【Kings and Generals】羅馬的斯巴達和其他奴隸起義

在146 B.C. 第三次匈牙利戰爭結束後 羅馬共和國享受了相對平穩的一段時間 並且成為了中東的主要力量 然而,當外國敵人不存在時 內在的敵人就會出現 這就是蘇維爾戰爭的故事 蘇維爾戰爭結束後 蘇維爾戰爭結束後 這段視頻是由Ridge Wallet提供的 我們已經使用Ridge Wallet差不多一年了 它們不會折疊,不會在你的口袋裡散發光芒 具有現代的俐落和工業設計 如同許多人所說,我們使用了90年代設計的現代Wallet 我們從大型手機轉換到智能手機 但為什麼我們的Wallet從未得到我們值得的升級? 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He immediately sent his force to pillage the countryside, seeking to attack the large estates and gather more slaves to his banner. Soon he was able to amass a force of 20,000 men, and even 2,000 horses that had been taken from the estates. He now felt confident enough to attack the cities of Sicily. He marched and besieged Morgantina. Nerva had not been idle. He too had been gathering together an army, amassing 10,000 allied Italian and Sicilian troops. This force assembled, he marched to Morgantina in order to relieve the city. Salvius had not expected such a quick reaction, and had focused the majority of his forces on the siege, leaving only a handful of slaves to guard the camp. Nerva was able to quickly seize the camp, killing the guards and seizing the booty and women that Salvius had left there, before heading to confront Salvius outside Morgantina. Not wanting to be caught between Nerva's army and the city's defenders, Salvius abandoned the siege, preferring to defeat Nerva first. His army took up position on a small hill en route from Nerva's location to the city, and prepared for battle. Nerva's force soon also arrived and formed up. Salvius was quick to seize the initiative however, charging down the hill with his cavalry flanking the Roman force. It was a disaster for Nerva. His army, being taken aback by the impetus and ferocity of the charge, and with the slave cavalry bearing down on their flank, put up little resistance. When Salvius announced across the battlefield that any man who dropped his weapons would be spared, Nerva's army broke completely, many throwing down their arms and running. Only 600 of the Italians and Sicilians had been killed in the battle, but more than 4,000 had been taken prisoner, others fleeing with Nerva. This was an astounding victory for Salvius. Not only had he won the field, but his promise to spare any man who abandoned his weapons allowed him to fully arm his army. He once again turned to besieging Morgantina. The slaves inside the city had been promised their freedom if they would assist in the defence. However, Nerva once again made a disastrous decision, announcing that no more slaves would be freed until the revolt was contained. As a result, the slaves inside the city quickly betrayed the defenders, opening the gates and allowing Salvius to capture the city. Salvius was now effectively in control of the east of Sicily. Meanwhile, in the western part of the island, yet another revolt had started. A slave called Athenion had been inspired by both the First Servile War and Salvius' uprising and had managed to build an army of over 10,000. Athenion was a man noted for his courage and also professed to have prophetic powers, endearing slaves to his cause as Eunus had previously. He too was crowned a king, but unlike his predecessors and Salvius, Athenion did not accept every slave who wished to revolt into his army. Instead, he picked those who had experience of warfare, whilst using the others as workers in order to keep his force well fed and supplied. By doing this, he was able to create an almost paramilitary force, with which he began besieging the city of Lilibaeum. This proved too big a task, however, as Lilibaeum was a well-fortified city and was easily able to resist the slaves until a relief force of Mauretanian auxiliaries relieved the city, forcing Athenion to retreat. Despite this setback for the slaves, the entire island was effectively now in chaos. The wealthy Roman citizens were forced to remain in the cities for their own safety, whilst the slaves and lower-class citizens rampaged across the countryside. Amongst this chaos, Salvius strengthened his position. He gathered his force, now totalling 30,000, outside the city of Triocala, and paralleling Eunus and Cleon, summoned Athenion. Athenion answered the summons, bringing 3,000 of his more experienced slaves with him. Possibly out of a desire to mimic Cleon, or simply intimidated by the size of Salvius' force, Athenion pledged loyalty, acting as his military advisor and general. Together they captured Triocala, once again through the help of disgruntled slaves inside, and began fortifying the city. Salvius declared the city his royal capital, established a cabinet of advisors, and even wore a purple toga with lictors preceding him, in effect making himself into the thing the Republic feared most, a Roman king. Nerva had proved himself incapable of handling the situation, and as a result, at the end of his term as praetor at the start of 103BC, Lucius Lucinius Lucullus, father of the famous Roman general of the same name, was sent to replace him. The senate had assigned Lucullus a sizeable force of 14,000 Roman and 3,000 allied soldiers. Salvius wanted to wait in Triocala and fight from the city walls, but Athenion instead advised to fight the Romans in the open, rather than risk being forced into the same disastrous situation as those in Torumenium 30 years earlier. Salvius accepted this advice, and gathered still more slaves to his banner before marching to Scyrthia with a force of 40,000. The slave force made camp just over a mile from