In 390 B.C., the Gauls sacked Rome after defeating the Roman Republican army at Allia River. One of the weaknesses of the Roman army that the Gauls had exposed was the inflexibility of their Hellenic style phalanx formation that they inherited from the Etruscans. To overcome this sort of limitation, the army was split up into subsets called Maniples (it translates roughly to English as 'handfuls') that cou ...

See also:

Maniple military unit, Maniple military unit - Historical origin, Maniple military unit - Drill and fighting formations

Read more here: » Maniple military unit: Encyclopedia II - Maniple military unit - Historical origin