Roma si Peninsula-Italica ! Partea-1!

 1-Acest articol este copiat !

2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1!

“The enemy could not withstand a force so much greater than they were accustomed to meet.”

Roman Consul Lucius Volumnius hurried to Samnium so he could reach the campaigning theatre before the expiration of the proconsulships of Fabius and Decius. The Samnites raised new troops, raiding Roman territories and the lands of their allies in Campania, around Capua, and Falernium. Volumnius arrived in Campania only to learn that the Samnites had gone home with their loot, and when he caught up with them they were so burdened by booty that they were unable to defend their camp effectively. The Samnite commander Staius Minatius was attacked by prisoners in his camp and delivered to Volumnius. The Senate chose to establish the colonies of Minturnae, on the mouth of the Liris, and Sinuessa, further inland, in the former territory of the Ausoni.

Samnite raids into Campania alarmed Rome, and it was coupled with news that Volumnius’ withdrawal from Etruria was enabling the cities there to mobilise afresh. The Etruscans had invited Gellius Egnatius’ Samnites and the Umbrians to join their revolt, in addition to offering to pay Gauls to join them. This would be the first time the Romans faced a coalition of four peoples, and their two best military commanders – Quintus Fabius and Decius Mus – were again elected as Consuls, for 295 BC. Volumnius had his command prorogued for a year, enabling Fabius to march a legion to Etruria to replace Appius Claudius, who left his legion in Clusium and returned to Rome. The Senate elected for both Consuls to fight in Etruria, and they set off with four legions, a large cavalry, and a thousand Campanian soldiers. Their allies fielded an even larger force, Volumnius taking two legions to Samnium to divert them from assisting the Etruscans. Two reserve armies headed by propraetors were sent to garrison the Faliscan district near the Vatican Hill to shield Rome.

Before the Consuls went to Etruria, a large force of Senones went to Clusium to attack the Roman legion there, and routed it. There were no survivors to warn the Consuls, who were thus unaware of the disaster until they encountered Gallic horsemen. A group of Umbrians also attacked a Roman foraging party, who were only saved by assistance from their camp. The Etruscans, Samnites and Umbrians crossed the Apennines to advance near Sentinum (in Marche, near Sassoferrat). Their plan was was the Samnites and Senones to engage the Romans, and then wait for the Etruscans and Umbrians to capture the legionary camp during the battle. Deserters from Clusium told Fabius of the plan, and he ordered the legions in Falerii and the Vatican to march to Clusium and ravage its territory – another diversion. The lured the Etruscans away from Sentinium to defend their land.

The Battle of Sentinum saw four legions of Romans and a similar number of allies – around 40,000 men – pitched against a similar number of soldiers in the coalition opposing them. Arriving on the plains, the two armies waited two days before battle. Finally unable to contain the eagerness of the legionaries, the Romans attacked. The Senones opposed them on the right, against the Roman left under Decius, and the Samnites on the left, against Fabius on the right. One of the tricky elements of managing coalition armies into pitched battles is keeping them together through periods of inaction. Armies merely maintaining camps and providing garrisons will inevitably see desertions, and thus it is often in the commanders’ interest to accept battle swiftly in order to maintain his coalition.

Fabius fought defensively to make the battle a test of endurance for Rome’s enemies, while Decius was more aggressive and launched a cavalry charge, twice driving back the Senone horse. The second charge saw his Roman cavalry reach the Senone infantry, but they were then counter-charged by chariots and routed themselves. Decius’ line of infantry was thus broken first by the Senone chariots, and then by their soldiers. He prayed to the gods, and then launched himself into the enemy lines, essentially sacrificing himself as his troops were on the brink of routing – just as his father had done at the Battle of Vesuvius in 340 BC. His sacrifice galvanised his troops, who were joined by the reserve contingents that Fabius had sent to bolster them.

On the right, Fabius had his cavalry outflank the Samnite right to wing to attack it in the rear, emboldening his infantry to push forward. Calling in his reserves for a final push, he was able to break through the Samnites, who fled past the Senones. The Senones formed a testudo – tortoise – where the men lined up closely with shields covering both flanks and heads. Fabius had 500 Campanian lancers attack their rear, which was combined by a push from the centre of his legionary line and an attack by the rest of his cavalry. Fabius then seized the Samnite camp, and cut off any retreat for the Senones. The Battle of Sentinum was a Roman triumph, though at huge cost. Some 20,000 of their enemies lay dead on the field, though so did 8,700 of their own. The enemy coalition had been broken, but the war was far from over.