Campaign history of the Roman military

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Military of ancient Rome (Portal)
800 BC - AD 476
Structural history
Roman army (unit types,
legions, generals)
Roman navy (fleets, admirals)
Campaign history
Lists of Wars and Battles
Decorations and Punishments
Technological history
Military engineering (castra,
siege engines)
Personal equipment
Political history
Strategy and tactics
Infantry tactics
Frontiers and fortifications

Ancient Rome was a state whose history was often closely entwined with its military history over the roughly 13 centuries that the Roman state existed. The core of the Military campaigns of ancient Rome is the account of the Roman military's land battles, from the conquest of Italy to its fights against the Huns and invading Germanic tribes. Typically, naval battles were less significant to the military history of Rome, although there are notable exceptions such as during the First Punic War.

The Roman army battled first against its tribal neighbours and Etruscan towns within Italy, and later came to dominate much of the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, including the provinces of Britannia and Asia Minor at the Empire's height.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Prior to the Roman kingdom

Although Livy's Rise of Rome lists the traditional seven kings of Rome, the first four 'kings' (Romulus, Numa, Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius) are almost certainly entirely apocryphal and Grant and others argue that prior to the Etruscan kingdom of Rome was established under Tarquinius Priscus, Rome would have been led by a religious leader of some sort. Very little is known of Rome's military history during this era and what history has come down to us is of a legendary rather than factual nature. Traditionally, Romulus fortified the Palatine Hill after founding the city and Livy states that shortly after its founding Rome was "equal to any of the surrounding cities in her prowess in war""[1]. The first campaign, if such it can be called, that was fought by the Romans in this legendary account is their seizing of the women from several Sabine villages for purposes of "begetting their children"[2]. According to Livy, the village of Caenina responded first by invading Roman territory, but were routed and their city captured. The Antemnae were defeated next in a similar fashion, and again the Crustumerium. The main body of the Sabines attacked Rome and captured the citadel but were then routed.

There were further wars against the Fidenae, Veii, the Albans, the Medullia, the Apiloae, and the Collatia

[edit] Roman kingdom

Under the Etruscan kings Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus Rome expanded to north-west, coming to conflict again with the Veii after the expiry of the treaty that concluded their earlier conflict. There was a further war against the Gabii, and later against the Rutuli. The Etruscan kings were overthrown as part of a wider reduction in Etruscan power in the region during this period.

[edit] Early Roman Republic

[edit] Early Italian campaigns (458-396 BC)

The first Roman wars were wars of expansion and defence, aimed at protecting Rome itself from neighbouring cities and nations by defeating them in battle. This sort of warfare characterized the early Republican Period when Rome was focused on consolidating its position in Italy, and eventually conquering the peninsula.

Initially, Rome's immediate neighbours were Etruscan towns and villages on a similar tribal system to Rome itself. One by one Rome defeated the Fabii (Battle of the Cremera, 477 BC), the Aequi (Battle of Mons Algidus, 458 BC and Battle of Corbione, 446 BC), the Volsci (Battle of Corbione, 446 BC) and the Veii (Battle of Veii, 396 BC). After defeating the Veii, the Romans had effectively completed the conquest of their immediate Etruscan neighbours. However, they still controlled only a very limited area and the bulk of Italy remained in the hands of Latin peoples in the central part of Italy, Greek colonies to the south, and, notably, the Celtic people to the north, including the Gauls. The Celtic civilisation at this time was vibrant and growing in strength and territory. It is at the hands of the Gallic Celts that Rome suffered a humiliating defeat that temporarily set back its advance and was to imprint itself on the Roman consciousness.

[edit] Celtic invasion of Italia (390-387 BC)

Roman-Gaulish Wars
Allia – Arretium – Lake Vadimo – Faesulae – Telamon – Clastidium - Cremona – Mutina

Several Gallic tribes had invaded Italy from the North and one, the Senones, invaded the Etruscan province of Siena and attacked the town of Clusium, not far from Rome's sphere of influence. The Clusians, overwhelmed by the size of the enemy in numbers and ferocity, called on Rome for help. Half by accident and half by design the Romans found themselves in conflict with the Senones, whom they met in pitched battle at the Battle of Allia River sometime between 390 and 387 BC. The Gauls defeated a Roman army of around 40,000 troops and proceeded to pursue the fleeing Romans back to Rome itself and partially sacked the town before being driven off.

Now that the Romans and Gauls had blooded one another, intermittent warfare continued between the two in Italy for more that two centuries, including the Battle of Faesulae (225 BC), Battle of Telamon (224 BC), Battle of Clastidium (222 BC), Battle of Cremona (200 BC), Battle of Mutina (194 BC), Battle of Arausio (105 BC), and the Battle of Vercellae (101 BC). The Celtic problem would not be resolved for Rome until the final subjugation of all Gaul following the Battle of Alesia in 52 BC.

[edit] Roman expansion into Italia (343-282 BC)

Ancient Unification of Italy
Samnite Wars – Latin War – Pyrrhic War – Social War
Samnite Wars
Mons Gaurus - Suessola - Caudine Forks –
Lautulae – Bovianum
Camerinum - Sentinum - Aquilonia

After recovering from the sack of Rome, the Romans immediately resumed their expansion within Italy. Despite their successes so far, their mastery of the whole of Italy was by no means assured at this point: the Samnites were a people just as martial as the Romans and with an objective of their own of securing more lands in the Italian plains. The First Samnite War of between 343 BC and 341 BC was a relatively short affair: the Romans beat the Samnites in both the Battle of Mount Gaurus (342 BC) and the Battle of Suessola (341 BC) but were forced to withdraw from the war before they could pursue the conflict further due to the revolt of several of their Latin allies.

