CLC 104: Introduction to Roman History, Society and Institutions
Group 4
To expand Rome and to unify the Italian Peninsula, the Roman State fought several battles.
a. List the battles.
b. Explain the cause/causes of each battle.
Rome is situated on the tiber about fifteen miles from the sea.The population of Rome was as a result of fusion of different elements such as the Latins, Sabines,abmixture of Etuscans. ..as a result of this there was need for expansion and survival. The main reason for several wars was for survival. The ancient Rome fought many battles in other to expand her empire, some of the battles were documented while others weren't, some were civil wars while some were with neighbouring cities.. (A )
Some of the battles are as follows a) The battle at Lake Regillus:Rome and the Latin league. b) War with Aequi and Volsci c) War with Veii d) The Gallic Invasion; The sack of Rome e)Wars with Aequi, Volsci and Etuscans f) Clash of Romans and Samnites in Campania g) War with Pyrrhus and Tarentum ( B ) a) The battle at Lake Regillus;Rome and the Latin league.... This battle took place in lake Regillus near Tusculum in 496B.C.This battle was a legendary Roman victory over the Latin league shortly after the establishment of the Roman Republic as part of the Latin league.The initial effects of the revolution ousting Tarquin from Rome were politically decentralising and socially unsettling;the hoplite discipline, imposed on the Roman army by previous Kings weakened under the patrician government.The Latin cities took advantage of Rome's momentary weakness to challenge her hegemony over the Latin league.In the battle, Rome barely won and this led to a treaty that was set up by Spurius Cassius in 493.The significance of the treaty was that Rome was recognised as the dominant city in the Latin league.One great advantage Rome derived from this was that the Latin cities formed a formidable barrier between its territory and the aggressive Aequi and Volsci. ..Rome trumphed and her supremacy made stronger.
b) Wars with the Aequi and Volsci This war occurred in 509B.C.It is important to note that Aequi and Volsci were two different cities attacking Rome around the same period.The Roman-Volscian wars were series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Volsci, an ancient Italic people.According to tradition, the fifth century was the period of intermittent warfare with these people , who sought to encroach the Latin territory. The main cause despite the unrealiable sources was that the overpopulation of the Aequi in their mountain valley propelled them to expand into the low lands of Latium.This propelled the Roman army to march on into the Aequian camp.The Aequi, however, were so stunned at the Romans' boldness that they abandoned their camp and fled. The Roman army captured the Aequian camp, and took from it an abundance of booty, thereby securing a bloodless victory.
On the other hand Volsci in 500 B.C already occupied the southeastern part of the Latin plain. The Volsci attacked the Roman camp the hoping to benefit from the dissent amongst the Romans. Instead the Roman army took up arms and repulsed the attack. It was not until the close of the century that the Latins with Romans support overcame both the Aequi and Volsci.
c) War with Veii; In addition to these frequent wars, the Romans had to sustain a serious conflict with the powerful Etrucan city .The Battle of Veii, also known as the Siege of Veii, is a battle of ancient Rome, approximately dated at 396 BC.Veii was a town flourishing and controlling a larger and richer territory than Rome.It became the bulwark of the Etrucan power under the Etruscan influence .The major cause of the war was as a result of conflict in political interest. The war took place in 407 after the Romans took Fideae. According to tradition, Romans laid a seige on Veii for eleven years before it fell, but historians believe it as an adaptation of the Troy story.During this war, Romans introduced paying their troops to keep them in the battle field. Veii was destroyed, it's population enslaved and it's territory incorporated in the public land of Rome.This annexation was the first great expansion of the Roman territory which doubled as a result.
