Top 10 CRAZIEST inventions of the Roman Army!! In its day, Rome managed to conquer half of their known world, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the skills of the mighty Roman army. Throughout the centuries, the Roman army came up with various weapons that helped it gain supremacy on the battlefield, and here are the top 10 military inventions of the Roman army. Find out which of these incredible tactics are still used today! The Roman Empire battling in the Mediterranean in places like Carthage! Brought to you by Zero2Hero! Don't forget to subscribe here! https://goo.gl/NXuChu Also, don't forget to check out these MOST feared armies in HISTORY!! https://youtu.be/rc2Fg3bbPQg Number 10: Carrobalista. The basic ballista mechanism was most likely created by the Ancient Greeks, but surely the Romans were the ones who upgraded the system of siege engines, and perfected it on the battlefield. First, there was the manuballista, which was often deemed one of the most advanced siege engines in the Roman military. But the real game-changer was the carroballista – a ballista (or a missile weapon) mounted on a cart. The carroballista was a forerunner of the canon, and it was very effective. Each Roman legion had 55 of these in their ranks. A carroballista was pulled by mules, and required ten soldiers to operate it, and by the end of the 1st century AD, the Roman army introduced various technical innovations that enabled the manuballista to be mounted on a cart. As such, it had greater maneuverability and was easy to move it around during battle, allowing soldiers to assume the best position possible. During battle, the most important aspects are speed and efficiency, and carroballista provided both. Number 9: Pilum. The pilum is the Roman long spear, and it proved very effective in battle, helping the Roman legionaries charge. The brilliance of the pilum was that, once thrown at the enemy, it only favored the Romans, because there was no chance that the enemy could throw it back. How? Well, because of its design, and the pyramid-like point, the spear was very aerodynamic. Because of this, the pilum had amazing penetrating power, allowing it to hit its target with extreme forcer and get stuck deep in the enemy shield, sometimes even injuring the soldier that was carrying the shield. Once the pilum was stuck in the enemy shield, it was practically impossible to get it out. Because of this fact, the enemy was simply forced to let go of the shield and continue fighting without it. There was also a narrow variety of the pilum, which twisted when hitting the shield – this made it useless even if it was thrown back. Nevertheless, this was highly unlikely simply because of the initial shock of losing the defenders shield, combined with the stress the advancing Roman infantry. Some photos of the Pilum from TheganThrand's video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65n3PpjPK04&ab_channel=ThegnThrand. Number 8: Plumbata. This weapon is often forgotten or overlooked, because it was used so much later in the Roman Era, from the 4th century AD onwards. Basically, it is a throwing dart, with a lead weight attached to it, and it was used by the Roman infantry. This weapon was first used in Ancient Greece, but the Romans made full use of it. The idea for the plumbata probably came from the javelin, which was a semi-long spear. The plumbata was supposed to be an even shorter version of the javelin, and the lead weight was there to give it extra power upon impact and improve its efficiency. There were legions whose soldiers carried this weapon in battle, and used it to a large extent. These legions were later honored by the emperors Maximilian and Diocletian. There were five plumbatae for every infantry soldier, and the weapons proved to be of great help. The reason was simple – with the plumbata, every infantry soldier was effectively an archer at the same time. This meant that he could strike the enemy before facing them directly in open battle. Number 7: Testudo. This is one of the most important aspects of the Roman military. Testudo (Latin name for “tortoise”) is a military formation which was used extensively during battle, especially during sieges. The idea was simple, yet highly effective. The soldiers would group in a square formation, and divide into a couple of sub-groups. Some of them would raise their shields above their heads, and the rest would keep shields in front of them. This way, the soldiers of the formation would be covered by shields and protected from the enemy attacks. Basically, the testudo was a defensive tactic, so that the soldiers could sustain all kinds of blows from missiles and projectiles from the enemy, while advancing. If a rock or something else was thrown on the formation, it wouldn’t do any harm. Because of the shields, the projectile would simply roll off onto the ground, and the formation just kept making progress.