The Social War was a civil war fought between the Roman Republic and its Italic client states from 91 to 88 BC. The Italian tribes demanded Roman citizenship and equal rights because of their cultural and historical ties to Rome and their loyalty to the Republic during its various wars over the past two centuries. Rome refused, leading to its former allies rebelling. The war devastated Italy, and the Roman general Sulla emerged from the war as a popular figure who could even rival the Cimbrian War hero Gaius Marius for power. The war came to an end in 88 BC when Rome defeated the tribal rebellions, only to grant Roman citizenship to the tribes to prevent another war; the war led to the complete Romanization of the Italian mainland.
Background[]
With the end of the Samnite Wars in 290 BC, the Roman Republic became the dominant power on the Italian peninsula, and Rome came to govern Italy with the help of its smaller Italic allies, known as Socii. These allies loyally fought alongside Rome during the Punic Wars, and, by the 2nd century BC, the Socii made up between one half and two-thirds of the Roman Army. In exchange for local autonomy, these Italic peoples served as client states of Rome. However, they received disproportionately small shares of land and citizenship rights, and, when the tribune Marcus Livius Drusus suggested granting citizenship to the Socii in 91 BC, the Roman Senate responded by assassinating him. Drusus' assassination led to Rome's Italian allies revolting; only the Latins remained loyal to Rome. The Etruscans and Umbri were offered Roman citizenship at the start of the war to secure their support.
War[]
The rebellious Socii made plans to reorganize Italia as its own independent confederation with Corfinium as its capital, and they created their own coinage to pay for their troops. The twelve allied Socii tribes fielded 120,000 warriors at the start of the war; meanwhile, the Roman Army was divided into two theatres of war, with Consul Publius Rutilius Lupus, Gaius Marius, and Pompeius Strabo commanding the northern theatre against the Marsi-led alliance and Consul Lucius Julius Caesar, Sulla, and Titus Didius commanding the southern theatre against the Samnite-led alliance.
When the Socii rebels took Asculum, they massacred every Roman they could find, and they tortured and scalped the wives of the men who refused to join them. Pompeius Strabo's four legions marched south on Picentum, only to be ambushed by Titus Vettius Scato's rebel army. Strabo found himself outnumbered and withdrew to Picenum, where he was blockaded. In 90 BC, the Romans suffered a string of humiliating defeats, with Aesernia and Nola falling to the rebels. Lucius Caesar later defeated Gaius Papius Mutilus' Samnite army and slew 6,000 rebels in the first Roman victory of the war, restoring Roman morale. However, Scato's army ambushed Rutilius' army at the River Tolenus shortly after and killed Rutilius and 8,000 of his men. After the Marsi ambush was over, Marius led another division of Rutilius' army and routed the Marsi with heavy losses. Quintus Servilius Caepio then defeated the Paeligni, and the Senate gave joint command over the Roman armies to Marius and Caepio. Marius had expected sole command, and Marius ignored Caepio's instructions. Caepio decided to withdraw towards Caeoli, but, at Sublaqueum on the Arno, Quintus Poppaedius Silo's Marsian army ambushed and massacred his force, with Poppaedius himself slaying Caepio.
The tide turned shortly after, with Marius and his former subordinate Sulla joining forces in defeating the Marsi and Marrucini, killing 6,000 rebels. Lucius Caesar's 30,000-strong army fought off a Samnite ambush at the Melfa Gorge in the Volturnus valley, reaching Teano after losing 8,000 men. Pompeius Strabo then broke out of Picenum and besieged Asculum, and, shortly after, Caesar returned to Rome and gave citizenship to any Italian with Latin rights, making citizenship eligible for any Italian who had not taken up arms against Rome. Many Italians flocked to the Roman army, depriving the rebels of their manpower. At the end of the year, Strabo defeated a rebel invasion of Etruria, killing 5,000 of them; 5,000 more died while trying to cross the Apennines.
In 89 BC, Lucius Porcius Cato took over the southern command from Lucius Caesar. Meanwhile, Gaius Vidacilius and 4,000 of his men fought their way through the siege lines to reinforce Asculum, only to commit suicide when no victory was in sight. The Romans then sortied and killed 8,000 rebels, scattering the rest. At Fucine Lake, Cato died in battle while attempting to storm the enemy camp, and Sulla assumed command of the southern front. After Strabo defeated a 60,000-strong Italian relief force, Asculum surrendered to him. Sulla then began to besiege Pompeii and Herculaneum, and he massacred 20,000 rebels before the walls of Nola. After his victory at Nola, Sulla turned north and subdued the Hirpini, and he then marched south on Samnium and stormed its capital of Bovianum in a three-hour assault. At the Aufidius River, the rebels lost 15,000 men in a decisive defeat. Poppaedius Silo recaptured Bovianum during Sulla's campaign in Campania, only to die in a failed attempt to recapture Apulia. Soon after, Herculaneum, Pompeii, and the rest of Campania surrendered to Sulla. By the end of 89 BC, most of the rebel leaders were dead, only Nola and Aesernia remained defiant, and only the Samnites in the south remained a threat. In 88 BC, with the start of the First Mithridatic War in Asia, Rome decided to end the war in Italy by granting citizenship to all of the Latin and Italic peoples, starting the complete Romanization of the peninsula.