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Foreign Invaders & the Conquest of ItalyContentsSummaryAfter the politically turbulent times of the 5th century B.C.E., the Roman Republic saw many military conflicts. In the late 4th century, the Romans faced the Gauls, and their superior force. The city of Rome fell to the Gauls, who burned almost everything to the ground. The Romans then, about half a century later, waged war against the Samnites of southern Italy. Forced to by local rebellions, the Romans had to concede the short war and head home. The Second Samnite War saw much humiliation for the Romans in the first half, but the second half showed the true Roman colors, who came out victorious again even with the Etruscans aiding the Samnites. The Final Samnite War proved the Romans to be innovative. The Romans managed to defeat the Samnites, Etruscans, and Gauls on two separate fronts, leaving most of Italy to the Romans. The Romans showed their military power and persistence again in the Pyrrhic War, and defeated Pyrrhus of Epirus and the Tarentines. Gallic Sack of RomeThe Sack of Rome began when the Germanic tribes in the north pressured the Gallic-Celtic inhabitants to probe further south to find new land. The Gauls migrated down to the Siena province, just north of Rome. The Senones, a Gallic tribe led by Brennus, sieges the town of Clusium, an Etruscan town. Though the Etruscans and the Romans were enemies, they allied to repel the invading Gauls. (“Gallic Sack of Rome”) The Romans sent a delegation of influential men to scout the size of the Gallic army, and to negotiate with the invaders to perhaps come to peace. The talks backfired, and Roman Quintus Fabius killed one of the Gallic leaders. The Gauls, enraged, demanded that the Romans hand over Fabius so that he could be punished. The Romans refused to do so, and the Gauls marched on Rome. (Hickman, p. 1) The Romans supposedly raised an army that was about 40,000 men, but the number was more like 24,000. Quintus Suplicius, the legatus, had 6 legions in his command, and each legion was about 4,000 mean each. It was still the biggest army that the Romans had ever amassed. The Gauls, according to legend, had about 70,000 men, but again, was anywhere from 25,000-35,000. (Wheeler, p. 1) The two armies met about 10 miles north of Rome, near the river Allia. Brennus attacked the Roman right flank, made up of young, inexperienced soldiers. The Gauls overcame the right flank, and the Romans were forced to retreat. The remaining soldiers and citizens took refuge on the Capitoline Hill, while the Gauls ravaged and burned the rest of the city. The Gauls and Romans reached an agreement, and the siege was called off. The Romans paid the Gauls 1,000 pounds of gold, and as rumor has it, Brennus used a scale that was heavier than the normal scale, robbing the Romans of precious gold. (“Battle of the Allia”) With their fortune, the Gauls left Rome, leaving the city in ruins. Seeming as there was no wall around the city before the invasion of the Gauls, the Romans constructed a wall around the entire city. They also decided to switch from the Greek Phalanx (spear) to the gladius (dagger/sword), as well as forge the helmets out of iron, not bronze. (“Battle of the Allia”) The legions were also changed; they decided to rearrange them so that the youngest, most inexperienced soldiers were closer to the front, and the more experienced soldiers were in the rear. (“Gallic Sack of Rome”) This was more efficient because the younger soldiers could gain more experience in the front lines, and if they were defeated, the fresh, seasoned soldiers in the back could finish off the tired enemy. Following the invasion of Rome, many of the surrounding tribes revolted against the Romans, but over the next half-century, they were successfully brought back into Roman Rule. First Samnite WarAfter the Romans had rebuilt their realm, they set their sights on the southern part of Italy, specifically Campania. During the times of reconstruction for the Romans, they had allied themselves with the Samnites of Campania. But, as Roman power grew, the desire to overtake the Samnites outweighed the alliance. Like many wars, the First Samnite War started due to the pre-battle negotiating going wrong. The Romans, after a very brief conflict full of Roman victories, were forced to concede the war, due to hostilities back in Latium. (“The First Samnite War”) The war had lasted only two years, from 343-341 B.C.E., and had ended in Roman control of the Campanian capitol city Capua. (Forsythe, p. 1) While the Romans were fighting in Campania, the surrounding Latin tribes decided to revolt once again and break away from Roman control. The Romans withdrew most of their forces from Campania, and went back to Latium to surpress the rebellions. The Romans and the Samnites signed a treaty, and allied to defeat a common enemy: the Latin League (a group of independent cities in mid-Italy) and Campanian tribes. The Romans and the Samnite crushed the rebelling forces, who were forced to sign a treaty in 338 B.C.E. The Romans took control of all the city-states, giving most of them full Roman citizenship. (Gill, p.1) At this time, Rome controlled all of the middle part of Italy. Second Samnite WarDriven by aspirations of greater expansion, the Romans founded a colony on the Liris River, dangerously close to the land of the Samnites, who, at that point in time, were unable to do anything about it. Due to a conflict Alexander of Epirus (Alexander the Great), the Samnites’ focuses were elsewhere. (“Second Samnite War”) In Naples on the year 327 B.C.E., a conflict between the Samnites and the Romans was brewing. The Romans were under the influence that the Samnites had been telling the people of Naples to expand into Roman territory. The Samnites sent troops to Naples to deal with the situation, but a fight ensued in which the Romans defeated the small Samnite garrison, and so began the Second, or Great Samnite War. (Cook, p. 595) The Romans saw many victories during the early part of the war, and urged the Samnites, at twice the size of the Roman republic, to surrender. The Samnites refused the bargain, and the fighting continued. In 321 B.C.E., the Romans faced one of their most embarrassing defeats in their entire history. (Gill, p.2) The