Could a Single Marine Unit Destroy the Roman Empire?

As you are aware Kevin, the Roman Legions were the most disciplined and effective army at the time.

The Battle of Watling Street took place in Roman-occupied Britain in AD 60 or 61 between an alliance of indigenous British peoples led by Boudica and a Roman army led by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Although heavily outnumbered, the Romans decisively defeated the allied tribes, inflicting heavy losses on them. The battle marked the end of resistance to Roman rule in Britain in the southern half of the island, a period that lasted until 410 AD. Although heavily outnumbered simply by using superior tactics the Roman Army won the day.


However, to answer your question could a modern marine unit beat the Roman Army? I would hazard a guess and say that the Roman would adopt new tactics against the threat (after the initial shock of such modern weaponry), but one thing springs to mind, logistics. Would the marine unit have enough fuel, ammunition, rations and so on in reserve to carry them through such a campaign? On top of that the Roman Army would have far more local knowledge then a modern Marine unit and would use that to their advantage.

I could see Roman units carrying out more of a Guerrilla warfare campaign, then direct attacks.

Nonetheless, an interesting question
 
A modern marine unit would run through them like a hot knife in butter - until they ran out fuel and ammunition.

Then the Romans are back in their familiar form of combat and it's good night Joe.
 
And that's pretty much what the guy on Reddit has happen in his write-up. He reasoned that the Marines would easily win the first encounters but once their fuel and ammo ran low, they'd be in an increasingly tight spot. Especially once the initial shock the Romans would be subject to, wore off. Simple weight of numbers would weigh against the Marines after they ran short of consumables.

One thing that did make me laugh on the Reddit posts, one guy replied mentioning that as Marines, they would have the local language on a laptop for translation purposes... umm, last time I checked no modern military force was studying ancient Latin (or any other ancient language for that matter)!

Still, an entertaining read all in all and apparently someone wants to make a movie of it.
 
42RM said:
A modern marine unit would run through them like a hot knife in butter - until they ran out fuel and ammunition.

Then the Romans are back in their familiar form of combat and it's good night Joe.
Click to expand...

Land the TRAP element from some 53's right in front of the Imperial Palace with an over flight of AV8's and Cobras.

"We have been sent by Jupiter! He commands you to bow down! Now wash you're women and bring them to us!"

It could probably go fairly well for awhile.:mrgreen:
 
42RM said:
A modern marine unit would run through them like a hot knife in butter - until they ran out fuel and ammunition.

Then the Romans are back in their familiar form of combat and it's good night Joe.
Click to expand...

Isandlwana, 22nd January 1879.
While the British Army was able to pour fire on the Zulus, they were being resoundly beaten.
Once the rifle fire slackened, due mainly to malfunctioning rifles, not a lack of ammo, the Zulus closed in and got into hand to hand combat.
Good night Joe for the Brits and their allies, though Zulu casualties were high, they won the day.
 
No military unit will be fully capable without proper logistical support.

This applies to modern troops just like it did to the ancient Romans.

Sending a isolated and logistically cut off force back in time would only start the count down to their inevitable dissolution. The force would not be able to sustain any amount of operations for very long.

The same situation would happen today if deployed without said support against any modern foe. Even for a modern force such as the MEU, logistics strategies are just as important to the operational ones.

And in ancient terms the Romans on more than one ocassion, especially near the end of the Western Empire learned this harsh lesson.
 
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Trooper1854 said:
Isandlwana, 22nd January 1879.
While the British Army was able to pour fire on the Zulus, they were being resoundly beaten.
Once the rifle fire slackened, due mainly to malfunctioning rifles, not a lack of ammo, the Zulus closed in and got into hand to hand combat.
Good night Joe for the Brits and their allies, though Zulu casualties were high, they won the day.
Click to expand...

Partly right Trooper, the Zulu's won mainly because of badly deployed and mismanaged troops along with other factors. I still maintain that if the British had formed a square with an F Group in the middle, I firmly believe the result would have been very different.
 
Do you think that the Romans would adapt new tactics to take on a small unit, or do you think that they would be dumb enough to stand there and be slaughtered every time they met
 
LeEnfield said:
Do you think that the Romans would adapt new tactics to take on a small unit, or do you think that they would be dumb enough to stand there and be slaughtered every time they met
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They did have one very very tough time handling the Huns. So my observation is that they would have a very difficult time engaging any enemy who's primary method of engagement was at range.

Whether we would be talking horseback archers or Marine Rifle men.
 
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