the Roman camp, and the two armies began slowly closing the gap between them. Fierce skirmishes broke out between the two forces, each harassing the other with cavalry and lighter missile troops. When the two main lines met, the fighting was furious, both sides suffering heavy casualties, and neither being able to gain the upper hand. However, on the flanks, Athenion was having much more success, winning his side of the battle and threatening the Roman center. Just as it seemed the Romans would be surrounded though, Athenion was wounded and dragged from his horse. Believing that their general had been killed, the slaves broke and fled the battlefield. Salvius was unable to stop the rout, and knowing the battle was lost, also retreated. In this rout, many slaves were cut down by the Romans, and a total of 20,000 lay dead at the end of the day. However, Lucullus had failed to pursue them any further, and the other 20,000, including Salvius, were able to retreat to Triokala. Perhaps more importantly, Athenion too was able to escape the battlefield. After being wounded, he had pretended to lie dead and had then fled during the night to Triokala. It wasn't until nine days later that Lucullus marched on and besieged Triokala. Though the slaves were disheartened by their defeat at Scythia, they resolved to fight until the end. Lucullus attempted numerous assaults on the city, hoping to take it by force and so cut the head off the revolt, but the city's strong fortifications allowed the slaves to fend off every attempt, inflicting heavy casualties on the Romans. These victories only emboldened the slaves, and eventually Lucullus was forced to make camp outside the city, preparing for a siege. The Senate was not pleased. Seeing Lucullus' failure to capitalize on his initial victory at Scythia and his failure to take Triokala as either the result of incompetence or corruption, they decided to replace him as Praetor at the end of the year with Gaius Servilius. Lucullus was enraged by this decision, seeing it as an unfair betrayal by the Senate. As a result, when Servilius landed at the start of 102 BC to take command, Lucullus ordered his army to burn their camp, supplies, and siege constructions and then disbanded them. By doing this, he hoped to humiliate his successor by making sure he would not be able to make any significant advances in the war and so dispel the charges of incompetency made against himself. The plan worked. Salvius died at some point during 102 BC of unknown causes, and Athenian succeeded him as overall leader of the revolt. Despite this setback, thanks to Lucullus' actions, Servilius was unable to coordinate a concentrated effort against him, and Athenian was able to rampage across Sicily, besieging and taking even more cities. At one point, Servilius did manage to collect a large enough force to try and face Athenian, but Athenian was able to catch the Praetor's army by surprise in camp, taking the camp and forcing Servilius to retreat. Despite Lucullus' initial success the year previously, by the end of 102 BC the revolt was as strong as ever. Lucullus and Servilius were both charged by the Senate for incompetency and were exiled as a result. In 101 BC, Gaius Marius was once again elected consul, with Manius Aquilius as his colleague. Gaius Marius was Rome's greatest general at the time, and Manius Aquilius had fought alongside him in the Cimbrian Wars and was a trusted and veteran leader. The revolt in Sicily had now got to the point of threatening a famine in Rome, thus jeopardizing the ongoing war with the Cimbri. As a result, it was decided that Aquilius be sent with a full consular army, around 20,000 men including 2,500 cavalry, most likely diverted from the Cimbrian front, to crush the revolt once and for all. Aquilius immediately forced Athenion into a pitched battle. Perhaps due to his success the year before, Athenion was confident that his army, numbering between 20,000 to 30,000, would again prove victorious. However, confronted by an experienced army led by a skilled and veteran general, the slaves stood little chance. The battle was short and bloody, with only 10,000 slaves managing to escape. During this battle, Aquilius and Athenion found themselves fighting each other face to face, and though Athenion was able to wound the consul, Aquilius finally killed the slave king. The remaining slaves fled leaderless to numerous strongholds and fortifications throughout Sicily. Aquilius was relentless in his pursuit. Each stronghold was besieged and the slaves inside starved into defeat. When the last stronghold of just 1,000 slaves was left, Aquilius sent envoys to them, requesting that they surrender and take their chances fighting animals in the arena. Rather than face this humiliating fate, the slaves did as their predecessors in the First Servile War had done and took their own lives, each man killing another, the last falling on his sword. Both Sicilian revolts achieved little. However, they would act as an inspiration for a much larger, terrifying and dangerous revolt, the Third Servile War under the leadership of the gladiator Spartacus. The first two Servile Wars had been focused on Sicily, where there was a huge concentration of disenfranchised slaves. However, this problem was not unique to Sicily alone, but was prevalent throughout Magna Graecia, including southern Italy. Thousands of these enslaved were put to work on Latifundia, large farming estates, but