The Battle of Chaeronea, 86 BC ⚔️ | First Mithridatic War

it is summer 86 bc the pontic general archelaus deployed his army in a valley closed by chernia his scouts informed him he outnumbered the romans commanded by lucius cornelius salah at least 4-2-1 he was confident this would be a swift victory over the romans similar to the one attained a year before in asia minor as he prepared to give the command of the main attack he heard screams and shouting from above his army looked up towards their fellow soldiers who held strategic positions among the impassible mountains they were horrified at what they saw and before they knew it the battle commenced in 88 bc the social war between rome and the italian tribes was still waging on besides war on the peninsula rome suffered problems to their east the rogue king mithridates of pontus had been a thorn in their sight for years annexing and bullying roman client states roma tried to put him back in line by invading the kingdom without declaring war however mithridates not only decisively defeated a much larger roman allied pythinian army at the battle of river anies he subsequently also augmented his own army with the captured bithynian mercenaries he was stronger than ever and following this victory rome officially declared war soon after at the battle of poto pacquiao mithridates again defeated a roman army and expelled all roman forces from asia minor after that he was in firm control of the region the roman commander lucius cornelius sulla was the man supposed to deal with him but besides the roman war he faced another roadblock the former council guys marius wanted the command for war in asia minor himself many intrigues followed culminating in a pro-marius riot breaking out in rome after salah left on his campaign he heard of this riot at nola together with the army he raised to fight mithridates but contrary to the marion faction's expectations as it went against ancient tradition and roman law salah's army remained loyal to him instead of the republic and they began a slow march onto rome when mithradartes heard the army race to fight him was marching on its own capital it only emboldened the king to ensure loyalty from the kingdoms on asia minor he unleashed what became known as the asian vespers he ordered all roman citizens on his mind approximately 80 000 to be killed every town village and city purged itself of roman citizens virtually unopposed the ponte collar spread over asia minor mithridates comfortably dominated the mainland of asia minor and wanted more his eyes turned to the islands in the aegon sea the first island that came into his possession was koss severely weakened by infighting lesbos surrendered next without any resistance the island of rhodes however put up much of a fight and the subsequent siege and naval battles were touch and go eventually rhodes managed to repel mithridates assault having lost his first battle he returned to asia minor to lick his wounds he decided to leave the island alone a decision not too surprising because there was fruitful ground to expand pontic territory even further on the greek mainland greece wasn't necessarily on mithradarty's list of territoristic capture in fact he expected the romans to raise an army and naval fleet he planned to meet them in battle on the aegon sea and potentially on the shores of asia minor but it just so happened that a pro-pontic party ruled in athens they welcomed mithridates to liberate them from the roman yoke not to mention athens was a spiritual home of hellenism so ruling it would be of great value to mithridates legitimacy the pro-pontic ruler in athens handed him the region on a silver platter de facto controlling athens pontic soldiers now swarmed onto the greek mainland that captured de los buocia uboa and sparta the romans were right to be worried the roman governor of macedonia sent south whatever troops he could spare his navy seized the island of skiatos setting a flame pontic storehouses he subsequently invaded buosia engaging in skirmishes to keep the pontikarni occupied and prevent them from pushing further north during these skirmishes the romans received new sola with five legions had landed in iporus the commander had consolidated his position in rome and expelled the marion faction he began levying auxiliary units from territories he traveled through despite being heavily outnumbered the romans were a formidable force to meet in battle one brief skirmish between archelaus and saleh's army was enough to convince the pontic general to retreat between ethan's massive walls thanks to the pontic navy the army defending athens would be well supplied while salah supply lines were uncertain in fact back in rome his opponents had ceased power again and they did not acknowledge the legitimacy of his military campaign anymore so salah had two different fronts to worry about now but he was undeterred he planned to besiege both athens and its port of purees though the pontic navy was able to supply purees athens was entirely cut off after several encirclement campaigns the siege lasted for several months through the winter and spring then in march 86 bc athens finally fell after its