The History of the Roman Republic (All Parts) - 753 BC - 27 BC

the story of the founding of Rome is a tale that was often told by the Romans as the earliest history of their ancient city as the legend goes Rome was founded on April 22nd 753 BC by twin brothers Romulus and Remis the boys were the son of Rea Sylvia a daughter of king numor of albalonga who was impregnated by by the God of War Mars when the Twins were born King nur's younger brother who had previously deposed the king attempted to have the boys murdered by drowning them in the Tyber River in hopes to avoid any new Rivals to the throne somehow the infant survived and eventually washed ashore near Palatine Hill here the legend has it that they were suckled by a She Wolf and later found by f stus a local Shepherd he and his wife took the boys in and with age Romulus and Remis became leaders of a group of Shepherd Warriors before finding out about their true lineage knowing that they had a valid claim to albalonga the twins launched an attack on the city assassinating their great uncle and placing their grandfather back on the throne they then decided to found their own City nearby at the site where they suckled from the She Wolf as babies but a conflict between the brothers ended with Romulus murdering his brother and Romulus alone then founded the city of Rome named after none other than himself Romulus now had to address the obvious problem of somehow populating his new town which currently had no woman to overcome this obstacle Ram devised a plan to invite his neighbors the sabines to a festival at which he had their woman kidnapped this unsurprisingly triggered armed conflicts between the new Romans and the sabines but thankfully for Romulus the abducted woman actually came to mediate and insisted on putting an end to the war before Rome could be captured the subsequent peace treaty allowed for the merging of the two kingdoms and made both both Romulus and the Sabine King Titus tatius the population Authority additionally to help with the growth of Rome ramulus invited both Exiles and fugitives to come and seek asylum in his kingdom by the time that his counterpart King Titus died no Heir replaced the Sabine which left Romulus once again the soul Monarch over the new city after the Founder's death there would be six more Kings until the kingdom would become a republic Instead This of course is only one Theory as to how Rome came to be the somewhat outlandish tale has been questioned by many historians over the years and other hypotheses concerning how Rome was founded exist and have been supported by some Curious figures for one strabo a Greek historian wrote of another tale that claims an AR Arcadian Colony first occupied what would become Rome and the city itself was founded by a Greek man from Arcadia named iander according to strabo a Roman historian Lucius coelius intip also agreed with this Theory still another belief is that Rome was founded by Romos a son of King Odus and chersi which would have made the Romans of Greek descent and may have become an unfavorable fact as Discord with the Greeks began to grow Martin P Nelson a Swedish scholar explains that this Theory May in fact have once been the main story of Rome's birth but as the concept of Greek ancestry became more embarrassing for the Romans they likely would have tweaked the story changing the name of Romos to the native name of Romulus but the name Romos which later turned into the native name of Remis was never fully forgotten and would account for the story of two Founders not just one further lending to the possibility of having a potentially hidden Greek descent in his satire the Caesars Emperor Julian is said to have had Alexander the Great say to the Romans I am aware that you Romans are yourselves descended from the Greeks and yet another option is that the Trojan Prince anaus actually founded Rome as described by Virgil a Roman poet in his epic known as anid both Emperor Augustus and Julius Caesar are said to have been descendants of Prince anias as well historically speaking regardless of how Rome was truly founded we know that there were supposedly seven Kings in total during the first era of establishment beginning with Romulus and eventually ending with the ruscan Kings the final three monarchs of this civilization were priscus tulus and Superbus a problem is evidence with not necessarily the belief that the last three kings were a truscan but with the limited number of Kings in total if only seven Kings reigned over 243 years that would average roughly 35 years per Monarch which has been strongly discredited by modern historians while it is possible that Rome could have been ruled by only seven Kings in its first years there is no way to prove the unlikely claim due to the lack of contemporary evidence when the Gauls sacked Rome during the Battle of Aaliyah in the fourth Century BC they destroyed a large amount of Rome's existing records and many of the rest became lost or damaged over the following years one way or another Rome's Foundation as a monarchy came to an end in 509 BC when the Romans finally gains control back from the at truscan people who had been ruling over them for the past three Reigns as The Story Goes Lucius tarius Superbus the last king was deposed after his son sexus darus committed a heinous crime crime against lucrecia a noble woman which resulted in her death luria's father husband and even the king's nephew came together with the goal of punishing the royal family by overthrowing the king himself both the Roman military and Senate decided to support this coup Not only would king tarius be overthrown but the kingship in its entirety would be abolished by the Senate and the majority of his duties were instead transferred to to two elected consoles each console would act as a type of checks and balances for each other with each term lasting only one year and any console being at the mercy of the law if they abuse their power while in office the first two consoles were Brutus and Colin tinis although the latter was a relative of the deposed King and was eventually forced to give up his position and go into exile puus arious publicola would take Colin tennis's place as the second console King tarus did make a few attempts to regain his throne and reestablish the Roman monarchy such as with the tarian conspiracy the same year of his removal and two battles within the Roman ruscan wars shortly after the former King proved disappointingly unsuccessful and the Republic remained at this point in time while the Republic may have been an improvement from the monarchy it still was not like a democracy instead the Senate which was made up of purely Aristocrats or patricians were responsible for voting in each console for every term and the lower classes known as the plebians did not possess any type of power to challenge or influence decisions made by the Senate additionally there were notable efforts made to se separate and distinguish the varying levels of society marriage between patricians and plebians was strictly forbidden as the Republic aged and developed the plebeians did slowly begin to gain more and more influence and power including eventually becoming eligible for the position of console but the patricians essentially maintained their overall Authority by means of their wealth another curious feature of the early Roman Republic was the way it dealt with emergencies in the case of for example a military emergency in the form of war the Senate and consuls had the ability to basically elect a temporary dictator who would assume complete authority over Rome for the time of the crisis the position was quite frankly a dangerous one as it gave the dictator unchecked control and power in an already chaotic time but for a plean by the name of Cincinatti the concept worked as had hoped the aristocrats brought cincin from his farm during a military emergency that they felt required the appointment of a dictator to take charge and lead the troops as well after a mere 15 days Cincinnatus led the Romans to Victory voluntarily stepped down from his temporary position and returned back to his farm by 4:14 9 BC the Roman Republic had also established its first set of written laws known as the 12 tablets contrary to the earlier structure of the Republic these laws now aims to make every citizen equal under the eye of the law finally after refining the very foundations of the new Republic Rome could move on to another goal expansion after slowly taking down each of its husky neighbors including the sabines one of the first major conflicts the young Republic found itself in was the Battle of lake vilus at the start of the fifth century BC the Latin league and the Romans met at Lake vilus as Rome's new dictator at the time alus postumius Albus hoped to defeat the remaining threat to Rome's growing Authority as the troops neared the battlefield another close by tribe known as the vuli attempted to gather additional fighters to send in as further assistance for the Latin league but they were unable to arrive in time because of how fast the Romans launched their side of the campaign so the battle would soon begin at the helm for Rome stood Albus to guide the Infantry and Titus ibus Hela at his side as the master of the horse across from the Latin leader Octavius mamus and Lucius tarius Superbus the previous ly shamed and ousted final Roman King this latter participant is said to have played a huge role in the passion with which the Romans would fight given the high level of animosity between the people and their deposed ruler as The Clash began the leaders on both sides were quick to participate in the combat and both mimus and Aus were injured by one another the Roman Cavalry dismounted and took things to the ground which sent the Latin back pedaling so far but the Romans managed to capture their Camp the Latins subsequently fled from the battlefield leaving the Romans as the clear Victors despite the initial damage taken while this was a successful campaign it would not be the last time that the Latin would challenge Rome the Battle of Mount algidus was fought between Rome and a neighboring Latin tribe called the AI this conflict arose in 458 BC after the a had continuously attacked Rome and the surrounding territories and the truce between the tusculan and AI was broken by the latter the AI invaded Tusculum once more and Rome leaped into action to assist its Ally the Romans were able to surround the AI and attacked with two separate armies which led to the trib's defeat at Mount algidus just over a decade later though these armies would Clash once again although now they were joined by the Voli tribe as the Latins continued to pose a threat to the r Romans originally it appeared that the Latins May overpower the Romans this time as they captured their base camp and inflicted roughly 6,000 Roman casualties but somehow yet again the Romans managed to change the tide and forced the Latins into Retreat after splitting the Roman troops into two groups and hits their enemy forces from multiple sides at the same time as they had done in the prior battle as well this gave the ultimate Triumph TR Rome and ensured the Republic's superiority over the AI in particular as well as the rest of its immediate neighbors by this point the Roman Republic's main goals had been to First establish its foundation in terms of a political structure and basic systems for functioning as well as consolidating its power at home and proving its dominion over the surrounding Latin cities and tribes but these were only the first few steps in building a power ful Republic Rome needed to focus on growth and expansion but this was often easier said than done Rome wasn't alone in wanting to gain new territory and stretch Authority and this meant that the young Republic not only had to go on the offensive but also on the defensive especially when it came to the Kelts or the GS in particular in 390 BC the Rivalry between the growing Roman Republic and the gallic tribes reached its peak the guls had already established themselves in the po valley by the beginning of the 4th Century BC slowly inching closer to Rome and were soon invited into the at truscan Town of clusium the GIC tribe known as the sonon led by their King brenus accepted the invite from marun of clusium who had hoped to take revenge on a man by the name of lumo who had allegedly slept with his wife at some point after the senones arrived in clusium though things turned sour and Arun sent a request to the Romans asking for help in mediating the situation Rome was willing to assist and sent three ambassadors out to talk with the GS upon arrival the Romans quickly worked to deter any type of attack against clusium and asked the senones to come to the table for peace negotiations Rome asserted that in the case of a gallic attack on the town the Romans would be swift to declare war in return and protect their allies brenus countered that he would not order an attack on clusium if aons would hand over some of his territories to the senones negotiations became heated and an argument broke out which quickly spiraled into a full-blown brawl between arun's and bren's Men the Roman ambassadors despite strict rules requiring them to stay a neutral mediating party inserted themselves into the fight and and one of them went so far as to slay a Sone Chief the Romans had undoubtedly crossed a line and the GS were no longer willing to stay and negotiate once the gulls had decided what would be done in reaction to the Roman attack brenu sent his own representatives to Rome where they sternly demanded that the three Roman ambassadors be handed over to the senones because of who the Roman ambassadors were all members of the powerful Fabia family the Senate felt fairly stuck they were much too