d) The Gallic Invasion;The Sack of Rome About 400B.C, the Romans had scarcely beaten Veii, when a sudden disaster overtook them from an unexpected quarter. A celtic tribe crossed into the Alps. The invaders belonged to a branch of celts known as the Gauls. The Gauls were brave, to the point of recklessness, they were formidable warriors and the ferocity of their assault inspired terror even in the ranks of veteran armies. The Gauls eventually took Rome in 390, when some band of marauders, who crossed the A pennines and besieged Clusium.This angered them and the hostile actions of the Roman ambassadors to the Gauls.This propelled them into marching directly on Rome.The Romans mobilized their forces and met the Gauls near Allia. Many of the Romans were slain, while survivors took refuge in the ruined fortifications of Veii.Deprieved of protection of their army and having no city walls, the citizen of Rome fled to neighbouring towns.The capitol was left with small garrison. The Gauls sacked Rome but failed to storm the citadel. The Gauls had no intention of settling in Latium.Upon the information of being attacked by Veneti back home, they accepted 1000 pounds of gold and marched home.Here Rome was defeated. The Romans at once reoccupied and rebuilt the city and provided it with more adequate defences.The Gauls again reappeared in Latium in 360. They raided as far as the Albans hills but the Romans feared to meet them and remained within their walls. A fresh band appeared in 349 but they were prepared and they blocked their paths, the Gauls retreated and Rome became the successful champions of the Italic peoples.
Enter your comment... f)Clash of Romans and Samnites in Campania In the first year of the Latin war the Romans succeeded in detaching the Campanians from their alliance with the Latins and induced them to make a separate peace. Fear of the Samnites had induced the cities of the northern campanians to accept incorporation in the Roman State and it was this resumed policy of supporting the more civilised and peaceful lowlanders against their aggressive Highland neighbours that led to a prolonged and desperate struggle between Rome and Samnites.It involved the central and northern parts of the Pennisula. It led to the establishment of Roman supremacy throughout the whole area.Having used the Samnites to help subdue the Latins in the recent war, the Romans thereafter ignored their alliance with the mountaineers. When the war with Tarentum ended, the Samnites, who still looked up on Campania as a legitimate field for expansion, intervened in the party struggles in Naples and garrisoned the town with the support of one fact.Then, Naples became a Roman ally and an open warfare began again between Romans and Samnites. The Second Phase of the war occurred around 326-304 B.C.It was tedious, challenging Roman generals with novel problems of organisation and logistics involving campaigns in distant rugged terrain against a resourceful enemy.The Samnites were brave , warlike and were not greatly inferior to the Romans in numbers and military organisations. The Romans won some initial success by allying with people's of the central Italy to the south east. But, this successes were counterbalanced by an overwhelming defeat in 321.The Samnite army ambused the Roman army in a valley called Caudine forks and we're forced to surrender. Their terms was the acceptance of peace, where Romans evacuated their borders and the war must not be renewed. During the next few years, Rome strengthen her armies and Roman victory recovered in the lost ground and placed the Samnites on the defensive.The Romans equally planted colonies that served as fortress in Campania and Apulia. The Samnites persuaded the Etrucans cities whose alliance with Rome was already shaky to attack Rome to create a diversion.This was to reduce Rome's pressure on them. Samnites succeded in detaching Herne, Aequi from their alliance with Rome. Colonies were planted on some confiscated lands.The rest was divided up among individual Roman cities and this expansion of territory was organised as tribes. .. Third phase of the war occurred in 298-290 B.C which Rome again was victorious. This war was as a result of the Samnites merging with some cities previously defeated by Rome such as the Gauls, Etrucans. The Etrucans were defeated in their own country. The result of the war was that the Romans forced the Samnites to sue for peace.A portion of their land was confiscated and they were obliged to accept the status of Roman allies in 290.Then , Rome became the dominant power in the peninsular Italy.
Enter your comment... e)Wars with the Aequi, Volsci and Etrucans; After several wars that Rome engaged in some of the previous cities they conquered came together again to format an allied force.The blow left no permanent traces, for only the city, not the state had been destroyed . The Aequi, Volsci and Etrucans took up arms; but each met defeat.It was not until 351 that the Etrucans were so badly beaten that they abandoned their attacks on Rome and sued for peace.The Aequi and Volsci former allies,the Hercini , who had seized the opportunity to assert their independence were speedily subdued. The Volsci fought long and bitterly to preserve their independence and regained control of southern Latium.In 308, the Roman annexed most of their territory and settled in with Roman colonists.But even this did not end the struggle.Only with the fall off their chief city, Antium, in 338 did the Volsci abandon their resistance an accepted a Roman alliance.
