Roman Army Supply Lines and Logistics (Overview)
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2018
- We lay out the high level logistical system of the imperial Roman army. This focuses on supplies with the army, gathered by the army, and sent to the army. Finally we break down how supply lines were organized. For more history, check out Ancient Warfare Magazine: bit.ly/2KqZlH3
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Literary Sources
"Logistics of the Roman Army at War" by Jonathan P. Roth
The most overlooked and essential aspect of warfare.
@this is sparta Please tell me it's a joke, when did Napoleon invade Russia if he didn't invade during summer ? How can people believe that a military leader like Napoleon will invade Russia during winter ?
amateurs talk tactics while the experts speak logistics!
@Abu Troll al cockroachistan not when the burn everything.
@Abu Troll al cockroachistan
haha and watch your enemy die of zika.
this is why not many cannibalistic war tribe ever thrive.
cooked human meat is hundreds more time dangerous than a raw animal dipped in mud, i dont know why the fuck is our biology almost specifically designed so we will have the least advantage when eating each other, it sucks so bad, its like nature is trolling with us, specificly.
My guess is a simple plain dosage issue.
there are dormant bacteria and mostly harmless extremophile (they can withstand A LOT of environvemental abuse, be it heat,or cold.) microrganism in your body that in lower number are harmless and beneficial for bodily process
But lethal in higher numbers
When people speak of how an army should invade and just ignore the logistics required for their insane strategy , I can’t help but to roll my eyes so hard I almost do a backflip.
"All roads lead to Rome".
Rather all roads lead to Roman military campaigns.
n543576 ooooh I like this haha
n543576 well where do romans come from :)
True, but they also lead back to Rome, where the triumph is celebrated after the campaign, and honours and rewards given to the combattants and freedmen.
Dirty communists hate Republics.
yes, from rome. Just go backwards
The element of supplies! (Apologies if that's already been done on this thread.)
Malcolm Hanson hmmm you used the word thread. Fellow redditor
You apologized for something that couldn’t be your fault. Fellow Canadian
Don't forget the fourth method of gathering supplies - donating to my patreon at
Aidan
Underrated comment.
Aidan lol, I missed an opportunity with that one
Hire this guy for your idea advisor.
Wow, people only talk about tactics and battles when discussing the Roman army, never thought food, supplies and logistics would be just as interesting
I'm so happy people find these topics interesting : )
Militaries in general actually
It's ancient China, no army can survive without keeping their supply lines safe.In fact, supply line are so important but vulnerable,without foods, soldiers will be in panic, and lose their morale.
william wang it’s bigger than that , logistic dictates how army moves or which path they take , what kind of offensive they might do , how much they are willing to commit
War is a game of cards afterall
military logistics are basically an army's lifelines in every campaign. the numbers of armies' defeat caused by starvation etc cannot be ignored
It annoys me when modern people talk smack about empires losing a battle here or there against a small local force. Case in point, Thermopylae, which was actually a fairly costly victory. Xerxes succeeded in forcing a passage through and then proceeded to pillage much of the Greece heart land, burning down Athens and so on. People always forget that the local "victorious force" could never launch a counter-invasion. And this is why. The reason empires become ... empires was precisely because they could handle the logistics of their forces and project them far beyond their own borders.
The scale of logistics were immense: how to recruit people from different parts of the empire. How to command and control them: remember, they didn't all speak the same languages, nor knew how to write. The overall commander need to have translators and staff who knew multiple languages. How to draw and transport supplies from all over your empire. Forced requisition usually yield short-term gains at a long-term cost, so even if you are conquering the local people, it was better to buy from them and pay in gold and silver. Plus transporting a sack of coins is easier than sacks of wheat those coins could pay for.
Unfortunately for us, most of how past armies supplied their troops were not mentioned that clearly. First, because ancient writers, like we are, were bored by the mundane task of logistics. Second, much of these knowledge were more or less institutional: passing down the generation in an institution (legion commands) and thus is rather obscure. Third, you generally don't pay attention to logistics until it started fucking your campaign up. Then you find something else to blame. Like Russian winter. Yeah, like winter is a rare thing that nobody knows about.
Napoleon's armies were famous for "living off the land": foraging and confiscating supplies. They could move very fast, in central Europe. Unfortunately, Russia is a) very big, and sparsely populated b) the Grand Armee was also very big, and c) Cossacks burned everything useful. Thus French troops were dropping like flies even before the first frost set in. The issue is that as the big column moving across Russia, the good, and close supplies were consumed by the leading elements, leaving little and further away stuff for the rear of the column. The result was that the rear column had less to eat and had to go further. Lack of food compound and create diseases. The only cold winter is one you are not prepared for. A very mild winter by any standards will fuck you up if all you have is summer clothes.