pressed to do anything that may harm the Fabia family yet they were also unwilling to be the reason why the Galls May attack Rome in an attempts to shift the blame and pressure off of themselves the Senate tossed the issue to the people who predictably favored their own the senones were outraged by the fact that the Roman ambassadors would go unpunished for their violation and decided to take matters in into their own hands after bren's ambassadors returned to him with the news the senones quickly Reed their army for War as the GS marched through the surrounding cities on their way to Rome startled citizens either fled or came to defend their towns but the senones made it clear everywhere that they went their only target was Rome when the GS reached the Alia river near Rome the Romans were completely caught off guard they had not even partially anticipated the violently Swift incursion and were destructively slow in bringing together a defensive Army the troops had to repair so fast that they failed to even set up a camp and quickly got into a long-winged formation which actually created a weak defense given how thin their line was they did have an extra reserve unit which they put on a hill but brenus was truly confused by this and thought that these troops were instead intended to Ambush him and his men so he went straight for them as opposed to the main Roman Force this shocked the Romans even more many of the soldiers retreated to the nearby city of V While others fled into Rome and the rest were struck down by the senones as they continued the battle when all was finished the GS were actually so taken aback by how easy their Victory had been that they suspected the Romans may be planning a new Ambush within the hour when nothing happened brenus regrouped his men and continued the march to Rome another shock hit the GS when they reached the city Gates which were open and completely unarmed unbeknownst to the senones the Roman troops who had fled to Vay at the Battle of Alia had not warned the rest of Rome about the clash and why they hadn't returned so the Roman people had assumed those who had retreated to the capital were the only survivors from the battle and the city was mostly evacuated the men of military age and ability were sent to defend capitoline Hill while many citizens just dispersed from then on the GS began the sack and seizure of Rome while the sack raged on back in V the remaining Roman troops began to come together with a plan to return to their Capital At first the soldiers picked a centurion named quintus kaidus as their leader but he shortly decided that the formerly banished mark Furious camilus would make a better Commander for their return to Rome but this required a messenger to be sent to Rome first where he could speak to some of the Senate of capitoline Hill and try to have camus's Exile reversed although the messenger comminus Pontius did manage to convince the Senate to approve camus's return as Rome's leader he also may have unintentionally led the senones right to the Romans on capitaline Hill whether by luck or by a trail left by Pontius the GS did manage to scale the hill and sneak up on the Roman men despite the facts that there were actually guards on duty who should have noticed them coming instead it was geese that were first startled by The sonone Intruders and woke up the Roman troops one former Consul Marcus Manus capitolinus sprung into action and shoved one of the Galls off the side of the cliff which caused more of the sone solders ERS who were still on their way up to fall as well a quick scuffle followed but it was just as swiftly ended with the Romans successfully fighting off their attackers still this didn't end the Sone occupation of Rome and there was now the task for the Romans of waiting until camelos could arrive with an additional Army from V the only problem with this though was the fact that neither the Romans or senones could last much longer if the occupation continued both were suffer uffing from famine and the Sonona were also plagued by disease and heart stroke due to these new challenges the GS decided to ask the Romans for peace negotiations and played with the idea of being open to a paid ransom for the city at first the Romans said no because they were still expecting chamus to arrive with more men but it wasn't long before they changed their minds due to increasing starvation negotiations then began which resulted in an agreement for the Romans to pay the Sonona £1,000 in Gold so they would withdraw from the city there are conflicting stories of whether the sonon as used dishonest scales or kns to weigh the gold although according to one writer by the name of Livy when accused of cheating the scales brenus threw his sword on the scale and barked the words VI victus or woe to the vanquished either way the ransom would not actually be paid Camus finally arrived with his fresh Army and told the Romans not to hand over the gold brenus argued that an agreement had already been made but Camus refused to accept this answer given the justification that he had been made the highest ranking official in Rome and yet the deal had not been struck with him instead Camus called the Galls into combat against his men and the starving and Ill senones were effortlessly routed by the new Roman troops Rome was now free not not by Ransom but by honorable military Victory after the Gs left Rome the triumphant Republic was instantly thrown into a new war with the neighboring Latin tribes once again this would continue for over three decades as Rome worked tirelessly to remain a powerful and growing entity from that time around 358 BC there was a peace made with the Latin League due to an overwhelming fear of a new gallic war Brewing but the often violent disputes with the guls rusans and even Greeks at one point would carry on for a few more decades in 340 BC a new Latin war broke out despite peace having been made less than 20 years prior but the conflict was relatively short-lived and ended with a decisive Roman dominance in 327 the second samnite war erupted between the Romans and samnites and there didn't seemed to be a predictable Victor for some time finally in 305 BC the Romans took the upper hand at the Battle of banam and the war then came to a close by the next year when most of the samnites land was annexed by Rome in an attempt to swiftly secure and consolidate this new claim to the territory Rome attempted to set up colonies on the captured lands but the locals were not so easy to subdue in 298 BC the samnites rebelled against the new Colonial Authority and triggered Another War the Battle of papalon in 282 finally gave Rome authority over the atrans throughout the region which in turn allowed them to focus on their new major obstacle the puck War by the end of the 4th Century BC the Roman Republic had put in the hard work of establishing itself as a growing dominant power over the Italian Peninsula although some enemies and untrustworthy neighbors remained Rome was still finding consecutive success and had only minimally struggled against its adversaries up to this point but they were yet to clash with some of the more powerful opponents on the continent such as the Greeks from abroad initially a scuffle between Rome and the Greek controlled city of Tarentum prompted the Romans to declare war which in turn caused torum to seek assistance of the Greek king named pus although many tines originally opposed the idea of reaching out to purus as they believed that their freedoms and democracy would fall under the heavy-handed king the city eventually opted to take the risk purus was told that if he would come to their aid he would be given a coalition of 50,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalrymen from Tarentum samn lucania and messapia alike this was an offer that purus couldn't say no to despite one of his advisers attempting to change his mind because the thought of attacking Rome over Sicily had long been on the king's mind already but until now he had held no justification for such a war with monetary and military aid being lent from Antiochus of the cocet Empire antigonus II of Macedon and toomy II of the king Kingdom in Egypt pus set off for Italy on what would become a treacherous Journey that left him with only 2,000 infantry and a few cavalrymen alongside two elephants once in torum though Pius enacted tyrannical restrictions on the local people and forced all men of military age to join his cause to make up for the thousands he had lost at sea there was a short window of potential negotiation between purus and the Roman conso puus valerus leenus but the latter quickly turned down any attempts at compromise as he believed the odds were in Rome's favor in the case of War it may have stunned Le Venice then that at the first major Clash the Romans faced a demoralizing defeat not only did purus manage to Wrangle the Romans but he also earned himself new found Fame so impressive that those tribes and cities who had so far stayed neutral were now ready to join his fight nonetheless Pius had lost many of his own best generals and soldiers in the battle and as he marched towards Rome he failed to capture any of the neighboring cities as he passed through according to one version of the subsequent events a writer by the name of Plutarch explains that purus decided to negotiate peace at this point because it would ensure the war would end on a high note for the Greeks but it would also help to secure his improved reputation after the prior battle in in hopes of striking such a deal purus sent Chinas to Rome to negotiate the freeing of Roman prisoners and ask for peace between Rome and Tarentum while many within the Roman senate were easily compelled to make such an agreement with Chinas one man in particular apus Claudius kayus managed to instead pull a unanimous vote in favor of expelling Chinas from Rome and requiring purus to return to his own lands before asking for any more or deals if the Greeks opted to stay in Italy the war would wage on both sides were now prepared for a new round of hostilities in 279 BC the next battle known as the Battle of aulum ended yet again with a victory for purus as he personally LED his men into combat yet still despite the victory Pius himself supposedly celebrated his Triumph with dampened enthusiasm saying if we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans we shall be utterly ruined after a few more years of on andof clashes purus finally pulled out of Italy and met his end on the battlefield of Argus Tarentum was now forced to surrender to the Romans given that they lacked the defense they had relied on for so long thanks to the Greek King's Ambitions this was a huge moment for Rome almost all of the entire Italian Peninsula was now under the shadow of the Roman Republic the Latins nor Greeks could stop them and the Roman power and Dominion were only increasing Rome was a Powerhouse not even halfway into the 3rd Century BC the Roman Republic was rapidly On The Rise but they were about to confront a challenge unlike any they had yet faced there was one more more adversary that just may be Rome's match or even Superior the Roman Republic was a decade away from a faceoff with Carthage it wasn't until Rome now turned to the nearby island of Sicily that its invincibility would come under the spotlight after all the Roman Republic was not the only expanding power of the day and one other in particular had also set its sights on Sicily Carthage though technically an amalgamation of Phoenician city states and only informally an Empire with the city state of Carthage at the helm this was the one rival that could truly send a shiver down Roman spines up to this point Roman Carthage had been formal friends they had established alliances commercial ties and mutual enemies even but when the Roman Republic began to consider taking Sicily for itself there quickly came to light one inevitable Consequence the Romans would have to fight off the carthaginian Empire nonetheless after a domino effect of events such a consequence would come whether Rome wanted it to or not in 288 BC a group of mercenaries referred to as the mamertines began to occupy the celian city of masana after Conquering the town the mamertines quickly became uncomfortable with their surroundings and reached out to both Rome and Carthage in hopes of gaining some degree of protection by 265 BC at first only Carthage came to their aid and agreed to assist the mammer times particularly against Syracuse if a carthaginian Garrison could be set up in msana this was a Fair Deal to The Mercenaries and so they accepted the terms Rome by this point had not been extensively interested in Sicily although a debate came about as to whether they should come to the aid of the mamertines who were fellow Italians still the Roman senate was torn between those who felt that the mamertines had wrongly stolen msana and did not deserve their protection versus the rest who saw the potential selfish benefits of entering Sicily after a general assembly decided to support the arguments of the latter although worried about the potential reaction of Carthage Rome unwaveringly gathered the necessary men under the command of apus Claudius codex and set off to establish a Garrison of its own in Messa whether there would have been a conflict simply from the Roman arrival or not is a question that would never be answered because instead the mamertines reacted to the news of the coming Roman Garrison by urging the carthaginians to leave Carthage was deeply displeased and offended by this request as they had already come to the mamertines aid and were now being forced out Simply to be replaced by Rome in retaliation the carthaginians decided to form a new alliance with Syracuse holding nothing back this new