The Middle Age: A Time of Transformation
The era between the fifth and fifteenth centuries in European history is referred to as the middle age, also known as the medieval period. (Conat, page 3-15). This time span, which includes the age of discovery, began with the fall of the western Roman empire and continued through the renaissance. The second of the three divisions of traditional western history is called the middle period. Classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Era are the three groups. Early medieval, high medieval, and late medieval are the three eras that make up the medieval time. There were technological, social and cultural developments that caused a lot of transformation in the world of warfare from the time of antiquity. There were changes in the military tactics with the roles of artillery and cavalry changing drastically. This paper discusses an event during the period of middle age that is related to warfare within the said period.<\/p>
Population Changes and Social Transformations
The middle age experienced a lot of changes with some positive while others were negative. There were population changes due to the many movements of people that took place across Europe. (Keen, page 15-36) These movements caused structural changes in the social and political lives of the population in the region. Kingdoms were created, and warfare started as a result of contacts between the people who moved and those who remained behind. Among the territories created was the Roman empire that resulted from the movements in the period of middle age. The Romans expanded their territory and exerted control over the people they displaced from their area of stay.<\/p>
Rome's Aggressive Policies and Conquests
The desire by the Romans to use control over their subjects and expand their territory created conflicts (Riley-Smith, page 9-28). Most of the disputes were instigated by the Roman leaders who encouraged their kin and warriors to go to war. They organized many raids and conquests within Europe with most of them being successful. This ensured that they expanded their territory and stamped their authority over the locals who were later taken in as subjects or citizens. The Roman conquest of the Italian nation resulted from a series of conflicts making the state of Rome grow from merely being dominant. It became the center from which Italy was ruled from. There were significant clashes between the Romans and their neighbors especially the Samnites who had formed a powerful tribal coalition.<\/p>
Rome's Dominance and Expansion
Rome rose to become a dominant center in Italy even though there were still threats to its dominance. Between the year 282 BC and 273 BC, Tarentum collaborated with Pyrrhus of Epirus in countering the dominance of Rome even though it was not successful (Christine and Yazigi, page 6-17). By the year 218 BC Romans had wholly conquered Italy and incorporated the conquered states in the Roman empire. They achieved this through land confiscation, military alliances, partial granting of Roman citizenship and establishment of colonies. The success of the conquest ensured that Rome had access to unlimited man-power that could not be rivaled by any contemporary state. This made it dominate the Mediterranean region for the entire period of medieval age.<\/p>
Roman Wars and Conquests
The Roman wars date back to the 5th century, especially the second half when they established some colonies that they acquired throughout the conquest (France, page 11-21). There were wars against the Aequi and the Volsci though they became less frequent as the conquest progressed. Rome\u2019s war with Etruscan also became less and eventually stopped as the Romans found out that it was not worth the struggle. In the year 426 BC, the Romans captured Fidenae which was a stronghold for Veii. It was on the southern side of Tiber and by the year 396 BC, Veii had fallen and was under the Roman rule.<\/p>
Challenges and Vicious Wars
In the year 390 BC, Rome faced its major setback when the Gaulish warbands defeated the Roman army in the battle of Allia. It did not take long before the Romans embarked on an aggressive policy against Volsci (Conat, page 7-36). This aggression against its neighbors forced other cities to unite against Rome in an attempt to contain its aggression towards its neighbors. There was also the war with the Samnites that took place between the year 343 BC and 290 BC. There had been a treaty of alliance between the Romans and the Samnites in the year 354 BC. The treaty did not hold since there were a lot of overlapping interests between the two cities that made them go to war. The major outcome of the first Samnite war with the Romans in the year 343-341 BC was the expansion of the Roman empire into Campania. Rome then created an alliance with the city of Capua to ensure that its influence over Campania was not challenged or threatened.<\/p>
Consolidation of Rome's Dominance
The Romans then shifted their attention to the Latins who had allied with the Volsci to challenge its dominance in the region (Keen, page 10-17). This led to a vicious war between the year 340 BC and 338 BC but ended when the Romans and the Latins agreed to a peace deal. Despite the peace deal, Rome acquired many states from Latin and dissolved the Latin League that was a threat to its control. The Latin states that were left autonomous were still bound to Rome through a number of bilateral treaties. The Campanians were organized into states with citizens who had no right to vote. They had earlier sided with the Latins in an attempt to dislodge the Romans in the region. The subsequent years were spent consolidating Rome\u2019s dominance with minor wars between Rome and its neighbors.<\/p>
Expansion and Alliance
In the year 328 BC, Rome attacked Neapolis, which was originally a Greek city, with the war only ending when a group of Neapolitans aligned to Rome took control of the state (Riley-Smith, page 11-23). This team came up with a treaty between it and the Romans even though the deal favored Rome more than any other party involved. This war provoked the Samnites to start the Second Samnite War in the year 326 BC. There was a truce between the two factions in the year 321 BC when Rome suffered a significant setback. Its army had to surrender to the Samnites at Caudine Forks though the victory did not last for long. The Romans reversed the win by many successes over the Samnites.<\/p>
The Final Conquest and Roman Dominance
The third and final Samnite war broke out in the year 298BC after the Samnites failed to ally with the Lucanians. A Samnite commander named Gellius Egnatius led his army northwards in an attempt to form a coalition with Etruscan, Gaul, and Umbra (Christine and Yazigi, page 8-24). This period marked the final phase of the Roman conquest as they managed to detach Umbria and Etruscan by invading their homelands. They also defeated the Samnites and Gaulish who had remained in an alliance. The series of defeats forced the Samnites to accept an agreement with the Romans in the year 290 BC. They had no say on the terms of the alliance as the Romans dictated everything in the agreement. The Romans experienced a series of successful conquest as they invaded other cities in an attempt to spread their dominance over all the Italian cities. This was eventually achieved in the year 292 BC through to 264 BC as the Roman dominance over all Italian cities was realized.<\/p>
Works Cited
Conant, Jonathan. Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439-700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print.
Keen, Maurice, ed. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford. Oxford. 1999. Print
Riley-Smith, J. C. ed. The Oxford History of the Crusades. Oxford. Oxford Up. 1999. Print
Christie, Nail and Yazigi, Maya, ed. Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities: Warfare in the Middle Ages. Leiden. Brill. 2005. Print
France, John, ed. Mercenaries and Paid Men: The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages. Leiden. Brill. 2008. Print
