samnite wars
entries
the end of the phalanx
in the mid-fourth century bce, in the mountains of southern italy, rome abandons the rigid spear-wall of the hoplite phalanx and reorganises its legions into maniples, articulated blocks laid out like a chessboard. the dating of that change, however, is far more schematic than it is usually told.
the shame of the caudine forks
in 321 bce, in a defile of the apennines, two roman consular armies are trapped with no way out. the samnite general gaius pontius does not kill them: he forces them to surrender their arms and pass under the yoke, the worst affront a roman soldier could suffer.
the queen of roads
in 312 bce the censor appius claudius orders the via appia traced from rome to capua. rome discovers that a war is won with roads that do not sink into the mud, and its first logistical infrastructure is born.
the great coalition against rome
in 295 bce, samnites, gauls, etruscans and umbrians joined forces to annihilate rome on the plain of sentinum. the consul publius decius mus repeated his father's devotio and offered himself to the gods of death; the victory sealed roman hegemony over italy.