Coalition besieged Messa as the Romans arrived in Sicily The War Began immediately as the Romans neared the city ano the carthaginian commander warned his Empire's former allies that they soon would not even be able to wash their hands in the sea not expecting such an aggressive response so quickly the Romans offered a peace deal to ano but this was immediately rejected nonetheless the Romans could not be swayed by Carthage or even Syracuse there is debate as to whether the syracusan and carthaginians voluntarily withdrew or if the Romans swiftly defeated them but regardless The Siege was ended upon the Roman arrival to Messa and still the Romans could in fact wash their hands in the sea the next next move for the Romans who now understood the real and imminent threats that would be posed by allowing Carthage to continue its expansion throughout Sicily was to deal with Syracuse another Commander Manus Valerius Maximus misala took some of the Roman troops up to Syracuse and Ambush the city unable to defend themselves and unwilling to wait for carthaginian assistance Syracuse surrendered and agreed to align with the Romans and abandoned Carthage a few surrounding cities followed suit now fearing the potential backlash if they refused although the war would scarcely be fought on land the Romans were quick to besiege the carthaginian Ally of acreas when the carthaginians attempted to come to the rescue of their friend and lift The Siege they too were put down by the Romans and the city was sacked this infuriated Carthage and began a back and forth contest of taking and losing cities between the two sides although the focus of warfare Fair began to take a shift toward the sea initially the carthaginians had a superior Naval force and more experience with such conflict the Romans however were unfazed by this and understood that in order to win the war they would have to establish a Navy of their own in a streak of good luck a carthaginian warship was spotted on low tide by the Romans who captured the vessel and likely utilized it to create copies for their new Naval force with some Innovative addition one of these upgrades made by the Romans was the corvus which was essentially a bridge that could be moved in any direction and utilized to lower infantry troops from the superior Roman army onto the carthaginian ships this addition proved to be greatly beneficial for the Romans and helps to give them the upper hand throughout the naval Warfare not many details of the series of raids and skirmishes have been maintained over the years but it seems clear that the the first few years of the conflict were more or less a stalemate with now Rome and Carthage fairly equal at sea and a slight Advantage for the Romans on land though not many land battles were fought aiming to grab The High Ground in some form the Romans now look to Africa carthage's home soil four Legions under the command of Marcus regulus atius arrived in modern-day Tunisia as the first Punic War raged on overseas oddly the Senate quickly called for the withdrawal of two of the legions but the rest remained in Africa and quickly occupied the city of Tunis in 255 BC as negotiations continued to fail the carthaginians were far from giving up nonetheless and one of their commanders a Spartan by the name of zanthus returned with a 16,000 strong Army and routed the Romans in Africa only 2,000 of the Roman troops survived to flee but they too perished on their way out as a storm at sea wrecked the fleet of nearly 100,000 men who had rescued them on the journey home the following year the war would resume back in Sicily once more the Romans continued to gain territory and push the carthaginians further and further out although when they attempted to return to Africa their ships were again destroyed at Sea keeping the carthaginian Homeland safe in Sicily the hopes of Carthage remained a risk but the war was far from over despite consistent victories Rome was yet to seize and hold all of Sicily the war was draining both sides and there seemed to be no end in sight as the city of Lily bayom refused to fall to the Romans despite Valiant efforts to take it the Battle of japana brought about a remarkable carthaginian Victory at Sea and with momentum in their favor the carthaginians beat down the Romans once again again and the Battle of finus shortly after bringing about a long break in a significant Naval conflict nonetheless following these battles in 249 BC Carthage had lost all of its Sicilian Holdings aside from liily bayum and drapa as the Romans battered the city walls in Desperate attempts to finally free the island of carthage's grip then carthaginian Commander hilar Barka ambushed the enemy using repeated Guerilla attack despite temporarily capturing Erics Barco was not able to do much given the depleted state of the carthaginian army having failed to Garner monetary support from Egypt as they had hoped the carthaginians were close to having no choice but to surrender whether they knew this or not the Romans decided that this would be the time to attack by sea once more in 242 BC guos lutus catulus led a 200 ship Fleet back to CIS and straight to Trana by the next spring the carthaginians would collapse under the Roman bombardment nearly broke and exhausted from the years of war Carthage was ready to call it quits and entered into serious peace negotiations for the final time the Treaty of lutus would at last bring an end to the first Punic War under its terms the carthaginians were required to withdraw entirely from Sicily and additionally had to pay a significant sum of 3,00 ,200 talents in Indemnity over the next decade after 23 years of war that had battered both parties remarkably the Romans had finally triumphed and proved once again although the Roman Republic May stumble it would not yet fall despite first having no solid plans to take Sicily and Hefty concerns about even considering such a campaign by the end of it all Rome had taken Sicily had not even the carag Ian Empire could stop it the overall aftermath was rough for the losing side shortly following the resolution of the conflict Carthage had attempted to withhold funds from some of the foreigners they had enlisted in the war which led to a fairly disastrous Revolt for the most part the rebels were eventually put down but in the meantime Rome managed to seize Sardinia and Corsica from Carthage which the latter wanted back by 237 BC they were ready to launch a campaign to actually go recover them but Rome was not going to allow that they immediately deemed this as an act of war and with Carthage still recovering from the decades long conflict they had just gotten out of this quickly put a stop to their Endeavor Rome managed to Strongarm their foe into not only giving up Sardinia but also Corsica in addition to a 1,200 Talent payment despite agreeing Carthage was furious with their Roman bullies and many within the Empire became radicalized one of these men was hamar Barka hamilcar was a famed and seasoned military leader on the side of Carthage his forgiveness would never come and until his last breath it would be his biggest dream to get revenge for carthage's loss in the first Punic War but this would not be possible on such short notice as Carthage still needed to refuel and revive itself from the first conflict followed by the Rebellion so for now hamar looked to the Iberian Peninsula not Italy Carthage had already found success with their Phoenician colonies in Spain and the mass amounts of resources in the form of silver so it seems the most logical to have hamilcar go there to expand carthaginian an influence and claim upon doing so he initially established himself in kadit and branched out from there over time hamilcar's Army grew as he did his control of the region on behalf of Carthage but in 229 BC the great General drowned before ever having a chance to leave Iberia and seek the Revenge he so badly wanted nonetheless hamar Barka had a son by the name of Hannibal and he had raised his young boy with a burning passion and hatred for Rome just as he himself maintained this ensured that even after hamilcar's death Carthage would remain staunch enemies of the Roman Republic in the wake of hamilcar's absence a man by the name of hazal the fair would take over leadership in carthage's Iberian possessions which by now covered roughly half of the peninsula with an Ever growing Army by by 226 BC Rome was becoming somewhat anxious about the success that their foe was having over in Iberia and so a treaty was signed on the agreement of hazre Bal which stated that Carthage would not expand into the South past River EO in Spain and ha drbal meant what he said but Hannibal on the other hand did not intend to follow such an agreement after all his father had taught him too well for such a thing thing only a few years after negotiations between Rome and Carthage Hannibal took control of Spain after hazr Bal was killed and almost immediately began to push beyond the current borders the final straw for Rome would be when Hannibal captured saguntum in 219 BC stripping the Republic of one of their longtime allies in the region Rome was deeply annoyed by this and thinking that Hannibal couldn't be too hard to defeat declared War by the spring of 218 BC as Rome was gearing up for war with the new Young Gun of Carthage Hannibal was cooking up his own plan and he wasn't just an average General he had learned quite a bit about Rome over the years and he realized that the Republic had a good record of defeating opponents outside of Italy but maybe not inside if the Romans went after Hannibal in Spain he might lose but if he went after them in Italy he might win as a result the young General left his brother in charge of their Holdings with an army of his own while Hannibal led the rest of their troops across the Alps in a matter of days although it would only take 15 days Hannibal and his men faced more resistance than they had expected to as they marched towards Italy the local gallic tribes didn't take kindly to these Intruders and by by the time the carthaginians had finished their Journey over half of the troops had either been killed injured or deserted luckily for Hannibal though some of the locals in Italy were deeply unsatisfied with Roman rule and began to join the carthaginian cause as this new Coalition marched on Hannibal found success in multiple early skirmishes like the Battle of tus the battle of the trebia and the Battle of Lake trazine the Romans have been taken aback by the developing situation given that they had expected to go and fight Hannibal in the Iberian Peninsula not on their own turf but here he was and the threat could not be ignored so far the carthaginian general had been proven right the Romans were looking weak on their own soil and Hannibal had even managed to build up his army thanks to the locals his confidence was on the rise and it would get an even bigger boost in the summer of 216 BC when both sides met as K earlier that year Hannibal had captured a crucial Supply Depot in the town which was disastrous for the Romans and furthermore concerns them that the Invader would soon take control of the entire city as a result the Romans decided to resolve the situation via combat the first clash between the Romans under the command of Consul varo and the carthaginians was only minor Skirmish after the latter had ambushed the Romans on the way to canny as the battle eventually played out along the river alfus Hannibal would yet again crush the hometown Roman troops sustaining fairly minimal casualties himself this Victory triggered a wave of support with city states all throughout southern Italy pledging loyalty to the carthaginian side and although this was a great achievement Hannibal still found himself in a a new predicament he had no reinforcements if he was to continue and head straight for Rome itself he'd have to do it without any backup as his brother was held up back in Spain and no one could assist from Carthage Rome however had adopted a new policy of essentially avoiding Hannibal entirely they enacted the Fabian policy which planned for the Romans to focus on defeating the allies and blocking resources of the carthaginian to First Hannibal's forces and as the latter's advantage seemed to be slipping away Rome refused to accept any negotiations for peace while Hannibal scrambled to retain control over his captured Italian territories the Romans would attack wherever he wasn't the carthaginian offensive was beginning to fall apart they failed to take Sardinia back their Authority was constantly being challenged and no one was being sent to assist by 207 BC all Hannibal had left was bruum the Romans were now controlling the Seas to cut off the carthaginians from help or Supply and back in Spain has droal had been beaten down and lost control while a new wave of Carthage Italian allies were instead turning to Rome with their loyalty running on their building momentum the Romans next moved to Africa to give Hannibal a taste of his own medicine as Hannibal continued his struggle in Italy the Romans now under the command of Consul skipio invaded Africa in 204 BC and began to wreak havoc their numidian allies joined them while the carthaginians prepare to send troops back home under gizo to fight off the problematic Romans upon arrival they were joined by their own numidian Ally in the form of Prince cfax and his troops this Coalition eventually clashed with the Roman Invaders and luck was not on carthage's side the Romans were victorious and having now captured enough territory including tunise to make Hannibal himself fear that the worst was yet to come for the city of Carthage the carthaginians were becoming desperate Hannibal subsequently returned from Italy as negotiations occurred but provided nothing between Rome