-74 BC- King Nicodemus of Bithynia (NW Turkey) died, and wanted the kingdom to be under Roman rule.
-Rome had defended Bithynia from Mithridates VI (King of Pontus), and had agreed upon the kingdom of Bithynia to be given to Rome in exchange for Roman protection.
-Mithridates VI, however, decided to preemptively strike during the transition of power.
-Pompey wanted a piece of the action in the East, but he was still stuck in Hispania fighting Marius-supporting rebels.
-73 BC- Pontus invades Bithynia! This kicks off the Third Mithridatic War.
-The First and Second Mithridatic Wars were pretty much fought between Sulla and Mithridates VI, with the second one being pretty minor.
-Rome easily repelled Pontus' forces before deciding to invade the kingdom as a counterattack.
-Rome first consolidated its forces in Anatolia, and then sent ambassadors to Armenia where Mithridates VI was hiding (his son-in-law, Tigranes II (Tigranes the Great), was the King of Armenia).
-Rome demanded that Tigranes II give up Mithridates VI to Rome. Tigranes II refused!
-69 BC- Rome invades Armenia! Rome had a force of roughly 40,000, but Armenia had a powerful defense of 100,000-250,000.
-Somehow, Rome won (the Battle of Tigranocerta), which was extremely surprising! Tigranes II fled north to Artaxata, Armenia's old capital.
-During this time, Rome encountered Persians (the Parthian Empire) for the first time.
-68 BC- the Roman army moved north, defeating more Armenian armies, but winter soon set in and Rome couldn't push through the mountains.
-67 BC- the Armenians counter the Roman invasions by invading Pontus!
-66 BC- Lucullus, the Roman general leading the campaign, was recalled, and Pompey was installed as the new leader of the Roman forces in the East.
-Pompey quickly gathered troops and eliminated ALL of the pirates in the Mediterranean after being given complete control over the Roman navy. Within 40 days he had pretty much pacified all of them.
-Most of these pirates came from the chaotic region of Cilicia in southern Turkey that was divided between the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom, although they apparently didn't have much control over the area.
-Pompey landed there, quickly dominated the region, and forced them to submit to Rome.
-Pompey then invaded Pontus, crushing Mithridates VI. He quickly fled to the Bosporan Kingdom in Crimea, where his son, Machares, was viceroy. However, Machares was unwilling to get involved in his father's wars. It's unclear as to what exactly happened, but it appears as if Mithridates VI somehow had Machares killed, and then Mithridates VI crowned himself ruler of the kingdom. Unfortunately for him, the locals weren't down for getting into a war with Rome, so Mithridates VI committed suicide in 63 BC.
-At this time, Armenia submitted to Rome in hopes of appeasement, but not annexation.
-It worked, and Armenia successfully stayed "independent", although they were a client state. Technically, however, they were actually successful in never truly being conquered by Rome or incorporated into their empire! Instead, they worked as a buffer state between Rome and the Parthians.
-Pompey then decided to march his army south into modern-day Syria, where petty warlords squabbled over the remains of the crumbling Seleucid Empire (which had previously controlled the land).
-Pompey then conquered the whole territory in the name of Rome in order to annex it into the empire.
-Pompey then went down into Judea and conquered the Hasmonean Kingdom, which was ruling the land after the Seleucid Empire had lost control of the area.
-The kingdom was actually in the middle of a civil war, and both sides wanted the Romans to join them.
-Pompey chose a side, helped them take over, and then set up the kingdom as a Roman protectorate.
-Pompey then returned to Rome and enjoyed a glorious triumph!
-A crazy amount of money was now flowing rapidly into Rome.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
I am Spartacus!
-73 BC- Spartacus was a gladiator in Capua.
-Came from very mysterious origins, but was probably originally from Greece.
-It's unknown how he became a slave.
-Possibly ex-military?
-While he was training to be a gladiator he formulated a plan to escape. He organized like 200 fellow gladiators, and managed to revolt and escape the camp.
-They immediately began to raid the countryside, attacking wealthy villas around Capua. Slaves from all over the region began to join his band.
-Eventually, Spartacus' band grew into an army numbering in the thousands.
-They set up camp near Mt. Vesuvius.
-This was the beginning of the Third Servile War (also known as the Gladiator War / the War of Spartacus). The First and Second Servile Wars were slave revolts in Sicily.
-A militia was sent to deal with Spartacus and his rebellion, but they were quickly slaughtered.
-A second militia was sent, and they were slaughtered as well!
-Many slaves began to flock to this army at this point, and soon Spartacus' army was about 70,000 strong!
-Spartacus wanted to eventually push north to escape Italy, but others were happy to just cause chaos in the countryside.
-There was a split, with a dude named Crixus leading those who wanted to stay in Italy.
-The Roman legions were finally dispatched, and because the armies had split, they easily crushed Crixus' army. Spartacus' army, however, proved to be more difficult, and his army actually won against the legions!
-Spartacus was then free to leave Italy. So why didn't he?
-Instead of fleeing to the north, he headed south.
-Finally, Crassus raised an army of 50,000.
-Spartacus had gone so far south at this point that he was stuck in Bruttium (modern-day Calabria).
-Pirates had promised Spartacus that they would transport his army to Sicily, but instead they just took his money and didn't help him at all.
-As a result, Crassus (joined by Pompey) crushed Spartacus' army.
-Crassus and Pompey were then elected consuls.
-To deter further slave rebellions, Crassus had 6000 of the surviving slaves from Spartacus' army crucified along the Appian Way, from Rome to Capua.
-Came from very mysterious origins, but was probably originally from Greece.
-It's unknown how he became a slave.
-Possibly ex-military?
-While he was training to be a gladiator he formulated a plan to escape. He organized like 200 fellow gladiators, and managed to revolt and escape the camp.
-They immediately began to raid the countryside, attacking wealthy villas around Capua. Slaves from all over the region began to join his band.
-Eventually, Spartacus' band grew into an army numbering in the thousands.
-They set up camp near Mt. Vesuvius.
-This was the beginning of the Third Servile War (also known as the Gladiator War / the War of Spartacus). The First and Second Servile Wars were slave revolts in Sicily.
-A militia was sent to deal with Spartacus and his rebellion, but they were quickly slaughtered.
-A second militia was sent, and they were slaughtered as well!
-Many slaves began to flock to this army at this point, and soon Spartacus' army was about 70,000 strong!
-Spartacus wanted to eventually push north to escape Italy, but others were happy to just cause chaos in the countryside.
-There was a split, with a dude named Crixus leading those who wanted to stay in Italy.
-The Roman legions were finally dispatched, and because the armies had split, they easily crushed Crixus' army. Spartacus' army, however, proved to be more difficult, and his army actually won against the legions!
-Spartacus was then free to leave Italy. So why didn't he?
-Instead of fleeing to the north, he headed south.
-Finally, Crassus raised an army of 50,000.
-Spartacus had gone so far south at this point that he was stuck in Bruttium (modern-day Calabria).
-Pirates had promised Spartacus that they would transport his army to Sicily, but instead they just took his money and didn't help him at all.
-As a result, Crassus (joined by Pompey) crushed Spartacus' army.
-Crassus and Pompey were then elected consuls.
-To deter further slave rebellions, Crassus had 6000 of the surviving slaves from Spartacus' army crucified along the Appian Way, from Rome to Capua.
Crassus and Pompey
-Sulla had saved the Roman Republic, but in doing so had completely trashed the democratic tradition...although you could also argue that this started with Marius, or even the Gracchi brothers.
-However, Sulla proved to everyone that "might makes right".
-Marcus Licinius Crassus
-Born in 115 BC.
-Born into a noble political family, relatives had been consuls and important politicians.
-Used to support Marius, but were now politically neutral.
-Crassus had fled to Hispania to avoid the Social War.
-Crassus and Sulla fought alongside each other during the Battle of the Lycene Gate, Crassus' side breaking through and taking Rome.
-Crassus thought he would be rewarded for this, but was surprisingly overshadowed by Pompey.
-Crassus was pissed, but instead he focused on rebuilding his family fortune rather than "getting even".
-He did this both legally and illegally.
-He invested in silver and slave-trading, and was soon the richest man in Rome.
-Crassus was kind of like Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish from Game of Thrones.
-He had an army of slaves and was able to quickly acquire lots of property on the cheap through a variety of tactics and political maneuvering.
-If he was alive today, his "modern-day" wealth would probably be the equivalent of about 170-180 billion USD (as of 2008).
-Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great) was born in 106 BC.
-Son of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, a "novus homo" who had a reputation for being a super brutal military leader and corrupt politician.
-Pompey himself was an army brat who had fought in the legions during the Social War, and had then gone on to Sicily to pacify its pro-Marius rebellions.
-After pacifying Sicily, Pompey then sailed to Africa to fight off the remaining enemies of Sulla.
-78 BC- Sulla died, replaced as consul by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.
-Lepidus tried to be consul for a second time, and even attempted to back up his claim with force.
-As a result, Pompey led an army and crushed Lepidus, removing him from power.
-76 BC- Pompey was made proconsul of Spain.
-While he was there he quelled pro-Marius rebellions.
-After all of this, Pompey began to look east to fight Mithridates VI, who was causing trouble again.
-However, Sulla proved to everyone that "might makes right".
-Marcus Licinius Crassus
-Born in 115 BC.
-Born into a noble political family, relatives had been consuls and important politicians.
-Used to support Marius, but were now politically neutral.
-Crassus had fled to Hispania to avoid the Social War.
-Crassus and Sulla fought alongside each other during the Battle of the Lycene Gate, Crassus' side breaking through and taking Rome.
-Crassus thought he would be rewarded for this, but was surprisingly overshadowed by Pompey.
-Crassus was pissed, but instead he focused on rebuilding his family fortune rather than "getting even".
-He did this both legally and illegally.
-He invested in silver and slave-trading, and was soon the richest man in Rome.
-Crassus was kind of like Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish from Game of Thrones.
-He had an army of slaves and was able to quickly acquire lots of property on the cheap through a variety of tactics and political maneuvering.
-If he was alive today, his "modern-day" wealth would probably be the equivalent of about 170-180 billion USD (as of 2008).
-Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great) was born in 106 BC.
-Son of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, a "novus homo" who had a reputation for being a super brutal military leader and corrupt politician.
-Pompey himself was an army brat who had fought in the legions during the Social War, and had then gone on to Sicily to pacify its pro-Marius rebellions.
-After pacifying Sicily, Pompey then sailed to Africa to fight off the remaining enemies of Sulla.
-78 BC- Sulla died, replaced as consul by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.
-Lepidus tried to be consul for a second time, and even attempted to back up his claim with force.
-As a result, Pompey led an army and crushed Lepidus, removing him from power.
-76 BC- Pompey was made proconsul of Spain.
-While he was there he quelled pro-Marius rebellions.
-After all of this, Pompey began to look east to fight Mithridates VI, who was causing trouble again.
No Greater Friend, No Worse Enemy
-Sulla landed in Italy and immediately crushed the Roman army waiting there to fight him.
-Other armies began to switch sides to fight for Sulla too.
-Sulla was also popular in other Roman territories, especially from two rising stars in Roman politics- Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey).
-Both Crassus and Pompey raised armies to help Sulla fight in Italy.
-82- Metellus had travelled Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, another close ally of Sulla's, traveled from Africa with an army to help Sulla too.
-Opposing Metellus and Pompey was the consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, who led an army to attack their forces.
-The other consul at the time, Gaius Marius Minor (Marius the Younger), son of Gaius Marius, led an army to attack Sulla.
-Carbo was defeated, and so he fled to Etruria (north of Rome).
-Marius the Younger's army lost to Sulla due to so many of his own forces defecting to the other side.
-Sulla then sent an army to Etruria to crush Carbo.
-Carbo knew he was fucked, so he fled in the night to go hide among the numerous tiny islands off the coast of Sicily.
-Sulla then tried to march on Rome but was intercepted an army of Samnites led by Marius the Younger.
-It was a brutal battle, and the casualties numbered at about 50,000, but Sulla won.
-Marius the Younger then committed suicide.
-Sulla then entered Rome and was pronounced dictator for life!
-He then proceeded to slaughter any who opposed him, including 40 senators. About 9,000 people were killed in total, many (or most) were probably innocent people.
-Even Julius Caesar, at this time a young man who had also happened to marry Cinna's daughter, had to hide for months.
-Sulla then struck down many reforms, including the tribune's right to veto and introduce legislation.
-He then doubled the size of the Senate and packed it with puppets.
-He also made it so that if you became tribune, you couldn't run for any other office for the rest of your life, so nobody wanted to be tribune.
-He also made it really difficult to be a consul, with a huge number of pre-requisites in order to hold the office.
-80 BC- Surprisingly, Sulla resigned as dictator!
-He was then elected consul for a year before retiring permanently.
-Sulla was a very interesting, complex character because he was both a brutal tyrant, but also a humble, conservative old man.
-He died in 78 BC.
-Other armies began to switch sides to fight for Sulla too.
-Sulla was also popular in other Roman territories, especially from two rising stars in Roman politics- Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey).
-Both Crassus and Pompey raised armies to help Sulla fight in Italy.
-82- Metellus had travelled Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, another close ally of Sulla's, traveled from Africa with an army to help Sulla too.
-Opposing Metellus and Pompey was the consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, who led an army to attack their forces.
-The other consul at the time, Gaius Marius Minor (Marius the Younger), son of Gaius Marius, led an army to attack Sulla.
-Carbo was defeated, and so he fled to Etruria (north of Rome).
-Marius the Younger's army lost to Sulla due to so many of his own forces defecting to the other side.
-Sulla then sent an army to Etruria to crush Carbo.
-Carbo knew he was fucked, so he fled in the night to go hide among the numerous tiny islands off the coast of Sicily.
-Sulla then tried to march on Rome but was intercepted an army of Samnites led by Marius the Younger.
-It was a brutal battle, and the casualties numbered at about 50,000, but Sulla won.
-Marius the Younger then committed suicide.
-Sulla then entered Rome and was pronounced dictator for life!
-He then proceeded to slaughter any who opposed him, including 40 senators. About 9,000 people were killed in total, many (or most) were probably innocent people.
-Even Julius Caesar, at this time a young man who had also happened to marry Cinna's daughter, had to hide for months.
-Sulla then struck down many reforms, including the tribune's right to veto and introduce legislation.
-He then doubled the size of the Senate and packed it with puppets.
-He also made it so that if you became tribune, you couldn't run for any other office for the rest of your life, so nobody wanted to be tribune.
-He also made it really difficult to be a consul, with a huge number of pre-requisites in order to hold the office.
-80 BC- Surprisingly, Sulla resigned as dictator!
-He was then elected consul for a year before retiring permanently.
-Sulla was a very interesting, complex character because he was both a brutal tyrant, but also a humble, conservative old man.
-He died in 78 BC.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Marius and Sulla
-Mithridates VI of Pontus had decided to take the hostilities against Rome to the next level via ethnic cleansing in Asia Minor.
-Over 80,000 Italians were executed! At the same time, Pontus invaded Roman territories in Asia Minor.
