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Urbi et Orbi - A Rome AAR

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33 - Central Illyria and the Issa Civil War (256)

After securing the southern tip of Illyria, Rome focused on advancing along the coast northward again. During the Campaign of 259/258, it had seized Delminium, which had belonged to the Illyrian people of the Issa.

At that time, and still in 256, the Issa were divided in two factions. Agathon Sosiklid had been the ruler of the Issa, but for unknown reasons another Faction had risen against his rule. The latter controlled the largest part of the territories and after losing Delminium, Agathon had retreated to his last holding, the island of Vis.

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It is fair to assume, that Rome took advantage of the situation beyond its borders and moved units of maybe 10.000 troops northward along the coast in early 256. According to Florus, they faced no opposition as they advanced through a landscape devastated by years of raids performed by the opposing sides. It is impossible to say, whether this depiction is true or merely a justification for Rome`s aggressive move, that can be read as Rome restoring order in a chaotic situation.

After a Campaign of maybe half a year, the territory of the Issa, with the exception of Vis, had been occupied and Rome controlled the central Illyrian coast.
 
Have you got a general plan as to where you’ll be expanding next in Illyria, or is the strategy more opportunistic?
 
Illyria is becoming more and more Roman.

Also, some of Greece is now under Roman control...
 
HistoryDude said:
Also, some of Greece is now under Roman control...
Click to expand...

Not yet. I was careful at not accidentally creating a Province of Greece. My southern border is now exactly that of Illyria. But I did annex two or three territories of Macedonia. So now I have a Governor there, administrating some mountain valleys with 8000 people. :p
 
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34 - The northern Alliance (255 - 253)

In the course of several Campaigns during less than 10 years, Rome had been able to secure the coast of southern and central Illyria. This happened without significant difficulties, since the local Illyrian people lacked the means to gather and support a large army and repel the attack of the Roman invasion.

The Campaign of 255/253 would be different in that regard. Maybe the northern Illyrian tribes had realized, that they had to put their own quarrels aside and unite versus the foreign invader in order to maintain their independence. When the Republic prepared to advance northward, they faced opposition by the combined forces of the Liburni, Ditiones and Iapodes.

During the first part of the Campaign, the Romans seemed to have focused on the Ditiones in the mountains. The siege of Splaunon seemed to have lasted from spring to early autumn of 255. At the same time, two separate Illyrian forces of maybe 5.000 soldiers each advanced along the coast southward, even into Roman territory.

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This forced the Romans to regroup, since a Roman Legion had already advanced north toward Ainona, to besiege this fortified place. That siege had to be abandoned in order to react to the new threat. In late 255, the battles of Magnum and Skardon were fought. While the Illyrian force at Magnum seems to have been literally destroyed, the one at Skardon retreated orderly after defeat on the battlefield.

254 saw no action besides the second siege of Ainona, that took most of the year, before the place had to surrender. At the end of the year, Rome controlled most territories of the Ditiones and Liburni and were ready to advance further north. The last remaining stronghold was Senien. In the early days of 253, the Roman force of maybe 15.000 soldiers appeared at Senien, where the reorganized Illyrian army waited for them.

The Battle of Senien was the largest of the early Illyrian Wars. Its importance can be deduced from the fact, that Roman authors largely increased the size of the Illyrian force to up to 20.000 warriors. Modern estimations suggest that, although the Illyrians had gathered a large force, they were probably still outnumbered by roughly 2:1. Nevertheless it called for a large battle, during which the Romans lost at least a thousand troops, to defeat this last Illyrian contingent. The latter retreated eastward after losing between 30 and 50 percent of its strength.

Probably in May 253, Senien surrendered and the war ended. Rome annexed all enemy territories except a small part east of Senien. With this Campaign, the first stage of the Illyrian Wars came to an end. The Republic controlled the Illyrian coast almost completely after Campaigns of little more than a decade.

Nevertheless modern authors often point out the Campaign of 255/253 as the most difficult from a Roman point of view and what resistance would have been possible, if the Illyrians had formed a broader Alliance a few years earlier. But the division among the Illyrians, a result of centuries of tribal politics and rivalries, had not been easy to overcome. The Republic took advantage of that, probably well aware of the threat of a strong Alliance.
 
Contemporary authors overstating the size of the Illyrian force is very funny. Even living through it, they must realise the Roman conquering spree is all a bit ridiculous :p
 
Rome's enemies are getting smarter. This could be good or bad - good because that's less required wars, but bad because they're harder wars...
 
35 - The Ilvatian Campaign (252 - 251)

During the seven years after the end of the Ligurian War, the political situation in Cisalpine Gaul had not changed (see Map in Chapter 30), with the Republic controlling the narrow coastal area reaching to the Maritime Alps.

