The Roman Pilum Was Unmatched as a Ranged Weapon

It's wasn't unmatched at all as a ranged weapon the sling shot was the best and that was unmatched

Now imagine that hanging out of your chest and flopping around.

Roman legionnaires were so effective that giving them a bow would reduce their ranged combat capabilities

A viking would be able to rip that out of his shield

Who's reading "The Iliad"?

OK, now that is a weapon that has been refined for many years and gradually improved every time. Then standardized and mass produced. The soft shaft will often end up being bent after being thrown, and could be unbolted from the wooden shaft, reforged and reused. The head was tempered, and a legion would have had a wagon filled with spare shafts. Pure genius.

This has never occurred to me before, but why don't we ever hear about archers in the Roman army?

Nothing surpasses the mongol bow and arrow save the rifle.

Kudos to the narrator for not mispronouncing anything.

I thought he was going to throw it over a thousand yards like they do in Rome Total War.

BRILLIANT Weapon, Clearly Explained & Shown. Thank you for the history lesson!

That dude DEFINITELY doubled up his Adderall this morning...😂😂😂

all weapons regardless of how clever they are will never be as clever diplomacy and respect. With weapons one can defeat enemies, with diplomacy and respect one can make friends.

Anyone know of any other videos like this with other weapons from eras throughout history? Does this channel have a playlist dedicated to other videos like this? Thanks!

Wow! So cool!

That Sucks. The link doesn't work. I wanted to see the whole thing.

Same as arrow of bow-and-arrow
Concussion the helmets...

I could only imagine the pile of barbarian corpses minus their shields in front of the Roman shield wall.

Downfall was u threw it and couldnt get it out so even if person had to abandon shield u had to abandon ur weapon as well

Yes you could just drop it, step on it, and pull out the pallium, but you must remember this: the smallest thing is the biggest thing 🥜 It just cost you 5-10 seconds, the difference between life or death. You’re welcome 😼

Couldn’t they just turning around hold from the wooden part with the spirit tip facing the Romans? And use it as a shield that way.

A lot more effective than your typical spear.

If most of the spearhead is thinner than the tip then why can't it get pulled out if it was shot in though

The best part about a real pilum, is they're a one time use for battle. They were designed to bend on contact so they couldn't pick one up and throw it back.

Humans have mastered murdering each other.

I would like to know how the wooden shield was made without glue and a vice.

That shield was made out of lightweight particle board, a slab of wood would likely hold up much better.

Wow...

Not surprisingly, the barbarian ties his shield to his sled with a granny knot. Typical.

Barbarian vs roman? I thought romans were the original barbarians. Killing millions of innocent people in the name of expanding the empire

The Romans lost against the 'barbarian' Germans.

Looked like thin particle board…🤨🥱…no doubt the Romans had an epic weapon…but a poorly done demo

Or bring a second shield

Pilum was unmatched as a ranged weapon, eh? Ever heard of the English Longbow????

So untrue, the slingers were more deadly from further away.
Do your research before miseducating the gullible

Even if they could pull the pilum out, they were designed so that the metal shaft would bend and thus be unusable after the first throw. The Romans would collect them after the battle and bend them back into shape.

I got a huge respect for Roman weapons from playing D&D in the early 80's.

Parthians still beat them into a pulp with their bows and their mounted archer's back and forth tactics. Nothing is really perfect and unbeatable.

Also if it penetrates the arm in a scenario where the assailant isn't incapacitated with a torso strike, he can't pull the pilum out as well due to the design of the pilum head. It's a one shot knock out punch by the Romans and that's what makes their infantry tactics so brutally efficient.

There is a reason why cavalry developments then became priority for Rome's enemies because after centuries of combat with them, it is the advances in cavalry from light cavalry to heavy cavalry armed where rider was armed with chain mail as well with a shield and spear/lance, making cavalry the main counter to the superiority of the heavy legions of Rome.

The first notion of superiority of cavalry was Battle of Carrhae where Parthian cataphracts smashed entire lines of Roman legions along with horse archer fire.

The other battle is the battle of Adrianople where Gothic cavalry decimated the Roman center in a pincer move.

Thus ushering in the dark ages where medieval cavalry advances will result in the knight first deployed by the Franks and then the Normans who further pioneered the design of cavalry knights

Wasnt it made to bend ad catch the ground with the handle end thus making the shield (and charge) useless?

You can also angle your shield against the attack, and possibly deflect it.

Now imagine 5000 of those being thrown in your direction at once. Then another 5000.

My advice is don’t aim for the shield

This is why they won almost every battle with every oponent that was not named hannibal, because when the enemy charged their line was already broken and probably half the vanguard would have been dead already before even contact which would have dishearted the rear lines. That is why the late empire collapsed because they abandoned the pilum in favor of spears and plumbata.

Bit close for an actual engagement, innit??

Genius weapon at the time

Compared to what? In time period or today? Today, they are definitely not unparalleled...

Place the shield on the ground first, then pull the spear with both hands while stepping on the shield.

The Roman legion with deadly pilum wearing tunica facing thousand hornets! Let’s see who comes out on top? If Roman is so invincible why were they lost battle after battle to “barbarians”?