[Multi-AAR] - History of men - EB part

[Fixiwee]

Nero has fallen. This event was seen by his own soldiers on the entire battlefield. For them it seems that all is lost.





Yet the battle on the left flank is still going on. The Barbarians don’t loose their will to fight with Neros demise.





They try to break through their line with Chariots, but Caesar placed strong elite troops on the left of his army who quickly deal with them.





Caesar [sweaty and out of breath]: This is starting to look good. By the gods, I can’t believe it. Push harder, take em’ down.

More and more of Neros soldiers start to turn tail and run. After four hours of fighting the odds are swinging for Caesar.



With the Roman enemy is fleeing the battle field, Caesar puts his whole army on the left flank to deal with the Barbarians.



Here Caesar fails to encircle his enemy, for the Gauls are wise enough to stay in the woods.



[The Aedui noblemen fight professionally and manage to kill many Roman soldiers. A centurion cries for reinforcements.]

Quite late the Aedui put their elite force on the field, trying to turn the battle to their favour. And what Caesars men saw was beyond anything they had encountered in their previous campaigns.



Naked Aedui infantry - these fierce warriors are drugged and in frenzy, fighting like wild madmen. They fight with such determination that some of Caesars men loose their nerve and flee.





The Aedui chieftain, King Barrivendos, is slain. More and more Aedui fall, slain by Caesars troops.



[The Roman soldiers fighting the naked infantry catch their breath again and under heavy casualties slowly take down these warriors one by one.]



After six hours of fighting the battle is very much in Caesars favour. While the Gauls still hold their position, there doesn’t seem a possibility to change the course of battle.



Still the Aedui fight and the seemingly endless battle goes on.



[Most of the Romans have to fight standing on dead bodies; some of the soldiers have to step on the dead horses to get to their enemy. On both sides some warriors vomit over the disgusting scene.]





Yet after seven hours of fighting the rest of the Aedui army looses their will to fight and flees. Caesars victory is secured. Yet the battlefield is full of dead bodies.









It is already getting dark when the last pockets of resistance had been cleared by Caesars troops.



Caesar had attacked his enemy against all rules of warfare. And yet he had won. It was his most important victory in his life. With his 30.000 soldiers he had killed over 50.000 men. Yet his victory was not flawless. Nero and his allies had inflicted 15.000 casualties, that means half of Caesars troops.



The battle of Cabalum was on of the most important battles of antiquity – and one of the bloodiest of all.



The Battle of Cabalum has been seen as the moment where the Roman Republic transformed into the Roman Monarchy. Caesars name would even become the title for later monarchs. He was the sole victor; his nemesis Nero and the Roman Republic were utterly defeated, despite the strange path history would take after the battle. Cabalum was the most impressive event, because of the two Titans who faced each other – former allies and friends. This clash of the Titans would remain as a legendary battle through the entire history.

[G. Septimus]

This is the most amazing AAR I ever read....

[Fixiwee]

This is the most amazing AAR I ever read....

Yaaaay Thank you! :)

[Fixiwee]

How Lucius Marcundus accidentally brought down the Roman Republic

By Eric Damon

(Part IX)

„I just want back to my family and Tiberius. I’m sick of all this Civil War ****. I want to laugh again.”
Lucius was carried by two rough Praetorians to the same house where Nero had accepted his offer of money. Only that by now the villa was in the hands of his former master, Marcus Julius Caesar Asiaticus.
Of course it wasn’t a comforting situation that his master found out that one of his most important clients and friends was found in the camp of his arch enemy. Lucius thought that this was the end of his life: A life as an artist and a traitor.

“Bring him in.”
Lucius could hear Caesar from inside.
And there he stood: the victor of Cabalum. He had defeated them all: The Senate, Dollabella, Orata and of course Nero.
“Am I surprised to see you. Good thing you are well.”
Lucius thought that he was even cynical after his greatest victory.