Excellent points, but I should also point out that
1) the Grande Armée in 1812 (like its predecessors since 1805) had supply lines and convoys, although to a far greater extent in 1812, than in say, 1806. The Emperor didn't expect his troops to only live off the land, and preferred to avoid requisitioning and pillaging in order to avoid causing damage to the local populations (particularly when passing through allied territory, e.g. Bavaria or Poland). He also had supplies sent to his armies, in addition to building supply dépôts behind them.
2) While it is true that the Cossacks, or more precisely, the regular Russian armies, did practice a scorched earth policy (the Grande Armée found plentiful supplies in those areas where the Russian army hadn't passed, disproving the myth that the Russian peasants and serfs burnt their own crops), the hot summer, lack of fodder for the horses and cattle, and the diseases caused by putrefying corpses caused severe losses in the expeditionary part of the army (i.e. the forces that advanced beyond Vilna, Vitebsk and Smolensk). The Grande Armée was around 130,000 at the battle of the Moskowa (206th anniversary tomorrow), not 450,000 or 500,000, owing to the need to leave troops to protect the army's supply lines and dépôts, in addition to convalescents, and losses in captured, sick, dead or wounded soldiers.
3) While it is true that winter is bad for any army dressed for summer/autumn, it's important to note that
A) In 1812, winter was particularly cold, and arrived early.
B) Around 100,000 Russian soldiers died from the cold. Contrary to a common misconception, the Russian armies were not well prepared for a winter campaign (see 3,A).
C) Napoleon's aim was to eliminate the threat posed by the Russian forces that had built up on the border with the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, a Polish State created in 1807 under the protection of Napoleon's French Empire, Kingdom of Italy, and his German* (and other) allies. He wasn't trying to conquer Russia, so the plan was to defeat the Russian armies decisively, in order to force Tsar Alexander to sign a peace treaty that would also bring the Russian Empire back into the Continental System (no trading with the British Empire until London signed a peace treaty with France and her allies). Consequently, he waited too long in Moscow, trying to obtain diplomatic negotiations that never came (his envoy wasn't even allowed through the Russian lines), and left too late to avoid his troops being hit by a winter that was colder than usual and arrived early.
NOTES
*One of Napoleon's allies, the King of Saxony, was Grand Duke of Warsaw, meaning that the States of the Confederation of the Rhine were directly concerned by any threat to the Grand Duchy.
Xuan Vinh Today
@@NapoleonCalland Brillant
@@NapoleonCalland great info thanks. I learned a lot from your comment and that of the OP
@@NapoleonCalland hey je t'ai vu sur qora toi
You guys are amazing, I've only just discovered your channel and I love your work.
Metatron! Nice to find you here, great fan ;)
I found them as a suggestion while watching one you your videos 👍
Knowing about your passion for the history of Rome, I'm really glad you discovered this channel.
Hi cringey boy
Check out the Historia Civilis channel
Sun Tzu: The enemy's fodder is worth 10 times my own. No freight.
Julius Caesar walks into a bar and says to the bartender, "I'll have a Martinus please!"
The bartender replies, "Don't you mean you'll have a Martini?"
Caesar replies, "If I wanted a double, I'd have asked for it."
Underrated comment lmao
basically noone understands this joke cuz they dont know latin hahahahah
Pilum and Pila , no further words needed.
i don't speak any latin but i could understand the joke.
Ensar Demir bro most high school English classes have basic latin units. I would say at least half of everyone knows at least a couple details about latin. This is a pretty commonly understood one.
It's very cool to see these details into how the Roman legions were able to fight so effectively. It's easy to forget there's far more to fighting a war than having a bunch of well armed men.
Just look at 2nd Punic war. Hannibal defeated Rome time after time but ultimately failed to completely take down Rome itself. Fabian strategy would've been useless without a robust logistical system.
Can you make a video about roman army training or how they can build camp/fort in a short time
David Wisnu those are definitely on my list for future episodes
Invicta a video about how they raise armys back in the day would also be pretty cool, specially how caesar did it
My classics professor answered the second question by explaining that you have a few thousand prime aged men who are bored and need to be kept occupied. When you think about the sheer manpower of an entire army being used to build roads and fortifications it's not all that hard to imagine that if they were each giver specific tasks it wouldn't take all that long.
