How ancient armies, such as the Roman Legions, able to feed themselves during wartime campaigns?
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The book *Hannibal: The Military Autobiography of Rome’s Greatest Enemy* by Richard A. Gabriel has a great insight into this. Essentially, every army was followed by a massive baggage train of hundreds (if not thousands) of pack animals carrying supplies. What couldn’t be carried was requisitioned (either with compensation for friends, or simply taken from foes) from nearby towns and villages; fodder for the animals was partly carried, partly supplied by pasture land. On top of that, if things got particularly rough, foraging parties could be sent out to gather what they could from surrounding areas.
Some generals also specifically planned their route along coastlines in order to allow resupplying from ships, which comes with its own issues. Alexander the Great planned to do this with his admiral Nearchus on his way back from the Hindu Kush; however they lost touch with each other and it ended in a very significant number of Alexander’s army dying of starvation.
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