“Now what Marcus?” Lucius asked with disgust.
“What do you mean Lucius?”
“I guess you’ll crucify me for betrayal. Fine! Just leave my family alone.”
Caesar smiled, yet he somehow looked empty and hollow.

“My dear Lucius, how could I do such a thing? I’m no monster.”
“But I am a traitor. I helped your enemy Aulus Claudius Nero.”
“You forget that he was also my friend. And as for you; you were a traitor. We had our differences and I forgive you. You are free as of now.”

Lucius couldn’t believe it.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Caesar said.

The artist wasn’t sure if he really misjudged Caesar or if he was became presumptuous. Lucius opened his mouth.

“I… I Just want to see my wife again.”
“And you shall. You can go at any time. I hold no grudge against you. You just did what you thought best, such as I did. Who am I to judge or strike you down?”
“You marched on Rome and stroke all down who stood before you.”
“That is not entirely true and you know that. The Senate forced me to act.”
Suddenly Caesars voice was strong and full of power.
“I have my dignity. And you made me realise that.”

Lucius paused. So it was true. It was all his fault.

“So I made you a tyrant. Oh the irony…”

“Lucius Marcundus. I am no tyrant. I want to save the Republic from certain death. Learn the history. I am just trying to stop what Gaius Cotta and Silanus started so many years ago.”
His voice became normal again.
“Please believe me. I am no tyrant. But the Roman people need reforms or this civil war will go on and on.”

Lucius sighted. He could not win against an eloquent man like Caesar.

“I should have stayed with my lovely wife. I shouldn’t have run away into Asia with you.”
“Lucius, I am glad you did. I enjoyed your company and I always will. Go to Rome, love your wife and watch your children become adults. And when I return you can still work for me, just like you did all these years.”

Marcus stepped towards Lucius and embraced him. He then whispered in his ear: “And we will have a large festival with us two old men running around naked – just like we did in your youth.”

Lucius smiled. He wasn’t sure what he should do. He disliked the men infront him yet somehow he was completely in the hands of Caesar.

“Thank you.” he mumbled.

Lucius turned around and went home to Rome.

[Fixiwee]

War gives the right of the conquerors to impose any conditions they please upon the vanquished.
Gaius Julius Caesar

War in Northern Gaul

The Roman Empire, by Wolfgang Schreier, Bonn 2003

After the Battle of Cabalum, Caesar started to pardon the surrendering Senators. Among them were Dollabella, the leader of the Senatorial faction, Orata the most influential Senator, the young Brutus and Lepidus. Clementia Caesaris (forgiveness of Caesar) became the effective catchphrase.
Of course all this had a catch too: First of all Caesar had to undermine the rhetoric of his enemies; as the attacker on the Roman Republic he was in a difficult position. Many refrained of resisting him from now own, which saved a lot of energy. On the other hand there was a subtle form of arrogance in Caesars actions: One who is mild also signalises that he could be cruel. It is in his hand to deal with his antagonists, which effectively makes on a tyrant after all.

Caesars former enemies returned to Spain and Italy, while he stayed in Gaul preparing a punitive expedition against the Aedui. He knew his campaign had to be swift and decisive, after all he still had a lot of work to do in Rome.
After Neros war in Southern Gaul a decade earlier, the Aedui had the leading position of the remaining Gauls. Their king Vertiscos was in a union with Ligones, and the rest of Gaul was tributary to the Aedui king.

Caesars campaign started in early 47 BC with a surprise attack on the Aedui town Avaricum. He then forced the Aedui king into battle in April at the Battle of Decetia.




Roman troops marching into battle.




While the Roman troops have no trouble defeating the Gauls in open fields...


...some stiff resistance is encountered in the woods. These small pockets get defeated nontheless.


Gaul in 47 BC. The Venetii still resist Roman ocupation, which will serve as the basis for the later Asterix comics.