-Rome raised an army to counter this assault.
-Sulla was chosen to lead the fight, but Marius wanted to be the leader so he tried to get the People's Assembly to veto the choice of Sulla. Marius even used thugs to physically throw out of the Senate any senators who supported Sulla.
-Sulla then fled Rome and joined up with the legions, convincing them to march on Rome and drive out Marius.
-Most of the troops disapproved of actually invading Rome itself, so when it came down to it, Sulla actually only had a few men...lucky for him though, it was enough against Marius' street thugs, and thus Marius fled with his son to Africa.
-87 BC- After restoring order, Sulla was finally able to march the troops out of Rome and to the east to fight Mithridates.
-Meanwhile in Rome, trouble was brewing between Gnaeus Octavius (pro-Sulla, conservative) and Lucius Cornelius Cinna (a populare, anti-Sulla).
-Eventually, Cinna was driven out of town by a mob.
-As a result, Cinna began to organize a force to help him get back into the city.
-Meanwhile, Marius was raising an army in Africa!
-When Marius crossed the Mediterranean and attacked Rome, Cinna joined Marius with his own forces. They then forced their way back into the city, and there was a 5-day bloodbath of fighting, as Marius ordered that all allies and supporters of Sulla be slaughtered! Cinna however finally had had enough of the violence, and told his troops to then drive off Marius' army!
-Cinna was successful, and things finally calmed down. Marius and Cinna were then elected consuls.
-86 BC- Marius dies 2 weeks after being elected.
-Meanwhile, Mithridates VI is hailed as a liberator in Anatolia, but decided to take it to the next level and invade Greece as well, his power now bolstered through a powerful alliance with Armenia.
-Meanwhile, Sulla was still on his way to attack Pontus even though he was officially exiled.
-When he landed in Epirus, he found the region to be very close to rebelling against Rome.
-He also found that Athens had been compromised, as Pontus had installed a puppet king to rule there.
-Therefore, Sulla decided to invade Athens! Sulla's army was able to break into the city after a siege, and they went hogwild! They also burned their harbor.
-Sulla's army then headed north to fight Pontus' main army of about 120,000. Sulla only had about 40,000. However, Sulla waited until they could get into a terrain that had an advantage that would mitigate Pontus' numerical advantage.
-The result was the Battle of Charonea- Sulla won, crushing Mithridates VI's forces!
85 BC- Sulla was re-elected Consul, and wanted to relieve Sulla of duty so he wouldn't get too powerful.
-However, when Cinna's commanders went to go confront Sulla to stand down and be relieved, Sulla countered by offering the men a place at his side! Cinna's armies soon started to drop in number rapidly as they flocked to Sulla's side.
-Cinna quickly ordered his army to go fight Pontus, even though this was just to get them away from Sulla's forces. However, Cinna's army eventually experienced a mutiny, and their commander, Flacchus, was killed and replaced by a dude named Fimbria.
-Fimbria wasn't pro-Sulla, however, he just wanted the glory of leading the troops to fight Mithridates VI for himself.
-Meanwhile, Sulla led his army to also go attack Pontus, except this time in Greece.
-This was the beginning of the First Mithridatic War, in which the Romans crushed General Archelaus at Orchomenus.
-Because of this battle, Mithridates VI sued for peace with Rome. He was successful, and the terms were that he could keep his kingdom in Pontus, but he had to withdraw from any occupied territory, which would go to Rome. Pontus and its allies then owed severe war reparations to Rome.
-On Sulla's way back to Rome, Cinna freaked out and tried to gather an army to block him from returning, but this was pushing his army too hard, and they mutinied, killing Cinna. Sulla then moved on to Rome.
-Over 80,000 Italians were executed! At the same time, Pontus invaded Roman territories in Asia Minor.
-Rome raised an army to counter this assault.
-Sulla was chosen to lead the fight, but Marius wanted to be the leader so he tried to get the People's Assembly to veto the choice of Sulla. Marius even used thugs to physically throw out of the Senate any senators who supported Sulla.
-Sulla then fled Rome and joined up with the legions, convincing them to march on Rome and drive out Marius.
-Most of the troops disapproved of actually invading Rome itself, so when it came down to it, Sulla actually only had a few men...lucky for him though, it was enough against Marius' street thugs, and thus Marius fled with his son to Africa.
-87 BC- After restoring order, Sulla was finally able to march the troops out of Rome and to the east to fight Mithridates.
-Meanwhile in Rome, trouble was brewing between Gnaeus Octavius (pro-Sulla, conservative) and Lucius Cornelius Cinna (a populare, anti-Sulla).
-Eventually, Cinna was driven out of town by a mob.
-As a result, Cinna began to organize a force to help him get back into the city.
-Meanwhile, Marius was raising an army in Africa!
-When Marius crossed the Mediterranean and attacked Rome, Cinna joined Marius with his own forces. They then forced their way back into the city, and there was a 5-day bloodbath of fighting, as Marius ordered that all allies and supporters of Sulla be slaughtered! Cinna however finally had had enough of the violence, and told his troops to then drive off Marius' army!
-Cinna was successful, and things finally calmed down. Marius and Cinna were then elected consuls.
-86 BC- Marius dies 2 weeks after being elected.
-Meanwhile, Mithridates VI is hailed as a liberator in Anatolia, but decided to take it to the next level and invade Greece as well, his power now bolstered through a powerful alliance with Armenia.
-Meanwhile, Sulla was still on his way to attack Pontus even though he was officially exiled.
-When he landed in Epirus, he found the region to be very close to rebelling against Rome.
-He also found that Athens had been compromised, as Pontus had installed a puppet king to rule there.
-Therefore, Sulla decided to invade Athens! Sulla's army was able to break into the city after a siege, and they went hogwild! They also burned their harbor.
-Sulla's army then headed north to fight Pontus' main army of about 120,000. Sulla only had about 40,000. However, Sulla waited until they could get into a terrain that had an advantage that would mitigate Pontus' numerical advantage.
-The result was the Battle of Charonea- Sulla won, crushing Mithridates VI's forces!
85 BC- Sulla was re-elected Consul, and wanted to relieve Sulla of duty so he wouldn't get too powerful.
-However, when Cinna's commanders went to go confront Sulla to stand down and be relieved, Sulla countered by offering the men a place at his side! Cinna's armies soon started to drop in number rapidly as they flocked to Sulla's side.
-Cinna quickly ordered his army to go fight Pontus, even though this was just to get them away from Sulla's forces. However, Cinna's army eventually experienced a mutiny, and their commander, Flacchus, was killed and replaced by a dude named Fimbria.
-Fimbria wasn't pro-Sulla, however, he just wanted the glory of leading the troops to fight Mithridates VI for himself.
-Meanwhile, Sulla led his army to also go attack Pontus, except this time in Greece.
-This was the beginning of the First Mithridatic War, in which the Romans crushed General Archelaus at Orchomenus.
-Because of this battle, Mithridates VI sued for peace with Rome. He was successful, and the terms were that he could keep his kingdom in Pontus, but he had to withdraw from any occupied territory, which would go to Rome. Pontus and its allies then owed severe war reparations to Rome.
-On Sulla's way back to Rome, Cinna freaked out and tried to gather an army to block him from returning, but this was pushing his army too hard, and they mutinied, killing Cinna. Sulla then moved on to Rome.
The Social War
-Before the Italian peninsula were allowed to just do their own thing, they had to provide troops to Rome upon request.
-However, plunder was not being fairly shared afterwards.
-Marius had also eliminated the hierarchy between Roman and non-(city of) Roman legions.
-91 BC- The tribune Marcus Livius Drusus proposed that non-Roman Italians be made into full Roman citizens.
-A group of patricians tried to put a stop to this legislation, but this didn't work, so they had Drusus assassinated.
-The non-Roman Italians began to rebel, and established a rival government in Corfinium (modern-day Corfinio, 150 km east of Rome), and renamed the city Italica, and their new confederation against Rome was called Italia.
-The Romans tried to put down the rebellion, but initially fucked it up and the consul Publius Rutilius Lupus was killed in battle. As a result, Gaius Marius was brought back from retirement!
-Under Marius' leadership, the Romans were able to put down most of the rebel armies, but the Samnite troops (still badass fighters) were able to hold out.
-Finally, Rome relented and gave in to their allies.
-The Lex Julia was passed, a law granting citizenship to the citizens of cities that did not join the rebellion, and was offered to any rebelling city that surrendered.
-89 BC- The Samnites and some others still didn't give a fuck though, and held out.
-Lucius Cornelius Sulla was assigned to fight them and put them down.
-Marius didn't like this because Sulla was seen as the hero of this conflict (the Social War).
-Notable people who also fought for Rome in the Social War were Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great).
-88 BC- Sulla was elected consul.
-During this time it looked like there might be trouble brewing in the east due to the rise of Pontus, a kingdom increasing in power in Asia Minor and ruled by the mighty Mithridates VI.
-Marius was pissed, and wanted to be consul so he could be in charge of taking on Pontus, so he organized a coalition to oust Sulla.
-As a result of this, Sulla fled to the safety of the legions.
-However, plunder was not being fairly shared afterwards.
-Marius had also eliminated the hierarchy between Roman and non-(city of) Roman legions.
-91 BC- The tribune Marcus Livius Drusus proposed that non-Roman Italians be made into full Roman citizens.
-A group of patricians tried to put a stop to this legislation, but this didn't work, so they had Drusus assassinated.
-The non-Roman Italians began to rebel, and established a rival government in Corfinium (modern-day Corfinio, 150 km east of Rome), and renamed the city Italica, and their new confederation against Rome was called Italia.
-The Romans tried to put down the rebellion, but initially fucked it up and the consul Publius Rutilius Lupus was killed in battle. As a result, Gaius Marius was brought back from retirement!
-Under Marius' leadership, the Romans were able to put down most of the rebel armies, but the Samnite troops (still badass fighters) were able to hold out.
-Finally, Rome relented and gave in to their allies.
-The Lex Julia was passed, a law granting citizenship to the citizens of cities that did not join the rebellion, and was offered to any rebelling city that surrendered.
-89 BC- The Samnites and some others still didn't give a fuck though, and held out.
-Lucius Cornelius Sulla was assigned to fight them and put them down.
-Marius didn't like this because Sulla was seen as the hero of this conflict (the Social War).
-Notable people who also fought for Rome in the Social War were Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great).
-88 BC- Sulla was elected consul.
-During this time it looked like there might be trouble brewing in the east due to the rise of Pontus, a kingdom increasing in power in Asia Minor and ruled by the mighty Mithridates VI.
-Marius was pissed, and wanted to be consul so he could be in charge of taking on Pontus, so he organized a coalition to oust Sulla.
-As a result of this, Sulla fled to the safety of the legions.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Marius
-Gaius Marius was born Born in 157 BC- born in Arpinum (modern-day Arpino), 100 km SE of Rome.
-It was only 30 years before that non-citizens of Rome didn't have voting rights in the Roman Empire.
-The legend is that he came from humble origins, but this doesn't seem true...it's much more likely that he came from a wealthy family with lots of political connections.
-When he joined the legions, he was given an officer position, but because he was considered a "novus homo" ("new man") since he wasn't from Rome, he wasn't given full respect by others.
-He had also been stationed in Numantia (modern-day Spain), just like the Gracchus brothers.
-Still, he was able to get himself elected tribune, then praetor.
-He also married the aunt of Julius Caesar (he hadn't been born yet though).
-In Numidia, there was a civil war raging, and some Romans were executed.
-Roman armies were sent, but they didn't do very much to ease the situation, which drew the suspicion...
-There were accusations of bribery, especially against Jugurtha, a grandson of Masinissa and leader of one of the factions fighting in the civil war.
-One lieutenant, a dude named Matellus, was pissed off at the corruption and incompetence of the army, and went back to Rome and ran for consul (and won) in 107 BC.
-The most important thing he did was make it so that land ownership was no longer a pre-requisite to join the legions. Soldiers were also now given a salary, and promised a plot of land upon retirement.
-Marius was able to return to Numidia and defeat and capture Jugurtha through a combination of bribery and cunning.
-Marius received all of the credit for this, but one of his subordinate officers, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, was kind of pissed off about this.
-Around 107 BC, the Cimbri and other barbarian hordes began to raid in the north, and were initially defeating the Roman armies!
-Rome was preoccupied with the wars of North Africa, but they soon realized that these hordes were a major national security threat.
105 BC- The Cimbri were joined by the Teutons, a Germanic horde. This would mark the Romans' definite first encounter with German barbarians, as it was unclear as to if the Cimbri were Celtic, Germanic, or something else entirely.
-These barbarians were able to continue to crush the Roman armies due to Roman incompetence and poor leadership.
-Marius was elected consul again to solve this problem of corruption, even though he was still in Africa at the time. He returned to Rome in triumph, with Jugurtha as his prisoner before having him executed.
-Marius then reorganized the army, abandoning the maniple system, which was effective when fighting against other phalanxes and crappy armies, but wasn't good at dealing with brute force frontal assaults (the style of the Celtic and Germanic barbarian hordes).
-He made the tactical units much smaller in order to avoid being outflanked.
-Mixed old and young troops together, with no more division of age.
-Made troops carry their own equipment, as the legions were too bloated with pack animal, slaves, and camp followers.
-Marius made it so that joining the military was a choice, not an obligation.
-20 years of service guaranteed a land grant, and troops were given money, food, armor, clothes, and weapons.
-Promoted officers based on courage and initiative, not nobility.
-Marius was very lucky during this time because the hordes had temporarily backed off.
-The Cimrbi had moved on to attack the Iberian peninsula, and the Teutons were probably causing trouble elsewhere.
-103 BC- Marius was elected consul for a 3rd time.
-102 BC- Marius was elected consul for a 4th time.
-The Cimbri and Teutons combined again with a massive force of 200,000 to raid the Italian peninsula.
-Stupidly, they split their forces and attacked in a force, so the Roman army was actually able to handle this, and defeated the Teutons. However, the Cimbri broke through, and were soon in Roman lands.
-101 BC- Marius rides north and defeats the Cimbri with his legions.
-In this case, it is an example of quality beating quantity.
-100 BC- Marius was elected consul a 5th time, but after this, he retires.
-It was only 30 years before that non-citizens of Rome didn't have voting rights in the Roman Empire.
-The legend is that he came from humble origins, but this doesn't seem true...it's much more likely that he came from a wealthy family with lots of political connections.
-When he joined the legions, he was given an officer position, but because he was considered a "novus homo" ("new man") since he wasn't from Rome, he wasn't given full respect by others.
-He had also been stationed in Numantia (modern-day Spain), just like the Gracchus brothers.
-Still, he was able to get himself elected tribune, then praetor.
-He also married the aunt of Julius Caesar (he hadn't been born yet though).
-In Numidia, there was a civil war raging, and some Romans were executed.
-Roman armies were sent, but they didn't do very much to ease the situation, which drew the suspicion...
-There were accusations of bribery, especially against Jugurtha, a grandson of Masinissa and leader of one of the factions fighting in the civil war.
