The Featured Articles are a sort of ‘Hall of Fame’ in a blog without a lot of fame. These posts were notable for some reason, or I just like them.
The ’Dred Scott’ post obtained over 600 hits in a single day. I’m not sure why, but there it is. ‘Fall of Rome’ is my thoughts on why the west died while the east did not.
In 395 AD, after the battle of the Frigidus River, Theodosius was emperor over a united Roman Empire. Its extent was virtually the same as it was at the time of Trajan, the golden age But less than a century … Continue reading
In Late 1856 and early 1857, a case moved up to the Supreme Court that involved the issue of slavery in the territories. Scott was owned by an army doctor and had been taken along to live in Illinois, a … Continue reading
Given that this year is the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, if not secession, the question of why the war started keeps being raised. If you look at what was driving all politics and events in … Continue reading
This is the third book in the Pen and Sword series on the growth of Rome that I have read..it is a bit hard to figure if they are in an exact sequence. Probably not, as the Gaul book has parts that are fairly early in history – the taking of Provence, and ends with the campaigns of Caesar in the late Republic.
This book is more cohesive in time, as aside from some interludes for the Punic Wars these actions took place in a relatively close sequence. The first shots came in response to piracy in the Adriatic rather than any desire for lands. An embassy was sent to an Illyrian Queen, Teuta, to demand she stop her state-sponsored piracy. She not only refused, but had one of the blunt-speaking Roman ambassadors assassinated. This was probably a mistake.
Teuta’s forces had just taken Corcyra when the huge Roman fleet and army arrived. Her general, after counting the size of the arrivals, switched sides and became the Roman’s base. After punishing the Illyrians, the Romans went home, but now this city was an enclave on the Greek mainland going forward.
Macedon was the strongest state in the region, if not as strong as when Alexander conquered Persia. It wanted to regain its power in the area, and with Rome involved in the Second Punic War against Hannibal it seemed like a good time to start. Rome managed to deflect most of the damage with alliances with other Greek cities. But when Hannibal was defeated it was time for a little payback.
But even after this, Rome did not go for all out conquest at first. But the Greeks viewed war as more a sport than a serious business and tried to involve Rome in the game. The Romans were not playing around, and showed it in how they conducted the wars.
Eventually the entire region was incorporated into the Roman state, after a series of wars against Macedon and finally against the Greek ‘allied’ leagues that had a different idea of their standing in the area than the Romans did.
This is an excellent recounting of the information on these wars all combined into one book. I’ll be getting more books in the series for sure.
