Dusmanul la Poarta!-Partea-26!

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2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1!

“Woe to the vanquished.”

Rome had spent much of the time after the First Punic War capitalising on Carthage’s struggles, not only seizing Corsica and Sardinia but also campaigning against Illyria in the Balkans. The first Illyrian War gained Rome a beachhead across the Adriatic, ensuring there would be no Greeks emboldened to repeat the invasions of Pyrrhus and that any future conflicts with the Greek states would take place in Greece, not Italia. As Rome’s gaze extended across the seas with its first colonies, trouble began to flare up much closer to home.

Rome held a long standing fear of the Gauls living in northern Italia, as in 390 BC the great leader Brennus had marched huge army down through Italia and swept aside Rome’s legions before attacking the city. While many of the citizens took refuge in the citadel, many of the older senators who remained outside were slain as the Gauls attacked. The protracted siege saw disease set into the Gallic camp, and the Romans essentially pay off the Gallic army to leave. When they complained that Brennus was using imbalanced scales to measure the tribute – and therefore take more money – he famously threw his sword on the scales too, and declared “Vae Victis!” (“Woe to the vanquished!”).

Ever since, the Gauls had essentially played the role of Roman bogeyman. They had been consistently defeated in battle since, but there remained concern that the eclectic mix of tribes could unify to threaten the Eternal City again. Gaul was divided into “Transalpine Gaul” (roughly modern France and Belgium), and “Cisalpine Gaul” (northern Italy). Another division was as “Long haired (or toga-wearing) Gaul” and “short haired Gaul”, the implication that the Gauls were more ‘civilised’ the closer they were to Rome, and thus more ‘savage’ and ‘barbarian’ the further away they were. The previous centuries of war, including against the Samnites, had regularly seen independent Gallic tribes dragged into the conflict on both sides, though Rome and the other ‘civilised’ Italian powers strived to ensure that the tribes remained apart and divided.

Rome had been at peace with the tribes of Cisalpine Gaul, along the Po Valley, since inconclusive skirmishing there ended in 238 BC. When a force of Transalpine Gauls had crossed into Italia in 230 BC, it had been the Boii tribe of Cisalpine Gaul which had repelled them, the Romans sending legions only to find they were not needed. In 234 BC the Romans partitioned Picenum, which had caused unrest with the neighbouring Boii and Insubres. When a law was passed two years later allocating large tracts of formerly Celtic land to poorer Romans, resentment grew further. There was internal action to stop these measures at the time for fear of angering the Gauls, though by this time Rome needed to keep adding land in order to ensure that it had enough legionaries. Legionaries were comprised of land-owning citizens, and given there had been enormous losses in the First Punic War, measures were needed to ensure a rise in the number of these citizen farmers lest the number of Rome’s legionaries decline. This was at a time when the number of legionaries needed was at its highest, with all these new colonies overseas requiring garrisons and troops to maintain them.

In 225 BC the Boii and Insubres paid the Gaesatae mercenaries from across the Alps, led by the Aneroëstes and Concolitanus, to fight with them against Rome. Fearing a pan Gallic alliance, Rome agreed a treaty with Carthaginian general Hasdrubal the Fair which gave their rivals unimpeded control of Hispania, turning a blind eye to Hamilcar’s expansion there so Rome could focus on the threat closer to home. Rome called on its Italian allies for support, with the Consul Lucius Aemilius Papus raising four legions (22,000 men) and being joined by 32,000 allied troops. He stationed most of this force at Ariminum, then placed 54,000 Sabines and Etruscans on the Etruscan border under a Praetor, and sent 40,000 Umbrians, Sarsinates, Veneti and Cenomani to attack the Boii and divert them from battle. His co-Consul Gaius Atilius Regulus had a similarly sized army in Sardinia, while there was also a reserve of 21,500 citizens and 32,000 allies, with a legion apiece in Sicily and Tarentum. While Italy had suffered devastating manpower losses in the First Punic War, this period was seeing a successful recovery with the Italians able to access and almost inexhaustible supply of soldiers.

Now around a quarter of this huge force was on the march, with much of the rest on garrison duty. Regulus received orders to return from Sardinia, while Papus organised the defence of Italia. The Gauls marched quickly through the central passes of the Apennines, entering Etruria and reaching Clusium unopposed. The Praetor’s army now realised the Gauls were betwixt him and Rome, so beat a hasty retreat, while the Gauls fell back to Faesulae (near Florence), covering their retreat with their cavalry. The Praetor’s army moved to attacked the rearguard, thinking the Gauls a broken force, only to be drawn into a trap. His force was almost annihilated at the Battle of Faesulae, though the timely arrival of Papus saved the legions, having abandoned Ariminum upon learning of the Gauls’ march on Rome.

As Papus made camp to swell the legionary force, Aneroëstes urged the Gauls to withdraw. They were laden down with booty from their plundering of the region, and he thought it best to withdraw along the Etruscan coast and renew the war later when they were unencumbered. Papus gave chase and harassed the rearguard, but did not want to risk battle against this large force. The Gauls had an army of around 50,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry, and while Papus had a similar number of legionaries, he had only 6,400 cavalry. While he was giving chase, Regulas landed in Pisa with his forces from Sardinia. He was marching for Rome when his scouts met the Celtic vanguard, and he drew up his legions for battle at Telamon.