-One lieutenant, a dude named Matellus, was pissed off at the corruption and incompetence of the army, and went back to Rome and ran for consul (and won) in 107 BC.
-The most important thing he did was make it so that land ownership was no longer a pre-requisite to join the legions. Soldiers were also now given a salary, and promised a plot of land upon retirement.
-Marius was able to return to Numidia and defeat and capture Jugurtha through a combination of bribery and cunning.
-Marius received all of the credit for this, but one of his subordinate officers, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, was kind of pissed off about this.
-Around 107 BC, the Cimbri and other barbarian hordes began to raid in the north, and were initially defeating the Roman armies!
-Rome was preoccupied with the wars of North Africa, but they soon realized that these hordes were a major national security threat.
105 BC- The Cimbri were joined by the Teutons, a Germanic horde. This would mark the Romans' definite first encounter with German barbarians, as it was unclear as to if the Cimbri were Celtic, Germanic, or something else entirely.
-These barbarians were able to continue to crush the Roman armies due to Roman incompetence and poor leadership.
-Marius was elected consul again to solve this problem of corruption, even though he was still in Africa at the time. He returned to Rome in triumph, with Jugurtha as his prisoner before having him executed.
-Marius then reorganized the army, abandoning the maniple system, which was effective when fighting against other phalanxes and crappy armies, but wasn't good at dealing with brute force frontal assaults (the style of the Celtic and Germanic barbarian hordes).
-He made the tactical units much smaller in order to avoid being outflanked.
-Mixed old and young troops together, with no more division of age.
-Made troops carry their own equipment, as the legions were too bloated with pack animal, slaves, and camp followers.
-Marius made it so that joining the military was a choice, not an obligation.
-20 years of service guaranteed a land grant, and troops were given money, food, armor, clothes, and weapons.
-Promoted officers based on courage and initiative, not nobility.
-Marius was very lucky during this time because the hordes had temporarily backed off.
-The Cimrbi had moved on to attack the Iberian peninsula, and the Teutons were probably causing trouble elsewhere.
-103 BC- Marius was elected consul for a 3rd time.
-102 BC- Marius was elected consul for a 4th time.
-The Cimbri and Teutons combined again with a massive force of 200,000 to raid the Italian peninsula.
-Stupidly, they split their forces and attacked in a force, so the Roman army was actually able to handle this, and defeated the Teutons. However, the Cimbri broke through, and were soon in Roman lands.
-101 BC- Marius rides north and defeats the Cimbri with his legions.
-In this case, it is an example of quality beating quantity.
-100 BC- Marius was elected consul a 5th time, but after this, he retires.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Gaius Gracchus
-Beginning of the end for the Roman Republic.
-With his brother's death, Gaius Gracchus was left as patriarch of the Gracchii clan at the age of 21!
-126 BC- Elected as a political officer of Sardinia.
-The Senate wanted to keep GG in Sardinia, away from Rome so they could undo all of Tiberius' reforms.
-123 BC- Managed to quit his office in Sardinia to head for Rome, and also was able to be elected tribune at the same time.
-The grain famine continued in Rome at this time due to a plague of locusts destroying lots of crops in North Africa. The price of grain soared, so GG arranged for the grain to be sold far below the market price, which was a huge relief for the common folk.
-GG also passed a bunch of political and economic reforms. He was hugely popular with the people, and was elected to a second term due to some technicalities.
-Wanted to extend full citizenship status to non-Roman Italians, but the Senate didn't want this because they felt it would allow GG to expand his power base.
-Over a short time, however, GG's political enemies worked hard to undermine him and his reforms, and turn his allies against him.
-GG tried to combat his opposition by running for a third term.
-Unfortunately, GG lost, although this could have been due to voter fraud.
-GG then tried to unite the people to protest.
-These protests turned violent, and one of his opponents was murdered by the angry mob. As a result, GG was charged with inciting murder, and was branded an enemy of the state.
-He fled with his slave, and soon committed suicide :(
-With his brother's death, Gaius Gracchus was left as patriarch of the Gracchii clan at the age of 21!
-126 BC- Elected as a political officer of Sardinia.
-The Senate wanted to keep GG in Sardinia, away from Rome so they could undo all of Tiberius' reforms.
-123 BC- Managed to quit his office in Sardinia to head for Rome, and also was able to be elected tribune at the same time.
-The grain famine continued in Rome at this time due to a plague of locusts destroying lots of crops in North Africa. The price of grain soared, so GG arranged for the grain to be sold far below the market price, which was a huge relief for the common folk.
-GG also passed a bunch of political and economic reforms. He was hugely popular with the people, and was elected to a second term due to some technicalities.
-Wanted to extend full citizenship status to non-Roman Italians, but the Senate didn't want this because they felt it would allow GG to expand his power base.
-Over a short time, however, GG's political enemies worked hard to undermine him and his reforms, and turn his allies against him.
-GG tried to combat his opposition by running for a third term.
-Unfortunately, GG lost, although this could have been due to voter fraud.
-GG then tried to unite the people to protest.
-These protests turned violent, and one of his opponents was murdered by the angry mob. As a result, GG was charged with inciting murder, and was branded an enemy of the state.
-He fled with his slave, and soon committed suicide :(
Tiberius Gracchus
-Tiberius Gracchus (the Younger)- born 168 BC.
-Parents were Tiberius Gracchus (the Elder) and Cornelia Africana.
-Gracchus the Elder was a pleb by birth, but had risen up through the political ranks and was eventually elected tribune, censor, and consul (twice). Personal friend of Scipio Africanus (Cornelia Africana was his daughter).
-Cornelia Africana was a virtuous Roman woman who would become a legendary figure for the Roman people. Scipio Africanus' family was arguably the family with the most political connections in the history of the Roman Empire at this point.
-Tiberius Gracchus (the Younger) fought at Carthage and also had been stationed in the Iberian peninsula.
-137 BC- The Romans went to go put down a revolt in Numantia, and 20,000 soldiers ended up getting captured due to stupid decision-making by the commanders.
-TG worked out a deal with the Celtiberian barbarians to free the Romans, but when the Roman Senate found out they rejected the validity of this deal and punished him.
-The rejection of the deal was led by Scipio Amelianus, a former superior officer of TG's when they had been stationed in North Africa.
-There became a split in the Senate between the two sides, which was foreshadowing the development of two rival political factions (the optimates vs. the populares).
-To make it semi-analogous to modern times, the optimates were more conservative and the populares were more liberal.
-Meanwhile, the Roman Empire was kind of in bad shape.
-Farms were being bought by the rich, and slaves were taking all the jobs.
-Grain imports were halted due to a revolt in Sicily.
-The common folk were growing increasingly hungry and poor.
-133 BC- TG runs for the office of tribune.
-Ran on a populist platform, wanted to limit the land that elites could own. He won, but found enemies, which included Marcus Octavius, another tribune (who also wielded veto power, of course).
-TG tried to get his main enemy, Octavius, out of office, but any attempts were vetoed. TG then told his supporters to physically throw Octavius out of office.
-This was a big deal, as no one was supposed to fuck with the tribunes, period.
-It actually worked, and the senate recognized the power that TG had over the masses, so they agreed to his reforms, which included a massive land redistribution program (which of course still had plenty of bugs and corruption).
-Attalus III, king of Pergamon, then died without an heir, but had bequeathed the kingdom to his the Roman Empire. Obviously, Rome accepted this, but the question among the Senate was... what to do with it?
-Should it be given to the elites to divide up among themselves as private land, or be given to the masses to populate at will?
-TG realized that he couldn't afford politically to step down now even though he had to (by law), so he decided to run again for reelection.
-This was the last straw for the elites, so they got an angry mob together and attacked TG and his entourage. TG was killed.
-Parents were Tiberius Gracchus (the Elder) and Cornelia Africana.
-Gracchus the Elder was a pleb by birth, but had risen up through the political ranks and was eventually elected tribune, censor, and consul (twice). Personal friend of Scipio Africanus (Cornelia Africana was his daughter).
-Cornelia Africana was a virtuous Roman woman who would become a legendary figure for the Roman people. Scipio Africanus' family was arguably the family with the most political connections in the history of the Roman Empire at this point.
-Tiberius Gracchus (the Younger) fought at Carthage and also had been stationed in the Iberian peninsula.
-137 BC- The Romans went to go put down a revolt in Numantia, and 20,000 soldiers ended up getting captured due to stupid decision-making by the commanders.
-TG worked out a deal with the Celtiberian barbarians to free the Romans, but when the Roman Senate found out they rejected the validity of this deal and punished him.
-The rejection of the deal was led by Scipio Amelianus, a former superior officer of TG's when they had been stationed in North Africa.
-There became a split in the Senate between the two sides, which was foreshadowing the development of two rival political factions (the optimates vs. the populares).
-To make it semi-analogous to modern times, the optimates were more conservative and the populares were more liberal.
-Meanwhile, the Roman Empire was kind of in bad shape.
-Farms were being bought by the rich, and slaves were taking all the jobs.
-Grain imports were halted due to a revolt in Sicily.
-The common folk were growing increasingly hungry and poor.
-133 BC- TG runs for the office of tribune.
-Ran on a populist platform, wanted to limit the land that elites could own. He won, but found enemies, which included Marcus Octavius, another tribune (who also wielded veto power, of course).
-TG tried to get his main enemy, Octavius, out of office, but any attempts were vetoed. TG then told his supporters to physically throw Octavius out of office.
-This was a big deal, as no one was supposed to fuck with the tribunes, period.
-It actually worked, and the senate recognized the power that TG had over the masses, so they agreed to his reforms, which included a massive land redistribution program (which of course still had plenty of bugs and corruption).
-Attalus III, king of Pergamon, then died without an heir, but had bequeathed the kingdom to his the Roman Empire. Obviously, Rome accepted this, but the question among the Senate was... what to do with it?
-Should it be given to the elites to divide up among themselves as private land, or be given to the masses to populate at will?
-TG realized that he couldn't afford politically to step down now even though he had to (by law), so he decided to run again for reelection.
-This was the last straw for the elites, so they got an angry mob together and attacked TG and his entourage. TG was killed.
Taking Stock
-Rome now controlled the Italian peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia, Greece, Macedonia, the Iberian peninsula, and parts of North Africa.
-The Romans grew rich with slaves and treasure.
-Most of this ended up in the hands of the already wealthy, however.
-The Roman economy was transformed- patricians bought up more and more land, and had slaves work on it instead of plebs.
-The military was transformed too.
-Originally, you had to be a landowner to serve in the army, but these standards were becoming unsustainable due to the amount of troops needed to maintain such vast amounts of territory.
-100 BC- the landowner prerequisite to join the army was abolished, and the military became open to anyone.
-Soldiers were paid in how much their commander gave them after a battle/raid/siege. The Roman legions were then transformed into more of a mercenary fighting force as opposed to something the aristocracy participated in out of a sense of duty, honor, or glory.
-Rome thus was transformed into more of an oligarchy, as opposed to a true republic.
-The Romans grew rich with slaves and treasure.
-Most of this ended up in the hands of the already wealthy, however.
-The Roman economy was transformed- patricians bought up more and more land, and had slaves work on it instead of plebs.
-The military was transformed too.
-Originally, you had to be a landowner to serve in the army, but these standards were becoming unsustainable due to the amount of troops needed to maintain such vast amounts of territory.
-100 BC- the landowner prerequisite to join the army was abolished, and the military became open to anyone.
-Soldiers were paid in how much their commander gave them after a battle/raid/siege. The Roman legions were then transformed into more of a mercenary fighting force as opposed to something the aristocracy participated in out of a sense of duty, honor, or glory.
-Rome thus was transformed into more of an oligarchy, as opposed to a true republic.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Mopping Up
-150 BC- King Andriscus, the last king of Macedonia, comes to power and tries to unite the people to throw out the Romans and their domination of the region. Tried to be legit by pretending to be King Perseus' son.
-Macedonia has been divided into 4 republics, and Andriscus wanted to reunite the kingdom.
-Rome sent an army to quell this rebellion, but it was actually repelled by the fierce Macedonian defense. So, Rome sent another, bigger army to quell the rebellion, and this time they crushed the Macedonian defenses, captured Andriscus, and paraded him around Rome in chains.
-Macedonia and Epirus (who had officially allied themselves with Macedonia) were then officially annexed as Roman provinces in 146 BC.
-As a result of the encroaching Roman power in the region, Corinth, leader of the Achean League, called the other Greek cities to band together and fight against Roman domination of Greece.
-So, Rome sent an army and destroyed Corinth by burning it to the ground! The men were slaughtered, and the women and children were enslaved.
-Soon, all of Greece would be annexed as well. Rome didn't meet much resistance, as they had done a pretty good job of making an example out of Corinth to show the Greeks what happened to those who went up against the Romans.
-Rome, at the same time, also decided to destroy the Carthaginians once and for all.
-Carthage was minding its own business, as they were truly a merchant empire and not warlike.
-They were also in a weakened state due to losing territory in North Africa because of Numidian invasions (led by Massinisa, a Roman ally).
-These Numidian invasions pissed off Carthage, since Rome was supposed to be a protectorate of the region. Therefore, Carthage had to raise an army to protect themselves from the Numidians.
-151 BC- The Numidians besieged a Carthaginian border town.
-Carthage sent 25,000 soldiers to liberate the city. However, the Numidians defeated this army.
-Also, because Carthage had raised an army, Rome used this as an excuse to finally crush the empire!
-Cato the Elder and his allies convinced the Senate to vote in favor of invasion.
-Rome sent 80,000 troops to North Africa. Carthage begged for mercy, but found the Roman terms for peace to be too harsh.
-Carthage was besieged by the Romans for 2 years!
-147 BC- Carthage's harbor was blockaded, and the Roman army began to raid the Carthaginian countryside.
-146 BC- Rome finally broke the walls of city.
-6 days of street fighting.
-Carthage had a population of 700,000- by this time only 50,000 die-hards had remained in the city.
-Finally, the city was taken. It was put to the torch, and, according to legend, the city burned for 10 days, and afterwards the Romans salted the fields to ensure that nothing would grow there again (although it is highly unlikely that this actually happened).
-At this time, Rome was finally starting to look like the major empire that it would ultimately grow into. There was no other superpower in the region that could counter it.
-However, it's not like it was a time of peace for the Romans, as they were still fighting with barbarian hordes in the Iberian peninsula and Gaul.
-Macedonia has been divided into 4 republics, and Andriscus wanted to reunite the kingdom.
-Rome sent an army to quell this rebellion, but it was actually repelled by the fierce Macedonian defense. So, Rome sent another, bigger army to quell the rebellion, and this time they crushed the Macedonian defenses, captured Andriscus, and paraded him around Rome in chains.
-Macedonia and Epirus (who had officially allied themselves with Macedonia) were then officially annexed as Roman provinces in 146 BC.
-As a result of the encroaching Roman power in the region, Corinth, leader of the Achean League, called the other Greek cities to band together and fight against Roman domination of Greece.
-So, Rome sent an army and destroyed Corinth by burning it to the ground! The men were slaughtered, and the women and children were enslaved.
