The next morning both sides deployed for battle. Rome's expansion into southern Italy probably made it inevitable that it would eventually clash with Carthage over Sicily on some pretext. When they did they fought as well-armoured heavy infantry armed with long thrusting spears, although they were notoriously ill-trained and ill-disciplined. But with Juba’s army rapidly approaching, and Varus’s legions positioning themselves to attack, discipline rapidly broke down. Battle of Ecnomus (256 BC) - Largest Naval Battle in History - Duration: 14:16. In the resulting Battle of Cape Hermaeum off Africa the Carthaginians were heavily defeated, losing 114 ships captured and 16 sunk. [8] With Roman resolve weakening, Curio tried to bolster their spirits, calling on them to stand firm. [58][60][note 4], Most male Roman citizens were eligible for military service and would serve as infantry, a better-off minority providing a cavalry component. [10] The soldiers fought with each other to get a place on the boats, and many of the boats, having seen what had happened to the first ones to shore, held back. Second Battle of Bagradas: Stanislav (CARTHAGE) 5 Victory banners vs. 7 Victory banners Andreas (ROME) Stanislav wins 12-11. Background The Battle of Bagradas River or "Battle on the Macar" (c. 240 BC) was fought between Carthaginian forces and part of the combined forces of Carthage's former mercenary armies during the Mercenary War which it used to conduct the First Punic War and those of rebelling Libyan cities. Defeat seemed […] Coordinates: 36°47′51″N 10°09′57″E / 36.7975°N 10.1659°E / 36.7975; 10.1659. [5] Curio questioned the prisoners, who informed him that Saburra was in command of the forces on the Bagradas. Regulus was appointed to replace him. [10][11] Only the first book of the forty comprising The Histories deals with the First Punic War. [5], Saburra had his camp some 10 miles away from the Bagradas, but his advance party had already reached the river. [note 8] A total of about 13,000 Romans were killed. The Battle of the Bagradas (49 BC) occurred near the Bagradas River (the classical name of the Medjerda) in what is now Tunisia on 24 August and was fought between Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia.The result was a crushing defeat for the Caesarean forces and the death of Curio. [74] Among them was a Spartan mercenary commander, Xanthippus. [55] The Romans carried out a night march and launched a surprise dawn attack on the camp from two directions. After landing on the Cape Bon Peninsula and conducting a successful campaign, the fleet returned to Sicily, leaving Regulus with 15,500 men to hold the lodgement in Africa over the winter. The Battle of the Bagradas River (the ancient name of the Medjerda), also known as the Battle of Tunis, [1] was a Carthaginian victory over Rome in the spring of 255 BC during the First Punic War.The greatly superior cavalry of the Carthaginians and their allies permitted a pincer attack on the Roman infantrymen, provoking a rout and slaughter.. The Roman cavalry, hopelessly outnumbered, were soon swept away. [75] Xanthippus was put in charge of training over the winter, although a committee of Carthaginian generals retained operational control. With a combined total of about 680 warships carrying as many as 290,000 crew and marines, the battle was possibly the largest naval battle in history by the number of combatants involved. [85][86], The Romans held firm, possibly partly because of the way their dense formation jammed them close together, but the elephants continued to rampage through their ranks, and the Carthaginian cavalry pinned them in place by hurling missiles into their rear and flanks. Curio queried how he could ever look Caesar in the face after he had lost him his army, and turning to face the oncoming Numidians, fought on until he was killed. The war there had reached a stalemate, as the Carthaginians focused on defending their well-fortified towns and cities; these were mostly on the coast and so could be supplied and reinforced without the Romans being able to use their superior army to interfere. [7], However, their fatigue began to tell against Curio’s troops, and they were too tired to pursue the Numidians who were steadily falling back, and Curio’s cavalry were too few and too tired to take advantage of the break in the attack. Battle of the River Bagradas, a battle between the rebel leader Stotzas and Byzantine commander Belisarius. Some later Roman accounts make various claims of Regulus being mistreated. The immediate cause of the war was the issue of control of the Sicilian town of Messana (modern Messina). [10] The majority of the galleys and transports fled without waiting to collect the stranded soldiers, while the few who sent boats to ferry the soldiers back were quickly swamped by terrified soldiers, and many sank in the process. Leaving a quarter of his forces guarding his own camp under the command of Marcius Rufus, Curio began his march to the Bagradas River about two hours before dawn. The Battle of the Bagradas (49 BC) occurred on 24 August and was fought between Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia. Wikipedia article of the day is Battle of the Bagradas River (255 BC). The Battle of Bagradas, also known as the Battle of Tunis, was a battle between the Roman Republic and Carthage occurred in the spring of 255 BC during the First Punic War. Jump to navigation Jump to search. [70][72][note 7], The Carthaginians were recruiting fighting men from all over the Mediterranean region, and at around this time a large group of recruits from Greece arrived in Carthage. [22] Carthage was a well-established maritime power in the Western Mediterranean; Rome had recently unified mainland Italy south of the Arno River under its control. The following 4 pages use this file: File:Battle of Bagradas-Tunis 255 BC-pt.svg; File:Battle of Bagradas-Tunis 255 BC.svg; File:Battle of Bagradas-Tunis 255 BC Hebrew 2.svg [84], The battle opened with attacks by the Carthaginian cavalry and elephants. The Romans began to scatter, cut down as they ran, while others simply lay down on the ground exhausted, waiting for death. Background. Instead of holding his position, Regulus advanced towards the city of Carthage and defeated the Carthaginian army at the Battle of Adys. [29] Frustration at the continuing stalemate in the land war on Sicily, combined with naval victories at Mylae (260 BC) and Sulci (258 BC), led the Romans to develop a plan to invade the Carthaginian heartland in North Africa and threaten their capital (close to what is now Tunis). This assumes, per G.K. Tipps, that all 114 captured Carthaginian vessels were sailing with the Romans. After yet another significant Roman naval victory at Ecnomus in 256 BC, they landed on Carthaginian soil at Clupea. Sources other than Polybius are discussed by Bernard Mineo in "Principal Literary Sources for the Punic Wars (apart from Polybius)". The Battle of the Bagradas River (49 BC) occurred on August 24 and was fought between Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia. The Battle of Bagradas, also known as the Battle of Tunis was a major battle of the First Punic War that occurred between the Carthaginians and the Roman Republic in 255 BC. Check it out: https://ift.tt/3aFw0ln Summary: The Battle of the Bagradas River was a victory by a Carthaginian army led by Xanthippus over a Roman army led by Marcus Atilius Regulus in early 255 BC, nine years into the First Punic War. The result was a crushing defeat for the Caesarean forces and the death of Curio. [53][83] Regulus apparently hoped to punch through the elephants with his massed infantry, overcome the Carthaginian phalanx in their centre and so win the battle before he needed to worry about being attacked on the flanks. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_the_Bagradas_(49_BC)&oldid=992534312, Tunisia articles missing geocoordinate data, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 5 December 2020, at 19:47. Most of the Romans were packed into a space where they could not resist effectively and were slaughtered. HistoryMarche 578,710 views [67] This was Carthage's only victory in a major land battle during the war. [27][28] In 260 BC Romans set out to construct a fleet using a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme as a blueprint for their own ships. [12] Juba sent a message to Pompey and the Republican senators in Macedonia, who responded by granting him the title of King of Numidia. The sailors on the boats finally agreed to take a few of the married soldiers who had families back home, while others swam out to the ships and were pulled aboard. [7] Saburra saw what was happening and had his cavalry cut off Curio's retreat. [68][71] The Carthaginians also employed war elephants; North Africa had indigenous African forest elephants at the time. With a hot sun beating down on them, his soldiers were soon both tired and thirsty. SlitherineGames 5,042 views. [92][93] The Roman fleet, in turn, was devastated by a storm while returning to Italy, 384 ships having been sunk from their total of 464[note 9] and 100,000 men lost,[93][94] the majority non-Roman Latin allies. The Battle of the Bagradas (49 BC) occurred on August 24 and was fought between Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia.The result was a crushing defeat for the Caesarean forces and the death of Curio. The previous year, the newly constructed Roman navy established naval superiority over Carthage. [24] The Romans were essentially a land-based power and had gained control of most of Sicily. [59][58] Polybius differs in stating that Regulus initiated the negotiations, hoping to receive the glory of ending the war before his successors arrived to replace him. [6], Moving away from the river, Curio eventually saw the army of Saburra. The Battle of the Bagradas River (the ancient name of the Medjerda), also known as the Battle of Tunis, was a victory by a Carthaginian army led by Xanthippus over a Roman army led by Marcus Atilius Regulus in the spring of 255 BC, nine years into the First Punic War.The previous year, the newly constructed Roman navy established naval superiority over Carthage. Finding