HIS Quiz 4

Wars of the Diadochi

rival generals, families, and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for control over his empire after his death in 323 BC

These wars mark the beginning of the Hellenistic period from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River Valley

The Battle of Ipsus

Antigonus I Monophthalmus, the Macedonian ruler of large parts of Asia, and his son Demetrius

vs.

A coalition of three other successors of Alexander: Cassander, ruler of Macedon; Lysimachus, ruler of Thrace; and Seleucus I Nicator, ruler of Babylonia and Persia.

Only one of these leaders, Lysimachus, had actually been one of Alexander's somatophylakes, that is "body guards."

Battle of Ipsus Objectives

Perhaps the Allied army was trying to cut Antigonus's lines of communication with Syria, in order to prompt him into battle

Common problem of the wars fought amongst the Successors

how to defeat an army equipped in the same manner and using the same basic tactics

Traits of the Battle of Ipsus

Both armies used war elephants

* the Seleucids had more elephants

* relied on them to make up for their comparative weakness in cavalry

Both sides therefore sought an open battlefield

* the Antigonids had a strong cavalry arm

How the Battle of Ipsus ended?

With the death of its commander, the Antigonid battle-line dissolved, and the battle effectively ended

Hellenistic Art and Thought

An age of anxiety

Secular and other-worldly

Cynicism and Skepticism

Mystery Cults

8th century BC Roman Army

* a relatively small force

* activities were limited mainly raiding and cattle rustling with the occasional skirmish-like battle

* loosely resembled a warrior band or group of bodyguards led by a chieftain or king

Etruscan

By the beginning of the 7th century BC, the _____ civilization was dominant in the region

Like most of the other peoples in the region, the Romans warred against the ______

* by the close of the century, the Romans had lost their struggle for independence

* the _____ had conquered Rome, establishing a military dictatorship, or kingdom, in the city

Who are the Etruscans?

the descendants of the Villanovan peoples who flourished between the 11th and early 8th Centuries BC

The Roman Army Under the Etruscans

The equestrians, the highest social class of all, served in mounted units known as equites

The first class of the richest citizens served as heavy infantry with swords and long spears (resembling hoplites) and provided the first line of the battle formation

The second class were armed similarly to the first class, but without a breastplate for protection, and with an oblong rather than a round shield

The third and fourth classes were more lightly armed and carried a thrusting-spear and javelins

The poorest of the propertied men of the city comprised the fifth class

* generally too poor to afford much equipment at all and were armed as skirmishers with slings and stones

* deployed in a screen in front of the main army, covering its approach and masking its maneuvers Men without property were exempted from military

* in a crisis even these proletarii were pressed into service

Early Etruscan-Roman Wars (509–308 BC)

A coup in 509 BC replaced the last Tarquin king with the Roman Republic and initiated warfare between the new forces, who held sway over about 40 percent of Italy

By 308 BC, Rome came to displace most of Etruria save for territory between the Apennines and forest of Cumae

Sporadic wars with the Etruscans allied to Gauls and King Pyrrhus of Epirus until 264 BC

* from this point on Etruria was at least nominally a Roman possession

* continuing low-level guerrilla war ensued during which Etruscan rebels sabotaged Roman war efforts elsewhere

* Roman commander Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC) embarks on a punitive campaign throughout Etruria

Roman Territorial Empire

Expanded land and made by the Roman Republic

Roman political Empire

was created with the replacement of the republican form of government by one riled by an emperor (imperator)

3 Stages of roman military system

Conquest of Italy, Western Mediterranean, Conquest of Greek/Macedon world

During all of this time, Romans referred to their domain the name of just one city – Rome

a reflection of their struggles upward and outward from a small weak collection of villages around marshy land along the Tiber River (Adversity Thesis)

The First Stage of Roman Expansion

Large-scale migration of peoples out of the Apennine highlands (probably in response to population growth and famine there)

* created widespread dislocation throughout Italian peninsula and drove tribes living in the mountains east and south of Latium and Rome down into the plain in search of food and land at the expense of earlier settlers

