Description
Book SynopsisA highly illustrated account of one of Ancient Rome''s most humiliating defeats, the battle of the Caudine Forks in 321 BC, and how the embarrassment spurred the Roman Army on to eventual triumph.
In its long history, the Roman Republic suffered many defeats, but none as humiliating as the Caudine Forks in the summer of 321 BC. Rome had been at war with the Samnites--one of early Rome''s most formidable foes--since 327 BC in what would turn out to be a long and bitter conflict now known as the Second Samnite War. The rising, rival Italic powers vied for supremacy in central and southern Italy, and their leaders were contemplating the conquest of the entire Italian peninsula. Driven by the ambitions of Titus Veturius Calvinus and Spurius Postumius Albinus, Roman forces were determined to inflict a crippling blow on the Samnites, but their combined armies were instead surprised, surrounded, and forced to surrender by the Samnites led by Gavius Pontius. The Roman soldier
Trade Review
Fields has given us an account of an important and perhaps neglected battle and given us much to think about regarding it and subsequent military history. -- Murray Dahm * Ancient History *
Table of Contents
Origins of the Campaign Chronology Opposing Forces The Source: Titus Livius Opposing Plans The Campaign Analysis Conclusion Further Reading Appendix Index