With the defeat of the Aedui at Decetia most of Gaul submitted to Caesar. In winter 47 Caesar reached the river Seine where he received the lords of the Aulerici tribe. The only Gauls who still resisted Caesar where the Venetii, a small tribe in modern Brittany. Caesar had pressing issues to deal in Rome, so he conveniently left his second in command, Sextus Fabius Ambustus to deal with the remaining forces in Gaul. In early spring 46 Caesar returned to Rome again. Nevertheless it took Ambustus until 44 BC to finally defeat the Venetii.


Ambustus faced strong Ventii troops in 44 BC at the Battle of Radones.




Venti infantry trying to break through Roman lines.


Fighting was tough and the battle lasted for several hours.


But Ambustus won an important victory for Caesar: All Gaul was now in Roman hands.

Caesar celebrated his second triumph in 46 BC and announced that the civil war was over. In the last decade Caesar had spent hardly any time in Rome, now he sought to bring his power to a political basis. In his work many contemporaries saw the reforming energy of a great statesman, who drew the consequences of the limping Roman state.
The most important change was to the Senate itself. The numbers of Senators was increased to 900. Some Greeks and even a few Syrians and Gauls were among them. The Quaestors were increased to 40, the plebeian Aediles to four and Praetors to 16. The pro-consulship was increased from one to two years. The lex Iulia municipalis uniformly organised all towns in Italy, all Itialians north to the river Po received Roman citizenship.
The most long ranging reform was the changes to the calendar: the year now had 365 and a quarter days. This Julian calendar was very accurate and was only slightly altered during Medieval times.
Caesar also initiated many new colonies: five in Africa, including the rebirth of a (Roman) Carthage, three in Greece, in Anatolia eight and thirteen in Spain, increasing Romanisation in Spain.

Caesar gave himself new political powers. Starting from 46 BC he became Dictator for ten years. He was now the only one to command the armies and he could declare war to anyone without having to ask the Senate for approval. Furthermore he also had the power to appoint the magistrates of his choice. He also had the sacrosanctias of a tribune and the praefectura morum; the watch over morals and therefore the possibility to remove Senators from the Senate.

He achieved multiple honours: pater patriae – father of the fatherland and liberator – the liberator who protected Rome from all dangers. The title imperator was incorporated to his name and he could always wear the cloths of the triumphant.
Yet Caesar avoided any divinisation, fearing that it could be too much. When some Senators offered him the title deo invicto (the invincible god) he refused it. Also he avoided anything that would put him close to the old monarchical title rex. When Marc Antony offered Caesar the diadem of the Hellenistic Kings he infuriately refused – but not without being flattered somehow.
Nevertheless Caesar assigned many statues to be built all over the Roman Republic, among them one in the Temple of Jupiter and one on the Forum Romanum.

Some resistance started to form against Caesar, but his politics were clever enough not to overstretch the patience of his opposition.
After the first years of reforming the Roman state, Caesar started to prepare for his next campaign against the Parthians. In mid 44 BC he left for Asia again.

[Fixiwee]

I came, I saw, I won.
Gaius Julius Caesar

Caesars return to the East

A history of Rome, by Prof Alfred Kennard, 2002 New York

The first Roman-Parthian war started in 49 BC shortly after Caesar travelled to Greece to deal with the Nero and the Senate. He left his protégée Calatinus the younger in command of the Syrian province. Calatinus was an able man with good understanding of military matters. Yet he can’t be compared to his father or Caesar in that matter.
Unfortunately we don’t have any Parthian sources for the reason of their attack. Greek historian Helenos tells us that the war was a pre-emptive attack on the Roman province Syria. He tells us that the Parthian king wanted to throw the Romans out of Asia as long as they were still weak there. The Parthian commander in chief called Pishdad waited until Caesar left Asia and immediately attacked thereafter, knowing the Roman civil war would weaken their military strength. In summer 49 it came to the Battle at the Daras woods.


The battle was one of the first where the Romans faced larger masses of Cataphracts.


Parthian infantry advancing.


Calatinus was smart enough to use the woods against the strong Parthian cavalry.


