Decode weapons to help the ancient Roman army invincible on the battlefield

 

Technological and equipment innovations played an important role in the army of ancient civilization. The fact has shown their effectiveness and power in combat, helping the military to make breakthroughs and reap much success. 

Here are some outstanding inventions of the Roman army that surprised many:

Corvus Bridge: A weapon that helps the Roman navy "turn the tide"

The First Punic War (264-241 BC) between ancient Rome and Carthage, surprised with the victory in favor of an army of young naval experience, the Romans.

The Corvus Bridge can be placed up to nearly 4 meters high and rotated in any direction. 

Besides the ingenuity and creative tactics of the Romans, the wonderful invention of the new Corvus bridge is said to be the "leverage" that decided to help the empire's army win against Carthage, a country with a lot of experience. naval and naval experience for centuries.

Corvus is a type of bridge, which can be positioned up to nearly 4 meters high and rotated in any direction. The Romans often used this device after approaching the enemy's ship and lowering it to allow the troops to directly overtake the enemy ships to engage.

This unique naval tactic helped the Romans prevail, because they were famous for their close-combat approach, while the Carthaginians relied heavily on mercenaries.

The culmination of this invention brought a resounding victory for the Roman army at the Battle of Cape Ecnomus (256 BC), defeating 350 warships of Carthage (including more than 150,000 sailors and marines).

However, this weapon also had a significant effect on the Roman warships themselves. Specifically, due to the high structure and installation location, the ship is heavy, causing instability and disadvantages in conditions such as big waves, high winds.

Corvus bridges seem to have lost their position since 255 BC, perhaps due to their "destructive" effect on Roman warships.

Onager catapult: Powerful weapons, city fortifications and fortresses

While the famous Ballista machine mainly shot powerful heavy arrows, the catapults called "Onager" , invented and improved by the Romans, could throw large stones, destroy walls and small forts in battle.

Powerful catapult of ancient Romans.

Walls and fortresses that were supposed to be fortified defenses were always solid, with many high and thick stone walls. Usually when there was no catapult, it was very difficult to complete and needed a large army.

However, when this powerful invention was born, this seemingly arduous task became much simpler, with superior power. To maximize the strength, the Onager catapult operates on the principle of using the force of a torsion spring wire to create a great repulsion for each stone fired.

Large stones fired with tremendous power can destroy the walls of the enemy and help the Roman army a lot in the process of besieging and advancing the defenses.

In particular, sometimes the Romans also mixed flammable substances into large rocks to make an attack to destroy the enemy fortress. The speed of a bullet sometimes depends on the speed of the wind and the terrain, but in general the power of this weapon is huge.

Later, the catapult was constantly improved both in size, design with many superior advantages, and gradually became a weapon that played an important role in the wars of the ancient Romans.

Pilum lance

Lao Pilum is a ranged weapon with great power. (Photo: Peter Dennis).

Tuberculosis is a long-range weapon, often equipped with warriors as well as infantry in the army. The function of this weapon is primarily stabbed, in addition to being able to throw or launch at a distance.

According to some documents, each ancient Roman soldier usually carried about 2 harp jets into the battlefield, a heavy Pilum and a light type.

However, both types of TB consist of a wooden shaft about 1.4 meters long, with the head being a blade made of iron with a triangular spearhead. The difference between the two types is mainly thin, thick in rolling.

However, the unique difference between Pilum and other types of tuberculosis is that they are designed with most of the weight behind the head of the TB.

This gives the advantage to the thrower and the ability to damage when the nose is hit is very high. The Roman Pilum javelins could even pierce an enemy's shield and injure the bear's bearer.

When Pilum rushes into a shield, it can force the enemy to drop this protective shield and this is very beneficial in battles with a large number of soldiers. This is really a formidable weapon of the Roman army when fighting.

Plumbata: Rome's terrifying "assassination" dart

Although small, but Plumbata is a type of "assassin" darts of great power on the battlefield.

Plumbata is one of the weapons capable of "killing" the fearsome enemies of the Romans, starting around the fourth century.

The weapon is essentially a dart, with a triangular head like a spear made of iron, attached to a body made of wood made of feathers, with a hollow cast lead connector.

Plumbata is placed after each shield when fighting. (Photo: Internet).

With a length of more than 30cm, and compact size should be very convenient Plumbata to carry. In addition, as a handheld weapon with a small appearance, Platium is very strong when it comes to long-range combat.

It can be used as an assault weapon or powerful assassination tool. The damage is quite large, but the power of the Plumbata darts depends mainly on the force of the soldiers used.

This type of dart can be used as a substitute for heavy weapons such as Pilum and is often mounted on the back of each shield when the Romans engage.

Although there are very few records or artifacts about Plumbata, if used in combat, this is really a powerful weapon of the Roman army.