Sulla's civil wars were a series of civil wars in which the Roman statesman and general Sulla attempted to take control of the Roman Republic. The first civil war, fought from 88 to 87 BC, resulted in Sulla marching on Rome and seizing power for himself and the conservative Optimates. The second war, fought from 83 to 81 BC, resulted in Sulla defeating Gaius Marius' supporters and becoming dictator. The civil wars crippled Roman republicanism, as the Senate could no longer command the loyalty of its own legions, which now looked up to their commanders as their real leaders. The rise of militarism in Roman politics ultimately resulted in Caesar's Civil War and the end of the Roman Republic.
Background[]
Following the political crises of the 2nd century BC and the destructive Social War, the Roman Republic was thrown into chaos. The end of the Social War saw the Roman Senate grant the Italics citizenship rights; the destruction and replacement of Italy's rural smallholdings made several poor Roman Army legionaries landless. These veterans thus demanded retirement benefits, which eventually came as a plot of land to farm. By now, the military had began looking for a champion, either in the Senate or in the army. The conservative Senate was set in its ways, however, and it refused to change its law to give land to the veterans, as the land could otherwise be used as part of their profitable plantations. The Senate's disconnect with Rome's citizens led to the soldiers looking to their commanders for compensation, so the Roman general and war hero Sulla took advantage of this when the time came to fight the First Mithridatic War.
Civil wars[]
First war[]
In 88 BC, Sulla's former superior and friend Gaius Marius attempted to take command of the war against Pontus, and Sulla responded by escaping from Rome (fleeing the angry Marian mob) to Greece and appealing to the veterans who had settled in the region. Afraid that Sulla's loss of command would mean the loss of the Pontic war loot for them, six Sullan legions marched on Rome for the first time in centuries. The rank-and-file soldiers supported Sulla, whereas the wealthy, republican officers refused. Marius attempted to defend Rome with a hastily-formed army, but, after a few hours of street fighting, he was forced out of Rome, and Sulla was installed as the sole Roman ruler. When Sulla returned to Asia Minor across the Mediterranean, the Senate turned against him in 87 BC, inviting Marius to return. Marius ushered in a reign of terror against Sulla's supporters, but, seventeen days into his consulship, Marius died of natural causes. His ally Lucius Cornelius Cinna was left as sole consul, and, as Sulla prepared a second invasion of Italy, Cinna resolved to fight. However, the Senate was unwilling to fight in another civil war, and Cinna was murdered by his mutinous troops and Sulla broke off negotiations with the Senate.
Second war[]
In 83 BC, following the end of the First Mithridatic War, Sulla landed at Brundisium with 40,000 troops. Marius' son Gaius Marius the Younger prepared an army of Marian veterans in Rome to fight Sulla. Old Sullan supporters such as Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, Marcus Licinius Crassus, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and Lucius Marcius Philippus flocked to his banner, with Metellus and Crassus raising their own armies to join him. Philippus, the Governor of Sardinia, secured the island for the Sullan cause, and Pompey raised three veteran legions from Picenum and went on to join Sulla. The Marian leader Gnaeus Papirius Carbo sent Gaius Norbanus and Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus to halt Sulla's advance, and Norbanus blocked the road to Capua as Sulla advanced into Campania. Sulla's attempts to negotiate were ignored, so, at the Battle of Mount Tifata, Sulla inflicted a crushing defeat on the Marians, with the Marians losing 6,000 men and the Sullans losing 70. Sulla's pursuit of Norbanus was halted by Scipio, but Scipio's soldiers mutinied and defected to Sulla. Scipio was delivered to Sulla, who agreed to parole him. However, Scipio went straight to Carbo in Rome. Sulla then defeated Norbanus for a second time, forcing Norbanus to flee to Rome. Metellus and all other senators with Sulla were declared enemies of the state, and Gaius Marius the Younger and Carbo were elected Consuls for 82 BC.
At the start of 83 BC, the Marians set about replenishing their forces, with Quintus Sertorius levying men in Etruria, Marius' veterans coming out of retirement to fight for his son, and the Samnites rallying against their old enemy Sulla (who had defeated them in the Social War a few years earlier). Meanwhile, Crassus recruited Sullan troops from among the Marsi, Pompey raised further legions in Picenum, and Calabrian and Apulian soldiers rallied to Sulla's armies. Sulla then advanced along the Via Latina towards Rome, while Metellus and Pompey invaded northern Italy. In the Battle of Sacriporto in Campania, Marius the Younger was routed by Sulla, losing 28,000 men to Sulla's (allegedly) 23. Sulla then marched on the now-undefended Rome, so Marius had any remaining Sullan sympathizers executed in the Curia itself and had their bodies thrown into the Tiber. The Sullans responded by massacring the whole population of Naples on the city's fall, and the towns nearest to Rome surrendered to Sulla without a fight.
When Sulla surrounded Rome, the people opened the gates to him, and the city fell without a fight. With southern Italy and Rome under Sullan control, Sulla then marched into Etruria. At Clusium, Carbo fought Sulla to a draw, and he was forced to retreat south when the Samnites and Lucanians threatened his rear. At Placentia, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus slaughtered Norbanus' exhausted troops, and Crassus and Pompey won another victory at Sena Gallica. Pompey then ambushed and defeated a Marian army sent to relieve Praeneste in southern Italy, and, when a Marian attack on Metellus near Faventia went awry, the Lucanians defected to Sulla and took Ariminum with them. Norbanus was forced to flee from Italy, and Carbo fled to Sicily after failing to relieve Marius the Younger in Praeneste. The Marians, together with the Samnites and Lucanians, marched on Rome as Sulla was preoccupied in the south, forcing Sulla to lift the siege and march north to stop them. At the Battle of the Colline Gate, 50,000 men lost their lives on the battlefield in a decisive Sullan victory. The Marian generals Lucius Junius Brutus Damasippus, Gaius Carrinas, and Gaius Marcius Censorinus were captured and executed by Sulla, and Pontius Telesinus and Marcus Lamponius' heads were displayed to Marius at Praeneste. Sulla entered Rome as a savior, and his meeting with the Senators at the Temple of Bellona was interrupted by the screams of 8,000 Marian prisoners who were being executed; Sulla told the senators that they were merely "receiving correction." Sulla then had himself declared Dictator and had supreme power over Rome, and, after Marius failed to escape through the sewers of Praeneste, he committed suicide. Sulla had most of Praeneste's defenders executed, only sparing the lives of the town's Roman citizens. He and his lieutenants then mopped up the remaining pockets of Marian resistance throughout Italy, destroying the Marian strongholds of Aesernia, Norba, and Volterra in the process.
However, Marian strongholds persisted in Sicily (led by Marcus Perperna Vento) and Hispania (led by Quintus Sertorius). Sulla sent Pompey to Sicily with 6 legions, 120 warships, and 800 transport ships, and Perpenna fled and left Sicily to Pompey, who then had Carbo executed. Domitius Ahenobarbus held North Africa, but Pompey sailed to Africa and defeated him at Utica, slaying King Hiarbas of Numidia in the process. It was not until 72 BC that the Sertorian War in Hispania ended with a Sullan victory, ending the civil wars.