The Second Samnite War (327 BC to 304 BC) was a much longer and more serious affair for both sides, running for over twenty years and leading to massive casualties on both sides. The fortunes of the two sides fluctuated throughout its course with the Romans losing the battles of the Caudine Forks and Lautulae but proving victorious at Bovianum. The tide turned strongly against the Samnites from 314 BC onwards and they sued for peace with progressively less generous terms. By 304 BC the Romans had effectively annexed the greater degree of the Samnite territory, founding several colonies.

Seven years after their defeat, with Roman dominance of the area looking assured, the Samnites rose again and defeated he Romans at Camerinum in 298 BC, to open the Third Samnite War. With this success in hand they managed to bring together a coalition of several previous enemies of Rome, all of whom were probably keen to prevent any one faction dominating the entire region. The army that faced the Romans at the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC therefore included Samnites, Gauls, Etruscans and Umbrians. When the army under Fabius Rullianus and Publius Decimus Mus won a convincing victory over these combined forces it must have become clear that little could prevent Roman dominance of Italy. In the Battle of Populonia in 282 BC Rome finished off the last vestiges of Etruscan power in the region.

[edit] Mid-Roman Republic

[edit] Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC)

Pyrrhic War
Heraclea – Asculum – Beneventum

By the end of the third century BC, Rome had established itself as a major power on the Italian peninsula, but had not yet come into conflict with the dominant military powers in the Mediterranean at the time, Carthage and the Greek kingdoms. Rome had all but completely defeated the Samnites, and greatly reduced Etruscan power in the region. However, the south of Italy was controlled by the Greek colonies of Magna Grecia, and continued Roman expansion brought the two into inevitable conflict.

When a diplomatic dispute between Rome and the Greek colony of Tarentum appeared that it might escalate into military conflict, Tarentum appealed for aid to Pyrrhus, ruler of Epirus, for military aid. Motivated by his diplomatic obligations to Tarentum, and a personal desire for military accomplishment, Pyrrhus landed a Greek army of some 25,000 men and a contingent of war elephants on Italian soil in 280 B.C, where his forces were joined by the Greeks and a portion of the Samnites who revolted against Roman control.

The Roman legions had not yet seen elephants in battle, and their inexperience turned the tide in Pyrrhus' favour at the Battle of Heraclea (280 BC), and again at the Battle of Asculum (279 BC). Despite these victories, Pyrrhus found his position in Italy untenable. Rome steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyrrhus as long as his army remain in Italia. Furthermore, Rome entered into a treaty of support with Carthage, and Pyrrhus found that despite his expectations, none of the Italic peoples would defect to the Greek and Samnite cause. Facing unacceptably heavy losses with each encounter with the Roman legions, and not finding further allies in Italia, Pyrrhus withdrew from the peninsula and campaigned in Sicily, abandoning his allies to deal with the Rome.

When his Sicilian campaign was also ultimately a failure, and at the request of his Italian allies, Pyrrhus returned to Italy. In 275 BC, Pyrrhus again met the Roman legions at the Battle of Beneventum. This time the Romans had devised methods to deal with the war elephants, including the use of fire arrows. While Beneventum was indecisive, Pyrrhus realized that his army had been exhausted and reduced by years of foreign campaigns, and seeing little hope for further gains, withdraw completely from Italy.

The conflicts with Pyrrhus would have a great effect on Rome, however. Rome has shown that it was capable of pitting its legions successfully against the dominant military superpowers of the Mediterranean, and further showed that the Greek kingdoms were incapable of defending their colonies. Rome quickly moved into southern Italia, subjugating and dividing Magna Grecia. Effectively dominating the Italian peninsula, and with a proven international military reputation, Rome now began to look outwards at expansion into Sicily and the islands of the Mediterranean, a policy that would bring it into direct conflict with Carthage.

[edit] Punic Wars (264-146 BC)

Punic Wars
First – Mercenary – Second – Third
First Punic War
Messina - Agrigentum – Lipari Islands – Mylae – Sulci – Tyndaris – Cape Ecnomus – Adys – Tunis – Panormus – Drepana – Lillybaeum - Siege of Drepana - Mt Ercte - 1st Mt Eryx - Raid of Tarentum - 2nd Mt Eryx - Aegates Islands
Second Punic War
Saguntum – Lilybaeum – Ticinus – Trebia – Cissa – Lake Trasimene – Ebro River – Cannae – 1st Nola – Dertosa – 2nd Nola – Cornus – 3rd Nola – 1st Capua – Silarus – 1st Herdonia – Syracuse – Upper Baetis – 2nd Capua – 2nd Herdonia – Numistro – Asculum – Tarentum – Baecula – Grumentum – Metaurus – Ilipa – Crotona – Utica – Bagbrades – Cirta – Po Valley – Great Plains – Zama
Third Punic War
Battle of Carthage

Rome first began to make war outside the Italian peninsula in the Punic wars against Carthage. These wars, starting in 264 BC saw Rome become a Mediterranean power, with territory in Sicily, North Africa, Spain, and, after the Macedonian wars, Greece.

