Roman Empire History: The Battle of Teutoburg Forest

Rome was at the peak of their time. They had powerful armies and constantly won wars, so Romans became lazy and neglected their daily drills and armor such as helmets and breastplates because they thought it was unnecessary (Document B). According to Document B it states, “...the customary armor began to seem heavy since the soldiers rarely wore it.” Overconfident, the soldiers were unprotected during times of war leaving Rome with little defense. Also, people such as clergymen, senators, bureaucrats, cooks, chefs, and slaves were exempted from joining the army, leaving a small group of people to defend their empire from foreign invaders (Document

Some classes are the Eques began their matches on horseback, but ended in hand-to-hand combat. They wore tunics, bronze helmets, round shields and a long sword. Another class was the Hoplomachus who fought with a long spear as well as a short sword or dagger; he wore a visored helmet with crest and long greaves over both legs to protect them since he carried only a small shield, usually round. The attacking class was the Provocator was the most heavily armed and the only one who wore a pectoral covering; the extent of the armour hindered the gladiator’s ability to dodge making it slower and agile. However, he was pair with another gladiator to assist him.

In Document B it is said that in the Roman Empire’s past footsoldiers wore breast plates and helmets for protection. The soldiers began to become lazier and thought that the armor was too heavy for them. Rome fought the Goths without any armor and soldiers were often killed by archers. Rome needed as much protection as possible and with the number of soldiers decreasing drastically such protection was not possible. To have a lasting an empire, the military needs to have soldiers who accustom to harsh labor and who are industrious, Rome did not have this, which led to its decline. Also, an empire needs to have regular conscriptions, which people

The U.S. military uniforms are completely different from the Roman Republic; nothing is the same except for the use of a helmet. Warfare has changed since the ancient times and with that change, what soldiers wear for protection had to change as well.

With no strength, the armor they wore seemed heavy, as the Roman Historian Vegetius states from an excerpt in Document B. The military men started to ask to remove the breastplate,and later removed their helmets. With no armor protecting them in battle, the numbers grew short,as countless soldiers fell from numerous wounds. Rome tried to fix the problem by conscription, but failed to enforce it as numerous categories were excluded from the draft. With no soldiers to defend Rome, the invaders viewed this as an opportunity to attack, which was the third problem that played in Rome’s

The book titled “Battle that stopped Rome” written by professor Peter Wells at the University of Minnesota, illustrates discoveries of one of the most recent influential and famous battles of the ancient world referred to as Battle of Teutoburg forest. The book gives account on the greatest battle that the Roman Empire lost at the Battle of Teutburg forest by developing a coherent narrative to make the subject more interesting for the modern readers. Wells will one, apply narrative to create a story because using only both if the ancient texts and archaeological narrative are not self-explanatory and two, to challenge the professional archaeologists and historian involved in the study of the battle and its background who are having difficulties developing a big picture resulting in loss of important issues. Professor Wells is attempting to bring the actual battle vividly to life which most of professors or authors don’t attempt or fail to do.

While Rome was so powerful, their military definitely was not. Once again, Rome became lazy because of all their power. According to Document B, the customary armour began to seem heavy since the soldiers had barely ever worn it. The asked to set aside the breastplates and then soon after, they decided to drop the helmets. The soldiers were fighting without any protect over their chest and heads. The Romans were often beaten and still, no one tried to replace the armor. The Romans may have lasted longer if they would have done the right thing and tried to protect

Romans fought in a manner very similar to the Greeks. In early times they utilized the phalanx and a cavalry back-up, but around the 1st century BCE they began to form a “checkered board” pattern. This allowed them to cover more ground and allow men room to fight. In the first century they also retired using a cavalry (Cartwright). The form of foot soldiers only with no horseback cavalry was uncommon. In

The theories surrounding the decline of the Roman Empire is a widely- known historical debate. Endless questions have been proposed and

Unlike the weapons of swords and lances, the Germans use spears with short and narrow blades, javelins and shields. They don't train their horses like the Romans, for speed. Their strength is in their infantry, not their cavalry. Their system of power and authority is quite different. For instance, the power of the kings is not absolute, the commanders lead by example not authority, and the priests inflict punishments. The chiefs fight for victory on the battlefield, and the followers fight for their chiefs not themselves. Tacitus views the Germans as having a need for violence.

An important contributing factor to an army's success is armor for defense. An army can have skilled soldiers, but cannot be successful without the right armor. Roman and Greek armies wore similar types of armor. The Roman and Greek foot soldiers wore a square breastplate on their torso. While the Romans only wore one greave on their left leg, Greeks wore greaves on both legs. A greave was a sheet of metal worn to protect the legs (Horsepower: Harnessed…). Soldiers wear greaves even in current day. Recently, the greaves have been upgraded to protect the legs from ‘Improvised explosive devices,’ such as those in Iraq (Frost, Quad Guard). Roman soldiers wore a helmet that protected the neck, and came around to protect their face. The Greek’s helmets were more full and protective than the Roman helmets. Greek helmets covered their entire head and only left small

Many anthropologists and historians have speculated about the different causes and effects of the fall of the Roman Empire. Some have even stated that Rome did not fall but instead, was merely transformed. However, there were many causes that did end this prodigious empire. Many seemingly small decisions made by powerful emperors over the course of just over a century lead to its destruction. In this paper it will be established that the Roman emperors, in an effort to save their political power, made adjustments to warfare/treaty practices and made political changes which over time lead to the inevitable collapse of the realm, this caused a drastic regression in the living standards of the Roman citizens, implying that the Empire did indeed collapse and not transform.

In the later half of the fourth century the Western Roman Empire fell after nearly a five hundred years of dominance and is still widely considered the world’s greatest superpower (Andrews). Many people attribute the crumbling of the empire to multiple different reasons, like corrupt and insane leaders to overspending and inflation. As J.B Bury said once “the fall of the roman empire was a series of contingent events. In this paper we are going to cover the three main reasons. Political and Economical problems plus problems with the military(Wood).

A Review of Edward N. Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century A.D. to the Third.

The Roman empire is considered one of the most powerful and longest lasting empire of all time by most historians. At its peak the Roman empire managed to take control and rule nearly the whole inhabited world at the time. Though their military achievements were outstanding the Romans also excelled at legislature. The Romans ran a governmental system which was most like a republic which the power was in the hand of the senators and patricians. The senators and patricians were mostly extremely rich elders of the community who linked themselves to gods. Though the people were the ones who voted for the senators the rich always voted who they wanted because they were the first to vote which made the senate corrupt since the lower classes barely got a say. Although the Roman empire was extremely successful historians are always doing research to figure out what elements led to its collapse. However, the Roman legislature, use of propaganda to sway public opinion, military power to conquer lands, and philosophy were essential reasons for the extended survival of the Roman empire.