g) War with Pyrrhus and Tarentum: Tarentum was a manufacturing and trading city, it had the strongest navy in Italy and gradually assumed the role of protector of Italian Greeks. Pyrrhus was a noble and probably the most skillful Greek general of the time. The Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC) was a war fought by Pyrrhus , the king of Epirus . Pyrrhus was asked by the people of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy to help them in their war with the Roman Republic. A skilled commander, with a strong army fortified by twenty war elephants (which the Romans were not experienced in facing), Pyrrhus enjoyed initial success against the Roman legions , but suffered heavy losses even in these victories.The first battle with Pyrrhus army was the one that was fought near Heraclea in 280 B. C which the Roman's were driven from the field after a fierce stuggle. His great War tactic and his elephants won the day.Rome showed herself equal to her for. Pyrrhus made a statement and said"If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined. Pyrrhus sent an embassy to propose peace but his terms were rejected. The following year, Pyrrhic won another battle in Apulia where he was wounded, his own losses being so heavy as to give rise to the expression "a Pyrrhic victory" . Taking advantage of Pyrrhic situation, the Roman's opened new negotiations that Pyrrhus welcomed. During this time the Carthaginians, who feared the invasion of Pyrrhus in Sicily,offered the Romans money and ships. Their offer was accepted and Rome dropped the negotiations with Pyrrhus. Worn down by the battles against Rome, Pyrrhus moved his army to Sicily to instead war against the Carthaginians .
CONCLUSION : *The momentary weakness of the Roman army due to the elimination the monarchy fuelled aggressions from some cities in the Latin league and also some other towns in Italy. It is important to note however that almost all the cities that waged war against Rome were defeated, some retreated and others surrendered. Even the Gauls that were described as "formidable warriors, skilled in wielding weapons, and that their first assault inspired fear even in the Veteran armies" , had to retreat in their siege against Rome. Rome fought for survival and the need to be recognized as the strongest army in peninsula Italy, the other cities either fought to challenge the hegemony of Rome or the need to expand their territories due to overpopulation in their cities.
Cornell, TJ (1995), The Beginnings of Rome — Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC) , New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-01596-7(google)
Wikipedia
Appian, Samnite Wars, 19-20(google)
classics material...Introduction to the history of rome
Forsythe, Gary (2005). A Critical History of Early Rome . Berkeley: University of California Press . ISBN 0-520-24991-7 .(google)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEnter your comment...
ReplyDeleteINTRODUCTION. ..
Rome is situated on the tiber about fifteen miles from the sea.The population of Rome was as a result of fusion of different elements such as the Latins, Sabines,abmixture of Etuscans. ..as a result of this there was need for expansion and survival. The main reason for several wars was for survival.
The ancient Rome fought many battles in other to expand her empire, some of the battles were documented while others weren't, some were civil wars while some were with neighbouring cities.. (A )
Some of the battles are as follows
a) The battle at Lake Regillus:Rome and the Latin league.
b) War with Aequi and Volsci
c) War with Veii
d) The Gallic Invasion; The sack of Rome
e)Wars with Aequi, Volsci and Etuscans
f) Clash of Romans and Samnites in Campania
g) War with Pyrrhus and Tarentum
( B )
a) The battle at Lake Regillus;Rome and the Latin league....
This battle took place in lake Regillus near Tusculum in 496B.C.This battle was a legendary Roman victory over the Latin league shortly after the establishment of the Roman Republic as part of the Latin league.The initial effects of the revolution ousting Tarquin from Rome were politically decentralising and socially unsettling;the hoplite discipline, imposed on the Roman army by previous Kings weakened under the patrician government.The Latin cities took advantage of Rome's momentary weakness to challenge her hegemony over the Latin league.In the battle, Rome barely won and this led to a treaty that was set up by Spurius Cassius in 493.The significance of the treaty was that Rome was recognised as the dominant city in the Latin league.One great advantage Rome derived from this was that the Latin cities formed a formidable barrier between its territory and the aggressive Aequi and Volsci. ..Rome trumphed and her supremacy made stronger.
b) Wars with the Aequi and Volsci
This war occurred in 509B.C.It is important to note that Aequi and Volsci were two different cities attacking Rome around the same period.The Roman-Volscian wars were series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Volsci, an ancient Italic people.According to tradition, the fifth century was the period of intermittent warfare with these people , who sought to encroach the Latin territory. The main cause despite the unrealiable sources was that the overpopulation of the Aequi in their mountain valley propelled them to expand into the low lands of Latium.This propelled the Roman army to march on into the Aequian camp.The Aequi, however, were so stunned at the Romans' boldness that they abandoned their camp and fled. The Roman army captured the Aequian camp, and took from it an abundance of booty, thereby securing a bloodless victory.
