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The pilum was a heavy long spear or javelin. They all had an iron spearhead (pictured below), fitting into a long handle. It could either be thrown or used in hand-to-hand combat although it was not as easy to work with. They were usually thrown before the army engaged with swords. When the Romans grouped together with their shields up, the pilums would stick through, causing a wall of spikes. It was strong enough to puncture through shields, armor and into the person behind it. Another benefit was the fact that the collision impact would bend the shank, causing it to be unusable afterwards and prevents the enemy from using it against the Romans.

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The gladius, or the gladius hispaniensi, was a short sword heavily favoured by the Roman foot soldiers for stabbing during hand to hand combat. In training, the Romans were taught to stab and not slash with the weapon, despite the fact that the edge was sharp enough cut, as a slashing blow is less likely to fatally wound the opponent, given the layers of armour and bone, whilst a stab will cut through everything and kill.

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The military power of the Roman empire was one of the strongest in the world during their time, with many victories and successes. There was a large number of available men to fight, a disciplined army, centralised command and expert engineers helped broaden and expand the Roman power. Rome was also constantly ready for war, meaning that they were almost never taken by surprise.

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Siege forces were used to surround the settlement and to prevent anyone from leaving. The main force will build the camp out of range of the settlement on high ground. Once the attack began , the Romans would build a ladder up the wall whilst the defenders tried to make their wall higher with towers. The Romans would then use battering rams and siege machines (pictured below) to attack the break the wall. The image below shows the reconstruction of asiege engine like the one used by the Romans to scale the mountain at Masada.

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Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War states that Roman commanders preferred an aggressive and full-frontal attack. Terror and revenge attacks were used to subdue local populations. For the 1st century BCE, there was an increase in the use of battlefield fortifications, entrenchments and sieges. However, the Romans were best at fighting in open areas as there was space for their army to use the formations and size that they had. The image below shows a model of centuries in fighting formation.

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According to the unknown writer of 'On Military Matters', the borders of the Roman Empire were surrounded by frontier works with 'a continuous line of forts constructed so that they are at intervals of one mile, with firm walls and very strong towers...with guards and sentries stationed in them.' The picture below shows the frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site Cumbrian coast tourist trail in the United Kingdom.

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The army consisted originally of four legions, each of which was made up of about 3000 heavily armed foot soldiers, 1200 light-armed infantry and 300 cavalrymen. Each legion was divided into maniples which were then divided into centuries. The image below depicts an artists depiction of Deva Victrix/Castra Legionis which was a Roman legionary fortress and settlement in Chester, Cheshire. It is a typical legion fortress surrounded by water so that it is difficult for attackers to enter.