and Carthage his arrival in 202 BC would bring about the dramatic end to the Second Punic War as Autumn rolled around Hannibal and skipio were ready to come face to face literally the opposing generals met personally at a plane near narara it's unknown exactly what was said but if any attempts had been made at ending the war through diplomacy they failed miserably with 35,000 and 40,000 infantry and 6,000 and 4,000 Cavalry respectively for Roman Carthage the armies were ready for the final spectacle in addition to his men Hannibal also had 80 war elephants but these proved to be a detriment instead of an aid the Romans managed to dodge the initial Carnage of the animals before scaring them back towards the carthaginians creating a chaotic scramble that allows the Roman forces to swoop in and decimate Hannibal's left wing despite their best efforts to fight back the Roman leftwing then attacked carthaginians right flank while the centers of both led by skipio and Hannibal themselves marched toward each other as this Clash raged on the Roman Cavalry were destroying their carthaginian counterpart before charging at Hannibal center from the rear while the Roman Center had them trapped from the front this was it this was the end of the Second Punic War and just as those before him had done Hannibal failed to defeat the mighty Romans though Hannibal would manage to escape there was no more hope for Carthage to compete with their opponent the carthaginian government was forced to sue for peace and sign a treaty that would essentially bankrupt the once formidable adversary of the Romans and now car was no longer allowed to declare war without the consent of Rome they were also required to give up their naval fleet altogether crushing any prospects of Carthage remaining a dominant military power as they had been so in spite of early winds and the leadership of the renowned Hannibal Carthage lost and it seemed that still Rome was truly invincible the outbreak of the Punic Wars marked an attention grabbing period of Roman history that at times even overshadowed the Contemporary events outside of the carthaginian Roman conflict another pesky rival of the Romans came in the form of the yans though they were not a competition for Rome in the same way as Carthage instead the yans posed a threat through piracy in the Adriatic which eventually became an annoyance for the Romans the first time these tensions boiled over was in 229 BC when these people were mostly United under Queen teuta who had started to turn a blind eye to say the least to increasing piracy throughout the Adriatic Rome at first ignored this as well but once it began to impact Roman trade the Senate opted to intervene through diplomacy when this led to a Roman Envoy getting killed on the order of the queen War became inevitable the short Roman campaign of Revenge saw a victory by the co- consuls and their troops in ilum and teuta eventually being cornered into signing a peace treaty that handed over some of her territories to Rome while yyan fleets were forced to remain north of lisus if in groupings larger than two ships at a time Rome hoped that this would resolve the piracy issue but the rule would shortly be broken nevertheless the Romans had additionally been fighting with the goic tribes of Northern Italy some of which had actually seized and sacked Rome itself back in 390 BC by now in 225 BC the Gauls of Northern Italy and their gllc allies across the Alps hop to end a long running back and forth with Rome by repeating the successes of 390 BC instead the Romans had been heavily prepaired and routed the aggressors at the Battle of telmon and the following campaigns that suppressed any remaining resistance by 220 BC the yyan ruler Demetrios Saros who had previously cooperated with the Romans wanted to begin expanding his own power in spite of the prior peace agreement Demetrios thus led a fleet of 90 ships south of lus and attempted to seize more territory but he was quickly stopped by the Romans who instead captured deal and crushed the resistance at Pharos Demetrios eventually gave up and soft refuge in Macedon ending the second yyan war but only causing a break in hostilities not an end as if the Romans had not been pre-occupied with enough Wars already they would simultaneously end up fighting a series of wars with Macedon the first of these clashes began during the Second Punic War after Philip V of Macedon decided to officially align with Carthage under the command of the renowned Hannibal hoping only to keep the former busy so they wouldn't intervene on behalf of Carthage Rome sent some troops to clash with the macedonians along the Adriatic until the Punic War was coming to an end the truce was predictably only a temporary solution but to be fair this time it was the Greeks who asked Rome to come back there was a looming threat from the macedonians and soluset who had recently formed an unexpected Alliance and Rome's friends in Greece were uneasy about the potential Ambitions of Philip I and Antiochus III at first the Romans had aimed to dissuade Philip in particular from interfering with their Greek allies but the ultimatums given went wholly ignored furious at this response or lack thereof the Romans sent Consul tius qu quos flaminio to enforce Rome's demands with the help of a Roman Greek Coalition despite Philip's earlier confidence in his ability to stand up to the Romans he in fact could not the macedonians were utterly vanquished at the Battle of senali in 197 BC and their ruler was put back in his place by Rome this however only addressed one half of the newly formed Alliance the soluset were still a looming threat and now maybe even more so without Macedonia to balance them out after the second Macedonian War the Romans had pulled entirely out of Greece having no more interest in staying nor remaining intertwined in Greek Affairs but this left the seusd Empire as the dominant entity in the region and Antiochus was by no means as uninterested as the Romans instead he was looking to do what Philip had failed to with Hannibal as the solid's top military advisor there was now not only a threat to Greece but even to Rome as a result the Roman Greek Alliance pumped out another Coalition Force this time commanded by skipio Africanus and the War Began on Rome's terms it would end with the 191 BC Battle of thermopol and battle of magnesia and a Roman Triumph the end of this war also marks the start of the seusd Empire's demise but the macedonians were almost ready to give war with Rome another shot just as they had erroneously done after the second Macedonian war after the seusd war the Romans pulled out of Greece with the assumption that there would now be peace in the region right on Q mirroring the seusd now the macedonians attempt to expand as Philip had tried to do before his death and the succession of his son Perseus who was now in charge nevertheless even the new Macedonian King stood no chance against the Romans in the end and by 168 BC the Battle of Petna brought an end to it all this time knowing they couldn't leave without destabilizing the region Rome broke Macedon up into four individual states under its own watchful eye yet again in 168 BC tensions boiled over for a final time when the Romans watched their once Ally an Alyan king gentius switch sides to align with the macedonians once more though this was a short-lived clash and by the end of 167 BC Rome was Victorious and finally able to move on although the fourth Macedonian war and subsequent Kean War would follow both of these were short-lived and Rome remained unwavering and victorious in its Greek Endeavors and yet the Roman Republic would be faced with yet another War aside from those with Carthage Macedon the solids GS and the yans this time Rome was forced to address growing resistance surrounding their Iberian territorial Holdings particularly from the lucid Anan tribes in hispania alterior the lucanians have been clashing with the Romans for some decades as they maintained their autonomy in spite of Rome's expansion but in 155 BC the rebellions were becoming greater and more intense and in 150 BC the Romans let an even bigger fire underneath them after feigning a will for negotiation the Roman preter CIA supicious galba had thousands of lucanians massacred in Cold Blood but one man by the name of viriatus managed to escape the tragedy and would be elected to lead the tribes only a few years later he quickly became a heroic icon for the tribes and his bitterness towards Rome was as strong as ever the battles were tough but veratos would continue his resistance until his final breath which would tragically be taken in 139 BC by three men who betrayed the ruler on behalf of the Romans killing him in his sleep and so it was at this time that the third Punic War had been wrapping up and so was all that had occurred alongside it though war was not all that occupied Rome over the decades and centuries it was surely a common part of the Republic's history nevertheless back home Feats of architecture politics and arts were also being birthed though regularly overshadowed by the conflicts that both challenged and solidified Rome's overwhelming dominance in Greece Iberia and surrounding areas still it may have been the Punic Wars that truly surpassed the notability of all the other conflicts as Rome and Carthage duked it out for who would be the most powerful influence from Italy all the way to North Africa as these wars were raged across the map and the Romans pece by piece dismantled their enemy's Empire the Republic was concurrently putting a stop to each and every other rival Challenger and general enemy while the first Punic War lit the fire of aggression between the jeweling powers it was the Second Punic War that would secure the hatred both sides had for each and ensure that Rome after back-to-back victories would remain the superior entity but more was to come Carthage had been drastically weakened and crippled by the most recent War and Peace Treaty but it nevertheless still existed and this bothered one too many Romans after Rome's Triumph in the Second Punic War Carthage had a steep price to pay in talents land and Military autonomy possibly one of the most significant restrictions that Rome had now placed on Carthage was the agreement that Carthage was unable to wage war in any form without the permission of the Roman Republic and this even included defensive Wars masinissa a contemporary numidian king and Ally to Rome would take full advantage of this deal between Rome and Carthage as the numidians were looking to expand and their neighbors in Carthage had some territory to spare over the SP span of a few decades masinissa was slowly chipping away at carthaginian Holdings and whenever his victims appealed to Rome desperate to declare war back and defend their cities the Romans refused and instead supported the numidians for a stunning amount of time the Beaten Down carthaginians actually obeyed this demand and refrained from military action but this would eventually change in 151b C Carthage had had enough under attack yet again from the numidians the Contemporary carthaginian General has duwal the bo at har mobilized a significant Army and launched a counter offensive although Carthage would ultimately lose the conflict and as dubal would be sentenced to death for his breach of the treaty with Rome the latter was far from forgiving when it came to the carthaginians instead of recognizing the stagnant military weakness of Carthage an important handful of Roman Senators insisted now more than ever that Carthage posed a threat to the Roman Republic and therefore must be destroyed no one knows exactly why the Senate soon decided that war with Carthage was best some attributed to Greed others to the threat of commercial competition or potentially even a fear of political rivalry theories abound and none have been proven as fact but we do know the opinions of a couple Roman Senators who spared over the matter for some time one by the name of skipio nazik argued that Carthage must remain intact even if weakened the constant looming possibility of a threat from Carthage could be used by Roman officials to keep the Republic United and the people under better control on the flip side and the eventual Winning Side was Kato remembered for his strong anti-c Carthage sentiments Kato believed that Carthage must be destroyed and the matter was that simple with the indemnity paid off and its economy growing Carthage had made itself appear even more threatening to those who wish to convince the Romans that it really was and with the unapproved military action against the numidians the carthaginians were nearly handing the Romans reasons to declare war still the there were attempts made by Carthage to deescalate through diplomacy once word got out of the Roman senator's Ambitions it was too late for negotiations though Kat's faction had won the debate and Rome knew what Rome wanted the downfall of the carthaginians in 149 BC a massive Roman army led by Co consules Manus manelius and Lucius calpernius piso landed at the Port City of of udica not far from Carthage itself it had already been decided by Rome that war was inevitable but the carthaginians were determined to save their City through diplomacy and subsequently sent an embassy to meet with the Romans and make peace Rome reacted first by attempting to disarm the carthaginians and when obeyed next demanded that the city of Carthage be abandoned and then destroyed upon the carthaginian relocation it was at this point that the carthaginian Ians had had enough and finally understood that they only had one option left they must defend their City at all costs recognizing now that Rome could never be a friend the carthaginians released The Condemned hasr Bal from death row