Chapter III – Roman–Apuli War (300-298 BC)
Background
Apulia's position in Italy had worsened considerably by the late 4th century BC. The military alliance
with Rome had been dissolved in 302 BC, which left them weakened and open to attack by the Tarentines,
whose wishes to expand were well known.
At first Apulia tried to strengthen it's position by forming an alliance with the neighbouring Lucania.
Once these attempts failed, Apulia saw no alternative than to go to war with the Lucani.
The war started in early spring of 301 BC and lasted until autumn, when Lucania surrendered to the Apuli.
Lucani's pleads for military intervention went unheard in the Senate. At the time, the Republic was subduing
two Celtic tribes on it's northern border, in Apuani and Bononia. The region of Apuani was subsequently pacified
and colonized in early 301 BC, followed by the annexation of Bononia roughly at the same time as Lucania surrendered in autumn of 301 BC.
Marcus Aemilius Paullus was sent to Apulia in late winter of 300 BC to negotiate the possible return of Lucani territory.
The exact details of these negotiations are not known to modern historians, but we know that Paullus was murdered while he was in the Apuli capital, Luceria.
Marcus Paullus was well liked by the common people and the news of his murder spread quickly throughout the Republic.
The Senate was not ready to go to war over his death, not until the events surrounding his demise became clear,
but the public pressure forced their hand to action.
Progress
The Romans expected a short campaign, thus only the Legio I was sent to south under Quintus Tremulus.
First battle of the war was fought in Campania (summer 300 BC), where the Apuli army had set up camp while
Legio I was marching south. The Romans managed to break through the fortifications and enter the camp
(the legion was awarded with the Corona Castrensis). The Apuli general, Mamercus Pulcherius, anticipated
this and only half of his troops were inside the camp, the rest were hiding in a nearby forest.
After losing the camp, Pulcherius withdrew towards the forest. The Romans pursued them and were soon surprised
by the other half of Pulcherius' men who emerged from the forest and attacked their left flank.
The bloody battle lasted for hours, until Tremulus sounded retreat. Roman casualties were nearly 3,000 men, while the Apuli army lost around 5,000 men.
The Battle of Campania was but first of many defeats Rome would suffer during the war. Other notable defeats were:
2nd Battle of Campania (autumn 300 BC), Legio II
Battle of Apulia (late winter 299 BC), Legio I
2nd Battle of Apulia (early spring 299 BC), Legio II
Battle of Samnium (spring 299 BC), Legio I, Quintus Tremulus killed
Battle of Lucania (autumn 299 BC), Legio I
2nd Battle of Lucania (summer 298 BC), Legio I & II
The tide began to turn when the current Consul, Lucius Cursor, took command of Legio I.
While the Apuli army was in Samnium, Legio II had marched to Apulia. Cursor deviced a plan to attack the enemy from two sides,
Legio I from Latium and Legio II from Apulia. This attack would have brought the entire force of the Roman army, some 12,000 men on the Apuli army that now numbered some 7,000 men.
This plan failed disastrously. Cursor began his march towards Samnium before the message of the plan could reach Legio II.
Realizing that Legio II had not reached Samnium already, Cursor had to retreat back to Latium.
Meanwhile, Legio II had got their orders and once arrived to Samnium, they too had to fight alone against the enemy and were forced to retreat to Rome.
The ”silver lining” of this plan, was that the Apuli army now understood they could not hold on to Samnium and retreated back to Apulia.
Learning this, Cursor ordered Legio II to Samnium and his own Legion marched to Lucania, effectively surrounding the Apuli army.
Cursor wished he could wait for the Apuli to weaken enough before launching an attack.
In early 298 BC, Legio I & II attacked Apulia from Samnium and Lucania. To Cursor's surprise, there was no resistance on the way to Luceria.
The Apuli leadership had decided to end the war in peaceful means. Cursor himself negotiated the peace, the terms were severe:
Apulia and Lucania will become part of the Republic and people of both provinces shall be given Roman citizenship.
Apulia agreed.
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Holy crap was that a hard war! At the height of the war, Apulia had an army of 19 units (=19,000 men)!
But that's where the AI did wrong, raising such an army eat up it's money and manpower, so I just had to kill enough of them to win.