The First Punic War began in 264 BC when former Greek colonies on Sicily again began to appeal to the two powers between which they lay - Rome and Carthage - in order to solve internal conflicts. The willingness of both Rome and Carthage to become embroiled on the soil of a third party may indicate a recognition of each other's power without wishing to enter a full war of annihilation. The war saw land battles in Sicily early on such as the Battle of Agrigentum but the theatre shifted to naval battles around Sicily and Africa. For the Romans naval warfare was a relatively unexplored concept. Before the First Punic War in 264 BC there was no Roman navy to speak of as all previous Roman war had been fought in Italy. But the war in Sicily against Carthage, a great naval power, forced Rome to quickly build a fleet and train sailors.

The first few naval battles of the First Punic War such as the Battle of the Lipari Islands were disasters for Rome, as might be expected from a city that had no real prior experience of naval warfare. Despite Rome's ships being based largely on Carthaginian models, the Romans did not wish to engage the Carthaginians in a manner they were used to. Instead, they attempted to close with enemy ships as swiftly as possible and then board and overpower them through force of numbers and martial prowess. To this end, Polybius states, they embarked up to 100,000 sailors and troops onto their fleets. Individual ships would attempt to board enemy vessels by latching on to them initially with grappling hooks and later with a device known as a Corvus, a grappling engine. Using these tactics, a Roman naval force under C. Duillius was able to roundly defeat a Carthaginian fleet at the Battle of Mylae. In just 4 years, a state without any real naval element had managed to better a maritime power in battle. A further naval victory followed at Battle of Cape Ecnomus.

A Roman force landed in Africa under Regulus, who was at first victorious, winning the Battle of Adys and forcing Carthage to sue for peace but the terms were so heavy that negotiations failed and, in response, the Carthaginians hired Xanthippus, a Spartan mercenary, to reorganize the army. Xanthippus managed to cut off the Roman army from its base by re-establishing Carthaginian naval supremacy, then defeated and captured Regulus at the Battle of Tunis.

Despite being defeated on African soil, with their newfound naval abilities, the Romans roundly beat the Carthaginians in naval battle again at the Battle of the Aegates Islands and leaving Carthage without a fleet or sufficient coin to raise one. For a maritime power the loss of their access to the Mediterranean stung financially and psychologically, and the Carthaginians sued for peace.

Continuing distrust led to the renewal of hostilities in the Second Punic War. Hannibal Barca raised an amy in Spain and famously crossed the Italian alps to invade Italy. In the first battle on Italian soil at Ticinus in 218 BC Hannibal defeated the Romans under Scipio the elder in a small cavalry fight. Hannibal's success continued with victories in the Battle of the Trebia against Titius Sempronius Longus, the Battle of Lake Trasimene against Gaius Flaminius, and the Battle of Cannae against Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Publius Terentius Varro, in what is considered one of the great masterpieces of the tactical art.

In the three battles of Nola, Marcus Claudius Marcellus managed to hold off Hannibal but then under successive consuls Hannibal smashed Roman armies at the First Battle of Capua, the Battle of the Silarus, the Battle of the Silarus, the Second Battle of Herdonia, the Battle of Numistro and the Battle of Asculum. By this time Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal Barca sought to cross the alps into Italy and join his brother. Although initially defeated in Spain in the Battle of Baecula the army of Gaius Claudius Nero defeated Hasdrubal at the Battle of the Metaurus

Unable to defeat Hannibal himself on Italian soil, and with Hannibal savaging the Italian countryside but unwilling or unable to destroy Rome itself, the Romans sent an army to Italy with the intention of threatening the Carthaginian capital. In 203 BC at the Battle of Bagbrades the invading Roman army under Scipio Africanus Majordefeated the Carthaginian army of Hasdrubal Gisco and Syphax and Hannibal was recalled to Africa. At the famous Battle of Zama Scipio decisively defeated Hannibal in North Africa, ending the Second Punic War.

Carthage never managed to recover after the Second Punic War and the Third Punic War is in reality a simple punitive mission to raze the city of Carthage to the ground. Carthage was almost defenceless and when besieged offered immediate surrender. The Romans refused, demanding as their terms the complete destruction of the city. In the Battle of Carthage Carthage is stormed after a short siege and completely destroyed.

[edit] Greece and Macedonia (215-148 BC)

Illyrian and Macedonian Wars
Illyrian - First - Second - Third - Fourth
First Macedonian War
First Lamia - Second Lamia
Second Macedonian War
Cynoscephalae
Third Macedonian War
Callicinus – Pydna
Fourth Macedonian War
Pydna (148 BC)

Rome's preoccupation with its war with Carthage provided an opportunity for Philip V of Macedon, to attempt to extend his power westward. Philip sent ambassadors to Hannibal's camp in Italy, to negotiate an alliance as common enemies of Rome. Rome discovered the agreement when, Philips' emissaries along with emissaries from Hannibal were captured, by Publius Valerius Flaccus, commander of the Roman fleet patrolling the southern Apulian coast. Desiring to prevent Philip from aiding Carthage in Italy and elsewhere, Rome sought out land allies in Greece and found a partner in the Aetolian League.

The First Macedonian War saw the Romans involved in only limited land operations and when the Aetolians sued for peace with Philip once more Rome, with no more allies in Greece, but having achieved their objective of preventing Philip from aiding Hannibal, was ready to make peace herself. A treaty was drawn up at Phoenice in 205 BC, the so-called "Peace of Phoenice", formally ending the First Macedonian War.

Macedon started expanding on territory claimed by the Greek city states in 200 BC and these states called for help to their ally Rome. Rome gave Philip an ultimatum that he must submit Macedonia to being essentially a ROman province. Philip refused, and the Second Macedonian War began. In the Battle of the Aous Roman forces under Titus Quinctius Flamininus defeated the Macedonians, and in a second larger battle under the same opposing commanders in 197 BC, the Battle of Cynoscephalae, the Flamininus again beat the Macedonians decisively anf Macedonia was forced to sign the Treaty of Tempea, in which it lost all claim to territory in Greece and Asia, and had to pay a war indemnity to Rome.

Between the second and third Macedonian wars Rome faced further conflict in the region due to a tapestry of shifting rivalries, alliances and leagues all seeking to gain greater influence. After the Macedonians had been defeated in the Second Macedonian War in 197 BC, the Spartans stepped into the partial power vacuum in Greece. Fearing the Spartans would take increasing control of the region, the Romans drew on help from allies to defeat a Spartan army at the Battle of Gythium.

After campaigns in Bactria, India, Persia and Judea, Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire moved to Asia Minor to secure several coastal towns, a move that brought him into conflict with Roman interests. A Roman force under Manius Acilius Glabrio defeated Antiochus at the Battle of Thermopylae and forced him to evacuate Greece: the Romans then pursued the Seleucids beyond Greece, beating them again in naval battles at the Battle of the Eurymedon and Battle of Myonessus, and finally in a decisive engagement of the Battle of Magnesia in the decisive victory of the war.

In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his throne and showed a renewed interest in Greece, in violation of threat of violation of the treaty signed with the Romans by his father. Rome declared war on Macedonia again, starting the Third Macedonian War. Perseus had initial success against the Romans, winning the Battle of Callicinus against the Roman consul Publius Licinius Crassus. However, as with all such ventures in this period, Rome responded by simply sending another consular army. The consular army of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus duly defeated the Macedonians at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC and the Macedonians, lacking the reserve of the Romans and with King Perseus captured, duly capitulated, ending the Third Macedonian War.

The Fourth Macedonian War (150 BC - 148 BC) was the final war between Rome and Macedon and began when Andriscus usurped the Macedonian throne. The Romans raise a consular army under Quintus Caecilius Metellus, who swiftly defeated Andriscus at the Second battle of Pydna.

[edit] Late Roman Republic

[edit] Jugurthine War (112-105 BC)

Jugurthine War
Battle of the Muthul

The Jugurthine War, fought between king Jugurtha of Numidia and Rome between 112-105 BC was the final Roman pacification of Northern Africa. It is notable in that it launched the political career of Gaius Marius, and in that it is possibly the first time that the Roman legions fought after their reorganization under the Marian reforms, although it is possible that these reforms did not take effect until Marius' involvement in the Cimbrian War.

[edit] Cimbrian War (113-101 BC)

Cimbrian War
Noreia – Arausio – Aquae Sextiae – Vercellae

The Cimbrian War (113-101 BC) was fought between the Roman Republic and the proto-Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons (Teutones), who migrated from northern Europe into Roman controlled territory, and clashed with Rome and her allies. The Cimbrian War was the first time since the Second Punic War that Italia and Rome itself had been seriously threatened.

[edit] Internal unrest (135-71 BC)

Servile Wars
First – Second – Third
Ancient Unification of Italy
Samnite Wars – Latin War – Pyrrhic War – Social War

The extensive campaigning abroad by Roman generals, and the rewarding of soldiers with plunder on these campaigns, led to a worrying trend of soldiers becoming increasingly loyal to their generals over the state, and willing to follow them against the state. Rome was also plagued by several slave uprisings during this period, in part because during this period vast tracts of land were given over to slave farming in which the slaves greatly outnumbered their Roman masters. In the last century before the common era at least twelve civil wars and rebellions occurred. This pattern did not break until Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) ended it by becoming a successful challenger to the Senate's authority, and was made princeps (emperor).

Between 135 BC and 71 BC there were three "Servile Wars" involving slave uprisings against the Roman state. Additionally, in 91 BC the Social War broke out between Rome and its former allies. Despite defeats such as the Battle of Fucine Lake, the professional Roman troops defeated the Italian militias in decisive engagements, notably the Battle of Asculum. Despite their military defeat Socii achieved their objectives with the Lex Julia and Lex Plautia Papiria and were granted citizenship.

The internal unrest reached its most serious in the two civil wars or marches upon Rome of the consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla at the beginning of 82 BC, Sulla was appointed dictator, the second of which saw him declared dictator. Whatever the rights and wrongs of his grievances against those in power of the state, his actions marked a watershed of Roman fighting Roman that was to pave the way for the wars of the triumvirate, the overthrowing of the Senate as the de facto head of the Roman state, and the eventual endemic usurpation of the later Empire.

