The battle I chose was the battle of Pydna, which happened in the year of 168 B.C. It took place during the Third Macedonian War, which was between Rome and Macedon. This was a interesting battle because it was a fight between phalanx and legion. The phalanx which was of the Macedon army was a fighting formation of soldiers with huge spears and shields. Each soldier carried his own shield and it covered half of his body and half of the person next to him. This was a method of working together and always staying in union or else everything would fall apart. Each soldier would carry a huge spear that would rest on the shield and the soldiers would march forward into battle. The way the phalanx worked was that it cut …show more content…
The weakness of the phalanx was that of the sides which could be left unprotected and the enemy would circle around to attack there. The soldiers of the phalanx would not be able to respond to an attack since everything is focused to the front and the spears would make it difficult to turn. Another weakness of a phalanx was moving through rough terrain which in the end cost Macedon their victory. The way the legion worked was to be more flexible than a phalanx and consisted of trained Roman Soldiers. In the battle of Pydna the Roman Legions also consisted of allies who in this battle also formed legions. This formation allowed the Romans to move with ease and efficiently throughout battle which in the end granted them victory. The legion was made to move throughout the rough terrains of Italy, that is why the Roman army did not use the technique of the phalanx. In a legion it consisted of ten contubernium, which made up a centuria and six centuria which made up a cohort in which a legion was made up of ten cohorts. The leader of the Roman Army during this battle was Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus and