Roma si razboaiele -sale !-Partea-2!

1-Acest articol este copiat !

2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1. 

“I swear that, as soon as age will permit, I will use fire and steel to arrest the destiny of Rome.”

Rather than being a placid Roman vassal, Demetrius set about restoring Illyria’s power and consolidating his hold over the various tribes. He also reached out west to Macedon, and in 222 BC played a key role in supporting the Macedonians in marching south and crushing the army of a resurgent Sparta at the Battle of Sellasia, with only 200 of Sparta’s elite 6,000 hoplites surviving. With Rome occupied in war against the Celts of Cisalpine Gaul, Demetrius reignited Illyrian piracy, in contravention of his treaty with the Senate.

Tension was rising in Greece as Macedon allied itself with the Achaean League against the Aetolian League, with the Illyrians attacking the southern states to take advantage of the war footing. Demetrius attacked coastal settlements and islands through the Peloponnese and the Aegean, extracting tribute or sacking towns, until his fleet was chased away by the navy of Rhodes. Returning west around the Greek coasts, he moved to attack Roman allied cities on his return to Illyria.

Having previously ignored the betrayal by their former ally, Rome was triggered to act to secure the Illyrian ports in 219 BC as war with Carthage began to look inevitable. The great general Hannibal was ignoring Roman threats in Hispania, which his father, Hamilcar, had essentially developed as a quasi-independent kingdom after the First Punic War. Having been undefeated in Sicily but forced to negotiate surrender by his war weary leaders, Hamilcar had then set out for the Iberian Peninsula, largely inhabited by the Celtiberians and full of natural resources to exploit, including silver. When challenged by Rome about his expansion, Hamilcar merely responded he sought new ways to repay the war indemnity. After briefly being succeeded by his brother in law, Hamilcar’s eldest son Hannibal was declared leader by his army, despite not being initially recognised by the Carthaginian Senate. Rome now sought to claim Spain’s riches for itself, and began establishing its own colonies and alliances along the south east coast, with Carthage in the south west, and the two powers agreeing borders of their influence. Gearing up for war, having promised his father to always be an enemy of Rome, Hannibal seized his chance in 219 BC when Saguntum declared for Rome, despite being within the Carthaginian sphere of influence, and besieged the city. He was emboldened by knowledge that Rome’s legions were occupied in Illyria, and would be unable to attack before the city fell.

Rome needed to wrap up the Illyrian rebellion swiftly, especially as a war with Carthage would demand supplies from across the Adriatic. Expecting the Second Punic War to be confined to Hispania, Rome first pressed east to Illyria to reassert its control there. Unlike Teuta a decade earlier, Demetrius was well prepared for a Roman attack, and set about garrisoning cities ahead of the legions’ arrival. Both Consuls joined the expedition east, which was led by Paullus, who would died three years later at Cannae.

After re-establishing a number of Illyrians protectorates, the Romans moved against Demetrius at Pharos, which was strongly fortified, well manned, and thoroughly provisioned. Legionaries moved into a wooded area of the island, while a number of ships sailed to the city to feign a beach landing. Demetrius was lured out by the ruse, and when the main Roman army appeared from the woods, the Illyrians were cut off from the city and forced to give battle. The Illyrians were surrounded and routed, though Demetrius managed to flee. Destroying the fortifications around Pharos, the legions returned to applause and triumph. Opposition to Rome in Illyria had been destroyed, with the republic’s possessions from the first war restored.

Returning to Italy in 218 BC, Rome began preparing for the war with Carthage in Hispania, but was soon to be shocked when Hannibal crossed the Alps in winter to bring the war to Italy instead, with devastating effect. In the east, Demetrius had fled to the Court of King Philip V of Macedon, who refused his extradition, and began advancing into eastern Illyria following the legion’s departure. Hannibal’s arrival in Italy looked set to swiftly conclude the war in Carthage’s favour. He defeated a the double consular army of Scipio and Longinus at the Terbia in late 218 BC, then ambushed and annihilated the force of the Consul Flaminius at Lake Trasimene the following year. After a brief period of following the Fabian Strategy of avoiding conflict with Hannibal under the guidance of the dictator, Fabius “the Delayer”, Rome set out determined to crush Hannibal in 216 BC, raising a huge force of betwixt 70,000 and 90,000 men. Far from wiping out the invader, Hannibal pulled out his greatest victory yet, with an inverted crescent folding inward to encompass the legions with an army half their size, wiping them out and killing a generation of Roman men at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC. Rome looked about to fall, with no soldiers left and Hannibal expected to march on the city. The opportunity to destroy the troublesome republic from across the Adriatic, which has claimed control of Illyria, was too good a chance for Macedon to pass up, and Philip prepared to compound their problems by joining Hannibal in delivering the death blow to Rome.