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'Rome, Sweet Rome': Could a Single Marine Unit Destroy the Roman Empire?
Popular Mechanics ^ | October 31, 2017 | Alyson Sheppard

Posted on 02/17/2017 10:16:40 AM PST by C19fan

James Erwin was browsing Reddit on his lunch break when a thread piqued his interest. A user called The_Quiet_Earth had posed the question: "Could I destroy the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus if I traveled back in time with a modern U.S. Marine infantry battalion or MEU?"

The question struck a chord with the 37-year-old Erwin, a technical writer from Des Moines, Iowa, who happened to be finishing a book called The Encyclopedia of U.S. Military Actions (Through Facts on File). Erwin tells PM that he wasn't impressed by other users' early attempts to answer this question, and so, posting under the username Prufrock451, he came up with his own response. Erwin wrote a 350-word short story chronicling the fictitious 35th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), which suddenly disappears from modern-day Kabul and reappears on the Tiber River in 23 B.C. Erwin posted the piece, finished his meal, and went back to work.

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: 2011; flashback; marines; rome
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To: C19fan
Interesting; I'll read more of this. My take on it is that the Romans were tough but they weren't stupid. Their generals would surrender, and they would let the Marines step in as the new Roman government. Even Caesar Augustus would probably not order something as stupid as attacks against an MEU. They would have no idea how logistically limited the MEU was (if it had the fuel to reach Rome), and they would have no stomach for facing firearms.


21 posted on 02/17/2017 10:40:28 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: C19fan

With an infinite supply of all the modern weaponry and other necessities (in other words, no supply lines to worry about), Roman Legions couldn’t get within a mile of a modern Army unit, never mind Marine unit. imo


22 posted on 02/17/2017 10:41:19 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: C19fan

No. They would run rampant for a while. But as supplies, fuel and ammo ran low, they would grind to a stop in a perimeter. The Romans weren’t idiots and would soon learn, understand, and adapt to the new threat.


23 posted on 02/17/2017 10:43:54 AM PST by DesertRhino
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To: C19fan

Are they allowed to have tactical nukes?


24 posted on 02/17/2017 10:47:22 AM PST by Vic S
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To: C19fan

for later


25 posted on 02/17/2017 10:48:37 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: C19fan

There is a series that covers this, but it was the JSDF and a Roman analogue and dragons and magic, but it has a pretty good idea on what would happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqoHn1v2JXA

about 2:45 is when the carnage really starts....

Romans vs. Modern millitary


26 posted on 02/17/2017 10:49:29 AM PST by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)
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To: All

In the mid 80’s two guys wrote a book called “Remember the Alamo”.

It involved a wealthy dying oil tycoon who has pretty much perfected time travel. H feels that he, if he can send people back to Alamo to change the outcome of the battle, would be in a position to eventually occupy oil fields that are just south of the current Texas-Mexico border.

The people he sends back are Vietnam vets and mercenaries. he plans on winning the battle with claymore mines and automatic weapons.

All in all, it was a good book with a few twists and turns that keep the reader interested.


27 posted on 02/17/2017 10:50:38 AM PST by MplsSteve
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To: C19fan

1,000 marines with modern weapons? Easily. A roman legion at full strength was about 5,000 men, and even if they combined several legions they could field an army of a few 10,000s at best. It would be a complete turkey shoot. The marines could form alliances to garrison the areas they moved on from.

As for whether a US Marine would be physically tougher than a Roman Legionary, that’s pretty debatable. The men of the Roman Legions were extremely tough, and would have grown up from birth living a much more arduous childhood and life than the average American in the 20th or 21st Century. They were drilled and pushed to absolute limit and discipline was enforced by ways far too harsh to be allowed today. I would probably say, if they fought on equal terms, with swords and shields, the Legionaries would win. JMHO.


28 posted on 02/17/2017 10:52:26 AM PST by sinsofsolarempirefan
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To: C19fan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gate_(novel_series) When a portal from another world appears in Ginza, Tokyo, a legion of soldiers and monsters emerge to attack the city. Thanks to their far more advanced weaponry and tactics, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) easily repels the enemy, passes through the gate and establish a forward base of operations to force the Roman-styled empire of the other world to open peace negotiations. Yōji Itami is a JSDF officer sent to investigate the other world, where magic, dragons and elves are real, using his knowledge of fantasy stories to make his way in this new environment.[3]
29 posted on 02/17/2017 10:52:58 AM PST by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)
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To: Flavious_Maximus

If a relatively small amount of nerve agents were included with the Marines... or if a chemist was amongst the Marines, the Roman Empire made many raw materials from various geographies, ready available.


30 posted on 02/17/2017 10:53:19 AM PST by NativeSon ( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)
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To: Pollster1

Here is a what you might expect...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSsK6lwr3tc


31 posted on 02/17/2017 10:54:41 AM PST by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)
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To: C19fan

Seems like too many Marines. Maybe a Fire Team.

check out movie - “Final Countdown” - Enterprise goes back to WW2 - entertaining.


32 posted on 02/17/2017 10:57:33 AM PST by stylin19a (Terrorists - "just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there")
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To: C19fan

Sure they could. Just hook’em up with Spartacus.


33 posted on 02/17/2017 10:57:54 AM PST by Fhios
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To: MplsSteve

Harry Turtledove did a book where South African have a time machine and send AK-47 back to the Confederate forces in the Warring Americans Period.

Logistics are a big factor again - as they are in all conflicts...


34 posted on 02/17/2017 10:59:44 AM PST by ASOC (Have *you* visited the World of the Chernyi?)
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To: Little Ray

>The Aztecs also pissed off all their neighbors, so the Spanish had plenty of friends when they marched against the them...

The Aztecs where also fighting against one of the finest military commanders in history. Cortez was brilliant.


35 posted on 02/17/2017 10:59:56 AM PST by RedWulf (TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP!)
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To: GraceG

Thanks for the heads up. I have to check that series on YouTube. The Japanese really do those type of stories well.


36 posted on 02/17/2017 11:03:37 AM PST by C19fan
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To: Pollster1
They would have no idea how logistically limited the MEU was
Everything would depend on efficient utilization of the bluff. That is how Sgt. York achieved his coup against the Germans. The Marines would have to move fast to establish their authority before the Romans regrouped from the shock and awe.

After that, everything would depend on the knowledgability of the Marines in metallurgy and chemistry to develop their own logistics.


37 posted on 02/17/2017 11:04:17 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: stylin19a

I have seen that movie a couple of times on TV. The cool thing the movie highlighted all the different types of planes the Navy flew at that time before the F-18 took over all the roles.


38 posted on 02/17/2017 11:07:08 AM PST by C19fan
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To: Pollster1

Roman legionaries with sub-machineguns is slap-full of win.


39 posted on 02/17/2017 11:25:07 AM PST by thescourged1
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To: C19fan

What if we could transport Chuck Norris to 1939 Germany?


40 posted on 02/17/2017 11:27:13 AM PST by UnwashedPeasant (I told you so)
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