Samnites trapped and surrounded the Romans in a mountain pass, and forced them to surrender. The Romans forfeited two of its cities, Fregellae and Cales, and had to suffer public humiliation. They were forced to give up their spears, and walk under them, a sign of ultimate humiliation. According to Gill, the soldiers were even forced to walk naked. The Romans were also forced to sign a 5-year peace treaty with the Samnites, which they spent strengthening their army, and supporting allies in attacking the Samnites while the Roman armies lay dormant. In 316 B.C.E. when the Romans re-entered the war, they saw many defeats. Campania began to sway to the side of the Samnites, and threatened to leave the Romans, while the Etruscans allied with the Samnites in 311, ending a 40-year period of peace between the Romans and the Etruscans. (“Second Samnite War”) One would think with the addition of the Etruscans to the Samnite side would mean certain victory but on the contrary, the Romans rallied from 311-308 with many key victories, and completely turned the tides of the war. The Etruscans were forced to surrender under very harsh Roman terms in 308, while the Samnites followed suit in 304 B.C.E. With the end of the Second Samnite War, the Romans controlled almost all of southern and middle Italy. Having signed a treaty in 306, the Carthaginians left Italy entirely, leaving Rome as the most powerful entity in Italy. (Nardo, Ancient Rome, p. 289) The Romans also adopted the Samnite fighting style. The Romans had used the Greek hoplite formation, which basically was just a solid mass of soldiers, while the Samnites used a formation called the Manipular formation. It was essentially a checkerboard formation, with every other square full of men, leaving empty spaces between them. This enabled the army to become much more mobile, especially in rough terrain. (Forsythe, p.1) The Romans kept the Manipular battle formation throughout the rest of the republic and empire. Third Samnite WarThe Third Samnite War was less of a war with the Samnites in the early stages of the war, but more of a war against the Etruscans and the Gauls. The Samnites were greatly weakened from the Second Samnite War, and allied themselves with the powerful Etruscans and Gauls only after 6 years of peace. This war again commenced due to problems around Naples; the Samnites wished to ally themselves with the Lucanians, but after they were denied an alliance, they decided to take them by force. The Lucanians then asked the Romans for help against the Samnites, who drove the Samnites away. This war, unlike its previous wars, had multiple fronts. The Romans were used to fighting on only one front, but in the Third Samnite War, they were facing the Samnites to the south and east, and the Gallic-Etruscan combined force to the north. (“Third Samnite War”) In the south, in the early part of the war, the Romans crushed the Samnite army, allowing the Romans to focus on their northern invaders. At the battle of Sentinum in northern Umbria, the Romans won a decisive confrontation. Early in the battle, the Gauls almost overran the Romans, but the Romans rallied back and defeated the opposition. This led to a speedy assault on the Gallic territory, and eventually up to the Etruscans. The two sued for peace, and the Romans were able to switch their focus and attend to the lingering Samnite forces. The war dragged on for another 5 years, until the Samnites were finally forced to surrender to the Romans in 295 B.C.E. The Samnites were given no citizenship, and were to be a part of the Roman republic until it’s end. With this victory, the Romans controlled nearly the entire Italian peninsula, save the Gauls to the far north, and a handful of Greek cities in the south. Pyrrhic WarThe Pyrrhic War’s beginnings sprouted in 282 B.C.E. when the city of Turii called on Rome to aid in a confrontation with Tarentum. The Romans had signed a peace treaty with Tarentum in 302 restricting any Roman ships from entering the Bay of Tarentum, and when they sailed a handful of ships to the bay, the Tarentines sunk all the ships. (Gill, “Tarentum and the Pyrrhic War”) The Romans, in reaction to this hostility, sent diplomats to Tarentum, but were turned away, so the Romans marched on Tarentum. Tarentum, a Spartan colony, called on King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who brought with him about 25,000 men and a herd of war elephants. The fighting between the Epirotes and the Romans began in 280 at Heraclea. (Nardo, Rise of the Roman Empire, p. 80) The elephants of Pyrrhus proved dominant as they drove the Roman lines back, while the Epirotes drove forward. The only reason the Roman Army was not decimated was due to a wounded elephant scaring the rest of the elephants, turning them against their own forces. Though technically a Roman loss, the Epirotes could not afford such losses, as casualties were about even for both sides. No fighting followed for awhile, as the Epirotes had to recover and reinforce after the devastating victory. The next year, the Romans and Epirotes met at the battle of Ausculum. This battle, like the one that preceded it, didn’t see a definitive winner until the elephants were brought in, who drove back the Romans and again created mass confusion. The Epirotes left the battlefield victorious, but again at great costs. Epirus said after, “One other such [victory] would utterly undo [me].” (“Pyrrhic War”) Pyrrhus asked for peace from the Romans, but was refused, and was told he wouldn’t get peace if he were still in Italy. (“Pyrrhic War”) Pyrrhus then sailed away to Sicily in 278 and had many skirmishes, only to return to Italy in 275. The Epirotes and Romans met once again at Malventum (literally, bad omen), and the Epirotes were driven back to Tarentum, and eventually back to Greece. The Romans renamed Malventum to Beneventum (good omen). With Pyrrhus gone, the Tarentines surrendered and the Romans assumed power. The Romans now controlled all of the peninsula of Italy in 272 B.C.E. With the defeat of the defeat of the Tarentines and Epirotes, the stage was set for the Carthaginians and Romans to do battle. After returning to Greece, Pyrrhus reflected “What a battlefield I am leaving for Carthage and Rome.”
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