The Roman army was one of the most powerful and successful armies of all time. The size of the Roman army allowed it to conquer much of what is now known as Europe. Compared to other ancient armies, the Roman army was the largest army in the world at that time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Roman citizens, just like Americans today, relied on their army to protect them and fight for them. Roman soldiers risked their lives fighting for their empire; some of them returned home safely, others were not so lucky. Soldiers were drafted into the Roman army at the age of 17 or 18 and spent an average of 25 years fighting for the empire (Scheidel, 2005, p 9). The Roman army training process was harsh. There were two phases of training, the first consisted of teaching soldiers to march and physically train and the second consisted of weapons training (“Military Training” nd paragraph 1). Soldiers were taught how to march first because “Any army that was divided by stragglers in the rear or by soldiers advancing at different speeds would be vulnerable to attack” (“Military Training” and paragraph 1). The Roman soldiers marched approximately 18.4 miles which had to be completed within 5 hours. In the process of physical training, soldiers had to run, jump and carry heavy backpacks (“Military training” and paragraph 1). During initial weapons training, Roman soldiers were taught fighting skills with wooden swords and shields (“Military Training” and paragraph 2). The wooden swords were made to be twice as heavy as the original weapons. “[It] was thought that if a soldier could fight with these heavy fake weapons, he would be twice as effective with real ones” (“Military Training” n.d. par 2). After initial weapons training, Roman soldiers were taught to fight with a spear known as a pilum, which also weighed twice as much as a normal weapon. After 2 to 3 months of training, Roman soldiers were sent into battle for the first time on the front lines (Scheidel, 2005, p 9). This was due to three reasons. The first was to give them confidence as behind them were experienced soldiers who had fought in battles before. Secondly, it prevented new soldiers from fleeing if their courage failed them. Finally, those most likely to be killed in the initial phase of a battle were at the front. (“The Roman Army and Welfare,” 2013, para )For Roman soldiers, going into battle for the first time was the ultimate test of how well they had learned combat skills during training. Whether soldiers would survive or die depended on how well they fought, how much food they had, the availability of medical supplies and treatment, and the weather (Byrne, 1910, p 272). The Roman army fought long, hard wars and lost many of its soldiers. During the Battle of Cannae in August 216 BC, approximately 48,200 Roman soldiers were killed (Goldsworthy, 2005, p 43). Of the men killed approximately 45,500 were infantry and approximately 2,700 were cavalry (Goldsworthy, 2005, p 43). The Romans had approximately 80,000 soldiers in the infantry before the Battle of Cannae and approximately 6,000 soldiers in the cavalry (Goldsworthy, 2005, p 43). Although the Romans lost more than half of their men during the Battle of Cannae, they were still victorious. Roman soldiers fought battles with the pilum, gladius and pugio (Goldsworthy, 2005, p 28-30). The pilum was similar to today's javelin; it "consisted of.