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.