and informed him that he was needed once again to defend the city of Carthage but this time from the Romans when the latter arrived at the city walls they quickly understood that they would have to besiege the city as they were unable to get past the barriers this led to a fairly slow development for the first portion of the war as Carthage attempted to disrupt Roman supply lines and damage their ships but only found minimal success as the Invaders managed to defend themselves while trying to break through the carthaginian defenses small scale offen on skirmishes continued into the following year at which point Rome decided to change up its strategy a bit after the election of new consuls instead of continuing with such a heavy Siege of Carthage it seems more possible to first defeat all of carthage's friendly neighbors and then deal with the weakened City itself this plan was only minimally successful though most of the carthaginian Allies held up just fine against Roman assaults but things changed yet again when the grandson of the great skipio Africanus also named skipio was elected console in 147 BC in order to give him full command of the campaign and this was just what Rome needed meanwhile though within the walls of Carthage hazra Bal had lost either faith in or respect for his own government and decided that the only solution was for him to take over so he did exactly that overthrowing the current authorities and now controlling not only the military but the entire city this was just in time for sko's appointment as Consul and meant that the remainder of the war would showcase the wit and skill of both men face to face upon his appointment as Consul skipio got right to resolving one of the main issues that the Romans were facing and that was a plethora of poorly disciplined and motivated troops all of which the new authori swiftly dismissed those who remained were now held to a higher standard of effort and efficiency skipio was then focused on once and for all breaking through the city's defenses and to this extent he quickly found success in the dark of the night he and a few thousand of his men breached the city walls and forced the carthaginian defense to flee nevertheless this victory was only partial as skipio recognized the risks of remaining inside the city walls with such a small force and op to withdraw before daylight broke both leaders were now Angry for different reasons hazr Bal was furious with his Defense Forces for not only failing to stop the Roman advance but then for fleeing the scene on the other hand skipio was angry at the fact that Roman progress was still slow and they had failed to cut off the supply of Necessities by sea into Carthage in a show of force has drbal put on a display of torturing his Ro Roman prisoners of War while skipio tried to cut Carthage off from outside help neither action really did much and a full-blown battle soon broke out on the Seas the events that followed led to more Roman progress against carthaginian troops and fortifications but still nothing Monumental and not what skipio wanted it wouldn't be until 146 BC that the Roman console would get his wish ready to bring an end to the war as spring rolled around skipio launched a new Siege on the city which this time actually worked the Romans entered the city with rage in their hearts and destruction on their minds over the next week skipio LED his men in a scorched Earth Rampage massacring the citizens of Carthage and burning the city to the ground only 50,000 carthaginians were spared and only then to be taken prisoner and sold into slavery y hasr Bal to the disgust of his own wife who chose death instead surrendered skipio agreed to let Him Live and Not to make him a slave as would happen to the others but that was all the Romans had to offer Carthage was gone hasdrubal lost everything and Rome got what it had wished for the surrounding territory that it belonged to Carthage were also seized by the Romans and it was clear by now that the carthaginian empire was no more after 3 years each tipping the scales further and further in favor of the Roman Republic there would no longer be a doubt that when it came to Rome and Carthage the latter ultimately collapsed but while the Punic Wars were a pillar of Rome's early history they were not all that occurred during this era in fact throughout the Punic Wars The History of Rome was made up of much much more in the final centuries of the BC era the Roman Republic had found friendship in the helenistic Confederation known as the aan league having shared a bond since the second Macedonian War the Romans and the aans made a remarkable team or at least they had for a while as things often go in ancient Rome this Alliance had reached its peak and the trip downhill was quick and Rocky internal struggles within the aan league and debate over just how involved it should allow Rome to be in its Affairs were early signs of the coming breakup Rome would also stir the pot after taking thousands of aan hostages during the third m Macedonian War a decision they became set in defending despite pressure from the aans to release the hostages ever evolving disputations continued to thus exacerbate these growing problems while Rome had to focus on the fourth Macedonian War and the third Punic War the aans were distracted by a more personal conflict with Sparta something Rome also Ed diligently in short order with the third Punic War coming to an end Rome began to pay even more heedful attention to what was happening over in Greece and a new push to minimize the growing power of the aan league would take tensions to a whole new level rapidly reaching their Breaking Point with Rome's meddling the Greeks reacted much stronger than the Romans had anticipated the aan league declared war on Sparta whether the aans had also declared war on the Roman Republic or not is unknown either way the Greeks knew that the act of striking Sparta alone would put them face to face with their former allies and Waring with the Romans would be far from Easy the initial answer from the Republic was to send two separate armies to put a Brisk end to the aans impermissible war the first Army to arrive under quintus celius metelus macedonicus would March intrepidly toward calaos and his aan army which were currently laying Siege to heraclea in trais receiving word of the nearing Romans Kola attempted to retreat but was caught by macedonicus at Scara where a hasty battle unfolded the following death of CTO to La not by sword or spear but either by poison or drowning caused the aans to stumble in their response to the attacking Roman armies some members of The League opted to impulsively surrender to the Romans though others chose instead to support a continued fight against the Republic led by a new figure in cretto laos's place dios and now as Dios was dauntlessly rallying his own forces Rome's second Army under the command of Lucius mumus akakus began devising an attack on Corinth dias's 650 Cavalry and 13,500 strong infantry were impressive but less so in Humble comparison to mum's 3,500 Cavalry and 23,000 strong infantry the aans had a chance but a chance was nothing of a kind with an assured Victory the armies had been prepared for a magnificent Clash but instead dios had chicken-hearted run off mercilessly murdering his wife and taking his own life in megalopolis abandoning the aan troops and as a horrible consequence losing Corinth entirely many from the city had moreover FL whilst those who didn't were either massacred in the case of the men or enslaved in that of the woman and children the rest of the aans subsequently crumbled at the feet of the unconquerable Romans while some autonomy would remain due to the way the Republic chose to reorganize the region there was no doubt now just how involved Rome would be in a Kean Affairs and it would be quite a lot it wasn't just the Greeks whom Rome was meddling with however the Republic had long been grappling for control in the Iberian Peninsula and not long after the resolution of the aan war a new conflict erupted with the celtiberians repeated spats between the Romans and celtiberians had plagues the prior decades and it was now the people of numantia who attempted to challenge Roman control in the peninsula the conflict was grueling for both sides and started only a few years after the Republic had bested the aans then lasting until 133 BC when the Romans by the hand of the champion of Carthage skipio managed to essentially starve the numantines into surrender all while this was going on the Romans had additionally been fighting to quash the lucanians of hispania alterior something they came up successfully from shortly before putting a final conclusive end to the rebellions by the celtiberians and yet still these were not all of the pivotal events that occurred during the 130s BC in fact one remarkable occurrence during this period was the stunning act by the final king of pergamin adelus III who had handed over the whole of his kingdom to the Roman Republic the exceptional virtue of this development stood in stark contrast to another event of the period the murder of Tiberius graus graus had earned himself the office of Tribune of the plebs a position that allowed him to preside over the people's assembly and pass agrarian reforms that were fatally unpopular with members of the Senate it would be his Gallant bid for reelection as Tribune however that would push his enemies to the fanatical graus and his supporters were thus ruthlessly beaten to death by a vicious mob riled up by the Tribune's cousin puus Cornelius skipio Nika the tragedy was unfortunate but not all that scarce in Rome though still a bit of a damper on the Republic's recent successes the following years would furthermore be fairly routine organization of territories new laws passed and by 112 BC another significant International conflict ever since the third Punic War the Romans had found a sound Ally in the North African Kingdom of numidia a former neighbor to Carthage king masinissa of numidia had been a friend to the Roman Republic and and it was assumed that his son and successor Macha would be as well King Macha thus never proved to be a problem for the Romans at least until he died upon his unsuitable passing he left behind three potential heirs to the kingdom in hopes of resolving this predicament specifically worried that his nephew would Seize the Throne from his sons Macha had adopted his nephew jagera and declared both of his sons ad Dural and heol I first and jagera to be his rightful heirs the trio was subsequently meant to rule together upon the king's passing although this cooperation was depressingly short-lived the immediate resolution was supposed to be a dividing of numidia into three separate kingdoms but this proved to be difficult and led to open Warfare between the relatives the end result would be the untimely death of both of ms's biological sons and the massacre of Roman citizens who had aided ad durbal prompting Rome to reluctantly declare war the jerine war was one of corruption inconsistency and was driven by heightening Anger from the people of Rome who saw through the immorality initially jagera had persuaded members of the Roman senate to Grant him a remarkably kind peace deal but soon more pleas by the people of the Republic forced Rome to call off the unscrupulous treaty military conflict was then back on but Roman surrender followed as would a peace deal made by spurious pumos albinos yet not acknowledged by the senate in response quintus matelis was sent to lead the Roman army instead and the war was back on yet again the Roman campaign was now carrying on adequately but swelling internal struggles between metellus and his Lieutenant turn successor Gus Marius began to crack its [Music] foundation this time there would come a lasting conclusion to the war thanks to the father-in-law of jagera bcus the numidian King was soon brought to Roman quer Lucius Cornelius Sula in Chains disgracefully defeated and now mortifyingly a prisoner his men were massacred and Kingdom gifted to his half brother and bcus the real Victor of this clash in contrast then was guas Marius the man would go on to earn seven consulships five of them occurring consecutively he would also Institute a series of revolutionary military changes referred to as the Marian reforms these changes were implemented in 107 BC and remained almost entirely untouched until the ultimate collapse of the Roman Empire a few years prior to marius's reforms nevertheless the Roman military would be used yet again this time this time it was back to brawling with the Kelts these ones of Germanic origin a period known as the siman war saw an invasion of Roman controlled territory by the simri and chutin and by 101 BC had pushed to Italy itself the Romans would come out triumphant and the simur in particular nearly wiped off the face of the Earth by the end of it all it was beginning to look like the Romans were undefeatable and yet it was around the same time that domestic contention began to chip away at the strength of the Republic slave rebellions would be some of the biggest challenges of this time as the Romans found it increasingly difficult to keep a handle on some of their lower class residence Sicily in 135 BC would be the scene of the first ser V War one of these such troubling revolts this particular War had a wildly peculiar trigger a slave by the name of Eunice claims to be a prophet and with the help of his growing supporters fellow slaves he craftily managed to capture the city of enna Unice and his new Commander salisian slave Cleon then went on to wage a full-blown campaign of rebellion against the Roman Republic something that the Roman army early on labored to Stamp Out even after laying Siege to the slave controlled cities