In a Campaign, that lasted roughly a year, Rome wanted to gain control of the territory of the Ilvates, another Latin-Etruscan tribe north of the coast. It is assumed that, similar to the developments in Illyria, the Republic wanted to secure the approaches to the vulnerable holdings along the coast.

Appian notes, that the Ilvates were allied to the Insubri further north. It is unknown, whether this is correct. But if so, the latter seem to not have participated in the upcoming conflict, that began in late 252. The Campaign mainly evolved around the sieges of Libarna and Dertona (today: Tortona), that were concluded in late 251, which was probably also the end of the Campaign.
 
Italia is being consolidated...
 
Keeping up momentum both east and west. And all going smoothly still, too.
 
36 - End of the Interlude (304 - 250)

Between 265 and 250, the Roman Republic had seized large territories in Illyria and made limited gains in Cisalpine Gaul. Contrary to before respectively after this time period, Rome did not act in order to contain this or that foreign power. The goal was rather to secure the coastal lines in respectively close to the Italian mainland. This was insofar successful, as the Republic now controlled the whole Tyrrhenian Sea and the largest part of the Adriatic Sea.

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By the mid of the 3rd Century, this period called Interlude came to an end, since the Republic faced a new strategic challenge, as Polybios describes:

"Although never declared as such, they [the Diadochi] became the primary enemies of the Romans by the virtue of being too powerful too close to their expanding borders, as to be ignored."

The group of men, who had followed and succeeded Alexander the Great, had vanished by the early 3rd Century. Cassander had died in 297, probably due to a stroke. Ptolemaios followed in 294, possibly murdered by his son and heir. Antigonos and Seleucos died due to natural causes in 294 and 287.

But the Succession Wars continued throughout the first half of the 3rd Century. Early on, Thracia was the first Successor State to disappear around 300. The fate of Lysimachos is still unknown to Historians. But the deciding moment of that period was the downfall of the Antigonied Kingdom during the Fifth Succession War of 298 / 295.

Antigonos, controlling the Near East as well as large parts of today`s Turkey, faced Ptolemaios and Seleucos. After the decisive battle of Pagrai on 13th September 296, during which Antigonos was almost killed, he had to abandon his Syrian and Palestinian holdings and even flee to his Greek holdings in late 295, since Turkey was overrun too.

The great winner of the Fifth Succession War was Egypt under Ptolemaios II Keraunos (Thunderbolt), whose Realm now spanned from eastern Libya around the eastern Mediterranean coast to Turkey in the north. In the following decades, Egypt consolidated and slightly expanded its position in the east, with Seleucia also gaining territories at the expense of Armenia.

In Greece, Antigonos`s son Isokrates managed to expand westward and reduce Macedonia, that had dominated Greece since Philipp II, to some scattered holdings in Pelagonia and Aetolia. In 280, Isokrates seized and plundered Thebes, destroying the Great Temple of Dionysus. Thus securing his reign over Central Greece and subsequently gaining influence over southern Greece and even parts of the Peloponnese.

In the course of the 250s, the situation in Greece changed again. Isokrates lost his Peloponnesian holdings to a local revolt, that resulted in the League of Elis. Additionally Egypt began a new war against him, leading to his defeat and Egypt exapnding into mainland Greece with the annexation of Thessaly.

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This was the situation, that Rome found beyond its southern border after the first stage of the Illyrian Wars. As Polybios stated, Rome`s own expansionism had brought the Republic into contact with the Greek world. A world in turmoil and now under the threat of Egypt restoring the western part of Alexander`s Empire.

There are no contemporary sources about the Republic`s strategic thoughts. But its actions clearly show, that the Interlude was over and the situation in the East had become its strategic focus. Hence Greece and Macedonia would become the first battlefield, on which the Republic and the Diadochi would struggle for dominance.
 
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Great wars approach. Songs will be sung of these days.

Also, that Egypt is gigantic. A true BGB - big gray blob
 
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37 - The Epirote War (249 - 248)

Rome`s first step into Greece came in 249, when it proceeded from Illyria south along the coast and began the Epirote War. In older publications it is known as the Ambrakian War, referring to the pretence used by the Republic to start the conflict.

Shortly after the end of the Taulantian War in 257, envoys from the city of Apollonia appeared in Rome, reporting about the fate of one of its citizens and asking the Republic for help. The Kilistratid family had been of importance in Apollonia and one of its members was held prisoner in the city of Ambrakia, with which Apollonia had an old conflict.

For years, the Republic did nothing decisive to press ahead with the issue. It took until 250, that Rome sent an Emissary to Archon Abreas and ask for Spartokos Kilistratid to be released, offering a reasonable ransom. The offer was denied immediately and Rome prepared for war.

