Total War History: Triplex Acies (Roman Military Tactics)

Hey, what's up guys? This is Oakley today. We're going to be talking about the triplex axis So this is going to be a roman military formation So the triplex axis is going to be something that the romans were deployed in so it's a formation It's a tactical doctrine you could say And what it essentially boils down to is it's a triple battle line that was used by pre-marian legions now the triple line and Successive lines of reinforcement would have been used further down in Rome's history after the Marian reforms in the in the Empire But during the Republic that's when it was most most used and earliest Developed and it relied on the maniples so the maniples were a tactical unit of the Roman military So let's go ahead and talk a bit about how the Roman military was set up So at your most basic unit you had the contubernium That was six to eight soldiers ten of these made a century for 60 soldiers Two centuries made a maniple of 120 soldiers and the maniple was basic tactical unit There would have been ten of these across each line as you can see here and the first group so ten times 120 is 1,200 told her study 200 precipice and 600 triarii the triarii actually would have been half strength compared to the other formations in the Roman Legion on The March they would have deployed in three columns screened by 300 horsemen 1,200 light infantry and then the main body would have been the 3,000 heavy infantry the soldiers in the back now in the front would have been the velites These were the late skirmishers. They were the youngest and the poorest remember that Rome system of Their troops was classified by your age and your ability Armament small shield javelin sword and helmet and its role was to go on special missions to disrupt the enemy and also to work in Conjunction with the cavalry to allow the cavalry to reform behind them and take on various actions The next one is going to be the study. We're moving into the first line So the classification for these guys was they were the youngest of the Romans or younger early 20s They were eager their armament would have been a scutum helmet Greaves breastplate sword Pilla and they were the first line of the heavy Infantry, they would have been eager younger willing to prove themselves that's why they would have taken the brunt of the enemy attack and They were armed based off their own ability. Now. The next line would have been the prince of base. So 1,200 soldiers here again matching the first line But these would have been in their prime that would have been in their late 20s again the same armament as the previous guys But these guys would have been a little bit richer and had maybe a little bit better Armament, so again the scutum helmet Greaves breastplate sword and Pilla and they were the second line of the heavy infantry again Keep in mind that there are 1,200 of these guys because when we move into the triari This number is gonna drop down. So here we go to the triari This would have been the eldest and most veteran troops. There were 600 of them 600 because you had to be older more veteran and wealthier to be in this group and the triari actually had you know Some of the better armor, but instead of a sword they had the hosta which was a spear and there are the final line And this is kind of a remnant of how the Roman Legion used to be formed up where everyone had a spear And it kept on going into in its tradition and that's why the triari Still have the spear and so they they maintain that that from the earlier Roman Legion Now the final group would have been the equites 300 soldiers 300 horsemen They're the wealthiest and they were from the Roman upper class Their armament would have been a small round shield helmet Greaves breastplate and Lance They were heavy cavalry, but they were actually poor scouts The rigors of scouting they found to be below them and so Roman armies were actually early on Very poor at scouting ahead of them and that would lead them into a lot of disasters come the time of Hannibal in the second Punic War But you can just hear see here from a distance what the Legion would have looked like moving up in the triplex axes At least formed up into the three moving columns they would have moved from their camp formed up in their camp and left the three gates and deployed here as The triplex axes moved up they would have deployed their velites and their cavalry to form a screening pattern You can see right here from the the enemy perspective. It looks like you can't really tell what's going on That's because the screening is being effective. It's hiding what's going on and they would have engaged the enemy now once the column moved up to roughly about Half a mile to a mile from the enemy the three columns would have started wheeling to the right So you have the first line moving forward all of a sudden it moves, right? And then they will go and walk all the way in face of the enemy This just shows their their strong discipline in the face of the enemy They would have started wheeling to the right and going right across the front of the enemy Meanwhile, the enemy would have been preparing as well but this would have been a pretty intimidating site to see this highly organized force moving out the general would have supervised the Movement of his troops as well as any of the the tribunes and all the way down to the centurions Everyone would move to ensure that this formation was moving quickly. It would have actually taken several hours to get this whole Legion moving out of the camp forming up Thousands of men moving forward it would have thrown up dust and Noise and all that stuff so would have been very chaotic and it's a testament to the Roman skill and discipline that they're able to Move out once they had been fully deployed the triplex axis would have occupied about a mile or 1.6 kilometers of frontage So you can see that was a very large deployment and the troops actually would have been pretty spaced out now As I said before they would have sent the velites and the equites to go and screen the formation They would have gone and checked the enemy there would have been probably an exchange of missiles a back-and-forth between the cavalry for several hours As the infantry prepared for the fight this was typical for both armies They would have tried to secure early victories in order to encourage their troops here You can see the triplex axis starting to actually form up as it would have been again the general moving around making sure his troops are aligned Now as these troops are forming up you'll start to notice the exact pattern that they have So it's going to be very particular to the Romans They would have formed up in the three lines as we saw before but instead of having the vertical columns now It's three lines horizontally once they've been fully deployed again the troops at the top screening them So they would have been formed in the three lines here with the hastati at first the principes and the triari The formation would have been similar to a checkerboard pattern The idea was that you would have ten maniples at the top ten maniples in the middle ten maniples at the bottom and they would have been alternating so that gaps existed between each of the maniples and then those gaps were covered by a maniple in the Subsequent row the reason for this was to make it easier for each group to maneuver and deploy Tactically the holes in the formation would have existed on the march, but due to the lack of our