Gaul: The Battle Of Bibracte

Both the competence of the Roman senate and Carthaginian government’s failure to support Hannibal in Italy were crucial factors for Rome’s victory in the second punic war. By 216 BC, Rome had lost successive battles at Trebia, Ticinus, Lake Trasimene and had suffered a devastating loss at Cannae. Such events

In 262 B.C., multiple sieges and short conflicts ended with the Roman victory at the battle of Agrigentum. This pushed the Carthaginians out of Sicily but they were far from defeat. Carthage had assembled their fleet and waited for the battle to come to them. The Romans countered this by building their own navy and crafting a new way to attack the Carthaginians. The superior ships of Carthage would fight by building speed and ramming the enemy ships. Seeing this, Rome created a small bridge that would allow infantry to board and seize opposing ships. This proved to be extremely effective during the naval engagements. Other than the major loss at the Battle of Tunis, Rome triumphed and ended the first Punic

Rome, a vast empire that could not control itself, due to how much it had grown, was in a dire need for someone to rule it. Three powerful men would rise to the occasion and answer the call. Everybody thought that the split of power was going to work out, but what they didn’t know was it would lead to a civil war. “An unstable Republic and a near civil war brought three men to set aside their differences and even contempt for one another to join forces and dominate the government of Rome, even controlling elections, for nearly a decade,” (First 1). First we’ll look into the men in the trimunative, then the fight for power, and finally the financial status of the Empire.

Not only did Julius Caesar want to be seen as protecting Rome’s interests and as a conqueror of lands but also if he invaded Britain in 55 BC, it would put him in a good position politically in the Senate. However, he was more concerned with his own self-importance than to exercise proper battle planning and his first invasion of Britain in 55 BC was not a success.

One trait every army must have to be successful is the willingness and drive to dominate. The Roman army took these traits to a whole different level. The Romans were very extreme in battle as well. They often enjoyed humiliating other city-states by burning them to the ground. In 264 B.C.E. a battle between other Greek city-states forced Rome and Carthage, who dominated the western part of the Mediterranean, into conflict. The First Punic War was for the control of Sicily.4 This battle lasted twenty-three years.4 The Romans were losing a lot of men, but they continued to battle on.4 Finally, the persistence paid off.4 The Romans learned how to fight by sea and cut off the Carthaginian supply line into

The second Punic War was fought in 218 BC with Rome and Carthage. In the second Punic War carthage attacked and captured Saguntum, which was a Spanish city allied with Rome. Hannibal marched his huge Army through Spain and Gaul and through the Alps to attack the Romans in Italy. Hannibal led his army through dangerous mountains. In 216 BC, hannibal won two victories at Lake Trasimeno and the town of Cannae, then reached southern

Rome’s main military opposition was Carthage, a kingdom located on the northern coast of Africa. Carthage and Rome fought in a series of three wars known as the Punic Wars. The second Punic War, fought from 218-202 BC was led by Hannibal on the Carthaginian side and Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus with Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus on the Roman side. The Battle of Lake Trasimene 217 BC was a major battle in the Second Punic War. Under Hannibal, the Carthaginian army defeated the Romans, who were lead by the consul Gaius Flaminius. This battle helped the Carthaginians to bring the Romans close to defeat, Hannibal was able to execute his father Hamilcar’s strategy perfectly in this battle. In the Battle of Cannae, the Carthaginians were just as lucky. Rome’s larger army, under Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro, was efficiently and easily defeated by the Carthaginian forces. Though Carthage surprised Rome with many victories, the Punic War ended in 202 BC with the The Battle of Zama. Scipio lead the Roman army and defeated the Carthaginian army led by Hannibal. Though Hannibal's army had more men than Scipio's, and he had eighty elephants, Rome showed their superiority and skill in ending the Second Punic War with this battle. Many years after this, another kingdom of North Africa, Numidia, fostered a connection with Rome. King Jugurtha of this region was able to benefit from the Roman soldiers through bribery and connections with them.

Yet when Carthage took Sicily, Rome responded by building 330 ships to fight for their land, starting the First Punic War. Carthage was defeated by Rome in 241 BCE, and had to give up Sicily. Carthage went to war with Rome again when the Carthaginian general Hannibal attacked the city of Saguntum, Rome’s ally. This was the start of the Second Punic War. Hannibal was defeated at the Battle of Zama, meaning Carthage lost against Rome once more. The Third Punic War began when Carthage refused Rome’s demands to have Carthage dismantled and rebuilt further inland. The Roman general Scipio Aemilianus surrounded Carthage with armed forces for three years until it fell and the Romans burned it to the ground. Around 122 BCE, Julius Caesar decided to re-build Carthage, and five years after his death, the city rose again. Power and importance shifted back to Carthage, until the fall of the

