The Romans who had trained and professional soldiers had careful battle plans but the Celts were very different because of the lack of training and organization available to them. The Celts in battle ‘did whatever the heat of passion commands (Polybius quoted by Peter Connoly in the book Greece and Rome)’ The Celts fought with no apparent order. Instead the Celts fought ‘boldly (Julius Caesar, The Invasion of Gaul)’ and caused deafening noise.’Weird, discordant horns were sounded, (they shouted in chorus with their) deep and harsh voices; they beat their swords rythmically against their shields. (Diodorus Siculus, History)’ The Celts were very clever because this noise and chaos terrified the Romans (As admitted by Julius Caesar in The Invasion of Gaul.) and allowed them to scythe through Roman defences with chariots, however this was only part of the trick as the Celts also maintained a scary appearance.
The Celts were naturally physically strong and athletic which adding to their reputation and the noise they created caused huge panic within the Roman ranks and also remember that the Romans had won a lot of battles themselves by terrifiying the opposition. ‘Their (the Celts) aspect is terrifiying… they are very tall in stature, with rippling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond but not naturally so, they bleach it… the way they dress is astonishing: they wear brightly coloured and embroidered shirts. (Diodorus Siculus, History)’ The Celts took pride in keeping up this appearance to scare the opposition and often dyed their hair. Imagine you are a Roman soldier in a foreign and strange land when suddenly you face huge and muscular white people with strangely coloured hair the likes of which you have never seen before and wearing clothes the likes of which you have never seen before. (You have only heard accounts of them as barbarians and strong warriors from famous and respected writers). Aggressively they shout in strange voices and blowing their horns they bravely charge at you with no fear. Wouldn’t you be scared?
So now we realize what tactics both sides used. The Romans had formations and battle plans that each soldier had been carefully instructed to follow such as the Testudo (Tortoise) formation. This formation was very successful during sieges of Roman hilltops and is a classic example of how the Romans advocated the use of ranks and formation ‘the arrangement (testudo) is so incredibly strong (Dio Cassius, History)’
In contrast the Celts took pride in appearing strong and muscular. This coupled with their tactics of shouting and making a lot of noise caused the Romans to be very scared and in battle fear can be the difference between a great army and an ordinary one. It is because of this I have come to the conclusion that even though the Romans were well trained and organization they met their match in the Celts who often terrified the Romans into defeat. Also I come to the conclusion that the Romans were not superior to the Celts in their tactics. A famous writer who agrees with me proves this. ‘Celts were inferior to the Romans only in their arms, both their shields and swords being less serviceable. (Polybius as quoted in Greece and Rome by Peter Connoly.)’
This proves the Celts were equal in tactical skill to the Romans (even more amazing considering their limited resources and organization) so both parties were equal in tactics however as Polybius says the Celts had less ‘serviceable’ weapons. I will now investigate how the Romans were superior in weaponry and than in armour.
WEAPONS
Without good quality weapons and the knowledge of how to use them armies can often become weakend immensely especially if their opponents have better weapons. During the years of the Roman’s conquest their warfare technology was much better than anything anyone else had and this was a crucial factor in deciding why the Romans were superior to the Celts in battle.
Roman soldiers had three main weapons. A shield, a sword and two throwing javelins.
The Roman shield (Scuta) were very large and
covered a lot of the Roman soldiers’ body.
The shields were actually quite light to enable
the soldiers to manouvere easily and to wield their
other weapons easily. (as can be seen in the picture)
The Roman sword (Gladius) was quite small and
was carried on the soldiers’ belts to free up their
hands to carry the javelins. The sword was
Individually designed for each soldier to carry
which meant it was very comfortable and enabled
the soldiers to use it very quickly in a stabbing
motion in the midst of battle. (as can be seen in the picture)
The Roman javelin (Pilum) was the biggest and most effective Roman weapon.
It was over seven feet long
and had a sharpened metal point. When thrown once the
Pilum came into contact with a Celtic shield it would
Stick and brake at the end. this rendered the Celtic shield useless and meant the Pilum couldn’t be returned. Once
the Celts threw their shield away they were exposed
because of their lack of body armour (see Armour section)
If the Pilum came into contact with a Celt it would only take
the javelin to be 2 inches inside a man to kill him. (as can be seen in the picture)
In comparison the lack of resources and technology available to the Celts meant they only carried a shield and a spear. Only rich Celts had the opportunity to fight with their own sword.
The Celtic shield was similar to the Roman ones shape
and size. The Celtic shield in theory enabled the Celts to move
quickly under protection and this was a huge part of the Celtic tactics of
running around to scare the Romans. (as can be seen in the picture)
The only destructive weapon most Celts carried was a spear.
The spear was the same size as the Roman Pilum. However
most Celts only carried one spear and so they would not have
been able to throw it unless they found a sword. This meant
unlike the Celts the Roman shields were usable throughout
battle and this gave them a lot of protection.
Those Celts who had access to swords had a formidable
weapon that was quite strong (although opinions vary on this). The Celtic sword had
a strong blade and was a little longer than the Gladius but
this didn’t mean they were used in a different manner.