-Soon, all of Greece would be annexed as well. Rome didn't meet much resistance, as they had done a pretty good job of making an example out of Corinth to show the Greeks what happened to those who went up against the Romans.
-Rome, at the same time, also decided to destroy the Carthaginians once and for all.
-Carthage was minding its own business, as they were truly a merchant empire and not warlike.
-They were also in a weakened state due to losing territory in North Africa because of Numidian invasions (led by Massinisa, a Roman ally).
-These Numidian invasions pissed off Carthage, since Rome was supposed to be a protectorate of the region. Therefore, Carthage had to raise an army to protect themselves from the Numidians.
-151 BC- The Numidians besieged a Carthaginian border town.
-Carthage sent 25,000 soldiers to liberate the city. However, the Numidians defeated this army.
-Also, because Carthage had raised an army, Rome used this as an excuse to finally crush the empire!
-Cato the Elder and his allies convinced the Senate to vote in favor of invasion.
-Rome sent 80,000 troops to North Africa. Carthage begged for mercy, but found the Roman terms for peace to be too harsh.
-Carthage was besieged by the Romans for 2 years!
-147 BC- Carthage's harbor was blockaded, and the Roman army began to raid the Carthaginian countryside.
-146 BC- Rome finally broke the walls of city.
-6 days of street fighting.
-Carthage had a population of 700,000- by this time only 50,000 die-hards had remained in the city.
-Finally, the city was taken. It was put to the torch, and, according to legend, the city burned for 10 days, and afterwards the Romans salted the fields to ensure that nothing would grow there again (although it is highly unlikely that this actually happened).
-At this time, Rome was finally starting to look like the major empire that it would ultimately grow into. There was no other superpower in the region that could counter it.
-However, it's not like it was a time of peace for the Romans, as they were still fighting with barbarian hordes in the Iberian peninsula and Gaul.
Monday, December 19, 2016
The Third Macedonian War
-The Greeks accepted the Romans as temporary overlords.
-Just a stopgap until their main enemies could be driven off and they could gather enough strength to "Make Greece Great Again"!
-179 BC- Philip V of Macedonia dies.
-Had 2 sons: Demetrius and Perseus.
-Demetrius had been sent to Rome as a hostage, and had developed a pro-Roman worldview growing up.
-Perseus, the new king, was scared that the Romans would use Demetrius to overthrow Perseus' rule in order to make Macedonia a puppet kingdom of Rome.
-Before Philip V died, Perseus was able to convince him that Demetrius was in cahoots with the Romans.
-Perseus began testing Roman patience by expanding his territory, making political alliances, and marrying Laodice V (daughter of Seleucus IV (son of Antiochus III and king of the Seleucid Empire as of 175 BC)).
-Pergamon was scared of this situation since they were stuck in the middle of the growing tension between the Romans and the Seleucids, so they begged Rome to protect them.
-Finally, Rome had had enough when it was believed that Perseus was behind the latest Illyrian uprisings against Roman domination.
-Rome moved its troops first to Illyria to quell the rebellions, and then finally in 171 BC Rome declared war on Macedonia and invaded.
-The first battle was a minor one, but Rome lost due to poor leadership noob stuff and thus caused many Greek cities to side with Macedonia, believing them to be more the more powerful empire.
-For the next 2 years, instead of attacking major strategic points, the Romans just raided random cities, going hogwild with rape and pillage.
-As a result, lots of slaves and treasure were sent back to Rome.
-This made the Greeks see the Romans as barbarians, and Roman popularity was at an all-time low in the region.
-168 BC- the new Roman consul tried to re-organize the legions so that they weren't just loose cannons running wrecking havoc in Illyria.
-Battle of Pydna- huge battle between the Romans and the Macedonians.
-It was a brutal slaughter- Macedonia lost about 25,000 troops, Rome only about 1000.
-King Perseus himself was captured during this battle as well. Afterwards, he was sent back to Rome and paraded around in chains, and then was banished to live out his days in the tiny Roman town of Alba Fulcens (near modern-day Avezzano, Abruzzo), where he became a metalworker and public notary. Thus, he was the last of the Antigonid dynastic rulers (starting with Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus in 306 BC.
-Macedonia was broken up and split into 4 puppet republics who could only trade with Rome.
-On the way home, the Roman legions passed through Epirus.
-Initially, they agreed to be paid off to spare the cities from any trouble, but once they were paid they didn't give a fuck and went nuts with rape and pillage.
-150,000 people were taken as slaves, and those who weren't enslaved were either killed or left broken.
-This showed the Greeks that the Romans were a barbaric, warlike folk who were not to be fucked around with.
-Just a stopgap until their main enemies could be driven off and they could gather enough strength to "Make Greece Great Again"!
-179 BC- Philip V of Macedonia dies.
-Had 2 sons: Demetrius and Perseus.
-Demetrius had been sent to Rome as a hostage, and had developed a pro-Roman worldview growing up.
-Perseus, the new king, was scared that the Romans would use Demetrius to overthrow Perseus' rule in order to make Macedonia a puppet kingdom of Rome.
-Before Philip V died, Perseus was able to convince him that Demetrius was in cahoots with the Romans.
-Perseus began testing Roman patience by expanding his territory, making political alliances, and marrying Laodice V (daughter of Seleucus IV (son of Antiochus III and king of the Seleucid Empire as of 175 BC)).
-Pergamon was scared of this situation since they were stuck in the middle of the growing tension between the Romans and the Seleucids, so they begged Rome to protect them.
-Finally, Rome had had enough when it was believed that Perseus was behind the latest Illyrian uprisings against Roman domination.
-Rome moved its troops first to Illyria to quell the rebellions, and then finally in 171 BC Rome declared war on Macedonia and invaded.
-The first battle was a minor one, but Rome lost due to poor leadership noob stuff and thus caused many Greek cities to side with Macedonia, believing them to be more the more powerful empire.
-For the next 2 years, instead of attacking major strategic points, the Romans just raided random cities, going hogwild with rape and pillage.
-As a result, lots of slaves and treasure were sent back to Rome.
-This made the Greeks see the Romans as barbarians, and Roman popularity was at an all-time low in the region.
-168 BC- the new Roman consul tried to re-organize the legions so that they weren't just loose cannons running wrecking havoc in Illyria.
-Battle of Pydna- huge battle between the Romans and the Macedonians.
-It was a brutal slaughter- Macedonia lost about 25,000 troops, Rome only about 1000.
-King Perseus himself was captured during this battle as well. Afterwards, he was sent back to Rome and paraded around in chains, and then was banished to live out his days in the tiny Roman town of Alba Fulcens (near modern-day Avezzano, Abruzzo), where he became a metalworker and public notary. Thus, he was the last of the Antigonid dynastic rulers (starting with Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus in 306 BC.
-Macedonia was broken up and split into 4 puppet republics who could only trade with Rome.
-On the way home, the Roman legions passed through Epirus.
-Initially, they agreed to be paid off to spare the cities from any trouble, but once they were paid they didn't give a fuck and went nuts with rape and pillage.
-150,000 people were taken as slaves, and those who weren't enslaved were either killed or left broken.
-This showed the Greeks that the Romans were a barbaric, warlike folk who were not to be fucked around with.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
The Syrian War
-Greece was free from foreign domination...except, of course, for the Romans, their liberators :)
-Some Greeks began to look for a new liberator pit against the Romans...they found the Seleucids!
-195 BC- the Aeolian League, Rome's allies, felt stiffed by the Romans after the Second Macedonian War, as Greece was supposed to be given to them!
-The Romans had decided to be generous and allow for Macedonia's Greek allies to remain autonomous.
-The Aeolians began to talk with Sparta about a possible alliance with Antiochus III to fight off Roman influence.
-Rome found out about this and attacked Sparta.
-Rome won, but this pissed off the Greeks. Rome then told Antiochus III to back off. At this time, also, Hannibal was staying with Antiochus III as a guest (which definitely made the Romans uneasy).
-Interestingly enough, Scipio actually met Hannibal IRL when the Seleucids held a diplomatic summit.
-The Aetolians were trying to get the Seleucids to push the Romans out of Greece, and Pergamon was trying to get the Romans to attack the Seleucids in order to get Antiochus III off their back.
-The Aetolians finally decided that enough was enough, and they attacked the Greek cities of Chalcis and Demetrias (among others, possibly), and set up garrisons there. Antiochus III then sent 10,000 troops to join them and augment their defenses.
-In response, the Romans sent 2 legions, led by Cato the Elder, to Demetrias (via Epirus). Joined by the Achean League, the Romans now had a pretty big force, and eventually clashed with the Seleucids and their allies at Thermopylae.
-The Seleucids then retreated back to their territory in Asia Minor, but the Romans followed!
-One major battle was the Battle of Magnesia.
-The Seleucids (and allies) had 70,000 troops; Rome (and Pergamon) only had 50,000.
-However, Rome was victorious! Where was Hannibal, though? Apparently, he had lost a previous naval battle (the Battle of Eurymedon), leading a Seleucid fleet against the the navy of Rhodes, and had gone into hiding in Crete.
-The Seleucids then sued for peace and had to pay massive reparations, in addition to allowing the Romans to take hostages from the royal family.
-183 BC- Scipio Africanus dies, bitter because he had done so much for the Romans but still had many political enemies back in the capital.
-Some Greeks began to look for a new liberator pit against the Romans...they found the Seleucids!
-195 BC- the Aeolian League, Rome's allies, felt stiffed by the Romans after the Second Macedonian War, as Greece was supposed to be given to them!
-The Romans had decided to be generous and allow for Macedonia's Greek allies to remain autonomous.
-The Aeolians began to talk with Sparta about a possible alliance with Antiochus III to fight off Roman influence.
-Rome found out about this and attacked Sparta.
-Rome won, but this pissed off the Greeks. Rome then told Antiochus III to back off. At this time, also, Hannibal was staying with Antiochus III as a guest (which definitely made the Romans uneasy).
-Interestingly enough, Scipio actually met Hannibal IRL when the Seleucids held a diplomatic summit.
-The Aetolians were trying to get the Seleucids to push the Romans out of Greece, and Pergamon was trying to get the Romans to attack the Seleucids in order to get Antiochus III off their back.
-The Aetolians finally decided that enough was enough, and they attacked the Greek cities of Chalcis and Demetrias (among others, possibly), and set up garrisons there. Antiochus III then sent 10,000 troops to join them and augment their defenses.
-In response, the Romans sent 2 legions, led by Cato the Elder, to Demetrias (via Epirus). Joined by the Achean League, the Romans now had a pretty big force, and eventually clashed with the Seleucids and their allies at Thermopylae.
-The Seleucids then retreated back to their territory in Asia Minor, but the Romans followed!
-One major battle was the Battle of Magnesia.
-The Seleucids (and allies) had 70,000 troops; Rome (and Pergamon) only had 50,000.
-However, Rome was victorious! Where was Hannibal, though? Apparently, he had lost a previous naval battle (the Battle of Eurymedon), leading a Seleucid fleet against the the navy of Rhodes, and had gone into hiding in Crete.
-The Seleucids then sued for peace and had to pay massive reparations, in addition to allowing the Romans to take hostages from the royal family.
-183 BC- Scipio Africanus dies, bitter because he had done so much for the Romans but still had many political enemies back in the capital.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
The Second Macedonian War
-Rome began to eye the East after the Second Punic War.
-The post-Alexandrian East (ruled by descendants of Alexander the Great's generals) :
-Egypt (Ptolemaic Kingdom)- ruled by Ptolemy IV.
-Syria and Persia (Seleucid Empire)- ruled by Antiochus III.
-Macedonia- ruled by Philip V.
-204 BC- Ptolemy IV dies, but his heir is only 8.
-Philip V and Antiochus III formed an alliance to undermine the power of the Ptolemaic Kingdom by expanding their own territories against other regional powers.
-Antiochus III attacked southern Egypt (near the Red Sea), and Philip V moved east and attacked Thrace. This alarmed the kingdom of Pergamon, who were a mid-grade power who were located in the middle of all of this.
-King Attalus, king of Pergamon, decided to call on Rome for help in 201 BC.
-He had been an ally to Rome during the First Macedonian War/Second Punic War.
-Rome decided to investigate this situation, and while Roman officials were staying in Athens (still a city-state), Athens declared war on Macedonia.
-Philip V sent an army to attack Athens.
-Roman officials then quickly met with Pergamon, Athens, and Rhodes, and decided to tell Macedonia to back off, or else, as these places were now under the protection of the Roman Empire! This pissed off Philip V, so he ordered troops to go ahead and attack Athens AND Pergamon anyway!
-Rome then sent legions to Illyria and began to have light skirmishes with Macedonia.
-198- Titus Flaminus is elected consul.
-Huge fan of Greek culture.
-Rome began to get really serious about defending Greece, which scared Phillip V.
-Phillip V immediately began to sue for peace.
-Meanwhile, to prepare for war, Phillip V acquired 25,000 meals to augment his forces, since the Aetolian League joined Rome to fight against Macedonia.
-Rome had about 30,000 troops ready.
-The first major battle was finally at Cynoscephalae in 197 BC.
-It was the Roman maniple vs. the Macedonian phalanx.
-Rome kicked the Macedonian army's ass, proving that the old-school Greek-style phalanx was obsolete and times had changed.
-Macedonia was defeated, and Rome then left Greece alone.
-Rome acted like they had simply just done Greece a favor and had no interest in conquering the region, but really it was just because Rome didn't have the strength or money at the time to take them over.
-The post-Alexandrian East (ruled by descendants of Alexander the Great's generals) :
-Egypt (Ptolemaic Kingdom)- ruled by Ptolemy IV.
-Syria and Persia (Seleucid Empire)- ruled by Antiochus III.
-Macedonia- ruled by Philip V.
-204 BC- Ptolemy IV dies, but his heir is only 8.
-Philip V and Antiochus III formed an alliance to undermine the power of the Ptolemaic Kingdom by expanding their own territories against other regional powers.
-Antiochus III attacked southern Egypt (near the Red Sea), and Philip V moved east and attacked Thrace. This alarmed the kingdom of Pergamon, who were a mid-grade power who were located in the middle of all of this.
-King Attalus, king of Pergamon, decided to call on Rome for help in 201 BC.
-He had been an ally to Rome during the First Macedonian War/Second Punic War.
-Rome decided to investigate this situation, and while Roman officials were staying in Athens (still a city-state), Athens declared war on Macedonia.
-Philip V sent an army to attack Athens.
-Roman officials then quickly met with Pergamon, Athens, and Rhodes, and decided to tell Macedonia to back off, or else, as these places were now under the protection of the Roman Empire! This pissed off Philip V, so he ordered troops to go ahead and attack Athens AND Pergamon anyway!
-Rome then sent legions to Illyria and began to have light skirmishes with Macedonia.
-198- Titus Flaminus is elected consul.
-Huge fan of Greek culture.
-Rome began to get really serious about defending Greece, which scared Phillip V.
-Phillip V immediately began to sue for peace.
-Meanwhile, to prepare for war, Phillip V acquired 25,000 meals to augment his forces, since the Aetolian League joined Rome to fight against Macedonia.
-Rome had about 30,000 troops ready.
