Spartacus: Part 2 - Romans Tremble

First, before anything else, I want to remind the reader that these are ancient times we're dealing with. The story itself is passed along from a scant few historians and whatever archaeological evidence is left that allows it to be pieced together. Spartacus' actual thoughts are completely lost to history (as well as most of the inner workings of his camp and circles), military size of both the rebels and to a lesser extent the Romans is mostly estimation, and even the outcomes of certain battles are only known as a "win" or "loss" but not entirely by what score. So take it with a grain of salt.

A depiction of Spartacus midway through the
war, passing from his quiet nude contemplation
phase to somewhat clothed power-posing.

We left off with Rome deciding that the uprising has had their fun and it was now appropriate to put them to bed by a great show of force. Three thousand troops (a likely accurate number) were quickly sent from Rome to dispatch the small army of several hundred slaves under the command of our increasingly impressive leader Spartacus (his military's number born more of estimation than anything). Spartacus has and will find multiple chances to flee Italy to perhaps return to his homeland of Thrace or to simply go anywhere but where he was, but the fact that he stayed and continued to battle the Romans shows his true intention; Spartacus did not just wish to be free from the bonds of gladiatorial combat and Roman oppression - he wanted to see Rome itself burn to the ground. Heck, it sounds more like a movie than history. And a movie I'd want to see!

Spartacus backed towards Mount Vesuvius to regroup in a defensive position. It would be here that they defeated the first wave of Roman opposition, the three thousand or so sent towards them. Wikipedia and the Starz television show have them descending the mountain in a brilliant ambush on the Roman camp, but seeing how only one of the two (I won't say which!) is a bounty of historical knowledge, take another grain of salt with that one too. What we do know (at least kind of) is it seems likely that Spartacus himself was mostly doing the planning, but likely with the assistance of some commanders under his wing. Oenomaus may have died along the way as he is not mentioned particularly often after the initial escape, but Crixus was still kicking around. There are some that would say Crixus may have had a few issues with Spartacus' leadership, but the fact that they stayed in one group (until later, in which I will explain why they splintered) suggests otherwise. It was a rebellion growing with speed, slowly becoming better armed, and led by a commander that understands the Roman military methods. It was a force to be reckoned with.

Starz: at least it doesn't just show "Storage
Wars" and "Pawn Stars". I'm looking at you,
History Channel.

Having defeated the first assault, the rebels could continue on their path of scouring the countryside, recruiting all the while. The cruelty of the Roman masters made recruitment particularly easy, and Spartacus found the Roman lands to be full of would-be revolutionaries. They likely split their forces somewhat in order to cover more ground and speed up the recruiting process, further bolstering their ranks. However, with the increase in numbers, the slaves were difficult to control. While Spartacus personally disapproved of the action, rape and torture became increasingly more common, muddling the whole 'righteous war' angle. He had hoped to keep it relatively clean, it seems - he divided the plunder up equally (you have to fairly distribute the goods you're stealing) and demanded that merchants near the camp were simply traded with and not robbed. All the while, their numbers swelled tremendously - up to over ten thousand.

Meanwhile, Rome sprung into action. The number sent after them is not entirely known, but it seems it outnumbered the revolutionaries, and considering they had over two thousand one could guess at the number of the Romans. The reason they didn't send more is because Rome - and Italy as a whole - was mostly legion-free. Quelling rebellions in other parts of their territory and fighting with Mithradates has taken much of their military away from home, leaving it a perfect time to revolt. Regardless, they still had enough to send after Spartacus. The leader of the Roman force, Publius Varinius, with his two legates, Cossinius and (I kid you not) Furius, moved within striking distance and set up camp. Splitting up in the hope to surround and crush Spartacus in a pincer movement, Cossinius and Furius took roughly two thousand soldiers each and moved on the rebels, with Varinius behind them with the bulk of the force. Once again showing his tactical prowess, Spartacus anticipated the move, attacked one wing, annihilated that force, and quickly savaged the other before they had a chance to retreat back to the main army. Furius must have been angry. Incredibly angry. Some might even say...

...Irate.

I can't blame the slaves for wanting to revolt against Rome.
Look how uncomfortable that underwear looks. Can someone
say chafing? 

Regardless of their losses, once more Rome sent four legions (a legion probably being about four to five thousand men) to thwart Spartacus once and for all, and these were in addition to what was remaining of Varinius' forces. Spartacus' army, continuing to grow, hit numbers as high as 40,000. These numbers will be debated (wikipedia says much higher) and that's because the historical texts will say it's a higher number than it likely is. They tend to exaggerate.

Spartacus decided that to defeat these soldiers they would have to split to cover more territory and to set up the ability to flank the enemy. Sending ten thousand to Crixus, they splintered their forces into two. However, Crixus proved to be a brave warrior, but as a commander he was left wanting. His army was routed, and he was killed in the battle. Thinking they had Spartacus on the run, the Roman legions once again tried a pincer movement, but similar to the previous battle, their adversary proved the quicker. Attacking one side and routing them there, the rebels then turned on the other and drove them away as well. Considering it's a massive battle, the documentation on it is few and far between, being lost to history somewhere along the way. The important thing to remember? Spartacus won out. The score, so far, is roughly 3 or 4 to 1 in the major battle count - and the major loss belongs to Crixus.

Crixus' funeral was massive. They sacrificed hundreds of Romans by (ironically) gladiator battles to the death before executing many more. In the coming weeks his numbers would almost double to 70,000. Spartacus felt it may be time to March to the very seat of power in Rome itself.