Social War

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Ancient Unification of Italy
Samnite Wars – Latin War – Pyrrhic War – Social War

Ancient Unification of Italy
Samnite Wars – Latin War – Pyrrhic War – Social War

This article is about the conflict between Rome and her allies between 91 and 88 BC

For the Athenian conflict with its allies between 357 and 355 BC see Social War (357-355 BC).

The Social War (also called the Italian War or the Marsic War, Social coming from Socii meaning ¨Allies¨) was a war from 91 – 88 BC between the Roman Republic and the other cities in Italy, who were Roman allies before the war started.

The Social War was, in part, caused by the assassination of Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger. His reforms would have granted the Roman allies Roman citizenship, which would have given them more of a say in the external policy of the Roman Republic — most local affairs came under local governance and were not as important to the Romans as, for example, when the alliance would go to war or how they would divide the plunder. When Drusus was assassinated most of his reforms addressing these grievances were declared invalid. This angered the Roman allies greatly, and most of them allied with one another against Rome.

The War

The Social War began in 91 BC. The majority of Italian Allies revolted. However Venusia was the only Latin ally to revolt. They showed their intentions of not just destroying but also forming an independent nation by forming a capital at Corfinium, which was renamed Italia. They formed their own coinage to pay for the troops. Their soldiers were battle hardened with most of the having served in the Roman armies. The allies were able to field originally 100,000 men. The Italians divided this force according to their positions within Italy. Q. Popaedius Silo commanded the Marsic group and Papius Mutilus the Samnite.

It was necessary for Rome to survive the first onslaught as this would discourage further defections and also they would be able to call on help from their provinces as well as from client kingdom. The two separate theatres of war were allocated to one of the 90 B.C. consuls each. In the north the consul Publius Rutilius Lupus was advised by Marius and Pompeius Strabo; in the south the consul Lucius Julius Caesar had Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Titus Didius.

In 90 BC – Events for Rome:

Strabo was able to besiege Asculum
Rutilius was defeated and killed in Tolenus Valley
Caepio was destroyed by Poppaedius
Marius was able to retrieve these losses and was left in sole command

In 90 BC – Events for the Italians

Besieged Aesernia – a key fortress which covered the communication between the north and south areas - forced it to surrender
Papius Mutilius burst into southern Campania and won over many towns and until defeated by Cesear
Other Italian commanders lead successful raids into Apulia and Lucania

Despite these losses the Romans managed to stave off total defeat and hang on. In 89 B.C. both consuls went to the northern front whilst Sulla took sole command of the southern front.

In 89 BC – Events

Cato (one of the two consuls) defeated and killed
Strabo (other consul) left in sole command – decisive engagement defeated Italian Army of 60,000 men – after success forces Asculum to surrender
Sulla moved to offensive he - defeated a Samnite army
Recovered some of the major cities in Campainia

By 88 BC the war was largely over except for the Samnites (the old rivals of Rome) who still held out. It is likely that the war would have continued a lot longer had Rome not made concessions to their allies.

Roman Concessions to Allies

L. Julius Caesar proposed the Lex Julia during his consulship which he carried before his office ended. The law offered:

full citizenship to all Latin and Italian communities
possibly to only communities who had not revolted

The law offered citizenship to whole communities and not to individuals. This meant that communities had to pass by the law probably by voting in something similar to an assembly before it could be take effect. It was also possible under the Lex Julia that citizenship was gained as a reward for distinguished military service in the field.

it is assumed that the Lex Julia was closely followed by a supplementary statute, the Lex Plautia Papiria, which stated that a male on a register in an allied state could obtain Roman citizenship by presenting themselves to a Roman praetor within 60 days of the passing of the law. This statute enabled citizens who desired citizenship but whose town was not accept under the provisions of the Lex Julia to obtain Roman citizenship.

Roman citizenship and the right to vote was limited, as always in the ancient world, by the requirement of physical presence on voting day. After 88 BC candidates regularly paid the expenses at least partially for their supporters to travel to Rome in order to vote.

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