-The first major battle was finally at Cynoscephalae in 197 BC.
-It was the Roman maniple vs. the Macedonian phalanx.
-Rome kicked the Macedonian army's ass, proving that the old-school Greek-style phalanx was obsolete and times had changed.
-Macedonia was defeated, and Rome then left Greece alone.
-Rome acted like they had simply just done Greece a favor and had no interest in conquering the region, but really it was just because Rome didn't have the strength or money at the time to take them over.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
The War With Hannibal
-Hannibal amasses a force of 90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and 67 war elephants at New Carthage in 218 BC.
-Hannibal immediately set out for Rome, plan was to sneak up and attack Rome from the north.
-Suffered heavy casualties as he marched against enemy barbarian hordes, however, and by attacking cities on the way.
-Also, he had to go through the Pyrenees, and arrived in Gaul with a force of only about 50,000... still though, Rome had no idea!
-Sempronius Longus was in Rome, preparing troops there for the African invasion.
-Scipio was in northern Italy, preparing for a Spanish invasion with 2 legions.
-On his way to Spain, however, Scipio landed in Massilia (Marseille) on the south coast of Gaul before going on to Spain.
-However, while he was there, he found that Hannibal's army was crossing the Rhône River! WTF!
-Hannibal knew that he had been exposed, so he moved as fast as he could to reach Rome. On the way, he was met with much resistance from the Gallic hordes.
-Scipio followed him, but knew that his force was way too small to take on Hannibal, so he eventually told his army to move onto Spain, and Hannibal himself sailed for Rome.
-Famous moment in world history: Hannibal crossing the Alps!
-Snow was just beginning to fall, and Hannibal's troops were constantly being attacked by hordes who lived in the mountains.
-Hannibal had to manage his troops, navigate the treacherous mountains, AND manage the supply routes as well!
-It was an absolute nightmare. Somehow, Hannibal kept his troops from giving up, even though he had lost over half during this time.
-Scipio finally made the decision to strike at Hannibal at the Ticinus River (a tributary of the Po River).
-Roman infantry were a good match against the Carthaginian infantry, but Hannibal's Numidian cavalry was way more badass.
-Scipio was actually wounded in this battle and had to retreat.
-Sempronius Longus was called upon to come help fight Hannibal.
-Hannibal was also a tactical genius and was able to manipulate the Romans into traps, taking advantage of the horrible weather at the time, and the Romans were eventually getting slaughtered!
-Rome was in a panic, and Sempronius Longus' reputation was shattered.
-Luckily for Rome, winter had set in and Hannibal knew it would be suicide to besiege Rome during that time.
-Thus, Rome had a chance to fortify and plan.
-Spring arrived and the Romans regrouped.
-The dominant consul at the time was Gaius Flaminius, a pleb maverick.
-Hannibal began to march on Rome, avoiding the roads and going through swamps, as he wanted to lure Flaminius' troops out of Rome to attack him in the bogs...and it worked!
-30,000-40,000 Romans were slaughtered as a result, including Gaius Flaminius.
-Rome was now terrified.
-They were not an invincible juggernaut, and it seemed like no matter what, Hannibal was always able to fuck them up in battle.
-Out of desperation, Rome appointed a dictator, which had only been used extremely rarely since the Samnite Wars.
-The dictator was Quantus Fabius Maximus, who also actually the last dictator to be appointed in Rome, as he acted like a complete dickhead.
-Fabius Maximus would be immortalized in military history with the term "Fabian tactics", which was just avoiding combat altogether. He was sick of being tricked into combat with Hannibal.
-The Romans were horrified by this plan, as it was not in their military character to avoid fighting like this. However, Hannibal actually respected Rome for employing this strategy!
-Brilliantly, Hannibal decided to manipulate the Romans' negative feelings towards Fabius by sparing the lands owned by Fabius during their countryside raids, further increasing the Romans' suspicion of their dictator that maybe he was secretly in cahoots with Hannibal.
-Unfortunately for Hannibal, he finally made a mistake by raiding Campania. He wanted to besiege Capua, the second most powerful city in the Roman Empire, in hopes that he could actually flip the city and fight against Rome.
-Fabius Maximus took this opportunity to take advantage of the Campanian geography and trap Hannibal. Hannibal was able to escape, however.
-Fabius Maximus then got in trouble with the Romans, who decided to appoint a co-dictator (which defeated the whole purpose of having a dictator with absolute power in the first place).
-They appointed this co-dictator, but he soon scrapped.
-The Romans realized that while Fabius Maximus wasn't popular, they hadn't actually lost a battle in over a year.
-Gaius Terentius Varro- one of Fabius' biggest critics- told the people that if he was elected consul, he would be able to raise a massive army and crush Hannibal.
-People overwhelmingly supported this and elected him.
-He then raised 16 legions to take on Hannibal (80,000 men).
-Hannibal had recently conquered the city of Cannae in southwest Italy, and was lurking around there, waiting for Rome to come to him. During this time, he only had 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry.
-However, when the Romans arrived, they had a disagreement- fight in the hills to neutralize Hannibal's cavalry advantage, or simply overwhelm in the field with their huge numbers?
-Varro finally got his way and they tried to overwhelm Hannibal by fighting in the field- huge mistake!
-Varro made some other stupid tactical mistakes, and soon found his army outflanked by the Carthaginians.
-The Roman legions were absolutely hacked to pieces (50,000-70,000) Romans died that day, including the Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus.
-Varro fled the battle.
-The Battle of Cannae is one of the most famous battles in all of military history.
-However, many while so many great military minds still praise Hannibal as a genius, many are super-critical of what he did with his massive military victory- jack shit!
-He never actually attacked the city of Rome itself. He just continued trying to get Rome's allies to join him.
-Still, to Hannibal's credit, he only had 35,000 troops left... a Roman siege would have been very difficult to pull off.
-Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal (not to be confused with his brother-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, who had died in 221 BC), was instructed by Hannibal to continue to fight the Romans who had landed in Spain.
-215 BC- Hiero II dies, succeeded by his grandson, Hieronymus of Syracuse.
-At this time, the nobility was pushing hard to break away from Rome and side with Carthage.
-Hieronymous agreed, and made a deal with Carthage in which Carthage would leave Syracuse alone if Syracuse allied itself with Carthage and helped push Rome out of Sicily. However, Hieronymous was kind of a Joffrey Lannister-type, and everyone hated him, so he was assassinated, along with the rest of his family, in 214 BC.
-A pair of Carthaginian generals then staged a military coup, putting Sicily directly under Carthage's control.
-Meanwhile, the Romans and the Carthaginians (along with their Celtiberian allies) were duking it out in Spain for 5 long years.
-They were pretty evenly matched. However, although Rome would take Saguntum, they would eventually be pretty much wiped out in Spain.
-Back in Sicily, the Romans doubled down to fight the Carthaginians. They were hellbent on conquering Syracuse first.
-This was really difficult though, especially because Syracuse had a secret weapon- super-genius Archimedes!
-He designed a grappling hook that could fuck up Roman ships from the city walls, along with catapults that hurl massive boulders.
-Still, the city fell after 2-3 years, due to a combination of bad luck, Roman infiltration, and other stuff.
-The Romans were uncharacteristically brutal as they sacked, raped, and plundered the fuck out of the city.
-Even Romans back home were shocked at the brutality, as it had been a glorious city of art, science, and treasure.
-What was going on in Macedonia during this time?
-This was actually the third theater of the war, which is rarely talked about!
-Around the time of the Battle of Cannae, Philip V of Macedonia signed an allied treaty with Carthage.
-Philip V's plan was to reunite Greece again like the previous Macedonian kings had done ("Make Macedonia Great Again").
-Rome found about this, so they tried to ally with the Greeks. They were able to secure an alliance with the Aetolian League, a buffer confederacy between Macedonia and Greece's southern city-states.
-Philip V's wanted to conquer the Roman protectorate lands in Illyria so they could have a coastline to attack Rome from.
-However, whenever he tried to do this, the Aetolian League would attack from the south, thus causing a major distraction.
-This was the beginning of the First Macedonian War, but did not actually involve legit Roman troops.
-Meanwhile, Hannibal's plan seemed to work at first.
-Capua defected to the Carthaginian side, but no one else followed suit.
-Hannibal marched south and conquered Tarentum, but couldn't quite drive out the Roman garrison that was the holed up in the citadel, which could be supplied from the coast.
-Rome then began to attack Capua.
-Hannibal responded by marching on Rome itself! He got within 2 miles of the city!
-However, the Romans knew Hannibal was not strong enough to take Rome, so they didn't fall into his trap, as Hannibal wanted Rome's army to come back so he could crush it. So Hannibal was forced to back off.
-Rome then liberated by Capua.
-Meanwhile in the Iberian peninsula, Rome was just about to give up.
-Nobody wanted to continue leading, except at the last second Publius Scipio came forward.
-Publius Scipio, of course, would eventually be the legendary general Scipio Africanus!
-Scipio was not liked at first by the traditional military commanders, as he was kind of a rebel- he had long hair and many believed that he spoke as if he was divinely inspired, which made him very charismatic and well-liked by the general public. He was young too, kind of like a cross between Jim Morrison, Alexander the Great, and Jesus (or something).
-Fabius' strategy was to avoid direct confrontation with Hannibal, but Scipio believed that the Hannibal could be beaten by altering the usual Roman tactics.
-Scipio took a small force (2,000 men) to the Iberian peninsula and attacked New Carthage directly; something that was completely unexpected by Hannibal. At first he was unsuccessful, but soon gained some intelligence on a way to sneak into the city, and New Carthage was captured by the Romans!
-Scipio then had all of the Celtiberian barbarian POWs set free, which caused them to get tons of support from the Celtiberian hordes of the surrounding areas.
-208 BC- Scipio clashes with Hasdrubal in the Iberian peninsula, and Hasdrubal is beaten back and escapes.
-Hasdrubal had planned on attacking the Italian peninsula rather than fighting in the Iberian peninsula.
-206 BC - Battle of Ilipio- Scipio's finest hour! The Romans were completely outnumbered.
-Scipio changed up his formations from the usual lineup and were able to outflank the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians finally fled and were chased by the Romans, who eventually slaughtered them all. Rome thus was able to dominate Carthage in the Iberian peninsula.
-Hannibal was still a difficult opponent in Italy- too strong and cunning to defeat in battle, but too weak to take Rome.
-Meanwhile, Hasdrubal was trying to get to Italy to reinforce Hannibal's army, but luckily for Rome they had a strong, fortified army in the north. Rome was able to send troops up to the Po Valley, and eventually they crushed Hasdrubal's army there!
-Rome, under Scipio, then hatched a plan to attack Carthage itself!
-First though, Carthage was too powerful with their Numidian cavalry.
-Rome knew that if they could flip Numidia, Carthage would be fucked.
-The Numidians weren't happy under Carthage domination.
-Rome was thus able to form a close friendship with Masinissa, an exiled Numidian prince who hated Carthage.
-203 BC- Scipio sailed for North Africa with a force of 35,000.
-He arrived west of Carthage and began raiding immediately.
-Besieged the city of Utica, so Carthage sent a massive force of 70,000 troops to drive off the Romans.
-As a result, Scipio withdrew and immediately sued for peace. Carthage agreed to hold off until morning to crush the Roman army, but that night the Romans quickly attacked the Carthaginian camp and slaughtered their army!!
-Suddenly, Carthage was very scared. They sent for Hannibal to return in 202 BC.
-He returned to fight Scipio in North Africa, but it just seemed like his spirit wasn't in the fight anymore.
-Finally, Scipio moved towards the city of Zama, away from Carthage, hoping to threaten Carthage's supply lines and draw out Hannibal into sketchy territory.
-Hannibal tried to sue for peace, but Scipio declined. By the end, Hannibal's army was wrecked, and he withdrew his forces.
-The Second Punic War was over, and Rome had won!
-Carthage was allowed to keep its North African empire, but all overseas territories were given to Rome.
-Carthage also wasn't allowed to build an army or navy, and couldn't fuck with any of their neighbors without Roman permission. They were forced to pay reparations to Rome. Masanissa was then crowned as king of Numidia (which, of course, was forced to be subordinate to Rome).
-The aftermath: Rome had transformed during wartime into an oligarchy, with a powerful aristocratic Senate running the show.
-Old Roman virtue was dead, and corrupt politicians were now running the show.
-The world was theirs for the taking!
-Hannibal immediately set out for Rome, plan was to sneak up and attack Rome from the north.
-Suffered heavy casualties as he marched against enemy barbarian hordes, however, and by attacking cities on the way.
-Also, he had to go through the Pyrenees, and arrived in Gaul with a force of only about 50,000... still though, Rome had no idea!
-Sempronius Longus was in Rome, preparing troops there for the African invasion.
-Scipio was in northern Italy, preparing for a Spanish invasion with 2 legions.
-On his way to Spain, however, Scipio landed in Massilia (Marseille) on the south coast of Gaul before going on to Spain.
-However, while he was there, he found that Hannibal's army was crossing the Rhône River! WTF!
-Hannibal knew that he had been exposed, so he moved as fast as he could to reach Rome. On the way, he was met with much resistance from the Gallic hordes.
-Scipio followed him, but knew that his force was way too small to take on Hannibal, so he eventually told his army to move onto Spain, and Hannibal himself sailed for Rome.
-Famous moment in world history: Hannibal crossing the Alps!
-Snow was just beginning to fall, and Hannibal's troops were constantly being attacked by hordes who lived in the mountains.
-Hannibal had to manage his troops, navigate the treacherous mountains, AND manage the supply routes as well!
-It was an absolute nightmare. Somehow, Hannibal kept his troops from giving up, even though he had lost over half during this time.
-Scipio finally made the decision to strike at Hannibal at the Ticinus River (a tributary of the Po River).
-Roman infantry were a good match against the Carthaginian infantry, but Hannibal's Numidian cavalry was way more badass.
-Scipio was actually wounded in this battle and had to retreat.
-Sempronius Longus was called upon to come help fight Hannibal.
-Hannibal was also a tactical genius and was able to manipulate the Romans into traps, taking advantage of the horrible weather at the time, and the Romans were eventually getting slaughtered!
-Rome was in a panic, and Sempronius Longus' reputation was shattered.
-Luckily for Rome, winter had set in and Hannibal knew it would be suicide to besiege Rome during that time.
-Thus, Rome had a chance to fortify and plan.
-Spring arrived and the Romans regrouped.
-The dominant consul at the time was Gaius Flaminius, a pleb maverick.
-Hannibal began to march on Rome, avoiding the roads and going through swamps, as he wanted to lure Flaminius' troops out of Rome to attack him in the bogs...and it worked!
-30,000-40,000 Romans were slaughtered as a result, including Gaius Flaminius.
-Rome was now terrified.
-They were not an invincible juggernaut, and it seemed like no matter what, Hannibal was always able to fuck them up in battle.
-Out of desperation, Rome appointed a dictator, which had only been used extremely rarely since the Samnite Wars.
-The dictator was Quantus Fabius Maximus, who also actually the last dictator to be appointed in Rome, as he acted like a complete dickhead.
