Army composed of Praetorian Guard, legions and auxiliaries.

PG: elite soldiers acting as the emperors personal bodyguard, and the only military group allowed in the city of Rome. Legions, made only of Roman citizens, developed from the Greek phalanx, smaller squads of soldiers who, in Greek times, used a hasta, or thrusting spear, in groups to take down opponents. Legions were originally small phalanxes in checkerboard formation spearing as a team, and operated smoothly by standardizing itself and creating a command system. As they developed further, they included shock by use of a short sword, or a gladius, and firepower by using a javelin, or pilum. Legions could generally move quickly due to roads built and supply trains, or branches of supplies coming from their bases; in the first Punic war, marched an average of 16 miles per day for a month. Normally well trained, but during crises could rapidly expand, although training was sacrificed for these greater numbers. Legions generally had 4000-5000 men in them to begin with, and at the time of their creation and a long while afterwards there were only four legions. However, during Augustuss rule these numbers were raised so that there were around 30 legions, each with 5000-6000 men. Centuries were subdivisions of legions, first having a hundred men per unit (hence the name) but eventually shrinking down to around 80 per century. While these were able to be classified separately but still had to work with the legion as a whole, they served another purpose besides fighting: they elected all officials with imperium, or those able to command troops. 193 electing centuries total; divided into 5 main classes based on wealth, the wealthiest class having 80 centuries, along with the 18 century strong cavalry that had to be wealthy enough to afford a horse. Poorest military century given 30 centuries, and the three middle given 20 each, and the 5 remaining centuries represented the landless that could not serve in the military. The Auxilia, divided like the legions into centuries of ~80 men, did jobs such as guiding horses across water while keeping weapons dry, acting as archers, slingers, armourers, engineers, etc. The Auxilia did not require Roman citizenship to join, but the pay was less; however, at the end of serving, each man was granted Roman citizenship, which most considered reward enough. An everyday soldier served for around 25 years, and because of their experience became professional warriors. Schools called ludi taught swordplay intensively for these warriors (as well as gladiators). They were generally not paid large sums and ate plainly. After service, many warriors and their families moved to newly established colonies to set examples for other people in the provinces, and if needed, play the role of peacekeepers.

Romans developed battering rams, catapults and ballista (giant crossbows) to lay siege on other lands. They also refined their pilum by making the javelins with soft iron except for the tip, which remained hard enough to pierce easily; this was so if the pilum hit the ground, it would be rendered useless for the enemy to throw back, and if it pierced through armor or shield, it would be extraordinarily difficult to get out. Last, the Romans eventually decided to use daggers instead of swords, and instructed their soldiers to simply stab and kill their enemies instead of slashing. Despite the simplicity of this decision, it helped enormously during war. In the camps of legions, the army built ramparts of ditches, earth walls and wooden palisades, or wooden walls made from stakes. One of the greatest examples of these is Hadrians Wall, built to protect Roman forces from Picts and Scots to the north, and extends 73 miles long. The Romans built garrison towns, or barracks, with watchtowers and forts, and made them easy to navigate as well. Divided into headquarters in the middle and troop and supply areas around it, if a surprise attack was launched on the camp the Romans could easily move around and fight inside, even able to orient in darkness. After Roman forces were ready to move onward, they always burnt down their old camps, because they could rebuild easily, and did not want to give their enemies the advantage of a free camp. Towards the beginning of Roman battle, the front lines during war were divided into three parts. The first line, consisted of hastati- young, inexperienced men eager to prove their worth, and given first opportunity to do so. Behind in the second line were the principes, older men with more refined, deadlier weapons. In the third line stood the triarii, veterans of wars before that had already proved their courage many times over. After Marius took the rule, he got rid of these three lines and instead armed each soldier with a sword and a pilum.