Chapter 3

Like so many wars in the ancient world, the conflict started with a small dispute in a relatively weak city. This time it was Tarentum, a wealthy Greek city who thought that a small Roman exploration fleet was violating their territory. Using its own considerable fleet, they sunk the Roman ships and launched an attack on Roman allies. The Romans were furious, and several legions were massed under the command of their King, Lucius Junius Brutus.

The Tarantines responded by calling upon their powerful allies, the Epirotes to their aid. King Pyrrhus was delighted, he was always searching for new wars to take part in, and quickly his army was assembled; Illyrian tribesmen formed the shock infantry, whilst the citizens were armed as Pikemen or cavalry, and the pride of their army, the Indian elephants exported from Pyrrhus’ ally Antiochos’ empire.

When the invasion fleet reached Italy, the Samnites and other Italian tribes who had been suppressed by Rome immediately joined Pyrrhus’ cause, in fact, most of southern Italy joined Pyrrhus, the Romans were aghast; they had expected an easy campaign against the Tarantines. But they did not falter, the doubled their preparations for war, whilst urged their powerful ally, the rich trading empire of Carthage, to send troops to them; Carthage was hesitant, for Epierus was friendly with the powerful Ptolemaic Egypt, which borders with Carthage.

Pyrrhus however have no reservations, he had already sent diplomats to Carthage, and was confident that they would abandon their weak Italian ally and aid him instead. Comforted by this, he levied huge amount of troops from the allied cities, and ruled the cities that defected to him harshly, drawing mainly upon their gold to pay for his armies.

The Romans soon responded and invaded the territories of one of the tribes who had defected to Pyrrhus, Lucania. Pyrrhus raced to their aid, and they met on the fields near the city of Heraclea.

The two armies faced each other for hours, until at last Pyrrhus ordered his elephants to charge, whilst his light infantry followed. The Romans were terrified of the huge beasts and the front line, made out of inexperienced Hastatis, was routed quickly. Eager to take advantage of the situation, Pyrrhus sent forward his cavalry to flank the Romans; the Roman King, Lucius, fearing that the battle would be lost and he be killed, fled towards the camp with his guard. The rest of the Roman army routed almost immediately.

Many of the routers were killed by the pursuing cavalry, although the elite troops of the Romans, the veteran spear-wielding Triarii, survived because they were guarding their camp.

Having won his victory on the only Roman army in his immediate vicinity, he marched on Capua and other cities still loyal to Rome. In the coming months, all of them will fall to his army.

The fall of southern Italy shocked the Carthaginians, and soon they decided that Rome would lose the war, quickly they changed sides, and sent their huge fleet to blockade the Roman ports. Egypt, now with a new king Ptolemy the Second, was having doubt over their alliance with Epeirus, for another of Pyrrhus’ ally, Antiochus, was massing troops on the border between Egypt and the Antichoan Empire. Changing their mind, they broke their alliance with Epeirus, and allied with Rome instead; they would much prefer being allies with a weak and subordinate state, than with a strong state that could easily make war with them. The Antiochoan Empire, honouring their alliance with Epeirus, launched an attack on Egyptian-controlled Syria. The complex web of alliances and changing allegiance had now attracted into the war three other major powers in the Mediterranean, in time many other smaller nation would join the war.

Delighted at the turn of events, Pyrrhus readied his enlarged army for another campaign next year, whilst his new allies the Carthaginians, with their huge amount of gold, hired a large mercenary army to guard the Carthaginian-Egyptian border.

In 319 BC, Pyrrhus launched a foray into central Italy, capturing many towns. The Romans sent another army, this time under the command of the consul, Publius Decius Mus, to drive Pyrrhus out; but the blockade maintained by the Carthaginians were strong, and the lack of trade and supplies in Rome had created tension amongst the citizens and soldiers.

When the armies met in Asculum, Pyrrhus used the same tactic as in Heraclea; this time the result was even more spectacular, 10,000 Romans were killed whilst thousands more were taken prisoner. The King’s son, Cnaeus Junius Brutus, was killed as he fled.

Despite the twin defeats and their precarious supply situation, the Romans still fought on, and so did their Latin allies. Pyrrhus was now content to station his army on the border, as he expects a peace offer very soon. Throughout 318 BC the situation remained a stalemate in Italy, although in Africa the Great Cyrene War had broke out between Carthage and Egypt.

Carthage had planned in 318 BC to take the land of Cyrene by a sea-borne assault, in order to loosen the pressure on the Antiochoan Empire, since the Syrian War was going very badly for them, their initially strong army destroyed in Tyre days after the war begun.

Unfortunately, the Egyptians had placed a strong army in Cyrene, because the ruler of Cyrene, Magas, was the half-brother of Ptolemy the Second. The initial invasion army was utterly destroyed; the few prisoners taken were executed in plain site of the Carthaginian fleet, which the Egyptian fleet were unable to defeat.

Spurred on by the massacre of their soldiers, Carthage hired another army and again transported the troops to Cyrene, but this time the army was landed in a chosen site, and soon they had established a defensive fort in a cluster of hills.

Unable to dislodge them, the war became a bloody stalemate, which unlike the one in Italy, was filled with acts of cruelty and ruthlessness by both sides. Small groups of mercenaries would sweep into Cyrene, burning and plundering the villages, if they were caught by the Egyptians, they would tortured and murdered in sight of the fort built by the mercenaries.

By the end of the year, neither side had made much progress, but they were both still determined to fight on.

The Pyrrhic War had already created much bloodshed amongst the combatants, but within one year, one great power would be knocked out of the war, never to rise again, and the effect of this war would in time, destroy one of the greatest empires in the Mediterranean, and produce some of the greatest victories and defeats in history.