The answer is fairly simple and easy to find online or in books...
5000 strong men can do a lot in a day
As an interesting (to some of us anyways) comparison:
As stated in the video a Roman Legion needed the following amount of supplies per day:
18,000 pounds of grain
12,000 gallons of water
40,000 pounds of fodder
A contemporary Brigade Combat Team of the US Army (the Roman Legion's rough modern equivalent) requires per day:
75,000 gallons of fuel
50 tons of ammunition
50 tons of other supply (food, repair parts, etc)
60,000 gallons of water
With the Army's 2023 reforms this will increase significantly.
i think its funny how fodder and fuel are kind of equivalents for the respective time periods
When an army "encircle" an enemy most people think that they are at the advantage because the enemy has nowhere to go. But the truth of the matter is, the enemy's logistics team that supply food and ammo would not be able to get through to feed their comrade. In fact in actual warfare and battle a bulk of the effort is aimed at cutting enemy's supply lines.
Thank you for that series about supplies and daily life of legionnaires) This is that side of history, many school textbooks have nothing to tell about. I like your videos about battles, great and tragic moments in history, but this new ones are also awesome) Already recommended your channel to my friends, who are interested in history and learning English
sweeeet, glad to hear you enjoyed and thanks for sharing the videos
On the individual level I don't think that the 'barbarian' soldier was any lesser than their Roman counterpart. I believe that it was the Roman military's superior logistics that allowed them to keep massive armies in the field for long periods of time that allowed them to win against the Germanic and Celtic peoples.
Operational strategy and logistics win wars
The Romans had a professional standing Army. The barbarians had largely amateurs that showed up for a gig or two and then went back home.
@@TorianTammas late response but yeah, 1 on 1 the Roman has a like 75% chance of winning due to better equipment and training.
1000 on 1000 though, was like 99.99% to the Romans.
@@TorianTammas Also very much late, but that's a very reductivist and honestly stereotype-approving view of things. Yes, the Germanic and Celtic peoples didn't employ professional soldiers, but they weren't amateurs in combat. For examples, look at the Teutoburg forest (Germanic peoples) and Boudicca's uprising (Brittonic Celts). If these people didn't know how to fight, they would not have had such great results. Can also look at the peoples who lived in what is now Scotland, where an entire Roman legion just vanished. And the fact that Rome never conquered Germania in general, as Rome usually tends to do when its standards are lost. You can also look at the great difficulty that Julius Caesar had fighting Vercingetorix. Even though it was a Roman victory, Caesar fought bloody hard for it.
The reason Rome won was because of the powerful logistic system it employed and the discipline of its troops, but to compare the Celts and Germanic tribes as being weak amateurs is both an insult to their combat prowess, and understates the real strengths of Rome's troops.
@@TorianTammas Rome was a semi urbanized civilization which needed to maintain to maintain a professional army, while those 'ameteur' barbarians you are talking about were mostly tribal, and the one thing they definitely know was how to fight.
On tactical level, they were more or less equally matched, with Romans having a slight advantage because of better organization. Operational and strategic factors usually played a more decisive role in Roman victories.
@@lexingtonbrython1897 Boudicca is the worst fcking example you could use. She is an incompetent frick. Her army got annihilated.
This was pretty informative. I always thought they must had long line of baggage trains moving tirelessly without stopping anywhere, but also had a feeling that was also vulnerable to attack.
I was always curious about this topic as well until I finally dug in to it. Would love to cover more logistical systems from other armies and time periods
Great, thanks.
I'm absolutely loving these looks into oft-overlooked and vital parts of ancient life. I'd love to see you expand on this further. While the exploits of great leaders are widely talked about in history, these are less so. It's a perfect neiche to fill!
Waiting for the supply train mechanic to make it into Grand Strategy games!
there is a mod for Rome II Total War that does implement supply lines though its not really like what is displayed here
ziljin Try AGEOD's "Alea Jacta Est" game, here: Alea Jacta Est on Steam
store.steampowered.com/app/313660/Alea_Jacta_Est/
I wish they would implement this as an option to all total war games
There is a paradox game with a supply system. March of the Eagles, but the game is dead, too bad. You get supply wagons and stuff
Hegemony 3 and their sequels does have logistics system. Takes place in ancient greece, rome, scilia, gaul in different games. I dont play it much but I think it does have best logistics system in strategy games.
It's funny how many years it took to recreate this level of logistics.
