Download Romes Wars of Expansion

Rome’s wars of expansion
Rome is kept busy in the Greek East
and elsewhere
• Illyrian Wars were a set of conflicts of 229 BC,
219 BC and 168 BC when Rome overran the
Illyrian settlements and suppressed the piracy
that had made the Adriatic unsafe for Italian
commerce. There were three campaigns, the
first against Teuta, the second against
Demetrius of Pharos and the third against
Gentius. The initial campaign in 229 BC marks
the first time that the Roman Navy crossed
the Adriatic Sea to launch an invasion.
• In the First Illyrian War, which lasted from 229[
BC to 228 BC, Rome's concern with the trade routes
running across the Adriatic Sea increased after the
First Punic War, when many tribes of Illyria became
united under one queen, Teuta. The death of a
Roman envoy named Coruncanius on the orders of
Teuta and the attack on trading vessels owned by
Italian merchants under Rome's protection,
prompted the Roman senate to dispatch a Roman
army under the command of the consuls Lucius
Postumius Albinus (consul 234 and 229 BC) and
Gnaeus FulviusCentumalus.
• Rome expelled Illyrian garrisons at the Greek
cities Epidamnus, Apollonia, Korkyra, Pharos
and others and established a protectorate
over these Greek towns.
• The Romans also set up Demetrius of Pharos
as a power in Illyria to counter-balance the
power of Teuta
100AD
• Rome’s crossing of the Adriatic to fight
the Illyrians annoyed the Macedonians
• Jealous and suspicious of Rome’s new
sphere of influence in the Adriatic
• Aetolian and Achaean confederacies
happy with suppression of Illyrian piracy
• This gave Rome an “in” to the divided
Greek world.
2nd Illyrian War 220-219BCE
• Most of Greece has been united under Antigonus
Doson, King of Macedonia
• Demetrius, who Rome had established in Pharos,
has gone over to Macedonia, and attacked other
clients of Rome
• Rome threatened with another “Carthaginian
incident” jumped in and drove him to take refuge
in Maecdonia.
• Subjects surrendered, and Rome took two
fortresses, Pharos and Dimillos.
• Rome has shown her clients the meaning of
Patronage
• Rome chooses to maintain her protectorate in
the area across the Adriatic from the “heel” of
Italy.
• Phillip of Macedon is not happy, and makes
plans to remove the Roman protectorate of
Illyria
Meanwhile in the north of Italy…
225-222BCE
• Rome is busy in the north with the Cisalpine
Gauls.
• The tribes from the Po valley had not fought
with Rome for 50 years
• Now they were alarmed by the Roman
allocation of land on their southern borders,
the north of Italy
• 387 BCE Rome had been thrashed at Allia by
Gauls from the Transalpine region.
• They had not forgotten
• In 225 this threat from the Po valley Gauls
scared them as the Boii and the Insubres
combined with Cisalpine Gauls from across
the Alps and spread south
• They attacked Etruria and Rome took stock
preparing to defend itself
Roman Resources
• According to Polybius:
• 700,000 infantry
• 70,000 Cavalry
• Rome put 2 consular legions onto the field about
100,000 men and two Gallic tribes from the north of
the Po joined in with 20,000 more troops
One army was stationed in Etruria
One was sent to guard Sardinia
One was sent to Ariminum
• The Gauls skirted around one army and raided
in Etruria
• They defeated the army that had been left to
guard Etruria, and retreated north with their
spoils
• The force from Ariminum chased them and
the one from Sardinia cut them off from the
north
• The Romans annihilated them
• They won through sound tactics and good
Generalship
• Italy was saved but the Romans were angry!!
• They took their armies north and attacked the
lands of the Insubres and the Boii.
• In three tough campaigns they could not wipe
them out
• The Romans settled for subjugation
• The tribes were forced to pay tribute and lose
part of their territory
• This set the Boii up to be allies of Hannibal
• So… with the exception of the Po valley and
Liguria, by 219BC all of Italy south of the Alps
came under Roman control.
• Then in 218 Hannibal crossed the Alps, to find
most of the cisalpine Gauls were ready to
revolt against Rome, if he could demonstrate
that he could win….
Second Punic War
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Long, costly and bitter struggle
Stretched Rome to the limit
Final victory and indemnity to Rome
Zama did not decide the war, It determined the
peace terms
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Surrender of all territory outside Carthage
Huge indemnity
Hand over all but 10 ships, Elephants.
No warmaking without Rome’s consent
Consequences of the Second Punic
War
• Rome in control of the Mediterranean
• Drained her resources of men and treasure
• Reinforced her ideals of courage, self-sacrifice and
devotion
• Proved the regular system of recruiting worked,
except after Cannae, 8,000 slaves recruited
• Rome had borrowed money to finance the war
• Extra requests and taxes for the wealthy business
class
Consequences con’t
• Scipio had to call on volunteers and donations
to wage his African campaign
• Inflation in their economy
• Grain shortage due to ruined countryside
• Bought grain from Egypt at 3 times the price
• The rural population had moved to the cities
• Southern Italy almost desolate
• Southern cities fallen into decay
Consequences con’t
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Rome now has power in:
Spain
North Africa
The western Mediterranean
Northern Italy to the Alps
Parts of the east across the Adriatic
Consequences con’t
• Changes to the rural population and growth of
the Latifundia (great Estates)
• Decline of small farmers
• Increase of slavery provided labour
• Senatorial class could not own businesses, but
could own farms
• Land available after Hannibal
• Land available due to system of military
service, death, neglect of land during service.
Army consequences
• Change to generalship in Armies
• Not just one year tenure
• Proconsuls and propraetorships where officers
of ability retained their command of the same
armies
• This enabled better command
• Led to development of generals like Scipio and
Marcellus
Rome has time to deal with Phillip
• Because Phillip sided with Carthage in the
wars with Rome, Rome wanted payback
• Rome uses the fear of Antiochus III to unite
smaller Greek states under their influence
Phillip V
• Rome’s wars with Hannibal had delayed their
acting against Phillip
• Rome felt that Phillip could become a threat
to them, he was geographically very close
• The alliance between Phillip and Antiochus
meant that a larger power block was
controlling much of the east
• 200 Rome sends an Army and tries to
penetrate into Macedon, but this and
subsequent attempts fail.
War with Phillip
• 198 Titus Flaminius arrives to help and the
tide changes
• He garners the support of the Achaean
confederacy and drives Phillip into Thessaly
• Temporary peace ensued with negotiations as
Phillip realised he was on the back foot
• Next year war resumes in Thessaly
• Rome wins with some help from the
Aeotolians
• Mainly due to the superior flexibility of the
Roman tactics
• Phillip fled to Macedon and sues for peace
• Flaminius saw Macedon as a buffer zone
against the Celts of the lower Danube and
denies the calls by the Aeotolians for Phillip’s
destruction
Terms of Peace
• Evacuation of Macedonian possessions in
Greece, the Illyricum, and the Aegean
• 1,000 talents
• Surrender of nearly all warships
• Autonomy in the region
• Soon after he became a Roman ally
196 Flamininus
• At Isthmian games Flamininus proclaimed
complete autonomy of the peoples who had
been subject to Macedonian control
• Rome was applying their same policy they had
used in Messana, Saguntum and Illyria
• These Greeks states were now free but would
be expected, by Rome to persue a foreign
policy compatible with Rome