-Fabius Maximus would be immortalized in military history with the term "Fabian tactics", which was just avoiding combat altogether. He was sick of being tricked into combat with Hannibal.
-The Romans were horrified by this plan, as it was not in their military character to avoid fighting like this. However, Hannibal actually respected Rome for employing this strategy!
-Brilliantly, Hannibal decided to manipulate the Romans' negative feelings towards Fabius by sparing the lands owned by Fabius during their countryside raids, further increasing the Romans' suspicion of their dictator that maybe he was secretly in cahoots with Hannibal.
-Unfortunately for Hannibal, he finally made a mistake by raiding Campania. He wanted to besiege Capua, the second most powerful city in the Roman Empire, in hopes that he could actually flip the city and fight against Rome.
-Fabius Maximus took this opportunity to take advantage of the Campanian geography and trap Hannibal. Hannibal was able to escape, however.
-Fabius Maximus then got in trouble with the Romans, who decided to appoint a co-dictator (which defeated the whole purpose of having a dictator with absolute power in the first place).
-They appointed this co-dictator, but he soon scrapped.
-The Romans realized that while Fabius Maximus wasn't popular, they hadn't actually lost a battle in over a year.
-Gaius Terentius Varro- one of Fabius' biggest critics- told the people that if he was elected consul, he would be able to raise a massive army and crush Hannibal.
-People overwhelmingly supported this and elected him.
-He then raised 16 legions to take on Hannibal (80,000 men).
-Hannibal had recently conquered the city of Cannae in southwest Italy, and was lurking around there, waiting for Rome to come to him. During this time, he only had 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry.
-However, when the Romans arrived, they had a disagreement- fight in the hills to neutralize Hannibal's cavalry advantage, or simply overwhelm in the field with their huge numbers?
-Varro finally got his way and they tried to overwhelm Hannibal by fighting in the field- huge mistake!
-Varro made some other stupid tactical mistakes, and soon found his army outflanked by the Carthaginians.
-The Roman legions were absolutely hacked to pieces (50,000-70,000) Romans died that day, including the Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus.
-Varro fled the battle.
-The Battle of Cannae is one of the most famous battles in all of military history.
-However, many while so many great military minds still praise Hannibal as a genius, many are super-critical of what he did with his massive military victory- jack shit!
-He never actually attacked the city of Rome itself. He just continued trying to get Rome's allies to join him.
-Still, to Hannibal's credit, he only had 35,000 troops left... a Roman siege would have been very difficult to pull off.
-Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal (not to be confused with his brother-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, who had died in 221 BC), was instructed by Hannibal to continue to fight the Romans who had landed in Spain.
-215 BC- Hiero II dies, succeeded by his grandson, Hieronymus of Syracuse.
-At this time, the nobility was pushing hard to break away from Rome and side with Carthage.
-Hieronymous agreed, and made a deal with Carthage in which Carthage would leave Syracuse alone if Syracuse allied itself with Carthage and helped push Rome out of Sicily. However, Hieronymous was kind of a Joffrey Lannister-type, and everyone hated him, so he was assassinated, along with the rest of his family, in 214 BC.
-A pair of Carthaginian generals then staged a military coup, putting Sicily directly under Carthage's control.
-Meanwhile, the Romans and the Carthaginians (along with their Celtiberian allies) were duking it out in Spain for 5 long years.
-They were pretty evenly matched. However, although Rome would take Saguntum, they would eventually be pretty much wiped out in Spain.
-Back in Sicily, the Romans doubled down to fight the Carthaginians. They were hellbent on conquering Syracuse first.
-This was really difficult though, especially because Syracuse had a secret weapon- super-genius Archimedes!
-He designed a grappling hook that could fuck up Roman ships from the city walls, along with catapults that hurl massive boulders.
-Still, the city fell after 2-3 years, due to a combination of bad luck, Roman infiltration, and other stuff.
-The Romans were uncharacteristically brutal as they sacked, raped, and plundered the fuck out of the city.
-Even Romans back home were shocked at the brutality, as it had been a glorious city of art, science, and treasure.
-What was going on in Macedonia during this time?
-This was actually the third theater of the war, which is rarely talked about!
-Around the time of the Battle of Cannae, Philip V of Macedonia signed an allied treaty with Carthage.
-Philip V's plan was to reunite Greece again like the previous Macedonian kings had done ("Make Macedonia Great Again").
-Rome found about this, so they tried to ally with the Greeks. They were able to secure an alliance with the Aetolian League, a buffer confederacy between Macedonia and Greece's southern city-states.
-Philip V's wanted to conquer the Roman protectorate lands in Illyria so they could have a coastline to attack Rome from.
-However, whenever he tried to do this, the Aetolian League would attack from the south, thus causing a major distraction.
-This was the beginning of the First Macedonian War, but did not actually involve legit Roman troops.
-Meanwhile, Hannibal's plan seemed to work at first.
-Capua defected to the Carthaginian side, but no one else followed suit.
-Hannibal marched south and conquered Tarentum, but couldn't quite drive out the Roman garrison that was the holed up in the citadel, which could be supplied from the coast.
-Rome then began to attack Capua.
-Hannibal responded by marching on Rome itself! He got within 2 miles of the city!
-However, the Romans knew Hannibal was not strong enough to take Rome, so they didn't fall into his trap, as Hannibal wanted Rome's army to come back so he could crush it. So Hannibal was forced to back off.
-Rome then liberated by Capua.
-Meanwhile in the Iberian peninsula, Rome was just about to give up.
-Nobody wanted to continue leading, except at the last second Publius Scipio came forward.
-Publius Scipio, of course, would eventually be the legendary general Scipio Africanus!
-Scipio was not liked at first by the traditional military commanders, as he was kind of a rebel- he had long hair and many believed that he spoke as if he was divinely inspired, which made him very charismatic and well-liked by the general public. He was young too, kind of like a cross between Jim Morrison, Alexander the Great, and Jesus (or something).
-Fabius' strategy was to avoid direct confrontation with Hannibal, but Scipio believed that the Hannibal could be beaten by altering the usual Roman tactics.
-Scipio took a small force (2,000 men) to the Iberian peninsula and attacked New Carthage directly; something that was completely unexpected by Hannibal. At first he was unsuccessful, but soon gained some intelligence on a way to sneak into the city, and New Carthage was captured by the Romans!
-Scipio then had all of the Celtiberian barbarian POWs set free, which caused them to get tons of support from the Celtiberian hordes of the surrounding areas.
-208 BC- Scipio clashes with Hasdrubal in the Iberian peninsula, and Hasdrubal is beaten back and escapes.
-Hasdrubal had planned on attacking the Italian peninsula rather than fighting in the Iberian peninsula.
-206 BC - Battle of Ilipio- Scipio's finest hour! The Romans were completely outnumbered.
-Scipio changed up his formations from the usual lineup and were able to outflank the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians finally fled and were chased by the Romans, who eventually slaughtered them all. Rome thus was able to dominate Carthage in the Iberian peninsula.
-Hannibal was still a difficult opponent in Italy- too strong and cunning to defeat in battle, but too weak to take Rome.
-Meanwhile, Hasdrubal was trying to get to Italy to reinforce Hannibal's army, but luckily for Rome they had a strong, fortified army in the north. Rome was able to send troops up to the Po Valley, and eventually they crushed Hasdrubal's army there!
-Rome, under Scipio, then hatched a plan to attack Carthage itself!
-First though, Carthage was too powerful with their Numidian cavalry.
-Rome knew that if they could flip Numidia, Carthage would be fucked.
-The Numidians weren't happy under Carthage domination.
-Rome was thus able to form a close friendship with Masinissa, an exiled Numidian prince who hated Carthage.
-203 BC- Scipio sailed for North Africa with a force of 35,000.
-He arrived west of Carthage and began raiding immediately.
-Besieged the city of Utica, so Carthage sent a massive force of 70,000 troops to drive off the Romans.
-As a result, Scipio withdrew and immediately sued for peace. Carthage agreed to hold off until morning to crush the Roman army, but that night the Romans quickly attacked the Carthaginian camp and slaughtered their army!!
-Suddenly, Carthage was very scared. They sent for Hannibal to return in 202 BC.
-He returned to fight Scipio in North Africa, but it just seemed like his spirit wasn't in the fight anymore.
-Finally, Scipio moved towards the city of Zama, away from Carthage, hoping to threaten Carthage's supply lines and draw out Hannibal into sketchy territory.
-Hannibal tried to sue for peace, but Scipio declined. By the end, Hannibal's army was wrecked, and he withdrew his forces.
-The Second Punic War was over, and Rome had won!
-Carthage was allowed to keep its North African empire, but all overseas territories were given to Rome.
-Carthage also wasn't allowed to build an army or navy, and couldn't fuck with any of their neighbors without Roman permission. They were forced to pay reparations to Rome. Masanissa was then crowned as king of Numidia (which, of course, was forced to be subordinate to Rome).
-The aftermath: Rome had transformed during wartime into an oligarchy, with a powerful aristocratic Senate running the show.
-Old Roman virtue was dead, and corrupt politicians were now running the show.
-The world was theirs for the taking!
Monday, December 12, 2016
Prelude to the Second Punic War
-237 BC- Hamilcar Barca leads the Carthaginians in a conquest of the Iberian peninsula.
-During this time, the Iberian peninsula was populated by barbarian tribes such as the Celts, Iberians, and Celtiberians.
-However, Hamilcar secretly planned on setting up an empire for himself, independent of Carthaginian rule.
-Began to mint coints comparing himself and his son to the local Iberian gods, and having his troops swear allegiance to himself and his family, not Carthage.
-Spain was attractive to both Carthage and, later, Rome, because it was rich in silver!!
-Hamilcar Barca was both ruthless and nice. He would execute any opposition leaders, but would also send enemy troops back home after they were defeated.
-He wanted to rule and assimilate the Iberian hordes, not exterminate them.
-231 BC- Rome catches onto what Hamilcar is doing, but they were busy fighting the Gauls and the Illyrians to do much good.
-However, in 228 BC, Hamilcar accidentally drowns.
-He is replaced by Hasdrubal the Fair, one of his son-in-laws and Hannibal Barca's brother-in-law, who immediately begins to commit mass genocide against the Iberians.
-Founded a new capital in the region, New Carthage; a "virtually impregnable fortress".
-226 BC- the Romans are concerned about the Iberian peninsula. They sign a peace treaty with the Carthaginians, in which the Carthaginians promised not to cross the Ebro River in northeast Spain.
-One problem, however, was that this left Saguntum, a Roman-allied city, deep in Carthaginian territory.
-221 BC- Hasdrubal is murdered by a disgruntled Iberian barbarian who had finally had enough of the brutality.
-Hannibal Barca was thus appointed to replace his brother-in-law.
-Hannibal was super popular among his troops, which soon evolved into a cult of personality.
-Allegedly, Hannibal never experienced a revolt or had as assassination attempt against him.
-Saguntum was really scared of Hannibal.
-Hasdrubal had left them alone, but they knew that Hannibal was powerful enough to take the city.
-The city pleaded with Rome to save them, but Rome was still preoccupied with the Illyrian pirates.
-Finally, Rome sent some delegates to investigate the situation. Seguntum was right, and Rome knew that severe trouble was heading their way.
-However, Rome presumed that the war would be confined to the Iberian peninsula only due to the isolationist character of Hannibal's army.
-219 BC- Hannibal besieges Seguntum. Rome threatened to do something, but the Carthaginians pointed out that Seguntum was indeed south of the Ebro River, which meant that the city was indeed in Carthaginian territory.
-Seguntum finally fell to Hannibal later that year.
-Rome finally decided enough was enough, and declared war!
-They planned on a 3-pronged assault:
-One force to Africa.
-One force to the Iberian peninsula to fight Hannibal.
-One force to remain in the Po Valley in northern Italy to fight off any Gauls who might take advantage of the absence of Rome's main army in the Italian peninsula.
-During this time, the Iberian peninsula was populated by barbarian tribes such as the Celts, Iberians, and Celtiberians.
-However, Hamilcar secretly planned on setting up an empire for himself, independent of Carthaginian rule.
-Began to mint coints comparing himself and his son to the local Iberian gods, and having his troops swear allegiance to himself and his family, not Carthage.
-Spain was attractive to both Carthage and, later, Rome, because it was rich in silver!!
-Hamilcar Barca was both ruthless and nice. He would execute any opposition leaders, but would also send enemy troops back home after they were defeated.
-He wanted to rule and assimilate the Iberian hordes, not exterminate them.
-231 BC- Rome catches onto what Hamilcar is doing, but they were busy fighting the Gauls and the Illyrians to do much good.
-However, in 228 BC, Hamilcar accidentally drowns.
-He is replaced by Hasdrubal the Fair, one of his son-in-laws and Hannibal Barca's brother-in-law, who immediately begins to commit mass genocide against the Iberians.
-Founded a new capital in the region, New Carthage; a "virtually impregnable fortress".
-226 BC- the Romans are concerned about the Iberian peninsula. They sign a peace treaty with the Carthaginians, in which the Carthaginians promised not to cross the Ebro River in northeast Spain.
-One problem, however, was that this left Saguntum, a Roman-allied city, deep in Carthaginian territory.
-221 BC- Hasdrubal is murdered by a disgruntled Iberian barbarian who had finally had enough of the brutality.
-Hannibal Barca was thus appointed to replace his brother-in-law.
-Hannibal was super popular among his troops, which soon evolved into a cult of personality.
-Allegedly, Hannibal never experienced a revolt or had as assassination attempt against him.
-Saguntum was really scared of Hannibal.
-Hasdrubal had left them alone, but they knew that Hannibal was powerful enough to take the city.
-The city pleaded with Rome to save them, but Rome was still preoccupied with the Illyrian pirates.
-Finally, Rome sent some delegates to investigate the situation. Seguntum was right, and Rome knew that severe trouble was heading their way.
-However, Rome presumed that the war would be confined to the Iberian peninsula only due to the isolationist character of Hannibal's army.
-219 BC- Hannibal besieges Seguntum. Rome threatened to do something, but the Carthaginians pointed out that Seguntum was indeed south of the Ebro River, which meant that the city was indeed in Carthaginian territory.
-Seguntum finally fell to Hannibal later that year.
-Rome finally decided enough was enough, and declared war!
-They planned on a 3-pronged assault:
-One force to Africa.
-One force to the Iberian peninsula to fight Hannibal.
-One force to remain in the Po Valley in northern Italy to fight off any Gauls who might take advantage of the absence of Rome's main army in the Italian peninsula.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Interbellum
-After the war, both sides were weakened.
-Carthage would soon have problems with the Numidians, and Rome with Gallic hordes and Illyrian pirates.
-Stupidly, Carthage decided to stiff their mercenaries, and spent the next 3 years fighting a war against them because of it. Carthage then hired new mercenaries to fight their ex-mercenaries, and eventually the Carthaginians won.
-Meanwhile in Rome, Roman politics was divided by two families- the Claudiae and the Fabiae.
-The Claudiae wanted to expand south and take on Carthage.
