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Battles: Battle of Asculum
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Posted by Acumen on November 5 2004, 03:53 PM
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The battle of Asculum was the second battle fought between Pyrrhos (Pyrrhus) of Epirus and the Romans, this time under the command of Consuls P. Decius Mus and P. Sulpicius Saverrio. While Pyrrhos technically won the battle of Asculum he suffered such heavy losses that he could not press on, thus giving rise to the famous term “Pyrrhic Victory”
In this period Roman power was just beginning to rise. By the time of the battle of Asculum the power of the Roman Republic was just beginning to expand out of the confines of Latinum in Central Italy. This made the Romans a threat to all those who surrounded them, including the Greek states of Magna Grecia in what is now Naples and Sicily. After the diplomatic talks between the Romans and the Greeks began to break down the Greeks of Tarentum sent a delegation to the nearby Kingdom of Epirus, hoping to receive aid. Pyrrhos jumped at the opportunity for more chances to prove himself equal to his famous relation, Alexander the Great and to thus take his place as a champion of Greece. In 280 BC one of Pyrrhos’ generals, Milo landed near Tarentum with 3,000 men to scout out the area in advance. Pyrrhos’ main army landed a little while later with 20,000 foot soldiers, 3,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers, and 20 elephants. The Tarentines and Oscans (That is the Samnites, Bruttians, and Apulians) joined the Epeirote army with 350,000 foot soldiers and 20,000 cavalry. With this force Pyrrhos marched north and engaged the Romans at Heraclea, where his elephants won the day by routing the Roman cavalry and infantry. Pyrrhos then sent a generous surrender document to Rome, which was rejected outright. Pyrrhos then moved to march on Rome but had to retreat back to Tarentum due to the coming of winter. In the spring of 279 the Romans raised a fresh army and put it under the command of Rome’s new consuls P. Decius Mus and P. Sulpicius Saverrio. Pyrrhos quickly marched out of Tarentum to meet the Romans who he remarked were like “The Lernean Hydra that grows two heads for each one cut off” the two forces met at the town of Asculum in Apulia.
Pyrrhos had learned a lesson about the flexibility of the Roman legions at Heraclea and changed his battle plan to adapt to that. The Epeirote-Allied army probably had 70,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 19 elephants (these numbers have been disputed though, it was probably something less, but it is unknown) .This time around Pyrrhos formed up his infantry lines so that for every heavy phalanx in the line there was a formation of Greek or Oscan infantry next to it, this Pyrrhos hoped would help mobility. Pyrrhos also positioned his Epeirote and Allied cavalry on each flank, to protect the phalanxes, which had a glaring weakness to cavalry. In reserve Pyrrhos held his elite Royal Guard cavalry and elephants.
The Romans had also learned a lesson from Heraclea and adapted their forces as well. The Romans knew that they were at a disadvantage in brute strength but were determined to win at any cost. The Roman army had formed up with four legions, along with 20,000 armed citizens and Latin allied cavalry. The Romans also brought with them a weapon whose existence is debated to this day because it was mentioned by later historians. In the winter season between Heraclea and Asculum the Romans had made out of oxcarts an anti-elephant wagon. These wagons were covered with tridents, spikes, scythes, and grapples that could be set on fire and swung at an elephant's face or trunk; they were manned by archers and slingers.
The first day’s fighting was a bloody stalemate. At dawn that day Pyrrhos advanced his entire infantry line against the Romans, who had chosen a hilly and wood covered area as the battlefield. According to the historian Dionysios (Dionysius) the heavy phalanxes of Pyrrhos easily beat and turned the Roman left but the Romans quickly moved to smash the fragile Epeirote-Allied center with their infantry. The Dauni cavalrymen, an ally of Rome, then sped into Pyrrhos’ camp, but the Royal Guard cavalry beat them off. Pyrrhos then tried using his elephants against the Romans who had breached his center, at first the elephants were successful, but the Romans used the terrain to their advantage. In one last move Pyrrhos threw some Allied infantry at the Romans, but the Roman cavalry caught them on route. This continued until dusk, when both sides withdrew from the battle for the night.
The second day was to Pyrrhos’ advantage. At dawn the Romans discovered that in the early light Pyrrhos had moved his men to occupy the hills and woods, this would force them to fight Pyrrhos on an open plain, exactly what he wanted them to do. Consul Mus and Consul Saverrio quickly moved their army to engage the phalanxes before Pyrrhos had time to get his elephants to the front. Surprisingly the phalanxes and Allied infantry held against the Roman line and the elephants moved up to the front. Now the Romans unveiled the 300 anti-elephant wagons and used them to great initial effect, but the psiloi (Greek skirmishers) and javelin men on the elephants drove off the wagons. Now free of any obstructions the elephants smashed into the Romans lines, seizing the moment Pyrrhos himself led his Royal Guard into battle, with this the Roman army broke and ran completing the victory, but the cost was huge.
In the aftermath of Asculum both armies moved off. While the Epeirote-Allied army had won the battle the loss of men and even worse good and able officers was so great that Pyrrhos was to have said “If we defeat the Romans in one more such battle, we shall be completely ruined” it is from this saying that we get the term Pyrrhic victory. Pyrrhos backed off from the Romans after this and stayed in Tarentum until he left to help the Sryacusans against Carthage in 278. In Rome the Senate decided to keep up the pressure against Tarentum, even after Pyrrhos’ return in 276. The Romans finally defeated Pyrrhos in a decisive battle at Beneventum in 275, which forced Pyrrhos to retreat from Italy, leaving the peninsula to the Romans to dominate. |
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