Though I have one question, how were the supplies handled, was it a push, where each contuberium sergeant went to the supply depot to resupply, during a resupply phase of the operation? Or even on a century level.
Or was it a pull, meaning the sargeant filled his missing supplies and they were sent to him, per request.
Because it's still an issue today.
More likely a larger portion of the army (few hundreds if not thousands) were detached to escort the supplies from the nearest depot, so that they wouldn't lose it in case of an enemy raid.
the content on this channel recently is awesome. thanks man. :)
This is great! Thank you for covering these latest topics!
Love stuff like this......can't get enough of it.
That was fascinating!! Thank you. Look forward to more!
It’s a good say when Invicta and Kings and Generals uploads a new video
Napoleon ne parle pas anglais, imposteur !
The artwork in your videos is amazing
Great work Invicta, I really appreciate your work...
Love these visual illustrations! Keep up the great work! :D
Phenominal video!
I would love to see more of these.
very great video, I'm always super excited to see a new historical video, and I enjoyed this one a lot.
A quick idea for a future topic would be the change of Greek troops during the later ancient era i.e. the successor kingdoms armies.
I saw the tutorial on everyday life of Roman soldiers and this one is just as interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing this.
I LOVED BOTH! Please keep things like this coming! I like the behind the scenes stuff, its so hard to find and you do a great job!
Oh great, glad to hear you enjoyed. I think the next quick episode will cover Garum fish sauce as an example of a prized cooking ingredient
Great work guys! Would love to see one about scouting and gathering inelegant
Great video, absolutely loved it. you have a great voice for telling tales like this.
Please do more of these kind of videos, they are amazing!
Great video, would love to see more of these in the future
Great video, many thanks! Also for the magazine suggestion!
Bravo Gentlemen.
You were so right about the fact about the core of the soldier's food and logistics.
Absolutely essential.
Another great video, please do a video on army breakdowns, ie the types of troops a standard army used
Thanks for the magazine recommendation. I'd probably be really into that!
Stefan Milo the one I linked is one of their older ones while the newer versions are noticeably more eye catching
Invicta I already signed up for it lol. I'm sure I'm going to be into it.
awesome!
Great series! really enjoy, thank you!!
LOVE ALL YOUR VIDS!! Especially the documentaries
Awesome video! Very informative and very clearly explained.
Great information, presentation, and illustrations. Well done and thanks
Very well done! This reminded me of the methodology I used as the Roman player in the "Cantabrian Wars" scenario in Matrix Games' "Alea Jacta Est" game, developed by AGEOD. Also, kudos on the Ancient Warfare recommend, I also suggest their Medieval Warfare magazine, which covers the post-Roman period to the late 1400s.
Fascinating word indeed done by you Invicta .
I like how both you and the King and Generals channel are talking about ancient military tactics and logistics.
Very interesting videos guys keep it up love subjects that don't normally get talked about
thanks for the support, the next episode will also be a bit niche in that we focus exclusively on Roman Garum : )
Great overview that was looking for a long time.
This is slowly becoming my favorite channel. I've been a history nerd since I was 7, and this fills in gaps, like the Roman diet video for example. You guys are awesome. 👍♥️
Also; Could you guys do a video on mameluke training, their history, their overthrow of the Ayyubids, etc.,? I think your viewers would love to see what was basically the Muslim equivalent of the Templars.
great stuff. please keep 'em coming.
These are some really good videos... I'm pretty sure most people would love to see more.
This was a pretty interesting video. It's nice to know more about this or that. Nice job.
Really cool, more of this topic!
Bloody brilliant want more more more!
Your quality has improved a lot over 2 years. And that’s pretty impressive considering how good it already was.
I freaking fuckin love history, especially when it is told with passion and interest ! gj keep up the good work !
Thank you for the Video and your work
Love your work. So enjoyable
You have a really smooth voice, USE IT. Its great to teach people in any thinkable way. If I just think about myself years ago (I thought myself knowledgeable about roman military warfare) I now know a lot more about it. When I was mostly interestedy in armoury in young age myself, I´m now mostly intersted in logistics and management in roman armies. I think that is what made them great, together with their economy.
Thank god Invicta has returned to these kind of short documentaries concerning the Romans. Thank you humbly
fantastic video. Can't wait to see more.
Thanks for the video! Very interesting.
Invicta thank you so much for this video, because you just uploaded right when i was having a trouble with army logistics in a fantasy book i write!