-The Fabiae wanted to expand north and take on the Gauls.
-Even the Po Valley in the far north of Italy was once Etruscan, but it had recently been overrun by Gallic hordes.
-230s BC- Gauls begin to organize against Rome.
-Also, Illyrian pirates began to be a major nuisance for Rome.
-Illyria (modern-day Balkans, westernmost Greek lands)- people were considered barbarians by the "civilized" Greeks of the south.
-Various tribes, kingdoms (including Epirus), etc.
-While these people wanted to be a legit power, they were barbarians, not merchants, so they naturally were best at being pirate raiders, which was extremely annoying for Rome. Rome finally had enough, however, when they started to raid port cities that were frequented by Roman ships.
228 BC- The First Illyrian War- Rome sends troops to go fuck up Illyria.
-Rome also sent diplomats to Greece ti explain that they weren't invading, they were just tired of the Illyrian pirates, and the Greeks accepted it.
-The Greeks and the Romans had a peaceful understanding, although the Greeks still viewed the Romans as uncultured/uncivilized folk.
-Corinth even invited Rome to participate in the Isthian Games!
-Meanwhile, the ancient kingdom of Macedonia was on the rise again, in the wake of the power vacuum left after Alexander the Great's death.
-After a year, the Illyrian pirates were pacified.
-The Roman's peace terms were harsh. Illyrian ships were completely banned from the Adriatic Sea. Also, southern Illyria and other tribal lands were then designated as a "Roman protectorate" in a forced alliance with Rome.
-The First Illyrian War was over.
-226 BC- Gauls organized and began raiding Roman lands, and wanted to sack Rome a second time.
-Rome mobilized a huge amount of troops from every community in the Italian peninsula- up to 700,000 infantry (!!) and 70,000 cavalry (!!).
-This also consisted of many civilians and untrained warriors, but this was still indicative of how serious/scared Rome was regarding the Gallic hordes.
-The first battle went really badly for Rome, but this was actually a blessing in disguise.
-The Gauls became overconfident and greedy in their raids, and decided to hold off on attacking Rome directly and instead raid other places instead. Then after heading back up north with all of their booty, they would come back again and sack Rome.
-This allowed for Rome to quickly organize and crush them while they were scattered and raiding. Thus, the Gauls were driven out of Italy completely, and the lands south of the Alps were conquered by Rome as a result.
-Carthage would soon have problems with the Numidians, and Rome with Gallic hordes and Illyrian pirates.
-Stupidly, Carthage decided to stiff their mercenaries, and spent the next 3 years fighting a war against them because of it. Carthage then hired new mercenaries to fight their ex-mercenaries, and eventually the Carthaginians won.
-Meanwhile in Rome, Roman politics was divided by two families- the Claudiae and the Fabiae.
-The Claudiae wanted to expand south and take on Carthage.
-The Fabiae wanted to expand north and take on the Gauls.
-Even the Po Valley in the far north of Italy was once Etruscan, but it had recently been overrun by Gallic hordes.
-230s BC- Gauls begin to organize against Rome.
-Also, Illyrian pirates began to be a major nuisance for Rome.
-Illyria (modern-day Balkans, westernmost Greek lands)- people were considered barbarians by the "civilized" Greeks of the south.
-Various tribes, kingdoms (including Epirus), etc.
-While these people wanted to be a legit power, they were barbarians, not merchants, so they naturally were best at being pirate raiders, which was extremely annoying for Rome. Rome finally had enough, however, when they started to raid port cities that were frequented by Roman ships.
228 BC- The First Illyrian War- Rome sends troops to go fuck up Illyria.
-Rome also sent diplomats to Greece ti explain that they weren't invading, they were just tired of the Illyrian pirates, and the Greeks accepted it.
-The Greeks and the Romans had a peaceful understanding, although the Greeks still viewed the Romans as uncultured/uncivilized folk.
-Corinth even invited Rome to participate in the Isthian Games!
-Meanwhile, the ancient kingdom of Macedonia was on the rise again, in the wake of the power vacuum left after Alexander the Great's death.
-After a year, the Illyrian pirates were pacified.
-The Roman's peace terms were harsh. Illyrian ships were completely banned from the Adriatic Sea. Also, southern Illyria and other tribal lands were then designated as a "Roman protectorate" in a forced alliance with Rome.
-The First Illyrian War was over.
-226 BC- Gauls organized and began raiding Roman lands, and wanted to sack Rome a second time.
-Rome mobilized a huge amount of troops from every community in the Italian peninsula- up to 700,000 infantry (!!) and 70,000 cavalry (!!).
-This also consisted of many civilians and untrained warriors, but this was still indicative of how serious/scared Rome was regarding the Gallic hordes.
-The first battle went really badly for Rome, but this was actually a blessing in disguise.
-The Gauls became overconfident and greedy in their raids, and decided to hold off on attacking Rome directly and instead raid other places instead. Then after heading back up north with all of their booty, they would come back again and sack Rome.
-This allowed for Rome to quickly organize and crush them while they were scattered and raiding. Thus, the Gauls were driven out of Italy completely, and the lands south of the Alps were conquered by Rome as a result.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
The First Punic War
-264 BC - Appius Claudius, one of the consuls, along with 2 legions, landed in Sicily.
-Their goal was to secure Messina and then use that opportunity to conquer the rest of the island.
-The Carthaginians made an alliance with Hiero II of Syracuse to attack the Romans.
-Hiero II led an an attack against the legions, but quickly backed off. The Carthaginians were now on their own, and forced back by the Romans.
-The Romans then marched on Syracuse, but Hiero II knew that the Roman army was too weak to take the city.
-The Romans knew that too, and marched back to Messina.
-263 BC- another Roman consul arrives with two more legions, begins to attack Syracuse's allied towns.
-Hiero II sues for peace, and the Romans offer him a sweet deal- he could remain king, but must supply allied troops for the Roman army.
-262 BC- Rome continued its campaign against the Carthaginians in Sicily.
-Attacked Agrigentum in the south and built a wall around the city to prevent any entrance or exit to/from the city, which left the Roman army open to being besieged themselves.
-This is exactly what happened, and they were soon trapped by Carthaginian reinforcements.
-Finally, Agrigentum relented and called out the Romans to an open battle, but the Romans won.
-Somehow, during the fall of the city, the legions went crazy in their looting frenzy and ended up slaughtering everyone.
-They decided to spin this by saying they were "making an example". However, this just rallied the Carthaginian cities against Rome.
-After Agrigentum, Rome had conquered much of Sicily, but Carthage still controlled the western part of the island.
-Also, sieges wouldn't work because the coastal cities could be supplied by the sea.
-This inspired Rome to challenge the Carthaginians in the water, and the Romans began to build their own navy.
-They studied Carthaginian ships, and in 2 months had built 120 ships. Unfortunately, they didn't know shit about actual seamanship, and were complete noobs.
-Leading this new fleet was a dude named Publius Cornelius Scipio.
-Scipio was to lead a scouting fleet to Massina, but while waiting he got greedy and decided to raid a coastal town nearby, which tipped off the Carthaginians to a Roman naval assault.
-The Carthaginians now knew that Rome was trying to build a navy, and Scipio was soon surrounded by a Carthaginian fleet.
-Scipio was eventually captured, but freed later. Because of his noobishness, he earned the cognomen "Asina" ("female donkey").
-At this point, a full-on naval war had begun between Carthage and Rome.
-Carthage sent 145 ships to attack Rome's 120.
-Rome had a new secret weapon though- the "corvus" ("raven")!
-The corvus was a huge plank and spike that could hook other ships, create a bridge, and turn a ship battle into an infantry battle!
-It was surprisingly effective! With help from the corvus, the Romans actually won their first major naval battle.
-However, the corvus actually stopped being so effective once the Carthaginians developed tactics to stay out of its reach.
-256 BC- Rome had also begun to also attack the Carthaginians in Sardinia and Corscia, but quickly realized that this wasn't sustainable, and that maybe it would be better to bring the battle to North Africa instead! So, they built a huge fleet (350 ships) in Sicily for this mission and sent them on their way.
-Carthage countered by sending a huge fleet to intercept them.
-A huge naval battle was fought at Cape Ecnomus (near Licata, Sicily). Somehow, the Romans were able to fight off the Carthaginians, and ultimately landed in North Africa!
-Their plan had been to land south of Carthage and then attack the capital, but their plan got messed up and many of these ships had to head back to Rome, so the force that finally arrived was 15,000 infantry and 500 cavalry.
-The Romans then headed towards Carthage, attacking towns on the way, and easily defeating the first Carthaginian army that tried to drive them off.
-However, the Carthaginians had a secret weapon too- Numidian cavalry! However, unfortunately for Carthage, they had just received news that the Numidians wanted to back out of the fight, and were ultimately revolting against Carthage. Thus, Rome demanded Carthage's complete surrender and submission to Rome.
-The Carthaginians panicked, but were able to hire mercenaries from Sparta to come save them!
-The Spartan general, Xanthippus, showed up and reorganized the Carthaginian army, which had been pretty shitty due to incompetence.
-The Carthaginian armies then fought against Rome and won! The Romans were either driven off or captured (including their general, Regulus).
-The Roman fleet that had just arrived as reinforcements was able to rescue the fleeing Roman armies and take them back to Rome, but unfortunately for them there was a brutal storm on their way home and the entire fleet was destroyed!
-After this, the Carthaginians stupidly decided to dismiss Xanthippus because the elite were scared of him using his power to take over.
-The Romans, desperate for some kind of victory, attacked the Carthaginian city of Lilybaeum in Sicily.
-249 BC- Lilybaeum had been under siege for a year, but no progress was being made due to horrible luck and incompetence.
-At this point, both Rome and Carthage were exhausted.
-Rome was also beginning to have problems with the Gauls in the north.
-Meanwhile, Carthage was still dealing with the Numidians.
-Sicily had become a slapdash, free-for-all battleground.
-The Carthaginians began to just do annoying, guerilla warfare.
-In 244 BC, they finally managed to drive a lot of Romans out of central Sicily.
-Rome, however, refused to give up! They made one last push to take Sicily, and Carthage decided to just give it up, working out a deal with Rome.
-However, this royally pissed off one Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, who had been fighting in Sicily.
-He made his son, Hannibal Barca, swear an oath of eternal hatred for Rome.
-Their goal was to secure Messina and then use that opportunity to conquer the rest of the island.
-The Carthaginians made an alliance with Hiero II of Syracuse to attack the Romans.
-Hiero II led an an attack against the legions, but quickly backed off. The Carthaginians were now on their own, and forced back by the Romans.
-The Romans then marched on Syracuse, but Hiero II knew that the Roman army was too weak to take the city.
-The Romans knew that too, and marched back to Messina.
-263 BC- another Roman consul arrives with two more legions, begins to attack Syracuse's allied towns.
-Hiero II sues for peace, and the Romans offer him a sweet deal- he could remain king, but must supply allied troops for the Roman army.
-262 BC- Rome continued its campaign against the Carthaginians in Sicily.
-Attacked Agrigentum in the south and built a wall around the city to prevent any entrance or exit to/from the city, which left the Roman army open to being besieged themselves.
-This is exactly what happened, and they were soon trapped by Carthaginian reinforcements.
-Finally, Agrigentum relented and called out the Romans to an open battle, but the Romans won.
-Somehow, during the fall of the city, the legions went crazy in their looting frenzy and ended up slaughtering everyone.
-They decided to spin this by saying they were "making an example". However, this just rallied the Carthaginian cities against Rome.
-After Agrigentum, Rome had conquered much of Sicily, but Carthage still controlled the western part of the island.
-Also, sieges wouldn't work because the coastal cities could be supplied by the sea.
-This inspired Rome to challenge the Carthaginians in the water, and the Romans began to build their own navy.
-They studied Carthaginian ships, and in 2 months had built 120 ships. Unfortunately, they didn't know shit about actual seamanship, and were complete noobs.
-Leading this new fleet was a dude named Publius Cornelius Scipio.
-Scipio was to lead a scouting fleet to Massina, but while waiting he got greedy and decided to raid a coastal town nearby, which tipped off the Carthaginians to a Roman naval assault.
-The Carthaginians now knew that Rome was trying to build a navy, and Scipio was soon surrounded by a Carthaginian fleet.
-Scipio was eventually captured, but freed later. Because of his noobishness, he earned the cognomen "Asina" ("female donkey").
-At this point, a full-on naval war had begun between Carthage and Rome.
-Carthage sent 145 ships to attack Rome's 120.
-Rome had a new secret weapon though- the "corvus" ("raven")!
-The corvus was a huge plank and spike that could hook other ships, create a bridge, and turn a ship battle into an infantry battle!
-It was surprisingly effective! With help from the corvus, the Romans actually won their first major naval battle.
-However, the corvus actually stopped being so effective once the Carthaginians developed tactics to stay out of its reach.
-256 BC- Rome had also begun to also attack the Carthaginians in Sardinia and Corscia, but quickly realized that this wasn't sustainable, and that maybe it would be better to bring the battle to North Africa instead! So, they built a huge fleet (350 ships) in Sicily for this mission and sent them on their way.
-Carthage countered by sending a huge fleet to intercept them.
-A huge naval battle was fought at Cape Ecnomus (near Licata, Sicily). Somehow, the Romans were able to fight off the Carthaginians, and ultimately landed in North Africa!
-Their plan had been to land south of Carthage and then attack the capital, but their plan got messed up and many of these ships had to head back to Rome, so the force that finally arrived was 15,000 infantry and 500 cavalry.
-The Romans then headed towards Carthage, attacking towns on the way, and easily defeating the first Carthaginian army that tried to drive them off.
-However, the Carthaginians had a secret weapon too- Numidian cavalry! However, unfortunately for Carthage, they had just received news that the Numidians wanted to back out of the fight, and were ultimately revolting against Carthage. Thus, Rome demanded Carthage's complete surrender and submission to Rome.
-The Carthaginians panicked, but were able to hire mercenaries from Sparta to come save them!
-The Spartan general, Xanthippus, showed up and reorganized the Carthaginian army, which had been pretty shitty due to incompetence.
-The Carthaginian armies then fought against Rome and won! The Romans were either driven off or captured (including their general, Regulus).
-The Roman fleet that had just arrived as reinforcements was able to rescue the fleeing Roman armies and take them back to Rome, but unfortunately for them there was a brutal storm on their way home and the entire fleet was destroyed!
-After this, the Carthaginians stupidly decided to dismiss Xanthippus because the elite were scared of him using his power to take over.
-The Romans, desperate for some kind of victory, attacked the Carthaginian city of Lilybaeum in Sicily.
-249 BC- Lilybaeum had been under siege for a year, but no progress was being made due to horrible luck and incompetence.
-At this point, both Rome and Carthage were exhausted.
-Rome was also beginning to have problems with the Gauls in the north.
-Meanwhile, Carthage was still dealing with the Numidians.
-Sicily had become a slapdash, free-for-all battleground.
-The Carthaginians began to just do annoying, guerilla warfare.
-In 244 BC, they finally managed to drive a lot of Romans out of central Sicily.
