Italic Wars
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| Italic Wars | |||||||
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| Part of the Sabrian Wars of Unification | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Sabrian Empire |
 Italic Tetrarchy | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Atria Razisnei Mamarce Uvilane Proclus Trenus Herius Varro Hirpinia Modia |
Opiter Remigius Lucius Ruricius Paullus Evodius Arsinia Leontia | ||||||
The Italic Wars were a series of consecutive campaigns fought between the emerging Sabrian Empire and the Italic Tetrarchy over dominion of the island of Palmarola. The conflicts were triggered by the arrival of Sabrian settlers to the island in 766 BCE as a result of the increasing need for resources of the economy of Sabria. The Italics had initially attempted to peacefully file a complaint to Legatus Atria Razisnei regarding the perceived encroachment of their sovereign territory, but this complaint never reached Razisnei who was in the midst of a campaign in Ischia. This lack of response eventually led the Italics to send a contingent to forcefully remove the Sabrians. This contingent, under the command of Publius Cornix, violently raided the settlement and killed most of its inhabitants.
News of the raid reached the Sabrian Senate and, acting in his adopted mother’s stead, Senator Mamarce Uvilane ordered the raising of three legions to return to Palmarola under the command of Proclus Trenus. The Sabrian legions made landfall near the site of the original Sabrian settlement and eventually set up their main base of operations within its ruins. Proclus engaged the Italics in a pitched battle for the first time in the spring of 764 BCE in the Histrian Forest, but was unable to decisively defeat them. Acknowledging the Sabrian superiority in armament and number, the Italics eventually engaged in irregular warfare and refused to give in to fight a large-scale battle. These Italic raids were not restricted to the invading legions in Palmarola and extended to the Sabrian towns along the coast of Pantelleria.
The rape of Constanza in 753 BCE prompted Legatus Atria to return to Sabria with her legions having made peace with Potenza and ordered them to Palmarola under Herius Varro. Varro and his four legions attempted a three-week long siege of Italica in 752 BCE, but the city’s extensive defenses and the guerilla tactics conducted by its military forced him to retire to the main Sabrian camp and combine his forces with those of Trenus. Over the course of the next decade, Varro and Trenus began a long and arduous campaign to systematically take portions of the island in an attempt to stifle Italic forces.
While this strategy was partially successful, the arrival of a young Hirpinia Modia in 748 BCE heralded significant change. A survivor of the Constanza massacre, Modia had joined the Sabrian military in an attempt to avenge her deceased family. Varro and Modia managed to finally engage Italic forces in a decisive battle in 745 BCE that devastated a large portion of the Italic military. After granting Modia command of her own legion, she began to conclusively whittle away at Italic forces through a series of victories which eventually led to the siege of Italica in 740 BCE.
The Italic Tetrarchy surrendered sometime in June 740 BCE marking an end to an over two decade long military campaign. The Italic Wars were the longest military campaign fought during the Sabrian Wars of Unification with many historical analysts attributing its length to three major factors which included the terrain of Palmarola, the irregular nature of Italic tactics, and the overly cautious approach conducted by Senator Proclus Trenus after his arrival. Although Herius was an aggressive commander, his preference for open battle often restricted his tactical usage of terrain. The war catapulted Modia to prominence in the Sabrian military as her creative strategies are often ascribed as a major factor for the shift in Sabrian initiative. Perceived as a hero who played a roll in ending the conflict, Modia would eventually be elected to Legate of the Empire a year later.