in 134 BC it took roughly two more years for the Rebellion to finally come to an end and still round two would come in 104 BC when the Republic reversed a decision to have all slaves from Roman allies freed this quite understandably sent unbridled Fury through the ranks of these hundreds of slaves who thus revolted this second surval war also played out within Sicily's borders and once more made it progressively difficult for the Romans to quell the growing Mutiny after 3 years the slaves would again at length be defeated but this repeated altercation and the struggle it took for the Republic to best their Challengers albeit a band of angry slaves was beginning to shine a glaringly bright light on the weaknesses within Rome's structure this came in startling contrast to its earlier victories and displays of great power marking a magnifying decline of the Roman Republic there would be in due course a third surval war in 73 BC that would show the true progress of ruinous erosion happening within the Republic but not before another tussle known as the social war beginning in 91 BC this was more treacherous than a slave rebellion it was a war on Friends a clash between the Roman Republic and a hurtful sum of its allies these longtime friends of the Republic were growing increasingly unsatisfied with their positions as lesser status lacking Roman citizenship and all that comes along with it Rome was repulsed by this idea only displeasing their allies further who would not back down on this new demand for equality as often was the case when Discord rang out in the vicinity of Rome the situation inevitably turned to Warfare these hostilities would last for 4 years in total and by the end of it Rome had both won and lost on the one hand they managed to maintain decent relations with their comrades as some surrendered and others simply chose to remain loyal and yet on the other hand they lost because the only way to make the first part true was for the Republic to finally agree to their allies demands and Grant citizenship to all residents of Peninsular Italy nevertheless life went on and there were still ever growing problems at home that needed Roman attention a few years after the debacle with the Republic's allies one of Rome's own stirred up a new plight the man who had been handed the king of numidia in Chains Lucius Cornelius Sula marched on the capital of the Republic with one thing in mind ultimate power Sula first sees control in Rome Back in 88 BC but shortly left to fight the first mithridatic war against rebellious Greek cities led by King mithradates I 6 of pontis after the Roman Victory a few years later Sula audaciously marched back to Rome to continue pursuing his goals at home while the Challenger had been gone he had left a trusted Ally nias Octavius in his place at the Helm of the Roman Republic this substitute was later ousted by the exiled guos Marius his son and fellow opponent to Sula Lucius Cornelius chinaa the successful opposition then massacred supporters of Sula and Marius and Sheena officially declared themselves to now be in the positions that Sula had claimed for himself Mario days however were numbered leaving China on his own as the ruler of Rome and the sole adversary to the returning and impassioned Sula an army under Lucius valerus flakus was sent to meet up with Sula and relieve him from his duties in the East leading to Sula winning over a handful of Flaco's troops before he could reach his destination by the time he landed in southern Italy sula's for forces would multiply even more as his old supporters at least those who had avoided Slaughter flocked to his side yet again the first battle of what would later be deemed sula's Civil War thus came in 83 BC with the Battle of Mount tiata a clash that Sula would easily win negotiations more defections and further battles would follow over the next few months and the war would drag on until Sula emerged victorious in 82 BC crowning himself as dictator of the Roman Republic while the new despot of the Roman Republic was busy gaining his title lus Linus Morena was locked in a second mithridatic war against mithradates I 6 of pontis a conflict that would persist until an inconclusive pause was put on hostilities in 81 BC Rome was doing as Rome does fighting war after war after War fighting to maintain their power and Supremacy in spite of corruption internal strife and general growing in stability the decade following sula's campaign to take Rome for himself would be marred by the serator war the third mithridatic war and the third survi war the first of these contests began in 0 BC and was yet another Rebellion this time sparked by a group of Roman Celtic Iberian and other Rebels who opposed sula's new Authority quintus sertorius the namesake of the war had been an opposition fighter during sula's Civil War and now LEDs the new hostilities against the dictator the conflict would last for eight draining years overlapping with the unrelated campaigns as it played out on the Iberian Peninsula the light at the end of the tunnel could only be found when disloyalty within the opposition LED Marcus Perera to murder his alleged Ally sertorius Perera was less of a challenge than his victim had been for Rome as the great pompy was quick to put an end to him as well this was just in time as the Republic was now figh in on two additional fronts over in Asia Minor Rome was yet again facing off with mithradates in what would be the largest and longest of the mithridatic wars lasting a grueling 10 years and pulling allies from multiple continents into the Bloodshed it was another damaging event for the quivering Republic and it wasn't all that Rome had to deal with also in 73 BC the third and most famous of the surval wars broke out when 70 Gladiators found Freedom after escaping a gladiator school it wasn't hard for these former slaves to stir up support amongst peers and it wouldn't be long before their rebellious ranks reached over 100,000 possibly the most famous of the Gladiator forces leaders was Spartacus who became impeccable at fending off Roman armies to continue his Revol Vault his motives and what he aimed for as his end goal of the Rebellion are widely debated by modern and even older historic tellings whatever it may be Spartacus and his troops seemed Unstoppable at least until Marcus linius crus took command of the Roman side the Roman army found crus to be much more petrifying than the enemy itself and thus this fear violently pushed them to Triumph the Republic was finally able to crush the third and last servile rebellion and crus with the help of pompy who was on his way back to Italy from the expedition in the mithridatic war ensured the utter decimation of the rebellious slaves it's believed that Spartacus himself was one of these casualties ever since the end of the third Punic War two things had been true about the Roman Republic try as it might it was plagued by military conflict and it was collapsing like a sand castle under high tide with each strike of the sword by the mid-1st century BC there was little hope left for the Republic and the Romans knew it and one man born at the turn of the century would be the final piece in the crumbling puzzle Julius Caesar the mid 1st Century BC was a wildly eventful era for Rome as was most of the Republic's existence from the successful Siege of Jerusalem in 63 BC to the daring coupet attempted by Lucius sergius Catalina now names the calinar and conspiracy the same year and then to the decision by pompy to join the first triumverate the 60s alone were packed full of import important dates but it was pompy's Ally in this Trio who would come to overshadow much else in the final Century BC born in July 100 BC gas Julius Caesar was born to a patrician family with a father by the same name and a well-known Uncle by the name of gas Marius Ali to Lucius Cornelius China and opponent to Lucius Cornelius Sula and it was these connections that early into Caesar's adulthood taught him just how complicated life can be after the death of his father Caesar was wedged to Cornelia the daughter of China and named the high priest of Jupiter this post was an honor but a short-lived one because Sula had eventually won control of Rome and quickly turns to people like Caesar who had been connected to the opposition aul took everything from marius's nephew without hesitation his priesthood for one his inheritance and more unwilling to give in despite the immense pressure young Caesar went into hiding despite his maternal family eventually intervening and softening sula's Gaze on the young man Caesar chose to stay far away from the dictator as an extra precaution now a soldier in the Army the the young lad was earning respect and admiration already even earning himself the Civic Crown before the death of the potent Sula in 78 BC it was at this point that Caesar opted to return to Rome no longer under the heavy boot of his uncle's foe having lost so much however Caesar was only capable of finding a modest home surrounded by Rome's lower class where he would begin a new career as a lawyer of his time he found success here just as he had in the Army although it was a short time later that his next obstacle presented itself in 75 BC Julius Caesar was captured by csian pirat while journeying across the aan sea now 25 years old Caesar was much less afraid of his captors than one would expect instead when the Pirates demanded a 20 Talent ransom for the Roman Noble Caesar derided the men he insisted that they surely didn't know who they had just snatched and thus insisted they must ask for more in fact 30 more talents likely bewildered but pleasantly surprised the Pirates agreed to up the ransom and allowed Caesar to send off some of his men to go and gather the money while the Roman and his captors waited over a month for the payoff to be brought it seems that Caesar remained unperturbed by the entire situation in fact it said that the rather egotistical 25-year-old was no stranger to ordering the Pirates around and forcing them to listen to speeches and poetry he eloquently wrote in his spare time curiously these csian seemed quite fond of their Roman prisoner and treated him rather well Caesar likely noticed this but whether it meant much to him or not appears to be very clear it didn't at some point before his Ransom was paid the young man informed his pirate custodians that upon his release he would track every last one of them down seize them and have them all crucified while still alive in what tone he made this threat we don't know but it couldn't have been too harsh as the Pirates chose to dismiss these words and when Caesar TR truly was set free upon the payment of his ransom they made no attempts to run or hide thus Caesar went through the effort of rallying a small Fleet sailing Back to the Island he had been held on abducting his former captors and taking them back to pergamin where he eventually had them executed when he finally returned to Rome Caesar's legal career would from that point on become increasingly eclipsed by a budding political one the first step would be his election as Military Tribunal followed closely by the 69 BC election as quer he would eventually serve out this latter position in hispania after the death of Cornelia staying out of Rome until 67 BC at which point he returned and married a granddaughter of the late Sula over the next 5 years Caesar would earn the titles of Kula iday ponteix Maximus and pretor he would next become proor over hispania alterior as his relevancy respectability and power grew now styled imperator as of 60 BC by his soldiers Caesar was left with a difficult position stay in the Army and receive a Triumph ceremony from the senate or lay down his arms and run for Consul as he had already hoped to do the seasoned lawyer Soldier and now politician would eventually choose the latter the election process was distasteful and thronged with corruption but nevertheless Caesar found a way to come out on top he and Marcus babus would begin their consulships in 59 BC it was during this stint as cul of Rome that Caesar's secret alliance with the likes of Marcus Le inos crus and nios Pompeo Magnus would become public knowledge previously Caesar himself had built a relationship with both men yet the two had been long at odds with one another this led Caesar to attempts to mediate a Reconciliation between the two that would in fact go quite well the culmination of these efforts was the formation of the first triumvirate an initially secret alliance between these three men but when Caesar proposed a new law during his consulship that called for forceful redistribution of public lands to the poor crus and pompy decided to take the Triumph at public supporting the law and Caesar himself soldiers soon swarmed the city and anyone who opposed the trio was quickly intimidated into submission or coincidental silence what it started as the consulship of Julius Caesar and Marcus babus was now dubbed daringly the consulship of Julius and Caesar this consulship of 59 BC was not without opposition though it was furthermore not without violence imposed on those Challengers by now the people of Rome were becoming increasingly aware of the first triumvirate and yet increasingly afraid of it at the same time it was no secret that Caesar and his friends would use devious ways to achieve their goals still they were rather good at it and before his consulship was up Caesar managed to secure himself the governorship over cesil Pine G ilum and transalpine Gul an office he would thus hold for 5 years keeping him safe for that time from any prosecution brought on by the Deeds he' carried out during his consulship this was crucial because the astute politician had bigger plans for his next phase of life with four Legions now under his