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I do not discuss today the Failures of Crusaders, British Imperialists, Americans or NATO. Only the Roman Empire.
The amazing long succession of failures, military catastrophes and defeats of Westerners, including Europeans, Romans, Crusaders, etc .... Culmination : the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars of our days.
This is my chapter one mainly concerned with the Roman Empire. I quote so much from Wikipedia, that you may consider me a copyst and I would not be offended. But this long rosary of failures and defeats is no invention or lies of my imagination. You may check the Wikipedia against my assertions.
Enter Rome, imperfect "Republic" ( The Public Thing ) in which the nobility of Patricians disputed and usurped power from the equastrian class and the people. The people became corrupted as a Populace or "Plebs". Very Plebeyan People that only wanted "Panem et Circens", that is "Bread and Violent Spectacles".
The Romans always had the most stupid ideas of conquering the Middle East and were only partially successful in the closer parts of Turkey or the Holy Land of Israel, Syria and Egypt.
But once the Romans went further they constantly failed.
Marcus Licinius Crassus (ca. 115 BC – 53 BC) was a Roman general and politician who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar and entered into the political alliance known as the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Julius Caesar. At the height of his fortune he was allegedly worth more than 200,000,000 sestertii. He is considered the wealthiest man in Roman history, and perhaps one of the richest men in all history. Crassus nonetheless desired recognition for his military victories; this ambition for acclaim eventually led him into Syria, where he was defeated and killed in the Roman defeat at Carrhae against a Parthian Spahbod (General) named Surena.
Next Marc Anthony or Marcus Antonius ( 83 BC – 30 BC), lover of Cleopatra
But by now, Antony was skeptical of Octavian's true support of his Parthian cause. Leaving Octavia pregnant with her second child Antonia in Rome, he sailed to Alexandria, where he expected funding from Cleopatra, the mother of his twins. The queen of Egypt lent him the money he needed for the army, and after capturing Jerusalem and surrounding areas in 37 BC, he installed Herod as puppet king of Judaea, replacing the Parthian appointee Antigonus. Antony then invaded Parthian territory with an army of about 100,000 Roman and allied troops but the campaign proved a disaster. After defeats in battle, the desertion of his Armenian allies and his failure to capture Parthian strongholds convinced Antony to retreat, his army was further depleted by the hardships of its retreat through Armenia in the depths of winter, losing more than a quarter of its strength in the course of the campaign.
Trajan ( 53 – 117), was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD.
It was at this point that Trajan's health started to fail him. The fortress city of Hatra, on the Tigris in his rear, continued to hold out against repeated Roman assaults. He was personally present at the siege and it is possible that he suffered a heat stroke while in the blazing heat. Shortly afterwards, the Jews inside the Eastern Roman Empire rose up in rebellion once more, as did the people of Mesopotamia. Trajan was forced to withdraw his army in order to put down the revolts. Trajan saw it as simply a temporary setback, but he was destined never to command an army in the field again, turning his Eastern armies over to the high ranking legate and governor of Judaea, Lusius Quietus, who in early 116 had been in charge of the Roman division who had recovered Nisibis and Edessa from the rebels;[31] Quietus was promised a consulate in the following year (118 AD) for his victories but he was murdered before this could occur. It has been theorized that Quietus was executed on the orders of the new emperor, Hadrian, for fear of Quietus' popular standing with the army and his close connections to Trajan.
Note from Vicente : This conquests of Trajan were useless because Emperor Hadrian was extremely intelligent and returned the conquered territories to their old kings. Hadrian knew that these conquests were crazy because Rome did not have the Military Power and Will to fight War constantly for them. Obama is our Emperor Hadrian.
Emperor Aurelian ( 214 or 215 – 275), was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275
In 275, Aurelian marched towards Asia Minor, preparing another campaign against the Sassanids: the deaths of Kings Shapur I (272) and Hormizd I (273) in quick succession, and the rise to power of a weakened ruler (Bahram I), set the possibility to attack the Sassanid Empire.
On his way, the Emperor suppressed a revolt in Gaul — possibly against Faustinus, an officer or usurper of Tetricus — and defeated barbarian marauders in Vindelicia (Germany).
However, Aurelian never reached Persia, as he was murdered while waiting in Thrace to cross into Asia Minor.
Note from Vicente : Aurelian was a Great Warrior and Conqueror but his conquests in Asia Minor were difficult to hold after his assassination, and the Roman Empire became weak.
Emperor Julian "the Apostate" ( 331/332 – 363)
This proved to be a hasty decision, for they were on the wrong side of the Tigris with no clear means of retreat and the Persians had begun to harass them from a distance, burning any food in the Romans' path. A second council of war on 16 June 363 decided that the best course of action was to lead the army back to the safety of Roman borders, not through Mesopotamia, but northward to Corduene.[72][73]
[edit] Death
Detail from the Sassanian relief of the incoronation of Ardashir II showing a defeated Julian.
During the withdrawal Julian's forces suffered several attacks from Sassanid forces.[73] In one such engagement on 26 June 363, the indecisive Battle of Samarra near Maranga, Julian was wounded when the Sassanid army raided his column. In the haste of pursuing the retreating enemy, Julian chose speed rather than caution, taking only his sword and leaving his coat of mail.[74] He received a wound from a spear that reportedly pierced the lower lobe of his liver, the peritoneum and intestines. The wound was not immediately deadly. Julian was treated by his personal physician, Oribasius of Pergamum, who seems to have made every attempt to treat the wound. This probably included the irrigation of the wound with a dark wine, and a procedure known as gastrorrhaphy, the suturing of the damaged intestine. On the third day a major hemorrhage occurred and the emperor died during the night.[75][76] As Julian wished, his body was buried outside Tarsus, though it was later removed to Constantinople.[77]
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There are more defeats of the Romans in the Middle East Hinterland. I am only scratching the surface and the readers have to be merciful on this humble scribe. I may add more emperors, and roman generals defeated in the Middle East.
Wait for the Crusaders and other "Western Civilization" fools trying to conquer the Middle East.
With Love :
Vicente Duque
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