Tactics of the Roman legion against the Hellenistic armies: The superiority of the Romans or the mistakes of the Hellenistic commanders?

• Main Author: Vitaliy S. Kalmykov
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Moscow Pedagogical State University, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education 2020-06-01
• Series: ЛОКУС: люди, общество, культуры, смыслы
• Subjects: battle of bagrad; battle of heracles; battle of kinoskofaly; pyrrhus of epirus; roman republic; philip v of macedon; hellenism; epirus
• Online Access: http://j-locus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-2-40.pdf

The article discusses the battles of the Roman army against the armies of the Hellenistic states. The analysis of the tactics of the Roman and Hellenistic armies is given. The battles at Heracles with the army of King Pyrrhus, as well as the battles at Bagrad under the command of the Spartan Xanthippus against the army of Carthage are presented as examples. Special attention is given to the battles of the Romans with the Macedonians during the Second Macedonian War. The reasons for the victories and defeats of the Roman and Hellenistic armies are determined. It is concluded that the Roman Republic won thanks to its perseverance, great human resources, and skillful diplomacy. The Hellenistic generals knew Roman tactics and their features very well but did not fully understand the essence of Roman society and the state. That was their major mistake.