Battle of The Allia - Recovery and Reform

Recovery and Reform

It was considered that the capitol be moved to Veii, but the Senate decided against it when a centurion was overheard saying to his men "Let us stay here."

It is conjectured that there was no effective wall around the larger city prior to the siege because Rome's earlier Etruscan rulers may have forced the Romans to dismantle significant defences. As a result of the siege and near total destruction of Rome, Rome built the much stronger Servian Wall.

The Romans also began restructuring their military organization: They ceased using the Greek phalanx style spear and adopted better and more standardized armour and weapons. The massacre of the 1st Class infantry, representing many Patrician and aristocratic citizens, enforced the need not to expose such important members of Roman society. It could have been at this time that the Triarii (remnants of the 1st Class) were formed, as a reserve.

Many historians speculate that the Romans learned much about weapons technology and battle tactics from this run-in with the Senones. Though only a single tribe, the Senones were part of the much larger culture of Celts (or Gauls) that had more advanced iron-working and close-quarter combat techniques. Specifically, the Celts/Gauls used heavier long swords and full body shields, which allowed them to interlock shields for greater defense (a tactic later named "tortoise" (testudo) in the Roman histories).

Later, after Roman defeats in the second Samnite War had shown novel enemy tactics and formations, it was recognized the need for increased flexibility, leading to the reorganization of the legion into three main lines of soldiers: the hastati in front, the principes in the middle, and the triarii in the rear organized in alternating "maniples" (units). This was to be known as "manipular formation". Lightly equipped men who had been fighting in the legion for up to two years would fight in the Velites rank in the far front, throwing javelins at the enemy and then retreating. Men with more experience would fight in the next two ranks armed with a heavy javelin, a short sword and a shield: Hastati in the front, veteran Principes behind them. Finally the older Triarii would be in the rear, organized in smaller units of 60 men as opposed to 120 in the front ranks. The Triarii were armed in Hoplite weapons and armor. The Romans had created a "teaching army" that would introduce the young Velites to battle while minimizing the chances of death.

The military system that resulted remained the basis of all Roman armies for the next few centuries, as well as the instrument that made possible the Roman Empire.

The defeat at the hands of the Gauls was the last time the city of Rome was captured by non-Roman forces until 410 AD.