command in Gaul and a coming extension of his governorship for another 5 years Caesar had two main objectives conquer the unconquered lands of Gaul and then enter Britain ambitious maybe even foolish when it came to the latter but nevertheless it was what Julius Caesar wanted he relatively smoothly found success in his first task defeating the tribes of the unconquered region and inching ever closer to Britain's border by 55 BC he was ready to take that very next step and under the accusation that the Brits had previously backed his opponents in the GIC War an invasion was launched the results were a bit anticlimactic Caesar was Ill prepared and Ill informed causing him to First have to pull back into Gaul before again relaunching his fruitless campaign he would return to Gaul again after achieving more than the first time but still nothing significant with the Galls now in Revolt Caesar would be unable to return to Britain as he turned his attention back to his governorship despite Valiant efforts from the GS and one chieftain in particular the Romans would would be successful once more at putting down their opponents and claiming the rest of the gall territory bordering Caesars the GS were simply too disunified and unprepared to best their Invaders despite Caesar's forces not technically being all that stronger either way Caesar was lucky as now he needed to turn his attention to whether or not he could even maintain enough support back home to remain in Gaul one third of the first triumvirate in the form of crus was no longer in existence by the end of 53 BC having been killed during a campaign into Parthia Crassus Left Behind only Caesar and pompy whose relationship was now on a downward spiral Caesar's luck in particular appeared to be wearing thin as pompy and his supporters started to gain power in Rome whilst the Senate was turning on on Caesar by the early months of 49 BC the worst had come for Julius any tribunes who had had his back have been rashly expelled from Rome and now the Senate declared him to be their enemy what happens next is clear but the reason for it is often debated by historians it's possible that Caesar in response to the Senate's decision feared Exile and potentially even prosecution but many argue that this would have been an insanely unlikely outcome and Caesar would have known that instead he was more accurately focused on his goal of a second consulship which pompy currently in control of Rome would have possibly attempted to Bar Caesar from achieving thus the die had been cast Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with the lone Legion and launched a civil war though the odds at first seemed to be far from in the disgraced to salent favor reality soon hit the Senate like a ton of bricks the people of Rome cared not to defend their morally questionable politicians and the men who had fought alongside Caesar under multiple Legions were quick to support their comrade realizing the gravity of their mistakes pompy and some of his senators fled the city withdrawing to the South where they believed they would be safer as Caesar marched on Rome itself yet they were wrong again after failed negotiations that had been initiated by Caesar himself the attackers too turned South Caesar wanted not to capture Rome first but to capture pompy the subsequent timeline of events saw pompy Flee for Greece Caesar head off for hispania while an ally Mark Anthony remained in Italy on his behalf followed by multiple clashes between the forces of Caesar and pompy scores of soldiers were now flocking to Caesar's side as Legion after Legion joined his ranks pompe was soon fleeing for Egypt where Caesar readily followed him to what he intended to do with his now former Ally is unknown but what is documented is his immense dissatisfaction when he was informed of pompy's assassination at the hands of Egypt's King Tommy the 13th's men tmy had hoped to make a good impression on the Roman but it seems that exactly the opposite occurred and Caesar had instead taken a liking to the King's sister Cleopatra this and likely also the assassination of pompy pushed Caesar to side with the Egyptian Queen in the alexandrian war later defeating tmy and leaving the now subdued Egypt for Asia Minor by now Caesar had been appointed as dictator back in Rome despite being in and out of Italy as a whole to engage in campaigns in the Middle East and Africa as well as his Endeavors in Asia he was also repeatedly named Consul and his dictatorship renewed multiple times having pardoned his enemies in the Senate and thus laying claim to very few opponents at home once he finally returns to Rome again in the 40s BC Caesar began to roll out new legal reforms even changing the Roman Calendar he was essentially the sole Authority in the crumbling Roman Republic if one could even still call it that holding the titles of dictator Tribune and Cil while he would in fact resign from the latter position in 45 BC his successors were only once more decided by election given Caesar's decision shortly after to make all appointments of magistrates tribunes and Cil his own selection despite being capable of making all of these unilateral judgments and wielding such grasping power Caesar's popularity in the Senate was dwindling not surging he wasn't accomplishing these things with the support of his Senators but instead in spite of lacking it still hatred often in these cases is a fast growing weed and seeds are spread rapidly from the mind of one suppressed politician to another Senators such as those in Rome could only take so much of Caesar's overbearing Authority people got to talking ideas began swirling and a devious plot was forming a man by the name of cilius Casa soon warned Mark Anthony of the building conspiracy but the Senators had accounted for this there was nothing left to be done Caesar's days were numbered and the Clock Was ticking ever faster in the year 44 BC on the Ides of March Julius Caesar dictator of Rome arrived at the Senate none the wiser to what was about to take place he was it's believed aware that there had been some talk behind his back of some sort but he surely did not know the full extent of what his senators were preparing to do on the floor of the theater of pompy earlier that morning Caesar's wife had awoken from a ghastly nightmare in which the great ruler had been dreadfully killed she thus desperately begged him to stay home finally convincing Caesar to have the Senate dismissed after Mark Anthony arrived to inform the senators of this Deimos yunos Brutus albinus not the same Brutus now famous for his involvement in the conspiracy to come made his way to Caesar's home to personally persuade him not to listen to the fears of his wife after some talking The Dictator now gave in to the deceitful pleas of deumus and decided to attend the Senate Mark Anthony now endeavored to join his friend an ally but was stopped on his way into the building and detained either by deumus or a gas tronus Caesar thus entered alone at which point he was approached by Lucius chus chimber who addressed Caesar with an appeal to recall his exiled brother the dict Ator showed no interest in listening to the man until chimar grabbed him roughly by the shoulder yanking down his toga why this is violence Caesar is said to have bellowed in response at which point puus silios casca longus promptly brought out a glistening blade and he attempted to sink it into the dictator's neck Caesar being quick in his reflexes turns just in time to catch Casa's arm at which point the latter shouted brother help me caesar managed to then frantically fight Casa off but by now it was too late he was surrounded and a total of at least 60 conniving Senators took their shot at the defenseless Tyrant for the first few moments Julius Caesar hopelessly attempted to free himself from the mob but he soon stumbled to the floor where he then lay powerless less covered in his own blood and by the end perforated by 23 stab wounds it was later stated that the mighty and esteemed Romans cruel death had come from the loss of blood with the vast majority of his wounds not having been fatal on their own and so the great ruler of Rome guus Julius Caesar bled out on the steps of the Kura of pompy his body left there to drain for hours by his Killers the Senators after finishing the deed paraded through the city declaring the Newfound freedom of the Romans from Caesar's hold anticipating to be met with Elation and gratitude from the citizenry they were instead met with silence and rage the immediate aftermath of the killing was chaotic Mark Anthony had fled in fear of his own life angry citizens Set Fire to the Senate house what would come next for the government was uncertain and would need to be quickly resolved but one thing was beyond doubt this was the end of the Roman Republic with Caesar it had died on those stairs only days after his ally had been assassinated Mark Anthony returns to Rome he hopes to quickly stabilize the government by negotiating with the killers and wielding the fury of the mourning of the citizenry as a weapon against them Anthony was very likely hoping to take control of Rome himself having been unaware that prior to his death Caesar had in his will named his Grand nephew gas Octavius as his one and only Heir ironically it was also decided that if Octavia a rather sickly young boy were to die before Caesar Deimos yunus Brutus albinos would be the replacement Heir still not Mark Anthony the death of The Great Dictator Julius Caesar had quite dramatically hammered the final nail into the coffin of the Roman Republic its fate had been sealed but there was still much to be done before it would officially be laid to rest Mark Anthony still serving as Consul yet now aware that he had failed to earn the place as Caesar's chosen air was working tirelessly to cement his own power and sway in the developing situation he had somehow managed to nominally snag for himself the governorships of Calpine and transalpine Gaul and played the ring leader in the effort to put a leash on the conspirators and their supporters this was easier to do than one might expect given the fact that as a result of Caesar's murder the dictatorship he had held was abolished giving his Heir Octavian little to claim nevertheless neither of the men was Keen to cooperate nor see the other gain any kind of upper hand and thus War began the first signs of warfare approaching came at the end of 44 BC when Mark Anthony journeyed to the city of mutina with the goal of taking cisalpine Gul by military force this was necessary due to the fact that the Region's current governor deumus yunus Brutus albinos won of Julius Caesar's Killers was unwilling to accept the law that Anthony had earlier passed which would have given him the two governorships in GA his law was seen as wildly illegal and thus Brutus was determined to fight it Anthony subsequently laid Siege to mutina quite possibly severing the final positive ties heat had left with the Roman senate they now responded to the treacherous Siege by sending the New Year's consules alus herius and guos vibius pansa alongside Octavian himself to defend the governor the Senate's plan worked as Anthony and his men were forced to defend themselves against the approaching armies the siege of mutina softened both consules would end up dead but the siege would be lifted after herius and Octavian attacked Antony's Camp scaring him into believing another assault would come soon that however was the full extent of the Senate's Victory Octavian furthermore was now no longer willing to work with his uncle's killer and Brutus was convinced to abandon his post he hopes to flee to Macedonia where he would join some some of his fellow conspirators but an ally of Anthony would deliver the man's demise along the way and back in Rome Mark Anthony was now declared An Enemy of the State meanwhile two consulship positions were suddenly vacant the latter fact was one that Octavian took great pleasure in as he had eyes on the role for himself marching to Rome the heir to Julius Caesar took what he wanted and alongside his cousin quintus pedius he took his place as conso among the first changes that Octavian and pedius now made was the Curious decision to revoke the Declaration making Mark Anthony an enemy of Rome with Octavian himself and Anthony being two of the most prominent supporters of Caesar remaining the former decided that it would serve him well to form an alliance with the latter another massive supporter of Julius Caesar and and a man of significant influence Marcus amilius lepidus had already negotiated with Mark Anthony either by his own accord or because lepidus his troops had insisted upon it likewise all of those forces who supported Caesar were now pressuring Octavian to do the same and thus after meeting with the other men Caesar's Heir Mark Anthony and Marcus amelus lepidus entered into what is now known as the second triumvirate this new friendship of sorts was solidified with the passage of the Lex tisia modeled after sula's Lex Valeria and granted the triumvir political and legal powers that outshined that of the consules the trio would also walk back on earlier agreements to let those who conspired against Julius Caesar off the hook and in a violent turnaround had hundreds executed further the land of the Republic were divied out between the men with Octavian taking Africa Sicily and Sardinia Anthony winning Calpine and Gaul as he had hoped for prior and lepidus being gifted Spain and narbon nessis next there was the problem of the other assassins the Liber Tores as guos Casio longinos and Marcus unius Brutus were known having escaped prosecution of any kind in Rome cassus and Brutus had fled East where they were attempting to take control of all Eastern Roman territories