[edit] Conflicts with Mithridates (89-63 BC)

First Mithridatic War
Amnias – Mount Scorobas – Orchomenus – Battle of Chaeronea – Tenedos
Second Mithridatic War
Magnesia on the Maeander - Amasra
Third Mithridatic War
Cyzicus – Cabira – Tigranocerta – Artaxata – Lycus

Mithridates the Great, was king of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC. He is remembered as one of Rome's most formidable and successful enemies who engaged three of the most prominent generals of the late Roman Republic: Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey the Great. In a pattern familiar from the Punic Wars, the Romans manoeuvred themselves into a war with him by repeatedly aiding his enemies. After conquering western Anatolia in 88 BC, Mithridates allegedly ordered the killing of the 80,000 Romans living there. The alleged massacre may have been invented or exaggerated by the Romans but it was the official reason given for the launch of the First Mithridatic War. Lucius Cornelius Sulla forced Mithridates out of Greece proper after the Battle of Chaeronea and later Battle of Orchomenus but then had to return to Italy to answer the threat posed by Marius; subsequently, Mithridates VI was defeated but not beaten. A peace was made between Rome and Pontus, but this proved a mere temporary setback.

The Second Mithridatic War began when Rome tried to annex Bithnyia as a province. First Lucius Licinius Lucullus and then Pompey the Great were sent against Mithridates. Mithridates was at last defeated by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War.

[edit] Caesar's early campaigns (59-50 BC)

Gallic Wars
Arar - Bibracte - Vosges - Axona – Sabis – Gergovia – Alesia

After a term as consul Julius Caesar was appointed to a five year term as Proconsular Governor of Transalpine Gaul (current southern France) and Illyria (the coast of Dalmatia). Not content with an idle governorship, Caesar started the Gallic Wars (58 BC–49 BC) in which he conquered all of Gaul (the rest of current France, with most of Switzerland and Belgium and parts of Germany, effectively western mainland Europe from the Atlantic to the Rhine) and annexed them to Rome.

Caesar defeated the Helvetii (in Switzerland) in 58 BC at the Battle of the Arar and Battle of Bibracte, the Belgic confederacy at the Battle of the Axona, the Nervii in 57 BC at the Battle of the Sabis and the Veneti in 56 BC. On August 26 55 and 54 BC he made two expeditions to Britain and, in 52 BC he defeated a union of Gauls led by Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia, completing the Roman conquest of Transalpine Gaul. He recorded his own accounts of these campaigns in Commentarii de Bello Gallico ("Commentaries on the Gallic War").

According to Plutarch and the writings of scholar Brendan Woods, the whole campaign resulted in 800 conquered cities, 300 subdued tribes, one million men sold to slavery and another three million dead in battlefields. Ancient historians notoriously exaggerated numbers of this kind, but Caesar's conquest of Gaul was certainly the greatest military invasion since the campaigns of Alexander the Great. The victory was also far more lasting than those of Alexander's: Gaul never regained its Celtic identity, never attempted another nationalist rebellion, and remained loyal to Rome until the fall of the Western Empire in 476. However, whilst Gaul remained loyal, cracks were appearing within the Roman triumvirate, soon to dive Rome into a length series of civil wars.

[edit] Triumvirates, Caesarian ascension, and revolt (53-30 BC)

Caesar's Civil War
Massilia (land) – Ilerda – Massilia (naval) – Utica – Bagradas River – Dyrrhachium – Pharsalus – Ruspina - Thapsus – Munda

By 59 BC an unofficial political alliance known as the First Triumvirate was formed between Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus to share power and influence. It was always an uncomfortable alliance given that Crassus and Pompeius intensely disliked one another. In 53 BC, Crassus launched an invasion of the Parthian Empire. He marched his army deep into the desert; but here his army was cut off deep in enemy territory, surrounded and routed at the Battle of Carrhae in which Crassus himself perished. The death of Crassus removed some of the balance in the Triumvirate; consequently, Caesar and Pompey began to move apart. While Caesar was fighting against Vercingetorix in Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a legislative agenda for Rome, which revealed that he was now covertly allied with Caesar's enemies. In 51 BC, Pompey made it clear that Caesar would not be permitted to stand for Consul unless he turned over control of his armies. This would, of course, leave Caesar defenceless before his enemies. The triumvirate was shattered and conflict was inevitable.

In the beginning, Pompey claimed he could defeat Caesar but by the spring of 49 BC, with Caesar crossing the Rubicon and his invading legions sweeping down the peninsula, Pompey ordered the abandonment of Rome. His legions retreated south towards Brundisium, and then later fled to Greece after defeating Caesar at the Battle of Dyrrhachium but failing to follow up his victory. Caesar decisively defeated Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus, and Pompey fled again to Egypt, where he was murdered in an attempt to ingratiate the country with Caesar and avoid a war.

Pompey's death did not see the end of the civil wars since initially Pompey's supporters continued to fight on after his death. In 46 BC Caesar lost perhaps as much as a third of his army when his former commander Titus Labienus, who had defected to the Pompeians several years earlier, defeated him at the Battle of Ruspina. However, after this low point Caesar came back to defeat the Pompeian army of Metellus Scipio in the Battle of Thapsus, after which the Pompeians retreated yet again to Spain. Caesar defeated the combined forces of Titus Labienus and Gnaeus Pompey the Younger at the Battle of Munda in Spain. Labienus was killed in the battle and the Younger Pompey captured and executed.

