you are the first historian that explained this in a simple but efficient fashion. I really thank you for this. Really!

I'm happy to see you're back and uploading regularly ;D

This is by far one of my favorite channels ever and is the best Roman history channel on RU-vid

The Primus Pilus always sounded like a regimental Sgt.Major type position to me..Very interesting to observe how many of these Roman army formations,units and positions have their almost exact modern counterparts,only modernized but still very recognizable..Im also thinking many of the institutional fathers of modern armies and even Generals today(at least the good ones) almost always like to study Caesar,Pompey and Scipio..they even teach that along with Clausewitz at West Point.

Beautiful.

Dude just wanted to congratulate you on your awesome work, very well researched and equally well presented.

These are so great! Thank you.

That's awesome I was in the US Army we had the tradition of having a "battle buddy" from basic training all the way to the 82nd Airborne and my deployment.

The thin stripe tribunes were in fact far more involved than you suggest. To hold that position they had prior experience commanding Auxilia units. They would also command detached cohorts of the legion, they were more staff officers that the senatorial tribune.

That was really excellent. Nice description and analysis!

Your stuff is really detailed and done very eloquently.

so the two members would basically be todays battle buddies?

my god,your channel is great,I wonder why youtube didnt promote this to me. I found your channel after a guy in a lindybeige video comment section said to check you out

This is the most intelligent and clearest description of the Roman Legion I have found so far. Thank you!

Glad your back

1:14 Just like with the minutemen (militia) during the US revolt. Wonder if there more units like this.

your vids are lit asf

this was absolutely awesome, i thoroughly enjoyed it

Love your channel man!!! Keep it up!!

"Slept together.... not like that." Lmaoooo

0:16. well. certainly at least occasionally. long campaigns, far from home, no ''spoils'' of war. hurhur

Great stuff as always, thanks !

Simplicity at its best. These videos are lovely insights to history that enrich our present.

Legate, Military Tribune, and Camp Prefect= Triforce

YESSSSHH!!!

Great video as always!

Always loved how well put together your videos are, keep up the great work! :)

The cohorts have an optical illusion in lmao

You forgot the banner bearers of all types!

Definitely would love more videos like this.

m8 this is legit my favourite channel do videos whenever you can they're so good

The 2 dudes are called Battle Buddies lol

0:15 well probably

It really says something when petty much all your videos have way more views than you have subscribers, your videos are amazing! I binge-watched most of your videos yesterday, and loved all of them! Keep up the awesomeness, you are just epic.

great video, man. really enjoyed this.

the thin striped tribunes. The poor thin striped tribunes who had no "real responsibilities" let us all take a moment to respect the lowly unappreciated people who wished they had a purpose

So, if the Legate was a Senator, there were always a lot of missing Senators in Rome, right?

Love your stuff mate, keep up the good work!

Thanks you so much for making videos like this. I'm doing research into Roman military, culture and politics because I want to write a historical fiction and videos like this seriously help.

So what about cavalry and archers etc.? How did they fit in?

0:17 Sometimes like that

Really enjoyed this break down. Another great video bud!

Excellent analysis and thank you for laying out the plan my brotha...

Just think that 16 of these legions marched to cannae. Only 2 would survive as prisoners.

0:16 slept together, not like that. Thanks for clarifying

I've been wondering about those two extra people for years, thank you!

Very well-organized. I like that you mentioned the non-combatants, making each century 100.