these completely unacceptable, the Carthaginians decided to fight on. [57][58] From Tunis the Romans raided and devastated the immediate area around Carthage. Traditionally, when at war the Romans would raise two legions, each of 4,200 infantry[note 5] and 300 cavalry. This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Battle of the Bagradas River. [4] Curio, also hearing that Juba’s army was less than 23 miles from Utica, abandoned the siege, making his way to his base on the Castra Cornelia. [5], Quickly entrenching himself in the Castra Cornelia, he sent an urgent message to Sicily, requesting that his officers immediately send the two legions and the cavalry he had left behind. In despair, according to most ancient sources, the Carthaginians sued for peace. The Battle of the Bagradas River, also known as the Battle of Tunis, was a victory by a Carthaginian army led by Xanthippus over a Roman army led by Marcus Atilius Regulus in the spring of 255 BC, nine years into the First Punic War. Regulus and a small force fought their way out of the encirclement, but were pursued and shortly he and 500 survivors were forced to surrender. [91] The Romans sent a fleet to evacuate their survivors and the Carthaginians attempted to oppose it. [46] The Roman Senate sent orders for most of the Roman ships and a large part of the army to return to Sicily under Longus, probably due to the logistical difficulties of supplying more than 100,000 men over the winter. [12] Caesar and the remains of the Roman Senate proclaimed him a public enemy. [2] Overconfident and holding the usurping governor of Africa, Publius Attius Varus, in low esteem, Curio took fewer of his legions than were available to him, leaving two behind in Sicily. [53] The Carthaginians, meanwhile, had recalled Hamilcar from Sicily with 5,000 infantry and 500 cavalry. Whether this was a decision of the Senate, the generals, or was forced on them by the wishes of the troops, who included many Carthaginian citizens, is not clear. The Battle of Bagradas River, Battle of Tunis or perhaps first Battle of Bagradas River was fought in the First Punic War between a Roman expeditionary force under consul Marcus Atilius Regulus and a Carthaginian army led by the mercenary general Xanthippus of Sparta. Both legionary sub-units and individual legionaries fought in relatively open order. [7][8], Carthaginian written records were destroyed along with their capital, Carthage, in 146 BC and so Polybius's account of the First Punic War is based on several, now-lost, Greek and Latin sources. [67] Polybius states he had taken part in Spartan training methods and that he knew both how to deploy and how to manoeuvre an army. [4][6] Polybius's work is considered broadly objective and largely neutral as between Carthaginian and Roman points of view. That in result tied up the main force of Roman infantry which was quickly exploited by Punic cavalry (outnumbering the Roman counterparts eight-to-one). [7], Marcius Rufus, left in charge of the detachment at Castra Cornelia, attempted to hold discipline after news of the disaster reached the camp. A force of 2,000 Romans avoided being surrounded and retreated to Aspis. Nevertheless, the Romans fought well under the circumstances, and initially forced Saburra to give ground as they moved inexorably forward. In particular, the difficulty in transporting horses[65] had restricted his cavalry force to only 500, and his failure to make up this deficiency is puzzling. For other uses, see, Territory controlled by Rome and Carthage at the start of the. The Battle of the Bagradas (49 BC) occurred near the Bagradas River (the classical name of the Medjerda) in what is now Tunisia on 24 August and was fought between Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia. [38][39][40] When they met at the Battle of Cape Ecnomus, the Carthaginians took the initiative, hoping their superior ship-handling skills would be decisive. They insisted that King Juba was nowhere in the vicinity, that in fact he was some 120 miles away near Leptis, dealing with an uprising there. [3][4] His works include a now lost manual on military tactics,[5] but he is best known for his The Histories, written sometime after 167 BC, or about a century after the Battle of the Bagradas River. The result was a crushing defeat for the Caesarean forces and the death of Curio. [64] Regulus did not attract any troops from the towns and cities rebelling against Carthage. The Romans used this advantage to invade Carthage's homeland, which roughly aligned with modern-day Tunisia in North Africa. The battle ended in … [54][55], The Carthaginians established a camp on a hill near Adys. The Battle of the Bagradas (49 BC) occurred near the Bagradas River (the classical name of the Medjerda) in what is now Tunisia on 24 August and was fought between Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio and the Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia. [10] Juba then returned to Numidia, along with the captured senators for display and execution. 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