The Rise of Rome - How Italy Was Conquered

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of the Total War series, and Creative Assembly is actually releasing a new DLC which covers Rome's unification of Italy. Today, I figured we'd explore how this occurred historically, to give you some context. But rather than strictly focus on a timeline of battles and campaigns, I wanted to discuss the actual mechanisms by which the many Italian peoples were unified. This is really important, as all too often we wrongly view the Roman state as a homogenous entity rather than a diverse web of interconnected communities centered around the city of Rome. But to understand the context of these relationships, we will first have to become acquainted with ancient Italy prior to the Roman era by exploring its diverse landscapes and its people. Let's first start with geography, as civilizations are often a product of their environment. Among Italy's most defining features are its mountainous regions. These include the Alps, which dominate the north, the Apennines, which run along the spine of the peninsula, and the large volcanic mountains such as Etna which dot the landscape. In fact, the mountain areas are so extensive that they actually make up about 40% of Italy. From these heights, the terrain then unfolds like a rich tapestry rolling from its peaks to its shores. Between the various folds in the elevation are great valleys and rolling hills that either dramatically spill into the sea or gently fade into it in the form of rich coastal flatlands. The mountainous terrain also leads to the creation of many rivers and lakes as snow melt and rainwater make their way to the lower ground by one way or another. And finally, we should note that the Italian peninsula and its neighboring islands have a huge amount of coastline with ready access to the wider Mediterranean. What this all means is that the diverse landscape of Italy led to a diverse community of peoples Villages founded by early settlers would take advantage of their local terrain and over time their development would be molded by it. Fertile lowlands might turn them into farmers, rugged highlands might turn them into pastoralists, and coastal or river access might turn them into traders. The birth of these communities in such a wide range of environments therefore had a great impact on their varied cultural and military activities. It should also be noted that the fragmentary nature of Italy's landscape not only helped develop diversity but also maintained it to a certain extent due to the relative isolation of communities. For example, if we look at Italy around the time of Rome's founding, we see a wide range of cultural and linguistic groups. Over the years, migrations and colonization further added to the complexity of the political environment. It is from this stew of peoples that Rome would create its empire. Let's now get on to the main topic of the video, about how they did so. Well, early on Rome was but a collection of italic families inhabiting wattle and post dwellings spread atop the slopes along the Tiber river. Archaeology reveals that there were several independent hamlets with wooden palisades which slowly expanded over time. Though some conflicts surely broke out, they increasingly learned to coexist and see to their mutual defense. The joining together of such villages was a common occurrence which the Greeks referred to as synoikism. In the case of Rome, the various peoples coalesced by building bridges both figuratively and literally. A central marketplace was formed, communal cemeteries were adopted, religious ceremonies were shared, and a government was established. The same process was occurring throughout Italy. In Latium alone, Rome was surrounded by dozens of other communities in various states of development. These groups spoke the same language and shared similar cultural and religious practices. Yet this did little to keep them from squabbling. In the early years of the 6th and 7th centuries BC, this took the form of tit-for-tat clan warfare. Raiding by chieftains and their warbands was routine, but still relatively small in scale. The objective was often to assert claims to land or take captives and plunder. At times however, the intensity would rise and be enough to topple another community. The historian Dionysius tells us that the first town to fall to Rome was that of Canina, just a few kilometers away. According to legend, Romulus killed their king in battle and celebrated the first triumph. Apparently, the defeated town was forced to yield one-third of its land to Rome and accept a colony of 300 Romans. In time, Canina would be absorbed through a similar process of synoikism that had occurred between Rome's original hilltop communities. Next came the town of Emptemnae, located about 5 kilometers away along the left bank of the Tiber. These new communities were granted full Roman citizenship and its members added to the principal tribes of Rome. Throughout the decades, Rome would continue to topple more and more of its immediate neighbors. These vanquished would typically either be forced to relocate back to Rome or be diluted with Roman colonizers and their farmlands merged with those of the larger group. Many who were ethnically and linguistically close enough to the conquerors would be granted full Roman citizenship, thus becoming liable for military service. In this way, the mass of the Roman state grew and grew, and so too did its gravitational pull. It's important to note, however, that the gravitational center of these relationships would remain at Rome itself, as is evidenced by the transfer of religious cults and priests to the conqueror's settlement. Such united communities could now pool manpower and begin to throw their weight around to an even greater extent, thus perpetuating the cycle of conquest. For context, by the time of the expulsion of the kings and the founding of the Republic in 509 BC, Rome had annexed or destroyed about half of the 30 Latin communities, controlled around 800 square kilometers, and is estimated to have boasted a population of around 35,000 people. Yet we should not assume that this process was explosive, as expansion was achieved at a relatively glacial pace over several hundred years, with revolts and setbacks being relatively common along the way. For now, Rome was essentially playing bully with the kids in its own backyard. As we mentioned earlier, there were in fact a huge number of other people across the Italian peninsula to contend with. Even just in the neighborhood, there were many whose strength rivaled or exceeded that of Rome. These included the eastern hill tribes of the Sabines and Aequi, the southern Volsci, and the powerful northern Etruscan cities whose confederation at one point stretched from the Po Valley to Campania. Warfare was endemic at the time, and Rome would pick a fight with many of these enemies. In fact, they were not alone in these efforts, as the Latin communities had actually already formed a league for mutual defense relatively early on. This was initially centered around the town of Alba Longa, but as Rome's power grew, it increasingly came to dominate the group. However, the city's ascendance would not go uncontested, and in the 490s, the free Latin cities would band together to fight