-Rome, however, refused to give up! They made one last push to take Sicily, and Carthage decided to just give it up, working out a deal with Rome.
-However, this royally pissed off one Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, who had been fighting in Sicily.
-He made his son, Hannibal Barca, swear an oath of eternal hatred for Rome.
Monday, December 5, 2016
Prelude to the First Punic War
-Pyrrhus had been driven back to Greece.
-The Carthaginians- came from Carthage, a city near modern-day Tunis, Tunisia.
-A commerce-based empire and a leading economic power in the Mediterranean Sea.
-Founded around 800 BC by Phoenician settlers.
-"Punic" comes from the Latin word for Phoenician ("Punicus").
-Had a very powerful navy.
-Also known to produce one of the first written alphabets ever.
-Established a powerful trade empire by establishing small colonies throughout the Mediterranean, from Lebanon to Gibraltar.
-Government was a mixed oligarchy.
-They had a people's assembly, which was a joke, and a senate, which was made up of super-rich families.
-They also had a council of 100 within the senate, made up of the uber-rich.
-The senate would elect the chief executive of Carthage ("shofeṭ"), similar to the Roman consul.
-The shofeṭ had a bunch of power, term lasted for a year.
-Did NOT control the army, however. Army was controlled by a core of generals.
-The Carthaginians did not have any conflict between the classes, at least, not like the Romans had. -Rome's military was made up of Roman citizens, who took the role very seriously.
-The Carthaginians just hired mercenary armies to fight for them, but had the armies led by Carthaginian generals.
-The story of the Punic Wars begins in Messina, Sicily.
-Agathocles of Syracuse had hired a bunch of mercenaries from Campania (known as the Mamertines) to fight for his city.
-At the time, Sicily was divided between the Carthaginians and the Greeks.
-Battles were fought between 315-305 BC. By 300 BC, however, they had reached a stalemate and sued for peace.
-289 BC- Agathocles dies, and the Mamertines found themselves getting stiffed for their work! Therefore, they decided to take over the Sicilian city of Mesiana, where they somehow were able to chill for 10 years.
-278 BC- the Mamertines called on Pyrrhus to come save them from the Carthaginians. However, once Pyrrhus arrived and everyone found out what a huge douchebag he was, they asked him to go back home to Greece!
-Meanwhile, a new tyrant of Syracuse, Hiero, had taken power, and desired to take over all of Sicily for Syracuse.
-265 BC- the Mamertines and the Carthaginians ally against Hiero to make sure he doesn't take over the island.
-However, the Mamertines soon changed their mind about this alliance and asked the Romans to come and save them.
-After much debate, Rome agreed, and sent a small force from Tarentum to Messina, where they landed without any problems. The Carthaginians saw that the Romans had arrived, and so decided not to attack.
-The Romans immediately began to fortify the city. The Carthaginians didn't know what to do, and were scared to attack and risk provoking a huge war between Rome and Carthage.
-This royally pissed off the Carthaginian Senate, who immediately ordered the Carthaginian troops to attack the Romans at Messina. However, 2 Roman legions had just arrived to further fortify the city...
-The Carthaginians- came from Carthage, a city near modern-day Tunis, Tunisia.
-A commerce-based empire and a leading economic power in the Mediterranean Sea.
-Founded around 800 BC by Phoenician settlers.
-"Punic" comes from the Latin word for Phoenician ("Punicus").
-Had a very powerful navy.
-Also known to produce one of the first written alphabets ever.
-Established a powerful trade empire by establishing small colonies throughout the Mediterranean, from Lebanon to Gibraltar.
-Government was a mixed oligarchy.
-They had a people's assembly, which was a joke, and a senate, which was made up of super-rich families.
-They also had a council of 100 within the senate, made up of the uber-rich.
-The senate would elect the chief executive of Carthage ("shofeṭ"), similar to the Roman consul.
-The shofeṭ had a bunch of power, term lasted for a year.
-Did NOT control the army, however. Army was controlled by a core of generals.
-The Carthaginians did not have any conflict between the classes, at least, not like the Romans had. -Rome's military was made up of Roman citizens, who took the role very seriously.
-The Carthaginians just hired mercenary armies to fight for them, but had the armies led by Carthaginian generals.
-The story of the Punic Wars begins in Messina, Sicily.
-Agathocles of Syracuse had hired a bunch of mercenaries from Campania (known as the Mamertines) to fight for his city.
-At the time, Sicily was divided between the Carthaginians and the Greeks.
-Battles were fought between 315-305 BC. By 300 BC, however, they had reached a stalemate and sued for peace.
-289 BC- Agathocles dies, and the Mamertines found themselves getting stiffed for their work! Therefore, they decided to take over the Sicilian city of Mesiana, where they somehow were able to chill for 10 years.
-278 BC- the Mamertines called on Pyrrhus to come save them from the Carthaginians. However, once Pyrrhus arrived and everyone found out what a huge douchebag he was, they asked him to go back home to Greece!
-Meanwhile, a new tyrant of Syracuse, Hiero, had taken power, and desired to take over all of Sicily for Syracuse.
-265 BC- the Mamertines and the Carthaginians ally against Hiero to make sure he doesn't take over the island.
-However, the Mamertines soon changed their mind about this alliance and asked the Romans to come and save them.
-After much debate, Rome agreed, and sent a small force from Tarentum to Messina, where they landed without any problems. The Carthaginians saw that the Romans had arrived, and so decided not to attack.
-The Romans immediately began to fortify the city. The Carthaginians didn't know what to do, and were scared to attack and risk provoking a huge war between Rome and Carthage.
-This royally pissed off the Carthaginian Senate, who immediately ordered the Carthaginian troops to attack the Romans at Messina. However, 2 Roman legions had just arrived to further fortify the city...
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Pyrrhic Victories
-Rome wanted to conquer the southern half of the Italian peninsula, but Magna Graecia stood in the way.
-However, the Greek cities were independent and disorganized, and kind of ignored by the Greek motherland (who was mainly focused on fighting amongst each other and/or the Persians, although Athens did try to invade Sicily in 415 BC).
-Pyrrhus of Epirus was born in 318 BC, a few years after the death of Alexander the Great.
-Alexander the Great's empire had split into four kingdoms:
-Kingdom of Macedon
-Seleucid Empire
-Egypt (Ptolemaic Kingdom)
-Kingdom of Pergamon (Attalid dynasty)
-Born in the Greek kingdom of Epirus (now modern-day northwestern Greece and southern Albania), second cousin of Alexander the Great.
-Father was King Aeacides of Epirus, but was exiled when Pyrrhus was 2 years old.
-Pyrrhus was finally enthroned when he was a teenager in 306 BC, but was deposed a year later and exiled. Luckily for him, however, he was able to gain some powerful friends by marrying a granddaughter (by marriage) of Ptolemy I of Egypt and married off his sister to Demetrius I of Macedonia.
-These power plays allowed him to regain his throne in Epirus. After his sister died, he then used his power to invade Macedon in 286 BC (although he quickly lost it a couple years later).
-282 BC- Tarentum in Magna Graecia sent envoys to Epirus and Macedon begging for help against the Romans, but the Greeks didn't seem to care. However, Pyrrhus saw a chance to expand his empire.
-He gathered 25,000 troops together to help Tarentum- Rome had already declared war due to some drama between the two cities.
-Before Pyrrhus arrived, however, the Romans had already sacked the city and were negotiating a peace treaty with Tarentum.
-Pyrrhus finally showed up in 280 BC and drove off the Romans with an army that included cavalry and mighty war elephants.
-Pyrrhus began to plan for complete invasion of the entire peninsula.
-The Romans sent 8 legions to fight Pyrrhus near the city of Heraclea in Magna Graecia. This intimidated Pyrrhus, as Rome had an organized, civilized army, and weren't just a horde of barbarians like he imagined. Still, Pyrrhus' Greek phalanx was pretty badass, and was still better than Rome's maniple.
-They clashed, and Pyrrhus won, but he also lost a ton of soldiers.
-The Roman cavalry were terrified of the elephants.
-The Romans then fought Pyrrhus again at Asculum, north of Heraclea.
-Pyrrhus was able to reinforce his army with Samnite and Terantine forces.
-The armies were equal in size, but the Romans had developed a new tactic to bring down the war elephants- chariots would encircle the elephants with rope and then trip them.
-The first battle ended up being a stalemate.
-They clashed a second time, and Pyrrhus won, but again lost of men.
-This is where we get the phrase "Pyrrhic victory".
-The Romans thought about suing for peace, but decided against it.
-They were able to sign a peace treaty with the Carthaginians as a form of solidarity against the former kingdoms of Alexander the Great's empire.
-Pyrrhus soon realized that the Italian peninsula would be too much of a pain in the ass to conquer, so he just decided to go for his main goal- Sicily.
-During this time, Sicily was divided between the Carthaginians in the west and Magna Graecia in the east.
-The Carthaginians got news of Pyrrhus' plans, so they tried to invade Syracuse in order to use that as a strong defense, but they failed.
-Pyrrhus landed in Sicily, claimed Syracuse as his own, and led his army (and Syracuse's) against the Carthaginians.
-He pushed them back till they only held a single city (Eryx) on the west coast, and then the Carthaginians tried to sue for peace.
-Pyrrhus denied them, but couldn't take the city, so instead he just decided to go for Carthage itself! He also tried to get the Sicilians to unite behind him and raise an army and build ships, but they didn't want to because they thought Pyrrhus was douchebag.
-So, Pyrrhus then decided to return to Italy in 270 BC, but he was met with a Roman army at Malaventum, and, of course, won, but also lost a lot of troops (haha).
-At this point, the Romans had also developed fire arrow technology, which really freaked out the elephants.
-Pyrrhus had finally had enough, so he just packed up his shit and went back to Epirus.
-This resulted in the Romans changing the name of the city from Malaventum to Beneventum (ha).
-The Romans then conquered Tarentum (where Pyrrhus had left a garrison), and then conquered the rest of Magna Graecia on the Italian mainland.
-Rome now controlled all of central and southern Italy!
-The Roman conquest of Magna Graecia brought about an end of an era in the ancient world- the era of the city-state.
-The Greek philosophers had always argued that the concept of the "polis" (the city-state) was the best, but Alexander the Great shattered that concept when he united all of Greece under Macedonian rule.
-Only the city-states of Magna Graecia were holding out, and they had just been conquered by the Romans.
-It was now the age of empires!
-Only Syracuse remained as an independent city-state, and they wisely decided to quickly make an alliance with Rome.8g
-However, the Greek cities were independent and disorganized, and kind of ignored by the Greek motherland (who was mainly focused on fighting amongst each other and/or the Persians, although Athens did try to invade Sicily in 415 BC).
-Pyrrhus of Epirus was born in 318 BC, a few years after the death of Alexander the Great.
-Alexander the Great's empire had split into four kingdoms:
-Kingdom of Macedon
-Seleucid Empire
-Egypt (Ptolemaic Kingdom)
-Kingdom of Pergamon (Attalid dynasty)
-Born in the Greek kingdom of Epirus (now modern-day northwestern Greece and southern Albania), second cousin of Alexander the Great.
-Father was King Aeacides of Epirus, but was exiled when Pyrrhus was 2 years old.
-Pyrrhus was finally enthroned when he was a teenager in 306 BC, but was deposed a year later and exiled. Luckily for him, however, he was able to gain some powerful friends by marrying a granddaughter (by marriage) of Ptolemy I of Egypt and married off his sister to Demetrius I of Macedonia.
-These power plays allowed him to regain his throne in Epirus. After his sister died, he then used his power to invade Macedon in 286 BC (although he quickly lost it a couple years later).
-282 BC- Tarentum in Magna Graecia sent envoys to Epirus and Macedon begging for help against the Romans, but the Greeks didn't seem to care. However, Pyrrhus saw a chance to expand his empire.
-He gathered 25,000 troops together to help Tarentum- Rome had already declared war due to some drama between the two cities.
-Before Pyrrhus arrived, however, the Romans had already sacked the city and were negotiating a peace treaty with Tarentum.
-Pyrrhus finally showed up in 280 BC and drove off the Romans with an army that included cavalry and mighty war elephants.
-Pyrrhus began to plan for complete invasion of the entire peninsula.
-The Romans sent 8 legions to fight Pyrrhus near the city of Heraclea in Magna Graecia. This intimidated Pyrrhus, as Rome had an organized, civilized army, and weren't just a horde of barbarians like he imagined. Still, Pyrrhus' Greek phalanx was pretty badass, and was still better than Rome's maniple.
-They clashed, and Pyrrhus won, but he also lost a ton of soldiers.
-The Roman cavalry were terrified of the elephants.
-The Romans then fought Pyrrhus again at Asculum, north of Heraclea.
-Pyrrhus was able to reinforce his army with Samnite and Terantine forces.
-The armies were equal in size, but the Romans had developed a new tactic to bring down the war elephants- chariots would encircle the elephants with rope and then trip them.
-The first battle ended up being a stalemate.
-They clashed a second time, and Pyrrhus won, but again lost of men.
-This is where we get the phrase "Pyrrhic victory".
-The Romans thought about suing for peace, but decided against it.
-They were able to sign a peace treaty with the Carthaginians as a form of solidarity against the former kingdoms of Alexander the Great's empire.
-Pyrrhus soon realized that the Italian peninsula would be too much of a pain in the ass to conquer, so he just decided to go for his main goal- Sicily.
-During this time, Sicily was divided between the Carthaginians in the west and Magna Graecia in the east.
-The Carthaginians got news of Pyrrhus' plans, so they tried to invade Syracuse in order to use that as a strong defense, but they failed.
-Pyrrhus landed in Sicily, claimed Syracuse as his own, and led his army (and Syracuse's) against the Carthaginians.
-He pushed them back till they only held a single city (Eryx) on the west coast, and then the Carthaginians tried to sue for peace.
-Pyrrhus denied them, but couldn't take the city, so instead he just decided to go for Carthage itself! He also tried to get the Sicilians to unite behind him and raise an army and build ships, but they didn't want to because they thought Pyrrhus was douchebag.
-So, Pyrrhus then decided to return to Italy in 270 BC, but he was met with a Roman army at Malaventum, and, of course, won, but also lost a lot of troops (haha).
-At this point, the Romans had also developed fire arrow technology, which really freaked out the elephants.
-Pyrrhus had finally had enough, so he just packed up his shit and went back to Epirus.
-This resulted in the Romans changing the name of the city from Malaventum to Beneventum (ha).
-The Romans then conquered Tarentum (where Pyrrhus had left a garrison), and then conquered the rest of Magna Graecia on the Italian mainland.
-Rome now controlled all of central and southern Italy!
-The Roman conquest of Magna Graecia brought about an end of an era in the ancient world- the era of the city-state.
-The Greek philosophers had always argued that the concept of the "polis" (the city-state) was the best, but Alexander the Great shattered that concept when he united all of Greece under Macedonian rule.
-Only the city-states of Magna Graecia were holding out, and they had just been conquered by the Romans.
-It was now the age of empires!
-Only Syracuse remained as an independent city-state, and they wisely decided to quickly make an alliance with Rome.8g
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