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Clusium (225 BC)

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Title
Clusium (225 BC)
Description
The Cisalpine Gauls (those living south of the Alps) had sacked Rome in 390 BC and fought intermittently with Rome for the next 150 years. After a series of defeats early in the Third century BC, the Gauls remained quiet …
Publisher
Date
-225
Scenario#
201
Scenario Description
The Cisalpine Gauls (those living south of the Alps) had sacked Rome in 390 BC and fought intermittently with Rome for the next 150 years. After a series of defeats early in the Third century BC, the Gauls remained quiet for 50 years. Then in 232 the Romans began settling on captured Gallic lands. This roused the barbarians to prepare another invasion. This time, the Cisalpine Gauls were joined by their kinsmen from across the Alps, the fierce Gaesatae under their Kings Aneroestes and Concolitanus. In 225 BC a force of 70,000 Gauls descended on Etruria and overran the country looting and pillaging. When they reached Clusium, a city only three days’ journey from Rome, a Roman army led by a praetor appeared on their heels forcing them to turn back and confront it. The two armies camped for the night in close proximity. The Gauls kept their campfires burning, but withdrew their infantry, leaving only their cavalry behind. The horsemen had orders that when the enemy approached, they were to retire toward Faesulae and their infantry, which lay in ambush. At daybreak, the Romans, seeing the cavalry alone and thinking the Gauls had taken to flight, followed the cavalry with all speed. On their approach the Gauls sprang from ambush and attacked them. A stubborn conflict took place, but finally the numbers and courage of the Gauls prevailed. The surviving Romans retreated to a hill, while the Gauls set up a loose blockade. These fugitives would all have been lost, but the consul Aemilius Paullus arrived with a relief army that night. The Gallic kings chose to retreat with their booty rather than fight another battle. They broke camp before daybreak and retreated along the seacoast through Etruria.
Location
Faesulae, Italy
Battle Narrative
The Battle of Faesulae was fought in 225 BC between the Roman Republic and a group of Gauls living in Italy. The Gauls defeated the Romans, but later the same year, a decisive battle at Telamon had the opposite outcome.
Narrative Source
Combatants
Gaul
Roman
Additional Information
Celtic War

Geolocation