A Trojan War

-According to legend, during this time the Romans continued to fight with the Voltians, and were also in a cold war with Veii.
   -Veii would hire Rome's enemies to fight against Rome.
-Veii was a part of the Etruscan League, with 12 other cities.
   -The Etruscan League was not exactly a military or political empire, but was just more like a loose confederation with economic and cultural ties.
      -This failure to unite under one banner would fuck them up though, as the Gauls in the north were migrating and would eventually attack!
   -The third problem for the Etruscans was in Syracuse (in Sicily), which was a rising power and had decided to cut off their trade with the Carthaginian Empire.
      -Syracuse's master plan was to conquer all of the Italian peninsula.
-Rome and Veii were both too powerful and too close together to co-exist peacefully.
   -Both wanted to control the salt beds at the mouth of the Tiber River.
   -Veii also wanted trade with Magna Graecia, but this was cut off when Rome finally defeated the Voltians and fortified the area.
-Around 400 BC, Rome decided to take out Veii once and for all, and besieged the city.
   -The Roman army was now being paid by the government to compensate for the fact that they couldn't go home after fighting to farm or whatever, as the siege would take some time.
      -This siege actually lasted for years, and the Romans began to become demoralized.
         -As a result of this, Marcus Furius Camillus was elected as dictator of Rome.
            -He knew that a direct assault on the city would be impossible, so he formed another plan.
               -Veii had an extensive, fully-developed sewer system, so the Romans dug a tunnel into the sewers.  This allowed for them to sneak into the city and open the gates for the main army, which allowed for them to take the city!  The Veii men were slaughtered, and the women and children enslaved.
-Camillus was now the celebrated conquering hero, but he was soon exiled due to bad policy decisions and public concern that he would crown himself king.
-This was the beginning of the end of Etruscan dominance of the Italian peninsula.
-Meanwhile, Gauls began marauding in the north.
   -Etruscan cities were too independent and disorganized to unite into a coherent army to fight off both the Gauls and the Romans.