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- The Third Samnite War (298-290 BC) was the last desperate attempt of the Samnites to remain independent. They persuaded the Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls to join them.
- Rome emerged victorious at the battle of Sentinum in 295 and spent the
remainder of the war putting down any possible Samnite resistance. The Samnites were
bound to Rome by a series of alliances.
- Rome spent the 280s BC putting down unrest in northern Italy, but its
attention was soon directed to the far south as well by a quarrel between the Greek
city of Thurii and a Samnite tribe. Thurii called upon the assistance of Rome, whose naval
operations in the area provoked a war with the Greek city of Tarentum. As in previous conflicts with Italian peoples, Tarentum summoned military
aid from mainland Greece, calling upon King Pyrrhus of Epirus, one of the most brilliant generals of the ancient world.
- The Pyrrhic War, 280-275 BC, Pyrrhus brought 20 war elephants with his
25,000 highly trained soldiers, each elephant had a tower on its back with armed
soldiers inside.
- There have been plates and other objects discovered that reveal what these
war elephants looked like. They were almost as large as modern elephants but
much more fierce. They are extinct now.
- After defeating the Romans at Heraclea and stirring up revolt among the
Samnites, Pyrrhus offered peace terms that would have limited Roman power to
central Italy. When the Senate became disheartened, Appius Claudius, an aged blind senator, roused their courage and persuaded them to continue
fighting.
- Pyrrhus again defeated the Romans in 279 at Asculum. His losses in the two
battles numbered 7,500 (almost one-third of his entire force). When
congratulated on his victory, Pyrrhus, according to Plutarch, "replied . . . that one other
such would utterly undo him." This type of victory has been referred to as a Pyrrhic victory.
- Pyrrhus then left Italy and aided the Greeks of Sicily against Carthage; he
eventually returned to Italy and was defeated by the Romans in 275 BC at
Beneventum. He then returned to Greece, while Rome put down resistance in Italy and
took Tarentum itself by siege in 272.
- By 270 BC Rome had more citizens and well-trained soldiers than any other
Mediterranean power.
- By 275 BC Rome ruled the entire Italian Peninsula. Rome was now the
unquestioned master of Italy. Roman territory was a broad belt across central Italy,
from sea to sea.
- Any conquered peoples were obligated to provide Rome with military forces in
wartime.
- In principle, each province was to be administered in accordance with its lex provinciae, a set of rules drawn up by the conquering commander and a senatorial
embassy. The lex provinciae laid down the organization of taxation, which varied from
province to province.
- During the republic, tax collection was left to private companies of publicani, they were called this because they won by highest bid the contract to
collect the revenues. It was the governor's responsibility to keep the publicani
within the bounds of the lex provinciae so that they did not exploit the helpless
provincials too mercilessly, but this was difficult. Governors expected to make
a profit from their term of office, and some collaborated with the publicani to
strip the provinces of their wealth.
- According to the Roman census of 225 BC, Rome could call upon 700,000
infantry and 70,000 cavalry from its own citizens and allies.
- The conquest of Italy provided Rome with considerable manpower, and forced
it to develop military, political, and legal institutions and practices for
conquering and absorbing foreign peoples.
- The Pyrrhic War demonstrated that Rome's civilian army could wage a
successful war against highly skilled armies of the Mediterranean world.
(Also see Punic Wars Facts)
The History of Rome - Part One 743 - 136 B.C. © Bible History Online (http://www.bible-history.com) |