Oh cool, glad you found it relevant. Definitely check the description for research material that may be helpful.
this is consider the primer find it at the library
www.amazon.com/Supplying-War-Logistics-Wallenstein-Patton/dp/0521546575/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530224403&sr=1-3
and on ancient war
www.amazon.com/Supplying-War-Logistics-Wallenstein-Patton/dp/0521546575/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530224403&sr=1-3
by the time of the classical Greeks 500bc there where manuals on everything drill supply formations only a few have survived
a video about roman improvised military constructions would be so awesome!
A really intersting Video with a lot of new - at least for me - Information. Thanks!
Awesome, can't wait for more.
Yay! Logistics! The most interesting and exciting part of any career in the military!
Ancient Warefare Magazine is fantastic, go get some! Proud member
Always been curious about this. Thanks.
Very cool and informative video! Love it
Love the video man very thoughtful about the possible stupid questions I might ask ;)
Very interesting !!! There is so little video like this
How did the Romans manage to build roads when they are resting after long and tiring marches? That is some professional skills that even modern construction companies find hard to achieve
perhaps the topic for another video
These more permanent supplies lines would develop over time, and only where expedient to do so. A single army moving at that marching pace would more than likely not be laying a road behind them. They would however be building fairly substantial marching camps at the end of the route, and collapsing the camp in the morning.
The construction of a road would happen in a relatively secure part of a contested region* over time. It could range from a simple flattened path, to a paved road designed to handle heavy traffic and require less maintenance. If the route was viable, it would have been upgraded over time.
You'd be surprised what can be achieved without worker unions and regard for worker wellbeing.
What are you going to pay for those louts to sit on their asses during the winter? They could be doing the community a service before emptying the contents of their guts over the idyllic countryside.
In all seriousness, I would imagine any time the Roman army decided to decided to rest their army between campaigning seasons they'd send them back along their line of supply both to guard any build up in the depots and to improve the lines between the depots. So every time the Roman army goes into winter quarters it comes back more capable of aggressive movement over the course of the next campaign season if they didn't choose to fight through the winter.
Also the Romans or at least their army built in a standardised way, they built the same camp everytime with the same layout. I imagine it was the same if they built a road. Standardising really simplifies everything and you don't have to worry about the engineer, the architect or the client deciding halfway through that they want a wider road, they want it cheaper and that halfway through that modification they'll want a narrower road...
Really from what I've seen in modern construction it's because the architect, engineer or client haven't really decided what they wanted and are still tweaking the design as it's being built. And heaven help you if they have a disagreement over the design.
Instead the Romans decided they wanted a road. So they built the same road they did last time.
way things work armies through history marched a 4 to 5 hour day (at 3 mph) that is 12 miles a day. so get up at 5 break camp front of column start marching at 6 end of 30,000 men column start at 10 so you start off marching your 5 hour then you split up and forage rest cook ect. The Romans just had a portion build the camp if the area was bad everyone built. Then forage. Forced Marches you marched 4 to 5 hour rested and did it again. Aleaaxder in 120 day record marched 3 or 4days then rested with 4 forced marches to get through poor areas.
This is great, thanks for sharing...
Another great video!
big up for publishing dude
Keep up the good work!
If you wouldn't be opposed, I'd love t o see a video on the Roman social life! Parties, bars, etc!
totally something I have thought of doing as well
Awesome stuff!
Very Informative, thanks
Amazing video, thanks.
Finally someone discusses logistics. Much needed conversation in the community
Will you be doing a even more in depth discussion of Roman supplies in the future? Its amazing how far they manage to fight with only pack mules and horses.
Please do more!
Can you do a video on Roman army’s construction of roads, bridges and forts in such quick time, and their training for military construction?
It all boils down to logistics. Nice overview.
Great video!
Love to see more videos on figure like restorer of the east(Can't remember his name),Figures that saved the roman empire from brink of collapse unknown to many people.Great video btw
My favourite aspect in studying the military history of the world.
Logistics win wars
Enjoyed so much
Wonderfully explained
Great video 👍🏻
awesome video!!!!
Amazing video.
I love you, Invicta
new subscriber. wonderful video
These are the kind of videos I click 'like' before I click 'play'. Superb job, man. Now let's see the video.
hooray : )
This is beyond good, subs right now!
glad you enjoyed : )
I wish this topic becomes popular through the rest of the youtube military history community so there are more videos from more points of view and styles of presentation. And maybe with the increased interest, future war game designers will include these issues.
thx for this