Descriptive elements in that in history. We're not actually sure how they would have moved into battle Did they engage in battle in this formation that seems unlikely because these gaps would have been exploited by the enemy at the same time However, you have the troops in the rows behind them who could have supported them and due to the nature of how battles were actually Fought it wasn't a mass charge. It would have been small groups of troops fighting for a couple minutes retreating Disengaging and back and forth so there is some debate as to how this would have actually fought But most likely they would have actually moved up in the triplex axes like this Alternating checkerboard pattern velites up front cavalry on the flanks then the first step was for the velites to engage they would have fought the enemy and Moved up and you can just see how daunting how intimidating this might have been to a disorganized group of barbarians or another faction to see this very Militarized it's very disciplined force moving up to you the systematic nature of it would have been very imposing You can see them here moving up The checkerboard pattern also meant that as these men moved over rough terrain They would not bump into each other because they're not a solid line. They have room to maneuver They can move into these gaps between the formations and it made it so that they can move over you know pretty hard terrain and Reform and keep their cohesiveness Whereas a phalanx would have been immediately broken up over heavy ground so that was one of the advantages of the system is it allowed the Romans to move over pretty hilly terrain and That's why the system was developed pretty significantly after the wars with Samnium and when Rome was expanding going into more and more difficult Terrain, so that's why this formation made its appearance So here you can see them moving up now as I said, the first stage would have been the velites moving up They would have formed up and these velites were the youngest and the poorest not very highly equipped But still at the same time they were eager to earn a name for themselves They would have been attached usually with officers from the the ranks of the heavy infantry so they would have formed up charged in large groups attack retreat attack retreat and As I said, this would have been a screening process for the troops and also there would have been a prolonged exchange of missiles early on in the battle sort of as a posturing and Morale boosting event before the actual main forces engage, but once the velites were pressed back now the gaps in the The the Roman line makes sense because it would have allowed the velites to then retreat behind these gaps Through the holes in the maniples reform and then that's kind of how we make the sense of this Checkerboard pattern and so once the velites were behind the line the first line we can presume would have formed up in a massive front So they would have deployed Filled up the gaps So instead of being twice as deep they would have expanded as you can see here into a single line thus forming a single battle Line to confront the enemy and the velites and whoever else was retreating behind that line could then reform now after the velites hasn't Get had engaged. They would have then retreated And fought on the flanks with the cavalry then the first line would have engaged moving forward as a solid front They would have fought with the enemy moving at a steady formation as they got close to the enemy They would have thrown their pillow so the Roman formation the triplex axes had this These formations so that it could move tactically and also as it deployed its forces It would not have deployed them all at once it would have been first line gets deployed as They're depleted the general here would have sent up various lines to support them and so they had three lines as I said with Increasing strength of each unit because of their veterancy and the amount of armor skill and training they had so after the first line Had been deployed if they were worn down They could have fallen back and reformed behind the prince of pays the prince of pays would have probably remained in this checkerboard pattern again to allow troops to withdraw behind them, then they would have formed up in a solid line to confront the enemy the Hastati then would have reformed joined their line and pushed forward the attack so you can see here Just how this checkerboard pattern works And how forming up into a solid line would have worked to rally everyone now if the fighting was particularly bad You can see here a lot of troops being in the retreat So it would have come down to the final line of troops. These would have been the spear armed triari Again in the checkerboard pattern and these were the last troops the last line they had their spears What they would have done is allowed all the forces to retreat behind them Then they would have kneeled down put the butt of their spear in the ground and presented basically a phalanx a hoplite shield Essentially to the enemy all of the Roman forces would have rallied behind them And then they would have Matt masked up in a single line and pushed forward that would have been a desperate measure when everyone Basically when it came down to the triari that was a common saying In the Roman times meant that it was a desperate fight And so you would have had all the Roman troops form up behind the triari in a single mass line and at that point you Could have said the Romans were fighting effectively in a phalanx style They would have formed up and pushed the enemy back And that's basically how the Roman triplex axes worked and as you as you can see here the final line the triari These would have been the grizzled veteran troops spear armed and that's when the fight would have happened You know in its desperate straits and the advantage of having the last Roman line was that they would have been pretty well reformed Well-rested whereas the enemy Forces who were engaged would have been fighting the whole time as a single mass without a system of reinforcement And so they would have been tired And that's what gave the Romans their military advantage moving into battles And it's what gave them the the greatest amount of flexibility in all terrain So that's gonna be it for the triplex axes. I hope you enjoyed this video keep in mind that the manipular Legion that is before it was transitioned after the Marian reforms 107 into a Force where Rome's armies were drawn for the from the poorest troops It was a paid army and the basic unit would have been the cohort of 480 men so this this tactical doctrine would have been used much throughout Rome's history particularly in the the Republic until Marius's reforms, but even after that you would have seen Rome relying on several lines of reinforcement even during Caesar's day He would have often used three lines of troops as reinforcement, but of course it would have changed But nonetheless, this is what gave Rome its edge in the military I hope you enjoyed guys make sure to check out my other historical videos particularly the series I'm starting on the first beauty core The second episode is gonna take me a while to do just because I have a lot of work And it's actually a high-value production for me. It takes a while to put everything together but I hope nonetheless that you enjoy and Yeah, I'll see you guys next time. Let me know in the comments below. What other things you want me to cover and Yeah, that'll be great. Thanks for all your support