back against the nascent Roman Republic. At the Battle of Lake Regulus, however, Rome won a decisive victory. The ensuing treaty ended the war and effectively established Rome as the leader of the Latin League. The treaty stipulated that Rome and the Latin armies would join a mutual defense, the spoils of war would be split, and joint colonies would be established in captured territory. Finally, the treaty recognized a set of Latin rights that would be shared by all members. This would prove a template for much of Rome's future expansion in Italy, where rather than outright destroying or displacing conquered communities, they would remain largely intact, but be entered into a treaty binding them to Rome and conferring them with a certain set of rights. Victory over the Latin League was a huge turning point that greatly added to Rome's military manpower and therefore military might. In the years that followed, the new league would be able to hold back and even take down its powerful neighbors. In the 5th century, they ventured further south and east, grinding their neighbors down through many years of warfare and the establishment of new Latin and Roman colonies to control key areas. For a long time, efforts to push north were rebuffed by the powerful and rich Etruscan city of Veii. Just 16 kilometers away, it had competed with Rome for control of the surrounding fertile land and the lucrative salt trade. Many battles and wars were fought, which saw the frequent exchange of territory, towns, and outposts. At the turn of the 4th century, however, the Etruscans were on the decline and Rome finally managed to gain an advantage. This was not easy, as it supposedly took a decade of concerted effort to besiege and take the enemy's well-defended citadel in 396 BC. The victory brought huge swaths of territory under Rome's sway. Plunder and captives were brought back to Rome, while captured land was distributed to Roman citizens and colonists were sent to inhabit former enemy territory. The Latins were now becoming the dominant power in central Italy. However, in 390 BC, an army of about 30,000 Celtic tribesmen swept down from the north. They were members of the Senones tribe, led by King Brennus. Resistance was offered as they approached, but ultimately a climactic clash was fought by the River Alia. Rome is said to have fielded multiple legions and a large number of less well-trained and equipped support troops. Yet this was not enough and the Republican army was crushed. The Celts then proceeded to sack the city of Rome, a nightmare that would terrify generations for centuries to come. As the pillaging took place, some Romans managed to hold out atop the capital line while citizens fled into the countryside along with the Vestal Virgins and many of Rome's senators. After several months of occupation, the Celts were eventually removed by a combination of bribery, disease, and the arrival of a fresh army raised by the Roman general Marcus Furius Camillus. Yet victory brought little comfort as the city lay in ruins. To make matters worse, some members of the Latin League began to break off and Rome's traditional enemies launched opportunistic attacks. Surprisingly, however, Rome was able to weather the storm. This was in large part due to the recent conquest of Veii, whose rich land provided the resources and manpower to quickly rebuild the city of Rome. Civilians who had scattered to the countryside now made a return and new grants of citizenship were awarded to the neighboring towns in an effort to revive the population. Within a generation, the Romans had re-established their dominance and would springboard from this remarkable comeback to become masters of Italy. There is much, much more to this story, but for the purposes of this video, we'll have to be brief for the remaining period of history we're covering. In essence what occurred is that Rome and its allies moved down the coast to take control of the fertile lands of Campania. This put them on a collision course with the fierce Samnite tribes of the Apennines, with whom they fought a series of three massive wars spanning nearly fifty years. Along the way, there would be many internal and external setbacks for Rome, but her legions ultimately managed to come out on top. As a result, they gained control of central Italy. Within just a few decades, expansion south against the Greeks and north against the Etruscans and Gauls and other peoples brought them control of almost all of the Italian peninsula. But again, I would remind you that Rome was not merely painting the map red by planting its flag across the world. As we pointed out, there were a range of activities taking place to actually forge together all the constituent pieces that made up the Roman territories. To summarize, these methods of conquest involved three main ways. The first method involved direct conquest. This meant the acquisition of territory and the incorporation of its inhabitants into the Roman citizenry. Here we should note that populations were typically granted different statuses. Those communities most closely related to Latium were given full Roman citizenship, while the more distant communities might be granted the lower status of civita sin suffragio, or citizens without the right to vote. They would all, of course, be subject to military service. The second method of conquest involved colonization. This meant founding Roman or Latin colonies in the territory of defeated enemies at strategic locations. The communities were not given Roman citizenship, but instead were granted Latin rights. They functioned as a defensive network for Rome, but did not serve in the legions, rather they served as troops in the ally formations. Finally, the third method of conquest involved the establishment of alliances with defeated people. This was perhaps the most common approach, as the allies retained much of their autonomy in exchange for supplying the Romans with equipment, soldiers, ships, or other demands for support. Thus we see how Rome was able to keep a fairly hands-off approach to governance while extracting massive amounts of military manpower from its network. This extraordinarily deep pool of manpower would prove to be one of the keys to Rome's conquest of the Mediterranean. If this were boxing, Rome would be able to take hit after hit from a superior enemy and just get right back up after every round to beat them in the twelfth, no matter how bloody their face was. The real secret to beating Rome was actually to crack open its alliance network and deprive it of its manpower resources. This was what Hannibal appears to have been attempting to do when he set about deconstructing Rome's network of alliances following the battle of Cannae. Though he was not ultimately successful, there are many other low points in Roman history when you can see the state breaking up along its underlying fault lines. The social war in the first century BC is a prime example of this concept at work. Anyways, I hope you have appreciated this fairly deep dive into early Roman expansion. If you'd like to take a crack at this in video game form, I can actually suggest that you check out Creative Assembly's latest DLC for Rome 2, which covers the Rise of the Republic. I know I'm enjoying it so far. In any case, take care, and thanks for watching.