The Punic Curse

The Third Numidian War 677-678

Given the complex situation at the end of the Second Numidian War further conflict was perhaps inevitable. The Senate was now as much worried about further Egyptian expansion as it was that Numidia would ever become a threat on the scale of Carthage.

News of a serious revolt in April 677 led the Senate to offer Roman protection over the rump kingdom. It was clear that it could no longer protect itself and the entry of Roman legions would restore domestic peace.



However, the Numidian murder of Faustus Saturninus escalated the problem. Rome now had to intervene to maintain her reputation rather than with the goal of eliminating rebels.



In revenge the Senate agreed to a small scale incursion designed to bring Numidia to heel and to remind their rulers of the importance of international law.



What followed was relatively one-sided. The rebuilt navy won a major victory off Carthage ending any threat to Italy.



On land, for the first time Rome won easy victories. The Numidian army was still large, but it seemed as if the veterans of the previous wars had been replaced by raw recruits. A foe that had destroyed entire legions was quickly routed in a series of battles.



With the fall of their capital in late 677, organised resistance ceased.



By early 678 the Senate imposed its terms. These were designed as much to protect key regions from any further gains by the Egyptians rather than driven by any Roman expansion





However, even a short successful war had consequences. His predecessors in North Africa from the great Scipio onwards had accepted no reward for their feats of arms. Cinna demanded, and was granted, a triumph. Yet another dangerous precedent had been set.



The rump Numidian kingdom was not to spend long at peace. [1]

[1] – in effect from now on, it gets chewed into smaller parts by Rome and Egypt in turn – my goal is to hold Hippo Regius at the end (probably the only remaining province of any real value, now I have the elephants at Theveste).

Stuyvesant said:

Amen to that. Any idea what caused the dramatic reverse in casualty ratios? I'm not complaining, of course, quite the opposite, but it is stunning to see how much things changed in such a brief period of time.

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I wonder if they were broke and not paying full maintenance. At the end of the last war their main army (40 or so units) was trapped in that province I'd surrounded while rebels ran around in the rest. So it may have been not properly mobilised - I was definitely surprised to get in such a decent hit rate. The other difference was the legions I was using in N Africa I'd done some optimising of the force mix, so they are weak in terms of heavy infantry and strong for archers and cavalry, which is a good combination up against what the Numidians had to hand.

Saithis said:

Another successful victory, but this is only spiraling ever-closer to a climactic conflict between Rome and Egypt. Should be epic!

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well there is the small, minor, unimportant, problem of the Seleucids first ... I'm hoping that Egypt keeps quiet for some time yet

Qorten said:

You were due some easy victories.

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Stuyvesant said:

Amen to that. Any idea what caused the dramatic reverse in casualty ratios? I'm not complaining, of course, quite the opposite, but it is stunning to see how much things changed in such a brief period of time.

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dragonizer said:

Does sound like they were broke but you deserve an easy time once and a while.

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Aye, I think that was the answer. I don't think the AI disbands armies and that force cut off around Leptis Magna/Oea was notionally quite large. Equally after the second war there was a lot of rebel actions so that must have hit their income badly too.

Tapscott said:

Good update! Are you going to take away Egypt's new territories?

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Syria first is the plan. What I'd like to do before war with Egypt (which is going to be monumental) is to create lots of 'attrition traps'. So I'm building large forts in N Africa where they can suffer for some time and I'd like to do the same in Syria too. If I can build up the navy to 120+ (its currently about 80) then I think I can absorb them, even with their massive manpower reserve. I guess war #1 will be defensive but that may set them up for later rounds. It'll all depend on how long I have too. ... and can all go horribly wrong if I get too many civil wars.

Lofman said:

Good work, I would be very surprised if Numidia managed to recover from that. I do think Egypt is begging to be conquered.

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Numidia is finished. I'll let Egypt take the sand and I'll take the one province left of any value (Hippo Regius).

Next post is the last of this 'chapter', it has a somewhat eastern focus which rather nicely sets the scene for chapter three ...

Events in the East, 664-675

Across this period, events in the East came to claim more and more attention in the Senate. Some of this was for reasons of the State – a desire to see a balance of power maintained between the four competing powers of Pontus, Egypt, Parthia and the Seleucids combined with a fear of the consequences if one or the other became dominant.

Rome had a firm and lasting alliance with Pontus who were, in turn, allied to the Seleucids. The Pontic alliance gave Rome security in the Black Sea and protected the Aegean provinces. To the east, a series of client kingdoms, provided a buffer to the Seleucids. Equally the Pontic alliance led to the strange, and brief, Colchis war, that saw Rome's borders shift well to the east of its traditional confines around the Aegean.



However, greed too played a part with the lure of the rich provinces of the Levant and the ability to control the main trade routes in the Eastern Mediteranean.

The main dynamic in the East was the struggle between Parthia and the Seleucids. At this stage, Egypt kept out of these struggles, building up its strength and contenting itself by slowly occupying provinces as it moved westwards across the North African shore of the Mediterranean.

The early wars favoured the Seleucids as they regained lands they had lost a generation ago,



as well as expanding northwards into Armenia.



In response, the Senate strengthened the alliance with the client kingdom of Cappadocia in late 672.



In the event of any serious need to intervene, the 4 legions already in Asia Minor could now reach into Armenia and Syria.

Parthia's decision to renew the struggle with the Seleucids in 674 led to a massive war,



and, as both sides mobilised, Roman spies sent back worrying reports about the size of the armies being fielded in particular by the Seleucids.



