Carrhae, the Battle that Broke the Roman Republic

The Roman Republic, like every other empire saved a select few, built on military conquest and stabbing one's neighbours in the neck. And when it came to neck stabbing, the growing nation proved itself particularly adept at this, overcoming all opposition, such as the Etruscans, Samnites, and Greeks, and even two close calls with Carthage. They did suffer some setbacks, as the after-mentioned Punic Wars nearly broke Rome, and also other disastrous engagement including but not limited to the battle of Cannae, Arausio and Allia. However, the republic managed to bounce back every time and return stronger than ever, except once. The battle of Carrhae, fought between Rome and Parthia, had such a catastrophic outcome that it massively expediate the disintegration of the Roman Republic from which, after decades of civil wars, the Roman Empire would rise from.  

But what exactly happened?  

To better understand how this catastrophe happened, we must first look at the state of the Roman Republic and its major players. The republic, to be frank, wasn’t doing well at this time. Although militarily it was still a force to be reckoned with, conquering and annexing vast swathes of land, on an internal plan, things were far more dire. The Roman Senate was completely rotten to the core, plagued with infighting, corruption and unwilling to adapt. The seat of consuls, once a prestigious office commanding authority, had been reduced to little more than a tool of power struggle, while mounting unrest was being weaponized by the senators. Things temporarily stabilized a bit when the three most influential men banded together to keep everything from imploding and creating the first Triumvirate. Firstly, we have the man, the myth, the legend, Gaius Julius Caesar, who at the time was closing his conquest of the Gallic Tribes, becoming the largest land conquest made by Rome in a single campaign. Next was a longtime friend of Caesar but increasingly turning rival, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, conqueror of the Kingdom of Pontus in Anatolia and bane of Mediterranean pirates. And finally we have the, ‘hero’ of our tale, Marcus Licinius Crassus, the richest man in Rome and unknowingly the master mind behind the crushing of Spartacus’ slave uprising.   

Now the Triumvirate, although starting of good will, was already cracking shortly after being formed. Caesar was growing increasingly frustrated by the petty squabbles of the senate, and fancied more and more calling the shots, while Pompey grew jealous of his old friend’s growing fame. However, neither man sought to go after each other as Caesar was still busy racking up things with Vercingetorix, while Crassus served as a deterrent to Pompey. You see, Crassus was the only man in Rome richer than Pompey, and with the latter having stolen the glory of the former for the campaign against Spartacus, the two weren’t on friendly terms. On top of this, Crassus also felt a deep sense of inferiority compared to his allies, as despite the overwhelming wealth, he was by far the least decorated military-wise. Even if his victory over the aforementioned slave rebellion, it still palled compare to what Pompey did, and Caesar is achieving. As such, seeking out his time of glory, the man decided to mount his own military expedition aiming at conquering the lands of Parthia in the east. Had this succeeded, this would have made him the most prestigious Roman general in the history of both the republic and the empire. Unfortunately, it backfired horribly. 

Crassus, using his position as Proconsul of Syria, tried to intervene in a war of succession by supporting Mithridates against his brother Orodes. However, he took too long to gather his forces, and Mithridates was defeated and executed before he was ready to move. Once he got his forces ready, Crassus decided that it would be silly to let them go to waste and invade anyway, either driven by personal greed, patriotism or both. Now his army counted around 40 thousand men, with 31 thousand Roman legionaries, 5 thousand cavalry and 4 thousand auxiliaries, led by an aging but still capable Crassus. After setting for the Parthian lands, the Romans were contacted by the Armenian king Artavasdes, proposing to provide Crassus’ forces with 6 thousand more horsemen as well as a safe passage through his lands directly into the Parthian heartland. However embolden by their past experiences in the region, where the legions often fought outnumbered and still came out on top of their enemies, the roman rejected the offer. Early victories against inferior Greek garrisons would only validate that this was going to be another easy campaign, leading Crassus to grow careless. After failed attempts from Orodes to seek out a peaceful resolution, Crassus led his men south toward the town of Carrhae. This would be where a small vanguard force led by Surena would confront the Roman host while the main forces were marching on the Armenians lead by Orodes himself.   

Upon hearing about the approaching Parthians being an all-mounted force, Crassus got his men into a defensive square formation to prevent being outflanked. Surena’s forces showed up and immediately surrounded the Romans, revealing that almost all of them were mounted archers, which Rome would learn to despise. The Parthians immediatly unleashed a storm of arrows, but Crassus wasn’t worried at all, and in fact, he counted on this to happen. You see, mounted archers tend to carry limited ammunition, and with the Roman infantry being heavily armoured, Crassus planned to endure the volleys until the Parthians ran out of arrows and engage. But as time went on and the arrows kept pouring in, which was unusual until the aging politician spotted an army of camels bringing the mounted archers more ammunition, meaning they had a lot more shots than anticipated. This created a problem as although the Roman legionaries were well protected,the sheer amount of projectile would lead to stray arrows foind there ways in and wound or kill a man. Crassus, however, was left with little to do as his forces were too static to close the gap while his own squirmishers too few to compete. As the day went on, Crassus grew more desperate as more and more of his men fell wounded and killed by stray arrows, sent out his cavalry led by his son Publius to created a breakthrough. Part of the Parthians would chase them away. 

As the day drew near, Crassus, hearing news that his son was in trouble, ordered the entire square to move forward. This was a difficult maneuver, but the well-disciplined Roman legionaries could pull it off. In the end, they didn’t need to, as a Parthian rider soon approached the Romans, presenting them with the severed head of Publius. This, on top of the dire situation they were already in, nearly broke the entire army. The only thing that kept them was seeing the Parthians mercilessly massacring a small contingent trying to make a run for it. Crassus, on the other hand, was completely broken by the death of his son and would stop giving orders from this point on. The Romans would gain relief as night fell, since the Parthians didn’t like fighting in the dark. The surviving legionaries set up a camp, and two high-ranking officers took command as Crassus wasn’t doing anything anymore. Figuring out that staying here would only mean a slow death, they made the decision to make a run for the nearby town, Carrhae. Many were left behind, too injured to walk, and the Parthians would kill them in the morning. The long march was a disaster, between the near total darkness and the paranoia of Parthian attacks, a lot of men ended up lost in the Mesopotamian plains, and they too would die the next day.  

The rest of the forces would ultimately reach the town, soon to be caught up by Surena and his riders. Knowing he couldn’t break into this fortified place, he opted to negotiate with the trapped Romans and promised to let them leave if Crassus himself came out to formally surrender. Although the Roman general was still too broken to care, his men quickly ‘convinced’ him to deal with the Parthians outside. What followed was one of the strangest moments in history, if records are true. Surena tried to humiliate Crassus by having his mount a golden ornate horse and running him around the field like a child. This lead to a fight between the Parthians and Crassus’ retinue that had gotten out with him, all of them, including Crassus, would wound up dead.  

Out of the 40 thousand men that marched into Parthia, only 5 thousand would return to tell the tale. This may not sound like much, as although the loss of 35 thousand soldiers was nothing to scoff at, it still paled compared to Cannae and Allia. The real damage, however, was that Crassus, the only man holding the Triumvirate together, died at the worst time possible. You see, Caesar was still bogged down in Rome while Pompey had now free rein to lead the Senate against him. All of this would trigger decades of civil-war, tearing the Republic asunder until Ceasar’s chosen heir, Octavius, would rise as the first Roman Emperor and take the name of Augustus.