On the other hand Volsci in 500 B.C already occupied the southeastern part of the Latin plain.
The Volsci attacked the Roman camp the hoping to benefit from the dissent amongst the Romans. Instead the Roman army took up arms and repulsed the attack. It was not until the close of the century that the Latins with Romans support overcame both the Aequi and Volsci.
Enter your comment...
ReplyDeletec) War with Veii;
In addition to these frequent wars, the Romans had to sustain a serious conflict with the powerful Etrucan city .The Battle of Veii, also known as the
Siege of Veii, is a battle of ancient Rome, approximately dated at 396 BC.Veii was a town flourishing and controlling a larger and richer territory than Rome.It became the bulwark of the Etrucan power under the Etruscan influence .The major cause of the war was as a result of conflict in political interest. The war took place in 407 after the Romans took Fideae. According to tradition, Romans laid a seige on Veii for eleven years before it fell, but historians believe it as an adaptation of the Troy story.During this war, Romans introduced paying their troops to keep them in the battle field. Veii was destroyed, it's population enslaved and it's territory incorporated in the public land of Rome.This annexation was the first great expansion of the Roman territory which doubled as a result.
d) The Gallic Invasion;The Sack of Rome
About 400B.C, the Romans had scarcely beaten Veii, when a sudden disaster overtook them from an unexpected quarter. A celtic tribe crossed into the Alps. The invaders belonged to a branch of celts known as the Gauls. The Gauls were brave, to the point of recklessness, they were formidable warriors and the ferocity of their assault inspired terror even in the ranks of veteran armies.
The Gauls eventually took Rome in 390, when some band of marauders, who crossed the A pennines and besieged Clusium.This angered them and the hostile actions of the Roman ambassadors to the Gauls.This propelled them into marching directly on Rome.The Romans mobilized their forces and met the Gauls near Allia. Many of the Romans were slain, while survivors took refuge in the ruined fortifications of Veii.Deprieved of protection of their army and having no city walls, the citizen of Rome fled to neighbouring towns.The capitol was left with small garrison.
The Gauls sacked Rome but failed to storm the citadel. The Gauls had no intention of settling in Latium.Upon the information of being attacked by Veneti back home, they accepted 1000 pounds of gold and marched home.Here Rome was defeated.
The Romans at once reoccupied and rebuilt the city and provided it with more adequate defences.The Gauls again reappeared in Latium in 360. They raided as far as the Albans hills but the Romans feared to meet them and remained within their walls.
A fresh band appeared in 349 but they were prepared and they blocked their paths, the Gauls retreated and Rome became the successful champions of the Italic peoples.
Enter your comment...
ReplyDeletef)Clash of Romans and Samnites in Campania
In the first year of the Latin war the Romans succeeded in detaching the Campanians from their alliance with the Latins and induced them to make a separate peace.
Fear of the Samnites had induced the cities of the northern campanians to accept incorporation in the Roman State and it was this resumed policy of supporting the more civilised and peaceful lowlanders against their aggressive Highland neighbours that led to a prolonged and desperate struggle between Rome and Samnites.It involved the central and northern parts of the Pennisula. It led to the establishment of Roman supremacy throughout the whole area.Having used the Samnites to help subdue the Latins in the recent war, the Romans thereafter ignored their alliance with the mountaineers. When the war with Tarentum ended, the Samnites, who still looked up on Campania as a legitimate field for expansion, intervened in the party struggles in Naples and garrisoned the town with the support of one fact.Then, Naples became a Roman ally and an open warfare began again between Romans and Samnites.
The Second Phase of the war occurred around 326-304 B.C.It was tedious, challenging Roman generals with novel problems of organisation and logistics involving campaigns in distant rugged terrain against a resourceful enemy.The Samnites were brave , warlike and were not greatly inferior to the Romans in numbers and military organisations. The Romans won some initial success by allying with people's of the central Italy to the south east. But, this successes were counterbalanced by an overwhelming defeat in 321.The Samnite army ambused the Roman army in a valley called Caudine forks and we're forced to surrender. Their terms was the acceptance of peace, where Romans evacuated their borders and the war must not be renewed.
