4 Ancient Roman Military Technologies That Revolutionized The Art Of War

The Ancient Roman civilization is well known for its ingenuity, with fantastic engineers and builders creating what is still in use today. Take those famous aqueducts, for instance: According to Guinness World Records, the biggest one still in operation is some 28 meters tall and continues to carry water over 20 miles to Segovia in Spain. While today's soldiers may not adopt the testudo formation to ward off arrows as the legions of old did, some Romans innovations did lead to developments in weaponry, tactics, logistics, and other crucial aspects of warfare.

In a world without electricity, combustion engines, or any of the other tech that so many of us take for granted today, the Romans were able to terrify foes on the battlefield with their advanced weaponry, machines, and engineering. Though their innovations are still admired, it's important to remember that they didn't necessarily invent a lot of the technology that they used. They were particularly accomplished, however, at bringing out the potential of an existing idea, making it more effective, stronger, or longer-lasting. That's a recipe for domination of the era, which is exactly what they managed to achieve. 

Needless to say, it's incredibly rare for several-centuries-old technology to continue to be used today. Even so, some concepts devised by this industrious civilization are still evident in the military technologies of today. Here's a few examples, and how the ideas behind them impacted future warfare. 

The best known siege engine used by the Romans is, perhaps, the onager, a wooden frame with a length of twisted animal sinew that held a projectile in place until released. Using torsion, the onager could launch a rocky payload weighing up to 150 lbs. Often utilizing wheels for mobility, it was used in such engagements as the Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD.

Then there's the manuballista, dubbed "Rome's killing machine" by the Smithsonian Magazine. This piece, while it worked on a similar principle of tightly-woven strings that launched a projectile with immense force, featured dual lengths of material connected in a box at the front of the device. A monstrous anti-personnel weapon, it was capable of "launch[ing] a seven-inch, armor-piercing projectile at over 70 miles an hour with terrifying accuracy," according to the outlet. The wider ballista family, originally introduced by the Greeks, was also expanded by the Romans to include the bigger carroballista.

The counterweight trebuchet would work differently. This model, introduced by the Chinese in the 12th century, used a counterweight on one side of the frame to launch a hefty rock or other payload from the other. They were capable of striking targets at distances of around 300 meters away, and were known to be used until the time of Hernán Cortés and the siege of the Aztecs in 1521. Today, armies employ rather more explosive methods to batter down defenses. 

The biggest danger of attacking a fortified position, is the projectiles coming back the attacker's way. In order to manage this threat, the Romans, during the Principate, devised a curved, rectangular shield, the scutum, and an ingenious strategy with which to use it. A densely-packed formation of soldiers would hold their shields together, utilizing the straight lines to form a shell. The testudo — or tortoise — formation allowed infantry to steadily approach fortifications, while encased in this protective shell, resistant to a wide range of assaults. It required tremendous discipline and coordination, but with the interlocking shields the soldiers were far better protected than they would have been otherwise. There was even an offensive element to this formation, as the Romans often sloped the shields to create a makeshift ramp, which allowed them to climb up to lower-level enemy defenses without the need for siege towers.

Centuries later, during World War I, soldiers sought another way of crossing heavily contested ground under a defensive shell. This time, they wouldn't do so on foot, but from within a similarly slow and rather unwieldy vehicle. These were the first tanks, with Britain's Mark I, among the very first tanks ever to see combat, propelling eight crew members at 3.7 mph, within armor of approximately 12mm in thickness. Over a century later, there's still no better-known ground combat vehicle than the tank. 

Across their empire, the Romans constructed many forts from wood and stone. However, when in unfriendly lands without the luxury of time they innovated, in order to reach the same goal, using prefabricated forts. Historian Adam Hart-Davis described these structures for the BBC: "There is a reconstructed example at Lunt Fort near Coventry, complete with dovetail and cross-halving joints, cut elsewhere and simply fitted together on site for instant defence." The art of modular building provided another vital advantage — it allowed for greater uniformity of pieces. During long-distance conquests this uniformity of design made forts quicker and easier to construct, overcoming the reliance on unfamiliar local materials or challenging terrain. Therefore, up to 200 AD, forts had a rather predictable layout of barracks and officers' buildings, as well as defensive features. 

Following on from Medieval castles, the modern-day equivalent of the fort, is perhaps the air force base. Lt. Col. Kevin Sherrick, of Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, notes "like castles, they are fixed, monolithic symbols of American sovereignty and military power — especially in foreign lands."

During a protracted siege, depending on the size and layout of the fortification in question, it was prudent to try and scale the walls as well as or instead of smashing through them. The Romans began using siege towers to great effect during the third century BC, and they would prove to be invaluable tools in the arsenals of great Roman generals in the long years that followed. At Uxellodunum, Gaul, in approximately 51 BC, Julius Caesar fielded what was surely one of the most formidable siege towers the ancient world ever saw. According to World History Encyclopedia, it was ten storeys high and "bristling with artillery." 

Wheeled and designed with an eye to reducing their weight, siege towers were deployed to be taken to the walls of a fortification quickly, using a drawbridge to cross over, like the siege towers of Alexander the Great. The towers did have a prominent weakness, though, as they were made of the primary material available while on a military campaign – wood. This kept them mobile, but foes were quick to attempt to burn down any that came near. To address this issue, substances such as clay were placed at strategic points on the frames, to prevent fire from spreading easily. 

Today's mechanical assault ladders, though not necessarily as high as the monstrous tower developed by Julius Caesar, have the same intent: to allow personnel to access and breach defensive positions. Similar ladders were one of the surprising inventions by Leonardo da Vinci.