Even as the Seleucids drove the Parthians back, they were able to make further gains from Armenia



Effectively splitting the state in two. In consequence, many in the Senate came to see the Seleucids as not just a regional power but potentially able to threaten Rome's provinces around the Aegean.

By this stage, though, Rome had already entered the region as a result of the short Colchis war. Rome had been drawn in to support its long term ally, Pontus.



All that could be spared was the 6th Legion, but fortunately this was at full strength having seen no action since the end of the Civil War.



By late 673, Pontus made peace having gained land to the north of the Black Sea



At this stage Rome had occupied Colchis' towns on the Black Sea and with little more to gain, and no willingness to see a legion committed to a long campaign in the region, the Senate accepted the offer by Colchis to cede the province of Coraxi



Unintentionally, the Senate now held land isolated from Rome's traditional focus on the Aegean. This in turn led to an interest in how to protect these new holdings and, more importantly, indicated that expansion eastwards was now an accepted policy. The only challenge remaining was to find a suitable opportunity and the military means to acquire land from the powerful kingdoms in the region.

Wave said:

It's seems like a fundamental law that the Seleucid Empire never goes down! Any chance of Roman interference in case the remaining two diadochi nations start fighting again? Which also makes me wonder, haven't they fought at all during this AAR or how they both still happily coexist?

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I think up to now Egypt and the Seleucids have not been at war. Its mostly been Seleucid+Pontus vs Armenia vs Parthia. In the period coming up that changes, and I'll use the danger of Egyptian expansion to justify Roman intervention.

Even weak it seems the combination of lots of cash + own culture provinces yields a very power Seleucid Empire. I'm surprised to be honest, because at the start of this scenario I think they had an army of about 10 units.

Qorten said:

I'd have sold it to Pontus, but hey, it's not my AAR, right? We are finally reaching the points where there are no biggies left in the west and all there is to fight, except oneself, are the eastern nations! My, those Seleucid armies look huge. However, that they consist of 38 units doesn't mean that actually are 38000 soldiers.

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Well I'll find out soon enough :ninja: . I know they are out of manpower, but I suspect that a lot of their notional army is mercanary not citizen. I do try not to take them on in a fair fight though.

Stuyvesant said:

Qorten's plan sounds like a winner to me. Some poor province on the northern shore of the Black Sea, surrounded by barbarians - get rid of it ASAP, you can always come back if you decide to conquer the rest of the Black Sea littoral.

But somehow, I doubt the Senate will give up its newest precious acquisition. Imperial overstretch already is starting to show itself...

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dragonizer said:

I agree but my philosophy is to takeover everything all the time.:laugh:

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Quite agree, once coloured Red, it stays red, or I try to get it back (as with Oea). As it is, that region stays quiet so I never have to do anything to keep hold of it, and its another useful coastal trading province.

Chapter Three: Expansion and Chaos 679-693

Introduction and Overview

By the start of this period, Rome was the power in the Western and Central Mediteranean. Carthage was long gone, Numidia but a rump of its power in 647, and central and southern Gaul long established as Roman colonies. Equally apart from the incursion of the Ingvaeones (691- 692), the long problematic Danubian frontier was quiet (or at least spared the major invasions of the earlier period).



With this supremacy came a desire for expansion. In effect the security of the current borders became an argument for the expansion of those borders. The result was the long running Gallic war that started with a barbarian incursion into the south, saw the conquest of the remaining Gallic kingdoms in the north and then a sequence of wars to deal with rebellions and invasions from across the Rhine.

However, it was in the East that Rome clearly adopted a new route. For the first time Roman power moved beyond the Aegean provinces. The conquest of Coraxi had changed the Senate's perceptions. If Roman Greece was protected by the provinces to the east of the Aegean then those provinces in turn could be protected by fortresses constructed in the Levant. However, both the Syrian wars (684 – 685 and 692-693) were also the result of trying to prevent another power (Parthia and Egypt respectively) from taking over key locations as the endless wars between the Eastern Kingdoms turned against the Seleucids.

However, this period was also marked by a return to Civil War. Cinna's revolt (681-683) was in some ways more, and in others less, dangerous than that of Catalus. More dangerous, as, for the first time an entire legion revolted and more dangerous as it was completely unexpected. Less so, as it never became the widespread civic revolt that Catalus had sparked with the war mostly limited to a long campaign in Northern Greece and Spain with most of the rest of the Republic left untouched.

The second major domestic shift was a change in the nature of Senatorial politics. The Mercantalist faction remained dominant but slowly the Senate coalesced into two directly opposed power groups. That based on the Mercantalists (with a shifting set of allies) and that grouped around the rejuvenated Populists.

Despite these domestic problems, by the end of this period, the Senate ruled from the edges of the Gallic straight in the north, to the provinces of Phoenicia and Syria in the east.



Across this period, Roman society continued to change. The return of the Populists as a significant force was matched by a further opening up of Roman society. Wealth, rather than ancestory, increasingly became the main criteria and the lower ranks of society equally saw social movement as the ranks of the citizens were expanded.



Also, the pax-Romana now in place across most of the Mediteranean encouraged a massive increase in trade



To hold this increasingly diverse state together, the importance of the state religion was strengthened.



Equally, the masses were appeased as much by the expansion of Arenas and public games as by any religious belief



As Rome edged closer to dominance, the nature of Roman society changed, it became more open but in that new openness was the risk of losing the core values that had propelled it to domination in the first place.