many others, particularly those with military experience, were sent to gladiator schools Ludi in order to fight in the Roman games. One of the largest gladiator schools was in Capua, and it is here that Spartacus was sent. Spartacus was a Thracian, who had served as either a mercenary or auxiliary for the Roman army, before, in unknown circumstances, being imprisoned and sent to the gladiator school. Lentulus Batiates, the owner of the school, was known as a particularly cruel master, and as a result, in 73BC, 200 of the gladiators formed a plan to try and escape. They were betrayed, but before they could be stopped, approximately 70 seized what weapons they could from the kitchens, choppers, knives, and spits, and fought their way out of the school. As they escaped, they managed to steal gladiatorial arms and armour. Thus equipped, they took up a defensive position outside of Capua, preparing to face the small force Batiates had sent to recapture them. Here, they nominated Spartacus as their leader, and two Gauls, Crixus and Oenomaus, as his lieutenants. Together, these three led the gladiators in the defence, easily fighting off Batiates' men and taking as much of their weapons and armour as possible. With this immediate threat handled, the gladiators proceeded to plunder the countryside around Capua, attacking estates in the area and gathering more and more former slaves to their cause, swelling their numbers to perhaps a few thousand. They equipped as many of them with the captured arms as they could, before retreating to a highly defensible position on Mount Vesuvius. As the revolt was happening in Campania, close to Rome itself and with many lands in the area being owned by influential politicians, the Senate acted faster than they had in the previous Servile Wars. However, they were still seeing the event not as a full-blown revolt or start of a war, but more as a collection of simple bandits. As a result, when they took action, they only sent a praetor, Gaius Claudius Glaber, with 3,000 hastily assembled militia, as opposed to professional legionaries. Glaber was hesitant to attack a trained force in such a well-defended position, and so instead opted to block the only passage up the mountain, hoping to force Spartacus into surrendering. But the latter proved himself a cunning leader. Using the vines and trees in the area, Spartacus' force made long ladders and ropes, allowing them to climb down the steep sides of the mountain without being noticed. Quickly, they marched around the base of the mountain and fell upon Glaber's men from behind. Taken completely by surprise, Glaber's force was almost totally destroyed. Following this victory, even more flocked to Spartacus. He was a popular leader, providing as many of them as he could with captured weapons and dividing the spoils of war equally among his force. A second force, possibly a full legion under the praetor Publius Varinius, was also sent against Spartacus. However, for some reason, Varinius had decided to split his force between two legates, Furius and Cosinius. Furius' force of 2,000 was forced to give battle and was quickly defeated, while Cosinius, leading his men to reinforce Furius, was caught encamped by a river and slaughtered, with the praetor only just escaping with his life. After these successes, Spartacus' numbers grew to almost 70,000, with the captured Roman camps providing still more equipment for his growing army. With his force now considerably larger, Spartacus felt confident enough to spend the remainder of the year raiding southern Italy, including Nola, Nuceria, Thurii, and Metapontum. These towns did try and put up some resistance, and in one of the raids, Oenomaus was killed, but Spartacus' force was so large and still growing that it would be effectively unstoppable save for with a consular army. Alarmed by Spartacus' success against the praetors and his proximity to Rome, the Senate did indeed decide to send both their consuls, Lucius Gellius Publicola and Gnaeus Lentulus Claudianus, with consular armies, 20,000 men each, to handle what the Romans finally realised was a large and organised revolt. The fact that both the consuls were sent against Spartacus shows just how fearful the Senate was of Spartacus, even at the very height of the previous Servile Walls, only one consul had been sent. At the start of 72BC, these two armies set out to finally crush the uprising. The events of this year are vague and not well documented, but there seems to have been some division between Crixus and Spartacus. Crixus appears to have wanted to remain in southern Italy, raiding the country and hopefully gathering more men to the cause, while Spartacus was intent to push north, possibly through Cisalpine Gaul to freedom. As a result, the army became split, with 30,000 staying with Crixus in the south, the rest, possibly 60,000, heading north with Spartacus. This divide would prove to be the first major setback for the former slaves. Publicola was able to catch Crixus' army and forced it to give battle near Mount Garginus. They had proved themselves a formidable force, but without the leadership of Spartacus, a consular army was too much for Crixus to handle. Though he and his men fought hard and bravely, they were destroyed by the Romans, with 20,000, including Crixus, losing their lives, and the remainder fleeing to the countryside. Spartacus continued his march north, but his road was blocked by Clodianus. Publicola, following