History remembers the legendary Roman legions as one of the deadliest and most respected fighting forces of the ancient world. Stories of their great success and invincibility in the face of enemies still resonate today. One can only wonder what was the key to their extraordinary success. How did the Romans manage to conquer an empire so vast that at its height it spanned three continents and maintain that power for centuries? The key to Rome's military success during the Pax Romana period (where the Roman Empire reached its peak) were the advanced military innovations that the Romans incorporated into its large army which included military bureaucracy, battle tactics, and military technology. The old saying: “Success comes to those who are prepared” was comparable to the Roman army. This was due to the fact that the Romans prepared themselves with a very well-developed military bureaucracy that planned everything from daily routines, to how marched and, above all, to the military ranks. This meant that the Roman army was extremely organized and orders were carried out smoothly up the chain of command, which was essential to their success Fink's Roman Military Records on Papyrus) of the Legio III stationed in Cyrenaica provided a great perspective of how the Roman army organized daily tasks let alone military campaigns “Tasks in RMR 9 [included] ornatus Heli, take care of the equipment of the centurion Helius; […] various guard posts around the camp; scoparius, “sweeper”; and ad stercus, Clean the latrines or clean the horse stables (Phang, Companion page 291)”. This surviving service list showed how extremely organized the Army was by assigning every......half of paper......tary. Many of the ideologies and methods of the Roman legions survive in the spirit of the modern army. This in turn demonstrated the immense power of the Roman legions. Works Cited Josephus and William Whiston. The works of Josephus: complete and integral. [Peabody, Massachusetts?]: Hendrikson, 1987. Print.Phang, Sara and James Thorne. A companion of the Roman army. Ed. Paolo Erdkamp. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. Print.Tacitus, Cornelius, and J.C. Yardley. The Annals. London: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.Tacitus, Cornelius and WH Fyfe. Gutenberg.org. TO THE CLARENDON PRESS. Network. March 14, 2012. .Look out, John Gibson. War in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors, and Warfare in the Ancient Civilizations of Greece and Rome. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1995. Print.