The Roman Army Timeline

By oo7
  • 100

    500 B.C. Roman army

    Rome no longer had a king and so the leadership of the armies was left to the consuls. They were left to protect the people of Rome from danger.
  • 200

    300 B.C. Early Roman Army

    The early Roman army followed Etruscan or Greek models of organization and equipment. The early Roman army was based on an annual levy.
  • 300

    218 B.C. Roman army of the Mid-Republic

    Romans acquired an overseas empire, which necessitated standing forces to fight lengthy wars of conquest and to garrison the newly gained provinces.
  • 450

    125 B.C. Mid-Republic army

    During this time the Roman armies were always accompanied by units of non-Italian mercenaries, Numidian light cavalry, Cretan archers, and Balearic slingers, who provided specialist functions that Roman armies had previously lacked.
  • 550

    30-88 B.C. The late Republic Roman army

    This was the transition between the conscription-based citizen-levy of the mid-Republic and the mainly volunteer, professional standing forces of the imperial era. The main literary source for the army's organisation and tactics in this phase are the works of Julius Caesar, the most notable of a series of warlords who contested for power in this period.The late republic is said to be the best time to be in the Roman Army as this was when it was at its most successful.
  • Oct 8, 600

    200 AD The Imperial Roman army

    when the Republican system of citizen-conscription was replaced by a standing professional army of mainly volunteers serving standard 20-year terms, although many in the service of the empire would serve as many as 30 to 40 years on active duty, as established by the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The legions, consisting almost entirely of heavy infantry, numbered 25 of about 5,000 men each under Augustus.
  • Oct 8, 700

    476 AD The Late Roman Army

    The Roman army returned to regular annual conscription of citizens, while admitting large numbers of non-citizen barbarian volunteers. However, soldiers remained 25-year professionals and did not return to the short-term levies of the Republic.
  • Oct 8, 1000

    1320 AD The Palaiologan Byzantine army

    Initially, it continued some practices inherited from the Komnenian era and retained a strong native element until the late 13th century. During the last century of its existence, however, the empire was little more than a city-state that hired foreign mercenary bands for its defence.

  • 750 AD Middle Byzantine army

    The army of the Byzantine state in its classical form.

  • 1200 AD Komnenian Byzantine army

    It was named after the Komnenos dynasty, which ruled in 1081–1185. This was an army built virtually from scratch after the permanent loss of Byzantium's traditional main recruiting ground of Anatolia to the Turks following the Battle of Manzikert.