Like the Gladius it would be used in a stabbing motion. (as can be seen in the picture)
Now that I have described the weapons I can judge the Roman weapons were superior because of variety and strength. Once the Romans had thrown their Pilums and caused huge damage they were able to use their dagger like Gladius that had been individually made to fit your hand to set upon the Celts (many of whom didn’t have a close combat sword or dagger) In comparison the Celts whose tactics meant the use of shields was imperative would often have to discard damaged shields and were left only with a javelin and in hand to hand combat and because the Celts did not have their own swords they were at a huge disadvantage. As you can see the Romans had superior arms but notice how I say the Celts were left ONLY with a javelin. I will now explain this under the Armour section.
ARMOUR
Without a relationship and balance between armour and tactics armies can often become very vulnerable. Some armies compensate less armour for speed and maneuverability so I will now compare the Celts and Romans on this. It is under the heading armour that huge differences in thinking can be seen between Celts and Romans. Roman soldiers had four main types of armour. A helmet, body armour, apron and shoes. In comparison the Celts had… none!
A Roman helmet was designed to protect against attack on almost
all parts of the head. This meant Romans often had advantage in the thick of battles
where it would be very difficult to accurately strike a Roman on a small section of his head that was not protected by the helmet. (see picture)
Roman body armour (Cuirass) was built up of overlapping metal scales
which meant penetration was quite difficult. This Cuirass covered the main torso and
was effective to the extent that its design has often been copied in later history. (see picture)
Romans also wore boots on their feet. These boots were made with conical studs
(like football boots) which made it easier to march across muddy terrain and in
battle this allowed them to stamp on fallen Celts. The technological skill of Romans can be summed by the arrangement of the studs that had been arranged in a pattern to allow best weight transferal. This pattern is used on modern trainers today many centuries after the Romans did. (see picture)
In comparison most of the Celts fought naked except for some ‘trousers’ below the waist. ‘Some of them so far despise death that they descend to do battle, unclothed except for a girdle (Diodorus Siculus, History)’ This meant that although the Celts could run around freely they had little protection once their shields were destroyed by Pilums and were easy pickings for the skilled Romans and their deadly weapons. In comparison the Roman armour was far superior because most of their bodies were covered without making the armour extremely heavy and it would have been difficult for Celts to penetrate this armour with weaker weapons. Also this advantage of better armour can be appreciated more if we think about how a battle would really work. In the midst of a battle if you are a Celt it would be very difficult to have to accurately deliver blows to a Roman if there are people fighting all around you with little area to manouvere.
CONCLUSION
Celts were warriors who courageously fought for glory and honour and practiced fighting skills amongst one another but Romans were paid to train together professionally and had a comparatively large army with a wide range of weapons and armour to protect them.
In conclusion I have looked at both armies and highlighted their tactics, weaponry and armour. The Celtic tactics were to scare and terrify the Romans before fighting them and this was successful to the extent that they were equal to the Roman tactics that had been developed through extensive training. While the Romans knew a lot of formations and had a lot of experience with these formations the ‘barbarian’ Celts fought like ‘Dogs and Wolves (speech by Boudica)’ because of their loyalty to their tribe and their bravery in fighting naked. Romans admired this passion with which Celts fought and so I can conclude the physical strength and tactical awareness of the Celts was equal to the Romans.
In Weaponry the quality of weapons available to the Romans was vastly superior to the Celts because of the wealth that had been accumulated by the Romans in conquering land. The Roman army was supplied with excellent condition weapons INDIVIDUALLY tailoured for each soldier even though there were thousands of soldiers while in contrast the Celts could only afford swords for wealthy citizens because they were seperate and individual tribes governing a small area and this difference was telling when on the battlefield the Celts were left wielding sub-par weapons because they had never been up against opposition as advanced as Romans while the Romans had years and years to perfect weaponry during their conquest of foreign lands.
The Romans had strong armour that enabled them to take some blows from the Celts comfortably before retaliating. However the fabled Celtic bravery was evident as they charged into battle with no armour and though this impressed Romans their lack of armour meant any strong contact the Romans made with their good quality weapons would have caused severe injury or death while Celts would find it very difficult to penetrate Roman armour that was of very high standard (and much superior than that of the Celts) with low quality weapons and this ultimately was the reason for Roman victory.
When it came to weaponry and armour the Romans excelled through advanced technology that had been developed and changed from years of battles with people from other countries. The Romans resources and technology was at the end of the day the biggest reason they were victorious and it was in weaponry and armour that the Romans were vastly advanced than Celts however in tactical strength the Romans had met their match against a barbarians who wether by luck or skill had managed to terrify the Romans and win the mental side of a battle because of their bravery and terrifiying barbarian qualities.
Bibliography
Here are the books and websites I got my information from
Books
Greece and Rome at War by Peter Connoly
The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar
Agricola and Germania by Tacitus
Websites
www.Museums.ncl.ac.uk/reticulum/northernfrontier/thewretchedbrit…/celticwarfare.htm
www.Omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/classes/cla506.w99.mlm/military/military.htm
http://www.celticgrounds.com/chapters/writers.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html