his victory over Crixus, was quickly marching north as well, hoping to catch Spartacus between their two armies. Spartacus knew that being caught between two consular armies on either side would spell disaster, and so determined to defeat them in detail. First he turned his attention to the most immediate threat, Clodianus. Despite having a full consular army, it seems Clodianus had underestimated just how many men Spartacus would have with him, probably assuming that his numbers would be similar to Crixus'. Rather than delaying until Publicola could assist him, Clodianus gave battle, and a combination of numbers and Spartacus' leadership resulted in a comprehensive victory for the rebel troops. Capitalizing on this victory, Spartacus quickly marched to face Publicola before word of his colleague's defeat could reach him. Publicola too was quickly defeated, both consular armies retreating to Rome to regroup. In a desperate attempt to regain some honour and avoid public disgrace, the two consuls tried to combine the remnants of their two forces to face Spartacus again in Picinum, but were once again defeated. Spartacus' victory over two consuls brought even more followers to his banner, giving him perhaps as many as 120,000, including civilians. He briefly considered marching on Rome itself, but quickly realized that, despite his numbers, his army did not have the engineering skills needed to take a city with such formidable defences. Instead, not wishing to be caught in winter in the north of Italy, Spartacus again headed south, spending the winter raiding the country and trading plunder with merchants in exchange for even more weapons and armour. It was now the third year of the war. So far, despite a few setbacks, Spartacus had the best of the fighting, defeating praetors and consuls in the field. As a result, when the elections for the praetorship came around, few candidates could be found, most fearing being forced to face Spartacus. However, one man, Marcus Licinius Crassus, seized upon the opportunity. Crassus was one of the wealthiest men in Rome and had been steadily climbing the cursus honorum. Crassus was no stranger to warfare, having served admirably as one of Sulla's commanders during the civil war in 82 BC, but he knew that to progress to the highest rank of consul, he needed to secure himself a notable military victory personally. As a result, he volunteered himself for the praetorship, even offering his own wealth to help fund the war effort. He was quickly given full command of the war and assigned six new legions, as well as the remnants of Publicolus and Claudianus' armies, a total of around 30 to 50 thousand legionaries plus auxiliaries. Crassus' first order of business was to instill discipline in his men. The legions had performed poorly thus far against Spartacus, breaking quickly and shaming the Republic. Crassus understood that this was not due to a lack of training, but due to the soldier's fear of Spartacus himself, and so Crassus decided to make his men fear him even more. Upon taking command of the two consular armies that had been defeated so soundly by Spartacus, Crassus ordered they be decimated. They were divided into groups of ten, drew lots, and were then forced to kill one out of the ten, the one that had drawn the short straw. This was an ancient form of discipline in the Roman army, but had the desired effect of making Crassus' troops fear him even more than the enemy. Crassus next sent two legions under the command of one of his legates, Mummius, to march behind Spartacus' army in order to cut off its retreat and to scout their army, giving him strict orders not to engage. However, Mummius, perhaps wanting to win glory for himself, disobeyed this order and attacked Spartacus from behind. Once again though, the legions were routed, and Mummius was forced to return to Crassus. Crassus was furious at Mummius for his insubordination and at the legions for routing. Once again, he gathered the 500 who had initially led the rout and decimated them in front of the rest of his army. Following this, Crassus moved his entire force to face Spartacus. Despite Spartacus' successes, he was nervous about facing Crassus' eight legions with his roughly 70,000 men. Instead, Spartacus decided to withdraw to Lucania in southern Italy. Whilst here, he attempted to negotiate passage with some pirates to Sicily, hoping to leave some of his army there to stir up another rebellion and bring reinforcements. However, despite taking the payment, the pirates betrayed Spartacus and abandoned him. This gave Crassus enough time to catch up to Spartacus near Rhegium. Utilising his army's size and skill, Crassus began construction of a palisade and ditch across the Isthmus, 37 miles long. Spartacus' force kept harassing the workers, but that had little effect, and Spartacus was still apprehensive about facing Crassus' full force head on. The fortifications were soon complete. Spartacus found himself trapped and running short on provisions. With Crassus' army stretched across the line, Spartacus tried to focus on one point to force a way through, but the Roman fortifications held, and 6,000 of Spartacus' men were killed. Assaulting the fortified legions seemed hopeless. Fortunately for Spartacus, however, a fierce snowstorm blew in one night, hampering visibility. Seizing the opportunity, Spartacus again focused his army on one point in the line, filling the Roman ditch and