Message from @Xaverius
Discord ID: 636890441731801111
To be fair, she’s a fucking ice wizard
fuck you
he's a sith
Rome literally adopted aggressive foreign policy because of the Gauls
Brennus and the Senones tribe of the Gauls sacked Rome fairly early into the Republic. He demanded the Romans pay a certain weight in gold for them to leave. When the Romans discovered the scales were unfairly weighted, they protested to Brennus.
Brennus drew his sword, proclaimed "Woe to the vanquished." (Vae victis) and tossed his sword on the scales.
Then Marcus Furius Camillus arrived from exile with the rallied army of Rome following its defeat, in turn proclaimed "Not with gold, but with iron, is the fatherland regained." and defeated Brennus in battle.
By then, Rome had the message.
Conquer or be conquered.
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Rome's proper expansionism was pretty late into their history actually.
Italy was not fully consolidated until about 89 BC.
Because they kept getting DLCs
Iberia was only acquired after the Second Punic War.
Expansions east were facilitated by the Macedonian Wars.
North Africa only taken after the Third Punic War.
Whilst the acquisition of Asia Minor, Syria, Gaul, and Egypt all took place pretty much within the last century of the Republic's 500 year history
Well, Carthage was kind of a big deal back then so they couldn't really expand to Iberia before
a bunch of old dudes bumming each other?
That was Greece
And yeah Carthage was the superpower of the age
Rome entered the First Punic War not even knowing how to build a navy against the naval superpower
They then won the largest naval battle in history
Rome's early history is not just surviving shit that should be impossible, but actively fucking over the enemy in the process.
^this guy definitely joined caesars legion when given the choice
Second Punic War for example.
In 18 months, Rome lost 1/5th of its adult male population to Carthaginian victories. 40% of its Italian allies changed sides. And Macedon declared war from the other side of the sea.
Rome continued to fight the war for another 15 years and win.
To be fair Hannibal kinda fucked around even after he took control of the countryside
Waited for the perfect opportunity while his armies dwindled
Yeah, he never attacked Rome directly. No one's sure if he could've.
But Rome's total unwillingness to even consider surrender in the face of Hannibal?
Strong shit. They didn't know he wouldn't attack.
Benefit of hindsight gives us that. For all they knew they were facing the imminent destruction of their civilisation.
True. Not many of their vassals switched sides
40% did.
The real deep shit is why 60% didn't.
Did they? I thought that only few of them joined Hannibal and he just plundered the rest when he could and remained neutral-ish when he couldn't