Heart of the Republic - A Rome: Total War AAR
Part Twenty-Seven
The plan to invade Iberia was not as simple as Consul StevieJey had claimed. Secretly, he knew of the increasing dangers to Rome. His campaigns of the last twenty years had brought order to Gaul, and weakened Sarmatia and Carthage. It had brought relative peace to the Roman citizens, but times were changing. Saramatian and Gallic navies continued to threaten Roman shipping and in greater numbers, and it was all too clear that the Egyptian and Numidian offensives into Carthage were failing. Carthaginian armies were returning, there was potential for another great Punic War.
The Iberian campaign was not just to restore pride in the Roman military, but to distract attention away from the other fronts and to gain a strategic advantage in the west in future Gallic or African campaigns. StevieJey could afford to take the attacks in the Senate, the accusations of his starting wars for personal gain - he knew that he was working for the good of the Republic. And he always had his personal guard on hand, of course.
Even as troops were being trained for the Iberian campaign, news came in from the north of a fresh Sarmatian offensive. At Iuvavum, the Generals PrinceScampey and Captainus had held off an attack into the town, but at a heavy cost to their own troops. No new units could be sent that way to reinforce, but funds were gathered to construct a stronger wall to defend the town with. In the latest battle, Sarmatian troops had simply smashed through the defences with weak rams - in fact, PrinceScampey hadn’t bothered to defend the walls, preferring to have his troops among what little streets their were in an attempt to create a bottleneck defence. It had worked.
PrinceScampey defends the town he had taken a few years previously
The campaign in Iberia was not due to begin until 217BC, but that didn’t mean more 'covert' operations couldn’t be ordered.. Spies and assassins - some of which were veterans from missions in Africa - were sent into the peninsula with orders to target high-ranking Generals in advance of the offensive. The idea was to demoralise the enemy enough to make open battles irrelevant. It was a partial success - though many fell in failed missions, by 218BC there were still two almighty assassins capable of sneaking into enemy encampments and killing Iberian generals. Northern Iberia was not safe for its own people.
The war would be led by General Thrawnus in the north, who would cross the Pyrenees mountains towards Osca. General Killyouallus would be leading the surprise assault on the south-eastern coast, striking at Cathago-Nova, which at present was being contested by Carthage and the Iberians. The Republic would be happy to settle the matter for both of them. Meanwhile, a smaller force containing the remnants of the Gallic campaigns would assist in the far north, attempting to capture Burdigala in south-west Gaul. It was hoped - StevieJey would say expected - that all three cities would fall within a year, opening up several fronts for the campaign to continue. The money generated from the sackings would also fund new armies to reinforce the Republic’s armies. Iberia was expected to fall within a decade - two at most.
It began at Osca…
I was wondering about that too.