Despite his military success, or probably because of it, fear spread of Caesar becoming an autocratic ruler of the state, thus ending the Roman Republic. This fear drove a group of senators naming themselves The Liberators to assassinate him in 44 BC. Further civil war followed between those loyal to Caesar and those who supported the actions of the The Liberators. Caesar's supporter Mark Anthony declaimed Caesar's assassins and war broke out between caesar's supporters and the supporters of the assassins. Antony was denounced as a public enemy, and Octavian was entrusted with the command of the war against him. In the Battle of Forum Gallorum Antony, besieging Caesar's assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeated the forces of the consul Pansa, who was killed, but Antony was then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Hirtius. At the Battle of Mutina Antony was again defeated in battle by Hirtius, who was killed. Although Antony failed to capture Mutina, Decimus Brutus was murdered shortly thereafter.

Octavian betrayed his party, and came to terms with Caearians Antony and Lepidus and on 26 November 43 BC the second triumvirate was formed, this time in an official capacity. In 42 BC Triumvirs Marc Antony and Octavian fought the indecisive Battle of Philippi with Caesar's assassins Marcus Brutus and Cassius. Although Brutus defeated Octavian, Antony defeated Cassius, who committed suicide. Brutus also committed suicide shortly afterwards.

However, civil war flared again when the Second Triumvirate of Octavian, Lepidus and Mark Anthony failed just as the first had almost as soon as its opponents had been removed. Together with Lucius Antonius, Mark Antony's brother, Fulvia raised eight legions in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian but she was defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Perugia. Her death led to partial reconciliation between Octavian and Anthony who went on to crush the army of Sextus Pompeius, the last focus of opposition to the second triumvirate, in the naval Battle of Naulochus.

As before, once opposition tot he triumvirate was crushed, it started to tear at itself. The triumvirate expired on the last day of 33 BC and was not renewed in law and in 31 BC, the war started. At the Battle of Actium, Octavian decisively defeated Antony and Cleopatra in a naval battle near Greece.

Octavian went on to become Emperor and, in the absence of political assassins or usurpers, was able to greatly expand the borders of the Empire.

[edit] Early Roman Empire to mid-Roman Empire

[edit] Imperial expansion (40 BC-117)

Roman conquest of Britain
Medway – Caer Caradoc – Watling Street – Mons Graupius
Germanic Wars
Noreia - Arausio - Aquae Sextiae – Vercellae – Lupia River – Teutoburg Forest – Weser River
Dacian Wars
1st Tapae – 2nd Tapae – Adamclisi – Sarmisegetusa

Under emperors secure from interior enemies, such as Augustus and Trajan, the military achieved great territorial gains in both the East and the West. In the West, Roman armies pushed north and west out of Gaul to subdue much of Germania. Despite the loss of several legions almost to the man in Varus' famous defeat at the hands of the Germanic leader Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, Rome recovered and continued its expansion up to and beyond the borders of the known world. Roman legions under Germanicus defeated the German tribes of Arminius in the Battle of the Weser River and went on to invade Britain. Several battles followed with British tribes, including the Battle of the Medway, the Battle of Caer Caradoc, the Battle of Watling Street and pushed as far north as central Scotland in the Battle of Mons Graupius.

In the East, Trajan defeated Decebalus at the Battle of Tapae, ending the Dacian Wars and invaded the Parthian empire. Trajan's conquests took the Roman Empire to its greatest extent.

[edit] Jewish revolts (66-135)

Jewish-Roman wars
First War – Kitos War – Bar Kokhba's revolt

The first Jewish-Roman War, sometimes called The Great Revolt (Hebrew: המרד הגדול, ha-Mered Ha-Gadol), was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of Judaea Province against the Roman Empire. Angered by insensitivity and arrogance towards their religious beliefs - including robberies from their temples and Emperor Caligula declaring himself a god and ordering his statues to be set up at every temple - the Jews began to prepare for armed revolt. Earlier successes only attracted greater attention from Rome. Emperor Nero appointed general Vespasian to crush the rebellion. Vespasian led the legions X Fretensis and V Macedonica in a methodical clearance of the areas in revolt. By the year 68, Jewish resistance in the North had been crushed. A few towns and cities held out for a few years before falling to the Romans, leading to the siege of Masada and the siege of Jerusalem.

In 115, revolt broke out again in the province, leading to the second Jewish-Roman war known as the Kitos War, and again in 132 in what is known as Bar Kokhba's revolt. Both were brutally crushed.

Following this series of revolts Hadrian attempted unsuccessfully to eradicate Judaism, which he saw as the cause of continuous rebellions. He prohibited the Torah law, the Jewish calendar and executed Judaic scholars.

[edit] Struggle with Parthia (161-217)

Further south, the Arsacid dynasty rules over the Parthian Empire. Mostly due to their invention of heavy cavalry, Parthia was the arch-enemy of the Roman Empire in the east. As early as 53 BC, the Roman general Crassus had invaded Parthia, but was defeated at the Battle of Carrhae but as we have seen in the years following the battle of Carrhae the Romans were divided in civil war and hence unable to campaign against Parthia. Trajan also campaigned against the Parthians and briefly captured their capital, putting a puppet ruler on the throne, but rebellions with the province and the Jewish revolts in Judea made it difficult to maintain the captured province and the territories were abandoned.

A revitalized Parthian Empire renewed its assault in 161, defeating two Roman armies and invading Armenia and Syria. Joint emperor Lucius Verus and general Gaius Avidius Cassius were sent in 162 to counter the resurgent Parthia. In this war, the city of Seleucia on the Tigris was destroyed and the palace at the capital Ctesiphon was burned to the ground by Avidius Cassius in 164. The Parthians made peace but were forced to cede western Mesopotamia to the Romans.