Fighting close combat.


The Romans also held high ground against the overwhelming Parthian forces.




Eventually the Parthians ran out of troops against the well positioned Roman forces.

The first clash of troops in Syria resulted in a surprising victory for Calatinus. But his victory was not complete, Pishdad survived and with him a great deal of his army. The loss at Daras triggered a revolt in the Parthian town of Edessa against Parthian rule and for the moment the Romans had time to rebuild their forces.

In 47 BC Calatinus tried to move into Edessa at the Parthian border, but was halted by Pishdad. It didn’t come to a military battle at first, yet the Parthian general successfully halted the advance of the Romans.

In early November 47 BC Pishdad finally crushed the rebellion and was able to ambush Calatinus at the Battle of Batanae and inflict heavy casualties that forced him to move back to his province. Nevertheless the Parthians were not able to use their victory to march into Syria.

So far both sides were exhausted. Calatinus tried to rebuild his troops after his loss and Pishdad was forced to station troops in Edessa to prevent another rebellion. Good news came from Rome, after Caesar had ended his civil war he announced that he would start a campaign against the Parthians.

Caesar then landed with his troops at Pergamon in Anatolia in early 43 BC. There was some quarrel with the king of Nikaia and Caesar decided to attack the small state and incorporate into the Roman Empire.


The East in 43 BC.


Caesar attacking the independend Nikaia (Nicaea).

The campaign took the whole year, which wasn’t the way Caesar had planned it. In the meanwhile Pishdad tried to win a decisive victory over the Romans before Caesar would arrive with his troops. The Parthian general attacked Antioch directly and forced Calatinus into a battle.


Parthians pushing against Antioch again.


Once again Calatinus lured the Parthians into the woods, limiting their mobility.





Ancient historian Helenos tells us that Pishdad even brought troops from the far east India.


The mighty Cataphracts.


The Parthians brought more troops to the battlefield.


Fighting against strong Parthian cavalry.


Calatinus the younger once again routed the enemy army but without being able to destroying it.

Once again Pishdad was not able to break the deadlock in Syria and Calatinus won important time for Caesar.

In winter 43 BC Caesar had finally captured Nikaia. At the same time an envoy from the Egyptian king Ladamos Ptolemiates arrived at Caesar asking for help in the civil war against his brother. Caesar knew that this was a good opportunity to get more influence over Egypt and agreed. He sent his master of horses, Marc Anthony to Egypt to watch over the new alliance.



Caesar knew that he needed all his troops for the upcoming campaigns. Instead of marching to Syria Caesar decided to wage a campaign against the Pontic king, who had been siding with the Parthians in the last two decades. If he could defeat them, Caesar would have his hands free to deal with the Parthians.

In 42 BC Caesar launched a surprise attack against Pontus and overwhelmed the unprepared enemy at the first battle of Amaseia. The battle was a sneak attack on the enemy army camp during the night. The enemy was completely destroyed while Caesar had only suffered minor casualties. But the Pontic king Menophilos Dionysos was not defeated. He gathered his last troops from the eastern part of his kingdom and tried to face Caesar at the second battle of Amaseia.



Caesar is said to have visited the Royal pontic tombs.


Seasoned veteran against a green general.




Caesars troops were superior in numbers, equipment and experience.




Closing in.


Throwing...


..and fighting.


Caesar had no problem to outflank the young unexperienced king.


The troops are encircled.


In such a situation even the veteran soldiers became weary and began to loose their moral.


Caesar pushed from all sides.


With the their king dead...


the pontic army looses their will to fight.


Caesar utterly destroyed the pontic royal army. There was no one left to fight against Caesar anymore.

With the defeat of the Pontic army and the king dead the rest of the Pontic kingdom surrendered to Caesar. This campaign went on so smoothly that Caesar is said to have stated: “I came, I saw and I won”.

Finally in 41 BC Caesar had his hands free to march against the Parthians.

[anubis88]

Haha... This continues to be epic