Rome's Resilience: Lessons in Innovation and Strategy

Roman army was caught off guard and completely failed to stop the barbarians who attacked Rome with a vengeance they ransacked the city burnt homes and businesses murdered its citizens and left Rome on the brink of collapse frightened survivors fled the city and incredibly so did terrified soldiers only when the city was destroyed did the barbarians flee from the city the Gauls demanded payment of a ransom did General Camillus conqueror of Vey finally stepped forward with a last-minute display of some true Roman grit instead of gold he offered the Gauls the cold steel of his sword on that heroic cue the soldiers at last rose [00:04:05]

Weapons, armor, and battle tactics all received the same dramatic overhaul, as Rome's army was geared up for a century of expansion throughout Italy, which would bring it face to face in 390 BC, and was determined never to allow such a defeat again. They built new, impregnable city walls, and transformed the army into a professional fighting force with no room for cowardice. [00:09:23]

The Romans had come face to face with their greatest adversary yet. Now it was just a matter of when of Sicily, caught midway between these two opposing forces. This became the flashpoint for an epic conflict known as the Punic Wars. It would rage for a hundred years. This central position of Sicily, within the influence of both cities, meant things here were certainly going to come to a head. [00:14:59]

The Carthaginian Empire had been built on the strength of its navy. So to achieve an undisputed victory, Rome needed to defeat them out there, at sea. But with no navy and no naval tradition, how could the land-based Romans challenge this established maritime power and expect to win? The answer to that was revealed in an astonishing archaeological discovery. [00:16:21]

The Romans immediately set to work and built a fleet of 120 warships in just 60 days. But with no tradition of navigation or fighting at sea, they still needed to rely on their skills as a land army. But how? Their solution was sheer genius. It was a secret weapon that would take the Carthaginians completely by surprise. It was known as the corvus. The crow. [00:18:02]

The corvus had its first outing at the Battle of Mylae, off northern Sicily in 260 BC, and it took the Carthaginians completely off guard. The corvus effectively turned the battle into a fight on land, giving the Romans the advantage they needed. They sank or captured 50 enemy ships and lost just 11 of their own. But the war raged on for another 20 years, allowing Rome to sharpen their seafaring skills until they could take on the Carthaginians at their own game. [00:18:47]

Hannibal's legendary crossing of the Alps in 218 BC is one of the great achievements of this or any other conflict 50,000 men and 67 war elephants entered this foreign landscape of perpetual winter avalanches and hazardous crevasses hunger fatigue and bitter cold made each step harder than the last 16 grueling days later the mountains were behind them with half his men and most of his elephants dead Hannibal had finally crossed the Alps into Italy [00:23:33]

In one of the bloodiest battles in ancient hymn history the Roman army was decisively and humiliatingly cut down at Cannae seventy thousand soldiers slaughtered ten thousand more taken prisoner and worse still Rome lost eighty of its greatest commanders he destroyed the Roman military and now Hannibal marched straight to the capital in 216 BC the Romans witnessed a terrifying sight a deadly enemy camped outside the city [00:27:13]

Mighty Servian walls had done their job by making a full frontal attack impossible and Hannibal simply couldn't afford a 10-year siege what had really beaten him though was the intractable Roman mind-set it left thought was vengeance this was especially true of one general who'd lost his father and uncle in the fight with Hannibal his name was Scipio Africanus just as Hannibal hated Rome Scipio hated Carthage [00:29:46]

Scipio then shrewdly deployed the tactics he'd learned from studying Hannibal's campaigns but these losses were only part of the price the Carthaginians would pay for their failure at Zama but these losses were only part of the price the Carthaginians would pay for their failure at Zama as well as a financially crippling indemnity of 10,000 silver talents Scipio made sure he hit Carthage where it really hurt [00:33:13]

They borrowed tactics and weapons. They absorbed their defeated enemies. And they even learned from their own disasters. But that wasn't all. I think my old friend Polybius will say, and I'll sum it up best, even if they happen to be defeated at the outset, the Romans carry on the war with all their resources. For the Romans, knowing themselves to be fighting for their country and their children, can never weaken in the fury of their struggle, but continue to fight with all their heart and soul until the enemy is overcome. [00:42:24]

Rome was now master not just of a republic, but of an empire. [00:43:03]