overrunning the palisade, slipping away with 50,000 men into Lucania and trying to push to Brandisium. The Senate became nervous upon hearing this, fearing that Spartacus had outmaneuvered Crassus and would march on Rome. As a result, they sent Pompey the Great, who had recently returned from fighting another revolt in Spain, south to assist Crassus. Furthermore, they also requested Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, brother of the more famous Lucius Licinius Lucullus, bring reinforcements from his governorship in Macedonia to help. However, Crassus was far from finished. Approximately 20,000, led by Canicus and Castus, were still trapped by the Roman fortifications, and Crassus was determined to finish them off first. Crassus approached them cautiously, sending two legates and 6,000 men to stealthily seize some high ground behind their camp. However, they were spotted by locals, who rushed to inform Canicus and Castus of their position. The former slaves quickly fell upon the Romans, their superior numbers allowing them to almost completely encircle the legionaries. The fighting was brutal, the Romans desperately trying to buy time for Crassus' main force to arrive, their foes equally desperate to cut a way through before being encircled. Fortunately for the Romans, Crassus had moved fast, and his main force soon arrived. It was now Canicus and Castus who were encircled. Their warriors fought back fiercely, trying to cut a way out of the encirclement, but despite their bravery, they stood no chance, assailed from all sides. When the fighting was over, 12,000 former slaves were dead. With this force neutralized, Crassus now turned his attention to Spartacus, following his army to Brundisium. There were minor skirmishes as the two forces marched, Crassus picking off small groups who tried to break away from Spartacus and forge their own escape, and Spartacus routing Crassus' scout cavalry. However, just as Spartacus' army was about to reach Brundisium, they heard that Lucullus had landed in the area with reinforcements. Spartacus desperately tried to make a truce with Crassus, but was scornfully rejected. Instead, he started marching his army north through Campania to try and escape, but once again he got word of Pompey's army from the north. This proved to be the final straw. For three years now, Spartacus and his men had fought as free men, and they had no desire to return to being slaves. But now, with three armies closing in from all sides, escape, and so freedom, seemed impossible. Spartacus and his men instead marched south, back to Lucania, to face Crassus. However, Crassus did not want Pompey or Lucullus claiming his glory, and so had been keeping close to his enemy, and the two met at the Salarius river in Campania, where Spartacus and his remaining troops would make their last stand. The forces were roughly evenly matched, Spartacus with 50,000 remaining fighters, and Crassus with 40,000, including a few thousand cavalry. Before the battle began, Spartacus killed his own horse, proclaiming that if he won the day, he would have plenty of other horses to choose from, and if he lost, that he would not need one. His point was clear, retreat would not be an option, Spartacus would fight to the death. Spartacus' army charged the Roman ranks, crashing into the Manipal's walls of shields. Despite the majority of Spartacus' army being slaves originally, they had been trained by Spartacus' gladiator followers, armed with plundered Roman weapons, and had three years of experience fighting legionaries. The battle was long and bloody, neither side being able to make decisive headway. Spartacus, seeing Crassus on a horse behind the front ranks, desperately tried to fight through to his enemy, cutting down two centurions who tried to block him despite receiving numerous wounds. Eventually, however, the gladiator general was surrounded alone and cut down by Crassus' bodyguard. His death sent shockwaves throughout his army, and with their leader slain, they broke. Whilst the initial fighting had been brutal, the battlefield now became a slaughter. By the end, 36,000 former slaves lay dead, compared to just 1,000 Romans, the remnants fleeing to the countryside. Crassus' men quickly pursued them, capturing 6,000, all of whom he crucified along the Appian Way from Rome to Capua. Another 5,000 were taken by Pompey's forces coming from the north, again all of whom were killed, finally putting an end to the Third Servile War. Rome would never again see a slave revolt of this scale, and Spartacus would become an inspiration for others fighting for their freedom throughout history. The Third Servile War is also crucial to the history of the Roman Republic. Pompey would claim that as he had captured the last remnants of Spartacus' army, he had put the final stop to the rebellion, claiming a part of Crassus' glory. Furthermore, both generals now had not only popularity with the people for defeating what, at the time, was considered the greatest threat to Rome itself since Hannibal, but also large armies mere miles from Rome's gates. As a result, in the next year, 70 BC, both men were elected consul. Crassus would never forgive Pompey for claiming part of his glory, but eventually, alongside Julius Caesar, they would form the First Triumvirate and thus further accelerate the downfall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. 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