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Warmatrix

War Matrix - Battle of Asculum

Greek Era 330 BCE - 200 BCE, Battles and sieges

Greeks versus Romans
Greeks versus Romans
The Battle of Asculum in 279 BCE was the second clash between the established power of the Greeks / Macedonians and the rising power of the Romans. It led to the famous phrase 'a Pyrrhic victory' and is an example of how one can lose a battle, but win the war.
At the time, Rome was not yet dominant in southern Italy, which was colonized by Greeks in the preceding centuries. It was an area with Greek population, Greek speech and culture: Magna Graeca. But the Romans were expanding their influence there and the Greek cities, especially Tarentum, felt threatened by the stationing of Roman warships. They had helped out king Pyrrhus of Epirus earlier and requested his aid. Pyrrhus promptly answered and so started the Pyrrhic War, basically a fight for control over south Italy between Rome, the Greeks, the Samnites and Carthage.
In 280 BCE, after crossing the Adriatic during a fierce storm, he landed in Italy with an army of estimated 20,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers, 500 slingers and 20 elephants. He fought a Roman army twice his size in the Battle of Heraclea and scored a victory because the Roman horses were frightened by his elephants. Despite that, losses on both sides were heavy, those of Pyrrhus a little less. Next Pyrrhus marched towards Rome, but made no attempt to attack the city itself. Negotiations failed and the Romans raised new legions. Pyrrhus knew he would lose face and support if he kept waiting. So he forced a second confrontation, at Asculum.
The Romans entered the battle with about 25,000 infantry, supplemented with cavalry and allies to a total of around 40,000. This time they had brought chariots with long pikes and fire-pots to counter the threat of the elephants. Pyrrhus had also got reinforcements, including Italian Greeks plus Samnite, Etruscan, Lucanian and Umbrian mercenaries, increasing the size of his army also to about 40,000.
The battle lasted two days. On the first, Pyrrhus could not use his cavalry and elephants because of the marshy and woody land. However his phalanxes were effective and broke the Romans on their left wing, while the Romans were superior in the center. Pyrrhus tried to deploy his elephants, but the Romans withdrew onto a hill with steep sides and many trees. With their archers, slingers and cavalry they managed to hold Pyrrhus' infantry, which had also advanced, at bay. When night fell, neither side had been able to break the stalemate.
The next day, at dawn, Pyrrhus quickly sent his light infantry to occupy the hill. The two masses of infantry again locked spears and swords, but now the elephants proved decisive. The anti-elephant carts worked only briefly and then were overwhelmed by Greek light troops. The Roman line broke and Pyrrhus sent in his cavalry to hunt them down, while they retreated in such order as they could manage.
Roman losses are estimated at 8,000 and thos of Pyrrhus at only 3,000, but included many of his officers. The Romans could again replaced those, but the Greeks could not. Pyrrhus later sighed that one more victory like Asculum would undo him, which entered history as the famous saying 'a Pyrrhic victory'.
After Asculum Pyrrhus went to combat the Carthaginians, at that time still allies of the Romans, in Sicily. He won that battle too and another against the Mamertines, but failed to drive either of these opponents out of their strongholds. Next he returned to the mainland and lost a night battle against the Romans. Running out of men and money, he saw nothing more to gain and sailed back to Macedonia. This left the Romans in a strong position and they used to extend their dominance over southern Italy in the decade after the battle.
The Romans lost the battle, or actually several ones, but won the war, because they made it a fight of attrition, for which only their side had the means. This strategy would later be employed many times, especially by the Russians.