During the next few years, Rome strengthen her armies and Roman victory recovered in the lost ground and placed the Samnites on the defensive.The Romans equally planted colonies that served as fortress in Campania and Apulia. The Samnites persuaded the Etrucans cities whose alliance with Rome was already shaky to attack Rome to create a diversion.This was to reduce Rome's pressure on them. Samnites succeded in detaching Herne, Aequi from their alliance with Rome. Colonies were planted on some confiscated lands.The rest was divided up among individual Roman cities and this expansion of territory was organised as tribes. ..
Third phase of the war occurred in 298-290 B.C which Rome again was victorious. This war was as a result of the Samnites merging with some cities previously defeated by Rome such as the Gauls, Etrucans. The Etrucans were defeated in their own country. The result of the war was that the Romans forced the Samnites to sue for peace.A portion of their land was confiscated and they were obliged to accept the status of Roman allies in 290.Then , Rome became the dominant power in the peninsular Italy.
Enter your comment...
ReplyDeletee)Wars with the Aequi, Volsci and Etrucans;
After several wars that Rome engaged in some of the previous cities they conquered came together again to format an allied force.The blow left no permanent traces, for only the city, not the state had been destroyed . The Aequi, Volsci and Etrucans took up arms; but each met defeat.It was not until 351 that the Etrucans were so badly beaten that they abandoned their attacks on Rome and sued for peace.The Aequi and Volsci former allies,the Hercini , who had seized the opportunity to assert their independence were speedily subdued.
The Volsci fought long and bitterly to preserve their independence and regained control of southern Latium.In 308, the Roman annexed most of their territory and settled in with Roman colonists.But even this did not end the struggle.Only with the fall off their chief city, Antium, in 338 did the Volsci abandon their resistance an accepted a Roman alliance.
g) War with Pyrrhus and Tarentum:
ReplyDeleteTarentum was a manufacturing and trading city, it had the strongest navy in Italy and gradually assumed the role of protector of Italian Greeks.
Pyrrhus was a noble and probably the most skillful Greek general of the time. The Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC) was a war fought by Pyrrhus , the king of Epirus . Pyrrhus was asked by the people of the Greek city of
Tarentum in southern Italy to help them in their war with the Roman Republic.
A skilled commander, with a strong army fortified by twenty war elephants (which the Romans were not experienced in facing), Pyrrhus enjoyed initial success against the Roman
legions , but suffered heavy losses even in these victories.The first battle with Pyrrhus army was the one that was fought near Heraclea in 280 B. C which the Roman's were driven from the field after a fierce stuggle. His great War tactic and his elephants won the day.Rome showed herself equal to her for. Pyrrhus made a statement and said"If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined. Pyrrhus sent an embassy to propose peace but his terms were rejected.
The following year, Pyrrhic won another battle in Apulia where he was wounded, his own losses being so heavy as to give rise to the expression "a Pyrrhic victory" .
Taking advantage of Pyrrhic situation, the Roman's opened new negotiations that Pyrrhus welcomed. During this time the Carthaginians, who feared the invasion of Pyrrhus in Sicily,offered the Romans money and ships. Their offer was accepted and Rome dropped the negotiations with Pyrrhus. Worn down by the battles against Rome, Pyrrhus moved his army to Sicily to instead war against the Carthaginians .
CONCLUSION :
*The momentary weakness of the Roman army due to the elimination the monarchy fuelled aggressions from some cities in the Latin league and also some other towns in Italy. It is important to note however that almost all the cities that waged war against Rome were defeated, some retreated and others surrendered. Even the Gauls that were described as "formidable warriors, skilled in wielding weapons, and that their first assault inspired fear even in the Veteran armies" , had to retreat in their siege against Rome.
Rome fought for survival and the need to be recognized as the strongest army in peninsula Italy, the other cities either fought to challenge the hegemony of Rome or the need to expand their territories due to overpopulation in their cities.
Shallom Ogungbade. Your work is interesting. However, the conclusion is rather brief. kindly post your references.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your work.
Cornell, TJ (1995), The Beginnings of Rome — Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC) , New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-01596-7(google)
ReplyDeleteWikipedia
Appian, Samnite Wars, 19-20(google)
classics material...Introduction to the history of rome
Forsythe, Gary (2005). A Critical History of Early Rome . Berkeley: University of California Press . ISBN 0-520-24991-7 .(google)