The first great test of the Roman Republic 1.2 "The Mexican standoff"

Continuing from the last time we left off, Pyrrhus of Epirus had just defeated Rome at the battle of Heraclea, which was their first fight but not the last.

Source

After the battle, Pyrrhus tried to take advantage of the situation and move into Roman controlled territory, during this march many Samnite and Lucania cities joined his army giving him desperately needed reinforcements. However not all "liberated" cities joined Pyrrhus, because of the fact that Roman rule was already deeply embedded into the cities of central Italy and this was the reason why the Roman Republic survived.Suffering this setback the Greek army started plundering and destroying the lands of Rome and it's allies.

Map showing the expansion of Roman power over the Italian peninsula prior to and just after Pyrrhic War, 400-264 BC
Source

Although Rome was in a dire situation, capitulation was not an option, the Roman consul Publius Valerius Laevinus (who led the army at the battle of Heraclea) followed Pyrrhus everywhere, showing that his army was still in the fight, and the other consul, Aemilius Barbula, who had ravaged Tarantine territory, was looking for a chance to prove himself, indicated that this war was far from over.
Soon Pyrrhus realized he was heavily outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, so he had no other option but to retreat. He managed to safely withdraw and establish a winter camp in Campania.
By now the king of Epirus must have understood that the war was to become more difficult so he opened negotiations with the Romans, who wanted to exchange POWs(prisoners of war).
He sent his courtier Cineas to talk to the Senate. This man, who had been educated by the Athenian orator Demosthenes, offered very generous terms: the Romans had to make peace with Tarentum and had to recognize the independence of the Italian tribes and several Greek towns.

The Roman Senate
Source

As was usual in the Greek world, Cineas offered presents to the senators, who thought that they were being bribed and refused to talk any longer, especially when the old senator Appius Claudius Caecus rebuked them for doing business with an enemy who was still on Italian soil, and so the offer was turned down.

In the spring of 279, Pyrrhus attacked the Roman colonies at Luceria and Venusia, which were situated in eastern Italy. Together with other cities, they belonged to a ring of Roman military settlements that surrounded his allies the Samnites. Pyrrhus wanted to break the ring to reach his friends.
At the same time, Rome sent two consular armies, led by Publius Sulpicius Saverrio and Publius Decius Mus, to the east. Not far from Asculum, between Luceria and Venusia, their united army - about 40,000 men meet the army of Pyrrhus who also had 40,000 men and 18 elephants.
Seeing how much more maneuverable the Roman forces were than his phalanx, Pyrrhus alternated the units of his phalanx with the lighter forces of his Allies.
The Romans, for their part, had made a radical innovation in order to deal with the elephants. They had taken a number (perhaps 300?) chariots and equipped them with long spikes to wound the elephants, pots of fire to scare the elephants and manned them with troops who would hurl javelins at the elephants to drive them back.

Source

Both armies deployed with their cavalry on the wings and infantry in the center. Pyrrhus held his Guard cavalry in reserve behind the center under his personal command. The Elephants were also kept initially in reserve.

On the first day, of the Battle of Asculum, the battlefield appears to have been marshy and broken, which stopped Pyrrhus from using his cavalry and Elephants to full effect. The Pyrrhic phalanx appears to also have been affected by the ground. The day ended in stalemate.

The next morning, before the Romans had emerged from their camp, Pyrrhus seized the previous day’s battlefield forcing the Romans to fight on a more open field. The Roman infantry advanced swiftly to attempt to close with the phalanx before the elephants were engaged. The phalanx held firm and the Elephants advanced, preceded by psiloi(extremely light infantry who acted as skirmishers and missile troops) who negated the anti-elephant chariots of the Romans.

Reconstruction of a Greek psiloi
Source

Reconstruction of a principes, soldiers that formed the second line of the early Roman armies
Source

Simultaneously, Pyrrhus launched a charge by the Royal Guard, which completed the victory and the Roman withdrew to their camp, but Pyrrhus did not pursue fearing they might yet turn and fight.
Roman losses were probably 6,000 while Pyrrhus lost 3,500 men, including many of his best officers. After the battle

Pyrrhus is reported to have said, “If we defeat the Romans in one more such battle, we shall be completely ruined,” thus coining the phrase “Pyrrhic victory.”
His logic was sound for the Romans could raise more armies while Pyrrhus, away from home, could not replace his losses, especially in the officer core.

The Romans needed only to outlast Pyrrhus, who eventually left Tarentum to help yet another Greek city, this time on the island of Sicily.

PREVIOUS EPISODE
https://steemit.com/symphonyofechoes/@seltkirk/the-first-great-test-of-the-roman-republic-1-1-arrival-of-pyrrhus-of-epirus-g

Bibliography

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_War#Battle_of_Asculum_(279_BC)
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Asculum
*http://www.learning-history.com/battle-of-asculum/
*http://www.livius.org/articles/person/pyrrhus-of-epirus/pyrrhus-3/