* Rome involved in struggle with these migrants in mid 5th century BC

* Rome also fighting various Latin and Etruscan neighbors

* a bad time for Rome – its territory sank and rapid economic decline ensued

* but Romans always bounced back

Then Rome gets defeated again

* large war band of Gauls in the north defeated Roman army at the Allia River just north Rome (387 or 390 BC)

* Gauls (Celts) sacked the city of Rome

* this defeat badly shook Rome’s standing in central Italy

Gauls retreated northward

Continued Roman warfare with local neighbors through the last part of the 4th century BC

Rome bounced back again

* 338 BC Rome gains control over Latium after crushing a revolt of its former allies

* incorporated many of them among its citizens

Campania

Focus of Roman warfare shifted to ______, a rich agricultural region to

the south of Rome A long series of wars with the Samnites who occupied the mountains east

Another crushing defeat for Rome at the hands of the Samnites (321 BC)

At the Claudine Forks, a whole Roman army was trapped and forced into a humiliating surrender

No fighting involved

Third Samnite War

Rome defeated the Samnites,

Etruscans, and Gauls at the Battle of Sentinum (295 BC)

* first time Rome had to face such a large coalition of forces

* war went on for five years

* Samnium devastated

* tribal confederations against Rome were all broken up

Rome gained control over much a central Italy and part of southern Italy

The Roman army in the 3rd century BC

A citizen militia made up of property owners

Only Romans were citizens at this time

Disbanded after each campaign

The Roman Legion

was essentially an adaptation of the Greek phalanx which the Romans broke up into several lines, with each line in turn broken up into small units capable of independent maneuver

The Romans sacrificed the depth and cohesion of the phalanx for

Mobility

* sending in their units in waves to attack and retreat in turn

* more like Greek cavalry than Greek infantry

Use of the pilum

outrange the Greek sarissa

degrade enemy’s defenses (shields)

Pig Head Fromation for Infantry and Cavalry

one of the oldest and consistently used ancient warfare tactics implemented by both republic and empire. Spearheaded by the most capable warrior in the unit, the wedge formation would be used to charge and split an enemy unit in two, dominating and separating enemy combatants. It was essentially ‘divide and conquer.’

Battle of Pydna in 168 BC

Roman consul Aemilius faced off with the infamous Macedonian army under their

King Perseus of Macedon, who was descended from one of Alexander’s generals/diadochi.

The ancient warfare tactic employed by the Romans warded off the Macedonians and established the Roman Republic as a dominant political figure in the ancient world

The ultimate triumph of Rome was not the triumph of a meteoric individual like Alexander

* it was the triumph of a system

* Roman Republican society was organized for war

System functioned smoothly in battle because:

* legionaries were subject to intense drilling

* they were led by a professional officer corps (centurions)

* they usually fought for only 15 minutes before being relieved

* the Roman military was supported by a militaristic civilian population

How was Roman warfare was like a machine?

Rome did not need brilliant generals and rarely produced them

Roman insistence on uniformity caused them to neglect cavalry and light infantry

* never developed the combined-arms tactics perfected by Alexander

* lost to brilliant combined-arms tacticians like Pyrrhus of Epirus and Hannibal of Carthage

Parts of Rome that differs from Sparta

* Rome – expansionary militarism

* shared the benefits of conquest with the masses

* but by election to magistracies which were essentially military

* admission to Senate through consulship (leadership in war)

* consul had only one year to demonstrate his suitability

Political objective of the consul

was to achieve virtus, laus, and gloria in that single year

* all three essentially though military success

* “triumph” – a victory procession through Rome displaying captives and plunder

* had to have killed at least 5,000 of the enemy

Rome’s Alliance System

* either by conquest, intimidation, or by offering protection against a powerful neighbor

* allies surrendered to Rome their control over foreign relations

* Rome was allowed to draw on their manpower for its army

* allies rendered to Rome only military service, not tribute

* compare this to the Greeks who demanded tribute, not military service, from its allies

* this provided an additional incentive to war for Rome

* the only way it could profit from its alliances was to make use of them in war

* if a year went by without a successful war, the resources of Roman hegemony were being wasted