In 197, Emperor Septimius Severus waged a brief and successful war against the Parthian Empire in retaliation for the support given to rival for the imperial throne Pescennius Niger. The Parthian capital Ctesiphon was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of Mesopotamia was restored to Rome.

Emperor Caracalla marched on Parthia in 217 from Edessa to begin a war against them, but he was assassinated while on the march. In 224, the Parthian Empire was crushed not by the Romans but by the rebellious Persian vassal king Ardashir revolted, leading to the establishment of the Persian or Sassanid Empire, which replaced Parthia as Rome's major rival in the East.

[edit] Late Roman Empire

[edit] Migration period (250-378)

Rome against the Alamanni
Lake Benacus – Placentia – Fano – Pavia - Lingones - Vindonissa - Reims - Strasbourg - Solicinum - Argentovaria

After Varus' defeat in Germania in the first century, Rome had adopted a largely defensive strategy along the border with Germania, constructing a line of defences known as limes along the Rhine. Although the exact historicity is unclear, since the Romans often assigned one name to several distinct tribal groups, or conversely applied several names to a single group at different times, some mix of Germanic peoples, Celts, and tribes of mixed Celto-Germanic ethnicity were settled in the lands of Germania from the first century onwards. The Cherusci, Bructeri, Marsi, and Chatti of Varus' time had by the third century either evolved into or been displaced by a confederacy or alliance of Germanic tribes collectively known as the Alamanni, first mentioned by Cassius Dio describing the campaign of Caracalla in 213.

The assembled warbands of the Alamanni frequently crossed the limes, attacking Germania Superior such that they were almost continually engaged in conflicts with the Roman Empire, such as the Battle of Philippopolis in 250 and the Battle of Abrittus in 251. However, their first major assault deep into Roman territory came in 268. In that year the Romans were forced to denude much of their German frontier of troops in response to a massive invasion by another new Germanic tribal confederacy, the Visigoths, from the east. The Visigoths first appeared in history as a distinct people in this invasion of 268 when swarmed over the Balkan peninsula and overran the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Illyricum and even threatened Italia itself. The Alemanni seized the opportunity to launch a major invasion of Gaul and northern Italy.

However, the Visigoths were defeated in battle that summer near the modern Italian-Slovenian border and then routed in the Battle of Naissus that September by Gallienus, Claudius and Aurelian, who then turned and defeated the Alemanni at the Battle of Lake Benacus. The Visigoths remained a major threat to the Empire but directed their attacks away from Italy itself for several years after their defeat. The Alemanni on the other hand resumed their drive towards Italy almost immediately. They defeated Aurelian at the Battle of Placentia in 271 but were beaten back for a shirt time after they lost the battles of Fano and Pavia later that year. They were beaten again in 298 at the battles of Lingones and Vindonissa but fifty years later they were resurgent again, making incursions in 356 (Battle of Reims), 357 (Battle of Strasbourg), 367 (Battle of Solicinium) and 378 (Battle of Argentovaria). In the same year the - Visigoths inflicted a crushing defeat on the Eastern Empire, at the Battle of Adrianople in which the Eastern Emperor Valens was massacred along with tens of thousands of Roman troops.

[edit] Usurpers (193-394)

Lacking support for the emperor among his military meant that commanders could establish sole control of the legions they were responsible for. The Crisis of the Third Century developed with the murder of the Emperor Alexander Severus in 235. A large number of military usurpers felt enough public support, starting a series of civil wars similar to those at the end of the Republic. Beginning with the Crisis of the Third Century several military officers claimed themselves emperors and reigned over parts of the empire for months or days. The time was characterized by a Roman army that was as likely to be attacking itself as an outside invader. Ironically, while it was these usurpations that led to the break up of the Empire during the crisis, it was the strength of several frontier generals that helped reunify the empire through force of arms. The situation was so complex - often with 3 or more usurpers in existence at once - that instead of trying to write a narrative, the following list of battles is presented instead:

[edit] Struggle with the Sassanid Empire (243-363)

After overthrowing the Parthian confederacy, the Sassanid Empire pursued an aggressive expansionist policy and continued to make war against Rome. In 243, Emperor Gordian III ordered the Praetorian Prefect Timesitheus to retake the Roman cities of Hatra, Nisibis and Carrhae. Timesitheus defeated the Sassanids at the Battle of Resaena. The campaign was a success and Gordian, who had joined the army, was planning an invasion further into the enemy's territory, when his father-in-law died in unclear circumstances. The campaign proceeded under a new Praetorian Prefect, Marcus Julius Philippus, but what happened next is unclear: Persian sources claim that a battle was fought near modern Fallujah and resulted in a major Roman defeat and the death of Gordian III. Roman sources do not mention this battle and suggest that Gordian died elsewhere.

Certainly, the Sassanids had not been cowed by the previous battles with Rome and in 253 the Sassanids under Shapur I penetrated several times deeply into Roman territory, conquering and plundering Antiochia in Syria in 253 or 256. In order to halt these advances and retaliate, Emperor Valerian gathered an army and marched eastward to the Sassanid borders. In 260 at the Battle of Edessa the Sassanids defeated the Roman army and captured the Roman Emperor Valerian.

