The Second Samnite War

-After the Latin War (338 BC), Romans enjoyed 10 years of peace.
   -The Romans began to expand influence and domination of territory, believing that they could take over the entire Italian peninsula!
   -The Samnites were Rome's most powerful immediate threat.  Once the Samnites were conquered, the Romans would be able to conquer the rest of the peninsula.
      -However, the people didn't want to just attack the Samnites for no reason, as the Romans weren't barbarians.  They wanted to find a reason to provoke the Samnites into attacking.
-The Romans tried to start a war by setting up colonies in Samnite territories.
   -The Samnites were fighting with Magna Graecia, but were also looking to expand into Campania.
      -The Greek city of Neapolis (present day Naples) wanted help and security from invasion, so they petitioned Rome for help.
         -The Romans agreed, and this kicked off the Second Samnite War in 326 BC!
-Early on, Romans had the momentum, and won most of the battles.
   -However, they suffered a really humiliating defeat at the Caudine Forks, in which Roman consuls and equites were captured.
      -After this there was a five year lull in hostilities, until the Romans attacked again in 315 BC!
         -However, they were defeated at the Battle of Lautalae.
   -Rome was looking pretty bad at this point, and both the Etruscans and the Campania region were just about ready to be dominated by the Samnites.
      -Another crucial city that was ready to fall to the Samnites was Tarentum, a major Greek city on the heel of the Italian peninsula.
      -However, what gave the Romans an advantage was its newly improved maniple system, which had been streamlined, and also they had began building roads (which would eventually become the Appian Way, named after Appius Claudius Caecus, a wealthy Roman politician) to help move troops around.
         -At the time, the only roads that existed were just some shitty ones that only went to Etruscan cities.  The Romans wanted to build a road that could quickly take them from Rome to both Campania and Samnium (through boggy territory).
-Defeating the Samnites proved arduous for the Romans because the Samnites never stayed put, and weren't concentrated into cities (which would make them easier targets for attack).
-311 BC- the Etruscans get in on the action against the Romans!
   -Now Rome was fighting on two fronts, but the Etruscans had pretty weak armies and so they surrendured in 308 BC.
   -The Samnites also started to lose important battles, and surrendered in 304 BC, losing a bunch of territory while being forced to accept the 13 colonies that the Romans had founded in and around Samnium.
   -In the north, the Romans meanwhile pushed deep into Etruscan territory.
-At this point, only Magna Graecia in the south remained untouched by Roman domination.