This story, that is mostly reported by Cassius Dio, is still debated among Historians. Assuming that the situation indeed took place, it is hard to comprehend the reasoning behind Abreas` decision. He must have been aware, that Roman expansion, no matter what decision he made, was looming at the horizon. Also, that Ambrakia was too weak to resist the Republic. The only Ally he had was Pyrrhos I, the King of Epiros, who was roughly 70 years at that point of time.

This Alliance was considerably young and it is assumed, that the reason, why Rome did not approach Ambrakia any earlier was, that now they saw the chance to drag Epiros into a war, they had a more or less convincing reason to begin. In early 249, a Roman force of up to 25.000 soldiers assembled at Epiros` northern border.

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The Campaign itself conisted mainly of the sieges of Passaron, the Epirote capital, and Ambrakia itself. But in late 249, the battle of Gitana was fought. A Roman force of maybe 8.000 troops encountered a combined army from Epiros and Ambrakia, between 5.000 and 6.000 strong. Despite the not decisive numerical superiority, the Romans won a clear victory, with roughly half the opposing force laying dead on the battlefield.

According to Plutarch, the Romans found Pyrrhos` corpse in the aftermath of the battle in his tent. Allegedly one of his Officers was loyal enough to fulfill the King`s last wish to die there and not survive the downfall of his Kingdom. He also reports, that Pyrrhos had second thoughts about not opposing the Romans as younger man in the 280s, when there maybe still had been a chance to weaken the Republic. Despite that, the Romans paid respect to the dead King and cremated him with all honors.

Less merciful was the fate of Ambrakia. Probably in May 248, the city surrendered. The following looting by the Roman forces was brutal and according to reports, a quarter of the population was killed or enslaved. It would become one of the examples made by the Republic to show the consequences of refuting Rome`s just demands.

With Ambrakia taken, the Epirote War was concluded and all Epirote and Ambrakian holdings annexed by the Republic, that now bordered the Greek region of Aetolia.
 
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Ambrakia is punished.

Interesting that Pyrrhus was respected...
 
38 - The Macedonian War (247 - 246)

In the last years of the 4th Century, Macedonia under the rule of Cassander was still the Hegemon of Greece. But already in the last years of his rule, his position eroded during the conflict with Antigonos. In 297, when Cassander died, he had already lost Emathia and Thessaly to the Antigonid Kingdom, although he was able to defeat Lysimachos and annex Thracia.

His son Alexander is described as weak character of ill health. Under his rule, Thracia did rise in revolt in 282. He had to deploy all his resources in a fruitless war, that would eventually lead to no gain. But he also began to increase Macedonia`s influence in Aetolia. But be did not see the end of both developments before he died in 270.

His son, Cassander II, had to end the attempt to regain Thracia, when the Antigonid Kingdom seized it in 268. With the eastern territories gone, Macedonia was reduced to its holdings in the mountainous region of Pelagonia and small territories in Aetolia, where the Kingdom reached the peak of its influence in 255. Additionally, Macedonia was able to maintain some Alliances with minor Greek factions such as Elis or the Aetolian League.

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According to reports, these Alliances became even closer with the intrusion of the Republic into the Greek world and especially after the massacre at Ambrakia. Despite the benevolent treatment of other cities with Greek origin such as Apollonia, Rome was deemed to be an even greater threat than the Ptolemaic Dynasty, since the latter was at least of Hellenic origin.

Nevertheless the Republic strived to advance further south along the coast, circumventing the Ptolemaic territories in Thessaly and pushing into Aetolia. In early 247, Roman troops entered Macedonian territory. In April, the largest battle of the Campaign was fought outside the city of Stratos, when 8.000 Romans faced an opposing force of the same strength. At the end of the day, Rome had won a decisive victory with 3.000 Macedonians and Aetolians dead.

The rest of the year 247 saw the successful sieges of Stratos and Amphissa. For the rest of the War, the Romans faced no serious opposition anymore. This was also a result of the Roman fleet, that controlled the Gulf of Patras and the narrows that separated it from the Gulf of Corinth. This made it impossible for reinforcements from the south to arrive.

In mid 246, the Aetolian city of Thermos had to surrender too and the Republic occupied the few remaining territories in Aetolia. At the same time, Rome`s Campaign in Pelagonia led to further gains, forcing Cassander to peace negotiations. In late 246 the war ended, with the Macedonian part of Aetolia as well as the cities of Thermos and Amphissa falling under Roman rule.

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Egypt is indeed huge. Will be interesting to see how it’s power compares to Rome’s (and vice versa)
 
Greece is coming under Roman rule.
 
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