The Roman military

Legion, Centuries, Centurions

The origins and evolution of the Roman legionary system

evolved from a part-time citizen militia into a highly professional, permanent, and disciplined standing army over nearly 1,000 years

Marian Reforms and their impact of Society and politics

All citizens, regardless of their wealth or social class, were made eligible for entry into the Roman army

The distinction between hastati, principes and triarii, which had already become blurred, was officially removed

These legionaries were drawn from citizen stock

* by this time, Roman or Latin citizenship had been regionally expanded over much of ancient Italy and Cisalpine Gaul

Lighter citizen infantry, such as the velites and equites, were replaced by non-citizen auxiliaries (auxilia) that could consist of foreign mercenaries

* as a tactical necessity, legions were almost always accompanied by an equal or greater number of auxiliary troops drawn from the non-citizens of the Empire's territories

Rome in the Greek World

Roman policy towards the Hellenistic East had multiple purposes

* purges carried out in Macedonia and among Perseus’s supporting nations could have been an attempt to completely neutralize anti-Roman forces in Hellas

* they also provided a way to enrich Roman society and its elites

Defeating Perseus and pacifying his allies brought great wealth to the Romans

* it was then that in 167 BC Rome was exempted from direct tax –tributum

Care was taken to prevent the growth of power from countries such as Pergamon, who had previously been generously rewarded for their loyalty to Rome

* this did not mean, however, the introduction of a more direct form of government over the Greeks

* they retained their internal autonomy, their own authorities and rights

Battle of Cynoscephalae

first time Roman legions were victorious over a Macedonian phalanx.

plebeians and patricians

patricians were the hereditary, wealthy upper-class landowners who controlled early government, while plebeians were the commoners—farmers, merchants, and artisans—who constituted the majority population

Roman weapons and tactical doctrines

protracted war

* population moved into the large defensible cities

* Fabian strategy

* guerrilla warfare

* attack Carthaginian supply lines

* 206 BC – Spain (Iberia) under Roman control

* victory of Publius Cornelius Scipio

Incorporation of foreign elements (armor, weapons, cataphracts, horse archers, etc)

Horse archers Cataphracts

Punic Wars 1

The First Punic War is generally considered a Roman victory since Rome gained all of Sicily. This is debatable. The losses on both sides were staggering. Polybius calculated that the Romans lost 700 quinqueremes and the Carthaginians 500 to fighting and storms

Punic Wars 2

Defeats at Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae (Hannibal)

Punic Wars 3

fought between Carthage and Rome between 149 and 146 BCE. Carthage had already lost two wars against Rome, but their assault on their Numidian neighbours gave the Romans the perfect excuse to crush this troublesome enemy once and for all. After a lengthy siege, the city was sacked and the Carthaginians were sold into slavery.

Roman ingenuity in naval warfare

Corvus to board other ships

Hannibal’s conquests

as the leader of a Carthaginian and partially Celtic army, he won a succession of victories at the Battle of Ticinus, Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae, inflicting heavy losses on the Romans.

Rome’s Fabian strategy

a war of attrition designed to defeat Hannibal by avoiding direct, pitched battles. By using scorched-earth tactics, harassing supply lines, and fighting from high ground, Fabius aimed to exhaust Hannibal’s resources and morale rather than risking the annihilation of his army in open combat.

Battles of Cannae

was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and their allies, led by Hannibal, surrounded and practically annihilated a larger Roman and Italian army under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. It is regarded as one of the greatest tactical feats in military history and one of the worst defeats in Roman history, and it cemented Hannibal's reputation as one of antiquity's greatest tacticians.

Battles of Zama

was fought in 202 BC in what is now Tunisia between a Roman army commanded by Scipio Africanus and a Carthaginian army commanded by Hannibal.

Reasons for Roman expansion

secure vital resources, gain wealth through spoils and taxation, and satisfy the ambition of leaders for glory and power

Pax Romanum

meaning "Roman Peace," refers to a significant period in Roman history spanning from 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E. It began when Gaius Octavius, also known as Augustus, transformed the Roman Republic into an empire, establishing stability and relative peace across the territories.