whilst the triumphs were in the west as 42 BC rolled around however Anthony and Octavian were on their way to the east The Liberator Civil War officially began with the Battle of Philippi as the fall leaves began to turn Mark Anthony came face to face with casassus longus while Brutus and Octavian squared off the fight between Caesar's Heir and friends turned killer seems like a fair match and there fails to be one side with a clear Advantage quite contrary to the clash between the forces of Anthony and casus the cesarian beat down his opponent but casassus managed to initially escape the battle alive despite the truth being far different casassus had then heard that his ally had been routed and in dramatic fashion he reacted to the false news by taking his own life now alone in the fight Brutus managed to take the Reigns of cassius's abandoned forces and both he and his foes withdrew from the battlefield the trium and liberat Tores now began attempting to reignite their armies with Promises of more money as Octavian Anthony and Brutus look for what their next steps would be Brutus was hoping to avoid a pitched battle just yet and with the liberat Tores Fleet having defeated the triumvir on the ionian sea Brutus may have been in a fair position if he was able to do just that the risk of masses of Caesar's veterans now in the Liberator forces defecting to Octavian and Anthony's side was one worth constantly considering and when some of brutus's other forces began to do just that there wasn't much left that could be done the Liber Tor had to either fight and fight now or run with his tail between his legs in a humiliating defeat Brutus chose the first option though the second may have been better in the end as the result of an October 23rd battle was the trouncing of his forces and the suicide of the remaining Liberator many surviving members of Brutus and casas's forces subsequently joined the cesarian fight as did a handful of nobles who had thus far opposed Octavian and Anthony when the body of Brutus was discovered amongst the Carnage in the aftermath it is said that Mark Anthony paid his respects to his deceased Foe and former Friend by laying a purple cloth over his corpse a symbolic moment putting a face to the true ramifications of the ongoing Civil War of the Roman Republic and its remains friend against friend brother against brother rival factions and political games had torn Rome apart and as was the way of the Rome rans alliances were short-lived and friends were quick to become enemies the second triumverate was no different following the war against the liberat Tores the members of the three-way Alliance split up geographically particularly Anthony and Octavian the latter of which had to now move on to facing seus pompy in Sicily whilst Anthony focused on the East and Parthia Cleopatra would also enter the picture again this time striking up an affair with Anthony much as she had with Caesar before him this allowed Anthony and Cleopatra an advantage both could use each other to strengthen their own positions but after all this was an adulterous relationship Anthony had a wife back in Rome and that wife of his was not one to be ignored as the part parthians Reed for a preemptive attack against some of Rome's Eastern Holdings Antony's wife fulia alongside lus Antonius Consul and brother to Mark Anthony were mapping out their own plans for war amongst domestic unrest triggered by octavian's treatment of his veterans and ongoing war with sexus pompy fulvia and Antonius decided to Target the trium personally with a slew of propaganda and only fans the Flames of the ongoing discontent the situation soon escalated to the point of Antonius military occupation of Rome and subsequent Warfare against the forces of Octavian the debacle was short-lived lasting only from 41 through 40 BC and ending in a victory for Octavian who eventually seized perusia as a result both Antonius and fulvia were allowed to live and at the request of Octavian soldiers so were those belonging to Anthony's Family and while Anthony himself had stayed absent during the clashes feigning distraction throughout it all he was now watching his fellow triumvir with mild suspicion Octavian had taken more than perusia he had furthermore seized Gaul after the death of Antony's governor and held additional territory elsewhere within Rome's grasp with distrust being one of the pillars holding up the might of the second triumverate it's no surprise that Anthony thus dropped everything to return to Italy with an army of his own just in case as another just in case Anthony furthermore attempted to enter discussion with octavian's current Nemesis sexus pompy this plan worked well enough but it led Anthony into direct conflict with octavian's Garrison at brundisium had it not been for the pleas of both armies to make peace the scuffle could have turned into yet another civil war but alas the soldiers managed again to trigger negotiations or maybe it was just that these Romans understood well the concept of fairness to their men by the fall of 40 BC an agreement had again been made between the triumvir Anthony and octavian's new positions in the East and Gaul respectively were made official and lepidus the rather forgotten of the three allies was confirmed in his new position over Africa after brief celebrations at home the renewed friends then looked back at sexus pompy with two options in mind sign a treaty or win a war as as the scorching summer heat set in so did negotiations after discussing terms such as solidifying sexus is position over the pelones Corsica Sardinia and Sicily for 5 years followed by a consulship as well as compromises on behalf of seas' soldiers and slaves an agreement was finally made War could be avoided for once for now who was the strongest Link in the Triumph RIT may be debated but it seems in the deal struck between them and sexus pompy Anthony was the glue that held them all together with the latter having shortly returned East and focused back on his victories against Parthia via his Lieutenant pus ventidius the relationship between sexus and Octavian was now under a scorching Spotlight it was only a matter of months before tensions reached a flaming high with no antthony arounds to stomp them out in an unexpected twist Octavian had already retaken Corsica and Sardinia for Rome after one of seas' Admirals had a change of heart and loyalty sexus had favored Anthony over Octavian anyway and this gave him the perfect excuse to throw their Alliance aside on Caesar's air the sea Battle showed an early Advantage for sexus causing worry for Anthony once more as he now saw a risk of sexus gaining too much power in comparison to both himself and Octavian thus when his fellow triumvir asked for Aid Anthony though not necessarily in favor of Octavian sailed back for Italy to discuss matters further allegedly the only thing that pushed him to support Octavian over sexus was the persuasion of Anthony newest wife and sister of Octavian Octavia despite Antony's resistance the triumvirate was again renewed now more officially and it was agreed that the deal made earlier with sexus was no longer on the table it was time for war and Anthony would support Octavian militarily Anthony additionally refocused his goals in the East against Parthia and his continuing fair with Cleopatra who he now acknowledged he had impregnated as he granted her new lands those back in Rome and really all of Italy were displeased by this quite public entanglement growing a crack in Anthony's reputation that would soon be deepened by his coming failure against the parthians having marched on the parthan capital frata and then being chased all the way back to capid doia after being AB abandoned by his alleged Ally in the king of Armenia arav vases Anthony had turned the Kraken his Prestige into an expanding rupture meanwhile Octavian and lepidus with the crucial Aid of octavian's Lieutenant Marcus vpus agripa founds their own triumphs against sexus who by the end of 36 BC was on the Run ironically toward Mark Anthony sex is potential for a new treaty with Anthony was not the biggest news of the moment in fact it was the neglected leopardus who made metaphorical headlines with a sudden betrayal after the defeat of sexus lepidus who'd long awaited his own Glory attempted to win over octavian's men for himself this plan disastrously backfired and the unshakable Octavian reacted by simply put kicking lepidus out of the second triumvirate to say that the alliance still existed with only Anthony and Octavian would be a foul joke it appeared by now that lepidus had in the case of the triumvirate been the glue and now that glue was gone as a result there remained nothing standing in the way of another civil war and octavien now readied for just that a propaganda war was the first form of battle to come and displaying a quite impressive level of naivity Anthony made things ridiculously easy for Octavian after having the fleeing sexus executed Anthony went on to bamboozle his alleged Ally in Armenia seizing his kingdom and showing off this entire trickery and an ill-thought-out display of Celebration he then engaged in a yet more poorly evaluated ceremony with his children by Cleopatra by now shattering the once positive reputation he'd earned entirely many in Rome had blamed corrupt morals for the repeated domestic conflicts and wars and to see someone such as Mark Anthony himself parading around in such scandalous and Theatrical ways only gave the citizenry more reason to point the finger at him not Octavian or anyone else yet whether aware of his own self-destructive Behavior or not Anthony decided to throw his own accusations back at Octavian branting him scarcely short of a traitor if there was truth in these imputations it would seem not to matter much to all outside of Anthony's Circle octavien was winning the war of words Mark Anthony needed to prepare for one with swords after forming a counter Senate of his own Anthony began readying his army the sheer manow of his force was quite incredible 800 ships and 100,000 men were ready to fight for the Roman general the only question was should they also fight for Cleopatra this question was answered in dramatic fashion when Anthony opted to divorce his Roman wife yet another Reckless move for the stunningly ignorant triumvir had he hoped to avoid further damage to his honor he could have simply removed his Egyptian mistress from the equation but he instead opted not only to keep Cleopatra around but to divorce Octavia a decision he had to know would have significant consequences in the eyes of the public and of course Octavian unsurprisingly thus Anthony began losing losing men one in particular luchos munus plenus a former Senator switched allegiances now joining up with Octavian this man would be the first Domino to fall in the race toward Another War it was at his urging that Octavian unsealed the will of Mark Anthony which according to him showed his true loyalties to Egypt leaving Roman lands to he and Cleopatra's children recognizing cesarian Cleopatra's son with Caesar among other damning requests Octavian followed up this reveal by declaring war on Cleopatra by September of 31 BC the Allies turned foes alongside the Queen of Egypt herself clashed at the Battle of actium the battle on the ionian sea saw a fairly even force on either side side leading up to the final Clash those on the side of Octavian had been repeatedly harassing the Greek Coast as they waited to coax Anthony and Cleopatra into true battle the latter Duo however had made a new plan to redistribute their forces setting up garrisons and moving their fleets something that octavien quickly caught word of after pensive debate with agripa Caesar's Heir decided that they mustn't let the enemies do as they intended and that the battle must begin immediately with Anthony's men still deserting on a daily basis any new ideas or strategies were also taken out of Antony's camp and brought right into the hands of Octavian finally realizing that he was more or less stuck and any chance at surprising the enemy was non-existent Anthony ordered his men into battle what happened in the actual course of the battle is debated but what is known is that by the end Anthony and Cleopatra fled while many of their ships and Men sunk into the sea or went up in Flames the couple had squeezed through a treacherous Gap to slip away it seems with no care for the men who'd been willing to risk it all to fight on their behalf the following year more desertions plagued Anthony's troops Cleopatra and Octavian had failed to come to any agreement during fruitless negotiations Octavian was marching toward Alexandria on the 1st of August the city fell to the air of Julius Caesar Caesar's son by Cleopatra was murdered as was Mark Anthony's Heir Cleopatra's surviving children were captured and the Roman triumvir with his Egyptian queen ended their their lives together Anthony and octavien had always been no more than Pawns in one another's violent game of chess but the Battle of acum had been Checkmate and now the king and queen were dead gas Julius Caesar octavianus had won yeah

Channel: Knowledgia

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Keywords: History of the Roman Republic, The History of the Roman Republic (All Parts) - 753 BC - 31 BC, The history of the roman empire, history of rome, roman empire history, roman history, roman empire capaigns, roman conquest of greece, roman conquest of italy, roman conquest of gaul, roman conquest of iberia, roman conquest of Egypt, Roman conquest of Carthage, Full history of the roman empire, Why did the Roman Empire collapse, Roman Republic, Roman Civil Conflict

Id: 2huuq4H5CRY

Length: 139min 28sec (8368 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 27 2023