There was a lasting peace between Rome and the Sassanid Empire between 297 and 337 following a treaty between Narseh and Emperor Diocletian. However, just before the death of Constantine I in 337, Shapur II broke the peace and began a twenty-six year conflict, attempting with little success to conquer Roman fortresses in the region. After early Sassanid successes including several surrenders and the Battle of Amida, Emperor Julian met Shapur II in 363 in the Battle of Ctesiphon outside the walls of the Persian capital. The Romans were victorious but were unable to take the city, and were forced to retreat due to being in the middle of hostile territory. Julian was killed in fighting during the retreat.

There were several future wars, although all brief and small-scale, since both the Romans and the Sassanids were forced to deal with threats from other directions during the fifth century. A war against Bahram V in 420 over the persecution of the Christians in Persia led to a brief war that was soon concluded by treaty and in 441 a war with Yazdegerd II was again swiftly concluded by treaty after both parties battles threats elsewhere.

[edit] Collapse of the Western Empire (402-476)

There have been many theories advanced for the decline of the Roman Empire but militarily the Empire finally fell after first being overrun by various non-Roman peoples and then having its heart in Italy seized by Germanic troops in a revolt. The historicity and exact date are uncertain, and some historians deny that the Empire fell at all at this point. They are able to hold this position since the decline of the Empire had been a long and gradual process rather than a single event. The Empire became gradually less romanized and increasingly Germanic in nature. Although the Empire buckled under Visigoth assault, the overthrow of the last Emperor Romulus Augustus was carried out by federated Germanic troops from within the Roman army rather than foreign troops. In this sense had Odoacer not renounced the title of Emperor and named himself "King of Italy" instead, the Empire might have continued in name. Its identity, however, was no longer Roman - it was increasingly populated and governed by Germanic peoples long before 476.

Since 402, the Visigoths, led by Alaric I, had been besieging Mediolanum, the capital of Roman Emperor Honorius, defended by Roman Gothic troops. The arrival of the Roman Stilicho and his army had forced Alaric to relieve the siege and move towards Hasta (modern Asti) in western Italy, where Stilicho attacked it at the Battle of Pollentia, capturing Alaric's familiars, while the Alan Saul, general of the Roman army, captured Alaric's camp. Stilicho offered to return the prisoners in exchange for the Visigoths returning to Illyricum but upon arriving at Verona, Alaric stopped his retreat. Stilicho again attacked at the Battle of Verona and again defeated Alaric, forcing him to withdraw from Italy.

Despite this setback, Alaric returned again in 410 and managed to sack Rome. The Roman capital had already been moved to the Italian city of Ravenna, but some historians view 410 as an alternative date for the true fall of the Roman Empire. Without possession of Rome, and increasingly Germanic in nature, the Roman Empire after 410 had little in common with the earlier Empire. Its territory, if not its nature, was defended for several decades following 410 largely by Flavius Aëtius, who managed to play off each of Rome's barbarian invaders against one another: in 436 he led a Hunnic army against the Visigoths at Arles, and again in 436 at the Battle of Narbonne, and then in 451 led a combined army including his former enemy the Visigoths against the Huns at the Battle of Chalons. Despite being the only clear champion of the Empire at this point Aëtius was slain by the Emperor Valentinian IIIs own hand, leading Sidonius Apollinaris to allegedly observe, "I am ignorant, sir, of your motives or provocations; I only know that you have acted like a man who has cut off his right hand with his left" [3].

By 476, the Empire was completely in the hands of federated Germanic troops and when they revolted led by Odoacer and deposed Romulus Augustus there was nobody to stop them. Odoacer happened to hold the part of the Empire around Italy and Rome but other parts of the Empire were ruled by Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Alans and others. The Empire in the West had fallen, and its remnant in Italy was no longer Roman in nature.

At this point, Roman military history becomes Byzantine military history.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Livy, The Rise of Rome, Book 1, OUP, 1998, p. 13
  2. ^ Livy, The Rise of Rome, Book 1, OUP, 1998, p. 15
  3. ^ Gibbon, E., Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. 35

[edit] References

[edit] Primary sources

  • Livy, The Rise of Rome
  • Polybius, History
  • Tacitus, The Histories

[edit] Secondary sources

  • Gibbon E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Penguin, 1985
  • Goldsorthy A., In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire, Weidenfield and Nicholson, 2003
  • Grant, M., The History of Rome, Faber and Faber, 1993
  • Heather, P., The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History, MacMillan, 2005
  • Jones, The Later Roman Empire,John Hopkins University Press, 1964
  • Lane Fox, Robin, The Classical World, Penguin, 2005
  • Luttwak, E., The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, John Hopkins
  • Matyszak, P., The Enemies of Rome, Thames and Hudson, 2004
  • Santosuosso, A., Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire, Westview Press, 2001
  • Adrian Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars, unknown publisher, unknown date
  • Victor Davis Hanson, Carnage and Culture, unknown publisher, unknown date
  • Arther Ferrill, The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation, unknown publisher, 1988
  • Adrian Goldsworthy, The Complete Roman Army,unknown publisher, unknown date
  • Albert Harkness, The Military System Of The Romans, unknown publisher, unknown date
  • Nigel Rodgers, From the Rise of the Republic and the Might of the Empire to the Fall of the West, unknown publisher, unknown date
  • History of the Later Roman Empire, 1889, by John Bagnall Bury, Appendix on numbers frequently quoted
  • The Rise of the Roman Empire, by Polybius; Loeb Classical Library, 6 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1922 thru 1927. Translation by W. R. Paton

[edit] External links

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