How Rome’s military conquests shaped society and vice versa

expansion transformed Roman society, shifting its economy towards slave labor, urbanizing provinces, expanding citizenship, and concentrating political power in professional military leaders, eventually favoring imperial rule over the Republic

Roman legalism in declaring war

Roman legalism in declaring war centered on the concept of a bellum iustum (just war), heavily influenced by jus fetiale (fetial law) to ensure religious and legal propriety.

Augustus’s military and administrative reforms

* monarchy replaced a republic

* free political competition ceased forever

* Augustus undertook a massive demobilization of legions

* Augustus established veterans in colonies in Italy and overseas

* upon their discharge, emperor bestowed colonial allotments on his veterans or the cash with which to purchase substantial farms

* this effectively ended the problem of landlessness in Italy

* this eliminated the role of landlessness in politics and its

impact on the army

* long-serving, well-paid professional soldiers, loyal to the emperor, their

commander in chief, permanently stationed for the most part on the empire’s

distant frontiers

* breaking the connection between citizenship and military service

The Barracks Emperors

who seized power by virtue of his command of the army.

Septimius Severus’ reforms

* first Roman emperor not born in Europe

* seized power over rivals after death of Pertinax

* realized his success depended on the support of the army

* increased their pay

* increased taxes to pay for this

* permitted them to marry during military service

* to prevent the rise of a powerful military rival, he reduced the number of legions under each general’s control

* ignored the Senate which declined rapidly in power

* recruited his officials from the equestrian class rather than the senatorial order

* many provincials and peasants received advancement

Diocletian’s disastrous reforms and their impact on civilian life and morale

Divided the empire into prefectures, dioceses, provinces and civitates

Raised taxes to ensure pay for the army

Made curiales in the cities responsible for collecting taxes

* and to make up any shortfalls from their own pockets

* to avoid this, many aristocrats fled the cities to their rural

estates

* cities decline

Froze wages and prices

Made many occupations obligatory hereditary

Made soldiers sons enter military service

Division of the Empire

split into Western and Eastern halves in 395 AD upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I, who divided the territory between his sons, Honorius (West) and Arcadius (East). The split occurred due to unsustainable size, economic disparities, and constant barbarian invasions, resulting in two separate, independent political entities.

Augustus’ provincial system

dividing governance between Imperial provinces (requiring troops, managed by him) and Senatorial provinces (peaceful, managed by the Senate). This structure consolidated his control over the army and finances, reduced corruption through improved administration, and ushered in the Pax Romana.yria, and Spain. Augustus directly appointed governors (legati) who served at his pleasure, ensuring loyalty.

Rhine and Danube frontiers

a major, roughly 1,500-mile military boundary (limes) established by Rome under Augustus (15 B.C.–15 C.E.) to divide the Empire from Germanic tribes

Border conflicts with Parthians

The Parni invaded part of the Seleucid Empire under Arsaces I

(247 – 211 BC)

Took advantage of conflicts between Seleucids and Ptolemies

Greatly expanded under Mithridates I (171-132 BC)

Reached its greatest extent under Mithridates II (124-91 BC)

Along the Silk Road, became a center of trade and commerce

Marcus Aurelius and defensive strategy

focused on containing Germanic tribes along the Danube frontier during the Marcomannic Wars (c. 167–180 AD), prioritizing the stabilization of borders over territorial expansion. While viewed as a peaceful philosopher, he spent years commanding legions, managing a "preemptive defense" that combined military containment with punitive expeditions to protect Italy and maintain Roman control.

Limitanei

relatively static military camps recruited locally

Comitatenses

mobile forces to plug threatened areas

Huns and other foreign invaders

* by the time of Attila (“little father”) Hunnic elite included Germanic leaders who were integrated into the Hun polity

*the composition of the Huns became progressively more "Caucasian" during their time in Europe

* by the Battle of Chalons (451 AD), the vast majority of Attila's entourage and troops appears to have been of European origin, while Attila seems to still have had East Asian features

Rise of Christianity and Islam

* Rome had become too expensive and dictatorial

* Islam did not force conversions

Diocletianic persecutions

he last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice, ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods (Jews were exempt).