defense force suffered from starvation for months the pro-pontic athenians were trapped while archelaus and hispanic army escaped from piraeus to thessaly meanwhile to the north the main pontic army arrived commanded by archathias mithridati's son the enormous army raced through macedonia cementing their control in the region in fact the army was large to the degree that salah must have suspected athens was no more than a diversion tactic for the ponds to conquer northern greece archelaus managed to link up with the main pontic army at thermopylae he took over command their strategy was to move south all that was in their way was a small roman contingent no more than 6 000 legions under hortensius the romans were in full retreat chased through the mountains sulla began his march westward both the meet up with hortensias and because the local farms could not provide for his army much longer as such he started his trek westward hopefully in time to save hortensius's army from the pursuing pontic behemoth salah met up with hortensius on a hill at the plain of elysia sources are vague about what happened next the main pontic army entered the plane as well after several skirmishes they either captured the hill or for salah to retreat preemptively sola positioned his army to the east of cheruniya leaving a roman garrison in the city to defend it against pontic attacks leaving the garrison behind was a good move as archelaus sent an advance force against the city not soon after briefly besieging the city they understood that i would not capture it and instead moved into the hills here they set up an outpost above the town overlooking the valley the main pontic army set up camp in the narrow valley separating mount hedylium and ocontium the pontic army was well protected snuggled between the mountains this also meant they had no way out but through the narrow valley between the hills and rivers still archelaus didn't think a defeat was possible considering scouts informed him of the romans numbering no more than twenty thousand troops meanwhile he commanded over one hundred thousand however salah tried to make a virtue of necessity he knew the pontic army outnumbered him but he also knew that terrain was not ideal to suit a large body of soldiers as his army was preparing itself for battle a group of locals offered him their services they convinced the general there was a path through the mountainous terrain if this was true he could ambush the ponte garrison camping on the hill salah agreed meanwhile he gathered his army and ordered his men to prepare for battle lieutenant morena commanded the left flank besides the roman infantry morena also commanded most of the cavalry available to the romans the remainder of the cavalry under salah guarded the right flank the center was meant by roman infantry equipped with the iconic pila heavy javelins and their general combat equipment ortensius and the macedonian veterans meant the rear guard standing on top of a hill they were at liberty to decide for themselves which flank they would join once battle commenced archelaus and his men understood battle would soon commence archelaus stationed the scythe chariots in the front flanked by pontic infantry behind the chariots stood the main contingent of pontus's army the traditional macedonian-inspired phallics among them stood phalangites made up of slaves whose only choice was to fight or face crucifixion on the right flank stood a cavalry contingent with behind them a unit called the brazen shields as they were preparing to march onto sola's position suddenly they heard screams from above when they looked up it took a second to make sense of what they were seeing the pontic mountain garrison was surprised as dozens of cherenians flung themselves at them and brutally slew them panic broke out and several soldiers tried to flee the mountain camp into the valley archelaus yelled at his main army to advance as they approached the view must have been horrible often unarmed and only wearing parts of their armor pontic soldiers stormed down the slope with cheruneans in hot pursuit but as soon as i reached the foot of the hill mourinho's army and cavalry were there to welcome them it is estimated around 3 000 soldiers died barely any escaped without striking a single blow against the romans but it got worse the soldiers who managed to escape the ambush now saw their own army deployed within the valley so they ran to them to get to safety but the thing is the pontic scythe chariot stood at the ready to charge into the roman ranks because their soldiers now scrambled over they were unable to deploy them the chariots waited for the fleeing soldiers to reach their ranks then finally losing the element of surprise archelaus ordered the chariots forward with the romans having moved too close the heavy chariots could not gather enough speed before reaching the roman ranks sola ordered the center of his army to move aside quickly opening up the center the chariots raced through unable to stare into the roman rings the riders yelled and tugged their horses to a halt once they moved through the ranks but it was too late multiple units received orders to throw their