Greatest Enemies of Rome

#6 Vercingetorix

 

#5 Pyrrhus Of Epirus

 

#4 Mithridates VI

 

#3 Attila The Hun

 

#2 Arminius

Some say (including me) that Arminius’s actions at the beginning of the 1st century sowed the seeds for the eventual collapse of the Western Roman Empire 400 years later. Yes I know it sounds a little outlandish to attribute the demise of an Empire to the actions of one individual but remember… this guy did make it to #2 in the list.

Up until Arminius and the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Rome had only continued to expand and was unequivocally the dominant power in the known world (Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa).

Germanica was the last piece of the puzzle. 

Sure… to the North on the island of Britannia, the Picts had not been fully pacified, and to the East the Parthian Empire was a consistent thorn. But that was different, they were the fringes, they were the natural borders. Germanica was a barbarian peninsula in a Roman sea of civilization. .

With Augustus bringing stability at home, Rome turned her attention to the land beyond the Rhine and between 5 AD – 7 AD, launched a number of successful campaigns against the various Germanic tribes.

Enter Arminius, the son of a Germanic tribal chief who at an early age was shipped off to Rome as a hostage, where he would receive a military education and became a military commander. From this position he would go on to earn Roman citizenship and lead a Roman auxiliary military force. It was this intimate knowledge of Roman military strategy and tactics that Arminius would exploit to devastating effect.

On the surface Arminius was a loyal subject of Roman, however he had been plotting in secret to unite various Germanic tribes to thwart Roman efforts to incorporate their lands into the empire.

By autumn 9 AD enough of the tribes were united behind him that he felt it was time to set the trap. Arminius brought the governor of the Roman province of Germania, Publius Quinctilius Varus, a fake report of rebellion in northern Germany, he persuaded Vasus to send three full Roman Legion, representing a total strength of around ~25,000 troops to suppress the insurrection.

Initially Arminius went North with Varus and the legions, however he split off from the group under the guise of mustering more troops, however in reality it was to meet up with his Germanic army.

As Varus and his legions entered the Teutoburg Forest, northeast of Osnabrück, they did so in a relaxed and sloppy fashion. Thinking they were still far from danger, the army had been joined by the camp followers had the group had become strung out. It was now, in a narrow pass that the German trap was sprung.

Arminius and ~25,000 Germanic warriors fell upon the Roman and in an ambush, smashing through the Roman centre, cutting the the army in half. Fighting through the ambush, half of the army managed to escape the trap and build a camp, the other half was destroyed.

As morning broke what remained of the army broke camp and headed south. Again Arminius anticipated the Rome’s movements ambushed the them a second time. As the remnants of the legions died around them, Varus and his officers committed suicide. In little of 2 days ~20,000 Romans had died.

Arminius had inflicted on Rome one the most devastating defeats of all time, the ramification of which was that never again did Rome make a concerted effort to conquer Germanica. In the centuries to come the peoples East of the Rhine would cause havoc with the Empire and the long land border with Germanica would provide entry of the Goths, Vandals and Huns.

#1 Hannibal Barca

Bogeyman and ultimate enemy of Rome, my #1 pick (by a mile in my opinion) is the great Hannibal Barca.

For Hannibal, warring with Rome was a family affair. His father Hamilcar had commanded the Carthaginian land forces in Sicily in the First Punic War (264 BC – 241 BC) and had instilled in both his sons, Hannibal and Hasdrubal, a vendetta like hate for Rome.

The Second Punic War (218–201 BC) kick off in legendary fashion with Hannibal taking the bold step of marching his army, including a contingent of war elephants through the Alps into Northern Italy.

He then proceeded to absolutely and utterly smash Rome in three decisive battles, culminating in the Battle of Cannae where Roman gets its face ripped off (just look at the numbers).

It was at the Battle of Cannae that Hannibal caught the Roman army in one of history’s first recorded double envelopment (pincer movement), the manoeuvre was executed so flawlessly and to such effect that even today it is most general’s wet dream.

Battle of	Date	Carthaginian Casualties and losses	Roman Casualties and losses
Trebia	December 218 BC	4,500	30,000
Lake Trasimene	24 June 217 BC	~2,000	30,000
Cannae	2 August 216 BC	5,700	~71,500

It’s amazing that the Roman state still stood after being dealt such crushing blows.

Although Rome would ultimately wine the Second Punic War and the subsequent Third Punic War (149–146 BC) Hannibal and Carthage stretched them to such a point that by rights they should have snapped.