Military reasons for Constantine’s religious revolution

* Diocletian’s reforms send responsible people running away from overly-burdensome imperial requirements (esp. economic)

* people fleeing the cities and from government obligations

* Christians on the other hand stay and fill those vacated places

* Christian leaders adopt and infiltrate the very administrative structures created by Diocletian (e.g., dioceses)

* an administrative network that can replace the disintegrating secular one

* sometimes bishops replace missing secular governors and mayors (and not just the Pope in Rome)

Christian solidarity and financial success appeal to someone like Constantine who sees dissolution and dispersion everywhere else in his empire

* Christians have something that the empire sorely needs – a code of mutual help – “see how they love one another”

Conditions in late Roman society that facilitated the rapid spread of both religions

Persecution of Christians created heroes in an age of anti-heroes

* martyrs even respected by many of those who persecuted them

Promise of a happy afterlife appeal to those unhappy in the here and now

* including both wealthy and poor

Christianity was supportive of the state in these troubled times

* loyal to the secular state in all things secular

* “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”

* Augustine, City of God – very Stoic and Zoroastrian (dualism)

intellectual appeal

Competition for papal primacy

which of the patriarchs held the greatest authority

* Rome – seat of Peter

* had the advantage of independence from secular authority

* Constantinople – now the capital of the Empire

* had the disadvantage of caesaropapism

* Antioch

* Alexandria

Islamic conquests in Middle east and North Africa

The 7th-8th century Islamic conquests rapidly expanded from Arabia across the Middle East and North Africa, dismantling Byzantine (Roman) power in the region and creating a massive, unified Caliphate. Under Rashidun and Umayyad rule (647–709), Muslim armies overcame Roman control in Egypt, the Levant, and North Africa (Maghreb)

Barbarian Kingdoms

in Africa, Gaiseric’s kingdom of the Vandals; in Spain and in Gaul as far as the Loire, the Visigothic kingdom; and farther to the north, the kingdoms of the Salian Franks and the Alemanni. The barbarians were everywhere a small minority. They established themselves on the great estates and divided the land to the benefit of the federates without doing much harm to the lower classes or disturbing the economy.

Impact of the Huns

Foreign mercenaries triggering the Great Migration period, which accelerated the collapse of the Western Roman Empire

Reasons for Gothic migrations

search for better agricultural land due to climate changes in Scandinavia, population pressure, and the need to escape the westward expansion of the Huns in the 4th century

Byzantine military

who implemented the "theme system." This system allowed local governors, or strategoi, to manage military and civilian affairs, with peasant soldiers providing the backbone of the army.

served as both administrative and military divisions each under command of a military governor (strategos)

Byzantine diplomatic policies

a sophisticated, proactive system designed to ensure the empire's survival by avoiding war through negotiation, bribery, intelligence gathering, and cultural influence

Battle of Adrianople

was fought between the Eastern Roman army led by the Roman emperor Valens and Gothic rebels, led by Fritigern. The battle took place on 9 August 378 in the vicinity of Adrianople, in the Roman province of Thracia

Effect of Justinian’s wars to reconquer the West

Destroyed italy, overextended, took attention off the west

Changes in the Late Roman Army

to be replaced by a new distinction between the elite troops of the Emperor's mobile field army, the comitatenses and the lower status ( though not necessarily less effective) more individual

Re-ruralization in the West and decline in Roman-style civilization

massive population shift from urban centers to rural areas, resulting in a less complex, agricultural-based society. As the centralized Roman state collapsed, urban centers in the West fell into disrepair

The rise of Charlemagne and the papacy

Restoration of the Western Roman Empire

Conquered the Germans and made inroads into Islamic Spain

Defeated the Lombards ad absorbed northern Italy

Literacy – Carolingian minuscule

Diplomacy – correspondence with Haroun al-Rashid

Building

Crowned Roman Emperor by Pope in 800 AD

The so-called Feudal System

Lords and Vassals, all receprocial

Comparison of feudal and iqta systems

European feudalism was hereditary, private, and decentralized, while the Islamic Iqta system was non-hereditary, state-controlled, and focused on revenue collection rather than land ownership