javelins at the chariots as they were trying to turn around standing still it was effortlessly speaking and screams aroused from behind the roman front line which had closed again arclays could only watch before too long the screams and yells subsided until the general heard nothing except the occasional roman commander yelling orders as archelaus was about to shout his orders at his men the sky turned black salah ordered his light infantry to shower the pontic front lines with their pilaf as a result many of the lightly armored phalanges were struck and died in the hill of missiles having damaged the front line salah ordered his men forward the infantry charged straight at the pontic front lines and heavy close combat fighting broke out breaking through the phalanges heavy combat ensued between the phalanx and roman infantry however archelaus wasn't discouraged by being put on the back foot he ordered his cavalry to charge forward into rome's left flank because his phalanx preoccupied the majority of the roman infantry marina's flank was spread relatively thin still regrouping from the successful onslaught against the mountain garrison portensius standing on higher ground saw the cavalry charge forward and ordered the reserves to fling themselves at the cavalry he hoped they would intercept them in their flank but the ponte cavalry was a disciplined unit upon seeing the romans run at them they'd change directions mid-charge to fight them thus the romans did not charge into them despite the pontic cavalry being exposed to mourinho's core instead portensius's men now remained on their own fighting ferociously against the ponte cavalry the brazen shields now swiftly moved against mourinho's troops blocking combat on the pontic right flank meanwhile sulla had not yet seen combat he decided to support marina and ortensius engaged in heavy fighting he took units from the roman right flank and center archelaus noticed salah moving and ordered the retreat of his cavalry an opportunity presented itself with salah midway it meant the roman right flank was severely undermanned he had to move fast and while mourinho's units reinforced hortensias archelaus moved behind friendly lines rushing to the pontic left but sola called on he immediately ordered his cavalry route and for once the romans had the advantage in being outnumbered it meant his cavalry was much quicker and there were fewer obstacles in the way selah was the first to reach the right flank and his cavalry garnered momentum while the politic heavy cavalry was only just about past their center not making any speed they could not do anything but face the fast and ferocious charge by solas cavalry it hit them hard fighting broke out being put on the back foot and suffering heavy casualties soon the ponte cavalry retreated in disorder as the cavalry broke things rapidly progressed zelda retreated behind his battle lines to assess the situation meanwhile the phalanx was getting a rough beating from the roman infantry fighting had gone on for several hours already on the roman left flank marina also gained the upper hand against the brazen shields heavily outnumbered they fled the camp as well as both flanks disintegrated the fellings was done for marina and hortensius flanked the phalanx on the right they had no adequate defense against flanking maneuvers and the romans inflicted heavy damage soldiers dropped their spears and they too fled the battlefield because archelaus had reinforced the camp there was an enormous gem in front of the gates not all soldiers fit through those who were unfortunate enough to stand at the rear were mercilessly slaughtered tell us cavalry chased down those who tried to escape elsewhere the fleeing pontic soldiers fled to the north through the hills they did not reach safety until they reached chalkies where the pontic navy brought them to safety it is estimated not even 10 of the total pontic army survived the subsequent onslaught seller estimated he lost 14 soldiers tops although this is considered to be heavily exaggerated though the romans killed most of the pontic army mithridates was already raising a new army archelaus was to receive approximately 80 000 new troops and the pontic navy ensured he would be ready for the final showdown between saleh and himself one year later thank you for watching this video if there's a battle topic or event you would like to know more about let me know your thoughts in a comment i would also really like to thank all my patrons and channel members for their generous 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Channel: House of History

Views: 39,435

Keywords: House of History, history documentary, history, documentary, battle of chaeronea, battle of chaeronea 86 bc, first mithridatic war, mithridatic wars, king mithridates vi, history of pontus, kingdom of pontus, roman-mithridatic wars, roman wars, lucius cornelius sulla, sulla's civil war, gaius marius, social war italy, social war rome, battle of river amnias, arcathias, archelaus pontic general, roman conquest of greece, pontic conquest of greece

Id: qS8vebb_FpA

Length: 16min 18sec (978 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 26 2021