When Veii crossed on the road to Rome

Veii are on the road to Rome

Rome has a convulsive history from its beginnings as a city. The Roman territory was conquered using force, the history of its expansion is written with the blood of the Romans themselves and with that of their enemies.

Territorial expansion has its beginning in the Italian peninsula. Such expansion was not only a matter of wealth gain, but a way of surviving as a society. Let us take into account that the fragile Roman social stability was based on the distribution of land to the lower classes. Right they had earned after abolishing slavery by debt. The expansion also brought slaves to the incipient Roman economy.

Incipient Rome expanded its area of influence to the banks of the Tiber. Good river communication was important for trade in the region, they knew that in Rome. But a city competed in leadership with Rome in the valley of the Tiber, was Veyes.

The neighbor of Rome was only 15 km away, and was one of the richest and most prosperous cities in the region. Veii belonged to the Etruscan League and enjoyed full autonomy as a state city. It was the city of Veyes that had the control over Fidenas, city that belonged to Etruria and constituted a very important advance for the commerce in the Roman margin of the Tiber. The success of Veii depended on its geographical location, both in the Tiber basin and on the southern border of Etruria. Geographical and commercial factors were mainly responsible for his confrontation with Rome. The really serious clashes between these two cities, began in 485 BC and 396 BC.

Armed conflicts

During the years of growth of Rome as important city in the region, the wars as such, did not exist. All armed conflict was reduced to skirmishes, carried out by revanchas or by the art of the looting, that was something habitual in the towns of the peninsula. But Rome and its neighbors were growing as societies, this constituted a before and after in the relations of these towns. It was Rome that overcame all others, but its military campaigns and its pacts with the peoples that remained under its influence were decisive steps for the Roman achievements.

The serious conflicts between Veii and Rome can be divided in the three wars. There are three warlike conflicts that marked these two cities forever, ending the entry of Veii into Roman influence.

First War of Veii(485 BC-474 BC)

The border incidents between the two cities were continuous, remember that this was one of the unwritten norms of the diplomacy of the time. The forests at the mouth of the Tiber and the control of the Via Salaria were the center of the disputes at that time. The Romans began their military movements, setting up an army against Veyes. The Roman army was led by the patrician family of the Fabians, who were massacred completely in battle, saving only the youngest, Quintus Fabio Vibulano. The boy had stayed in Rome because of his youth. This battle has the name Crémera and happened in the year 477 a. C. The consequences of the Roman defeat are the transfer of the control of Veii on the city of Fidenas, that was key in the margin of the river with Roman control.

The novelty of the battle of Crémea, was the tactics of Veyes. The lack of Roman coordination in the battle, that by that time was freed of individual form, could not with the tactical organization of the Veii, hoplítica phalanx. This is one of Rome's many defeats, but it was also an apprenticeship in military tactics, which were always evolving and became the cornerstone of the Roman army.

Second War of the Veii(438 BC-425 BC)

This war can be said to arise after the assassination of a Roman legate. This offense derives in the reconquest of Fidenas on the part of Rome. This reconquest leaves Etruria off the trade routes to the south.

Third War of Veii (406 BC-396 BC)

We can mark the beginning of this war, with the prolonged siege in ten years on the city of Veii. The allies of Veii were only the Etruscan cities of Capua, Falerii and Tarquinia, and even one of the cities joined in support of the Romans, that was Caere. The city falls under the siege of the Roman dictator Furio Camilo and passes directly to be part of Rome. The siege is full of legends about the resistance of the Veyans, even in the ruins of Veii, has discovered a tunes that was many meters from the center of the city, because the besieged tried to break the siege of the Romans.

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