To begin with, the historical events that occurred within the movies were historically unrealistic and inaccurate. The movie begins the scene with the Roman army waging war against the Germanic tribes. There are several flaws of when comparing the battle to historical records. The first issue is the depiction of the Germanic people in the battle. They are presented with the extreme prejudice that they utterly barbaric. The attire of the Germanic tribes were composed of multitude of brown rags all patched up together. The Germanic tribes are not Neathandrals from the Neolithic period living in rags. They are a much more sophisticated group of people. This can also be supported by the geographical evidence of the Germanic tribes. They are located at the Northern section of Europe where the climate of the region is

The battle against the Gallics took ten years with the end coming with the capture of Veii in 396. The war was compared to the Trojan war. The Roman army had to expand from 4000 to 6000 soldiers. Depending on their class they had to provide certain equipment, for example a soldier could bring all his gear, but was not required to bring his greaves or a helmet. Soldiers due to the lack protective gear, they were given a ‘scutum’ which is a longer shield which would provide better body protection

Many of the states of Italy that Rome had conquered a century before now joined Hannibal. This was a threat to Rome, so the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio took a Roman army to north Africa and then Hannibal went back to defend Carthage. In the battle at Zama, near Carthage, in 202 BC the Romans finally defeated Hannibal.

In October of 218 BC, he crossed the Rhone river and ventured into what made him so famous. Snow was already on the high passes of the Alps. Hannibal started his march across the Alps with 40,000 men along with a calvary and a large number of war elephants carrying supplies. After the crossing only 26,000 of his troops were still alive due to the harsh weather and skirmishes with the local tribes. To make up for his losses, Hannibal recruited Gallic people of Northern Italy. In December 218 BC Hannibal got victories against Romans and secured the Padus Valley. In the spring of 217 BC Hannibal handed the Roman Counsel Gaius Flaminius, who was killed in battle, a huge loss at the battle of Lake Trasimene. After his victory Hannibal crossed the Apennines and invaded the Roman provinces of Picenu, and Apulia and then back into Campania. Instead of storming Rome, Hannibal marched through Italy in to Apulia and destroyed as he proceeded, but suffered heavy losses in manpower. Hannibal spent the winter of 217 BC in the Apulian plains and in the following summer faced a 54,000 strong Roman army. Hannibal circled around the Romans forcing them in to each other confusing the Romans, then easily destroyed then with his calvary. More than half of the Roman Army was lost. After that huge victory many Indian tribes aligned with Carthage. Syracuse left the Roman cause and Philip V of Macedon became an ally even though he never gave any aid. Many argue that Hannibal's

There were two main tribes associated with the conflict, the Marsi and the Samnites. These two tribes, along with various others revolted against Rome in the hopes of obtaining citizenship, more specifically the right to vote. In the end of the war, Rome defeated and regained control of all of its land; however, the provinces did achieve their goal. In 90 BC Rome granted full citizenship to all the tribes who had not revolted and to those tribes that would return peacefully. Then in 89 BC another cession was made giving citizenship to all Italian that applied for it within sixty days. Roman citizenship now essentially covers the entire Italian peninsula.

The War with Veii played a significant role in the expansion of the Roman Empire. The war, which ended in 410 B.C., set in motion an entirely different Roman army. No longer was the army a volunteer militia, instead it became a paying and contractual organization. The “Roman victory brought an end to Rome’s most threatening neighbor and began its rise to prominence in the central Italian peninsula” (www.warandgameinfo.com).

Finally on the 15th day, after a journey of five months from Cartagena, with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and only a few of the original 38 elephants, Hannibal descended into Italy, having surmounted the difficulties of climate and terrain, the guerrilla tactics of inaccessible tribes, and the major difficulty of commanding a body of men diverse in race and language under conditions to which they were ill fitted (wsu.edu).      Hannibal's forces were now totally inadequate to match the army of Scipio, who had rushed to the Po River to protect the recently founded Roman colonies of Placentia (modern Piacenza) and Cremona. The first action between the two armies took place on the plains west of the Ticino River, and Hannibal's Numidian cavalry prevailed. Scipio was severely wounded, and the Romans withdrew to Placentia. After manoeuvres failed to lead to a second engagement, the combined armies of Sempronius Longus and Scipio met Hannibal on the left bank of the Trebia River south of Placentia and were soundly defeated (December 218). This victory brought both Gauls and Ligurians to Hannibal's side, and his army was considerably augmented by Celtic recruits. After a severe winter (in which he contracted an eye infection), he was able to advance in the spring of 217 as far as the Arno River (wsu.edu). Although two Roman armies were now in the field against him, he was able to outmanoeuvre that of Gaius Flaminius