r own. It is true that on the tactical level the hallmark of the Roman legion was its flexibility in maneuver; this feature is what distinguished it from the Macedonian-type phalanx that was its most frequent enemy in the age of Roman expansion.
Instead of a single massive and inflexible wall of spears, the Roman legion in battle was organized into smaller units, centuries and maniples, equipped to fight with a variety of weapons and to maneuver individually in co-ordination, managed by a sophisticated system of command and control. This open tactical order was crucial in Caesar's campaigns; it is doubtful whether a phalanx army could ever have forced the Gauls to decisive battle. Nevertheless, the legion and its tactics were not designed for this mission; they had evolved to envelop and defeat the phalanx, and had been further honed in the legion-versus-legion battles of the Roman civil wars.
The "conventional" nature of the Roman army and the Roman style of warfare were accentuated by the Roman marching order and the famous fortified legiona
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