60 of 60 events · showing 1–20
Country in southern Europe
431 BCE – 25 April 404 BCE
The Peloponnesian War was fought in the Eastern Mediterranean between the Athenian-led Delian League and the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League from 431 to 404 BC for hegemony over Ancient Greece. Initially inconclusive, the intervention of the Persian Empire in support of Sparta in 413 BC allowed the Spartan coalition to decisively defeat Athens, beginning a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece.
18 July 387 BCE
The Battle of the Allia was fought c. 387 BC between the Senones – a Gallic tribe led by Brennus, who had invaded Northern Italy – and the Roman Republic. The battle was fought at the confluence of the Tiber river and Allia brook, 11 Roman miles (16 km, 10 mi) north of Rome.
280 BCE
The Battle of Heraclea took place in 280 BC between the Romans under the command of consul Publius Valerius Laevinus, and the combined forces of Greeks from Epirus, Tarentum, Thurii, Metapontum, and Heraclea under the command of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Although the battle was a victory for the Greeks, they incurred severe losses.
279 BCE
The Battle of Asculum was a battle that took place near Asculum (modern Ascoli Satriano) in 279 BC, and was thought to have lasted either one or two days, between the Roman Republic under the command of the consuls Publius Decius Mus (who by some accounts died before the battle) and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio, and the forces of King Pyrrhus of Epirus. The battle took place during the Pyrrhic War, after the Battle of Heraclea of 280 BC, which was the first battle of the war.
275 BCE
The Battle of Beneventum (275 BC) was the last battle of the Pyrrhic War. It was fought near Beneventum, in southern Italy, between the forces of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus in Greece, and the Romans, led by consul Manius Curius Dentatus.
261 BCE
The Battle of Agrigentum (Sicily, 262 BC) was the first pitched battle of the First Punic War and the first large-scale military confrontation between Carthage and the Roman Republic. The battle was fought after a long siege which started in 262 BC and resulted both in a Roman victory and the beginning of Roman control of Sicily.
260 BCE
The Battle of Mylae took place in 260 BC during the First Punic War and was the first real naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Republic. This battle was key in the Roman victory of Mylae (present-day Milazzo) as well as Sicily itself.
241 BCE
The Battle of the Aegates was a naval battle fought on 10 March 241 BC between the fleets of Carthage and Rome during the First Punic War. It took place among the Aegates Islands, off the western coast of the island of Sicily.
November 218 BCE
The Battle of Ticinus was fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and a Roman army under Publius Cornelius Scipio in late November 218 BC as part of the Second Punic War. It took place in the flat country on the right bank of the river Ticinus, to the west of modern Pavia in northern Italy.
December 218 BCE
The Battle of the Trebia (or Trebbia) was the first major battle of the Second Punic War, fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and a Roman army under Sempronius Longus on 22 or 23 December 218 BC. Each army had a strength of about 40,000 men; the Carthaginians were stronger in cavalry, the Romans in infantry. The battle took place on the flood plain of the west bank of the lower Trebia River, not far from the settlement of Placentia (modern Piacenza), and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.
21 June 217 BCE
The Battle of Lake Trasimene was fought when a Carthaginian force under Hannibal ambushed a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius on 21 June 217 BC, during the Second Punic War. The battle took place on the north shore of Lake Trasimene, to the south of Cortona, and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.
2 August 216 BCE
The Battle of Cannae (; Latin: [ˈkanːae̯]) was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and their allies, led by Hannibal, surrounded and practically annihilated a larger Roman and Italian army under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro.
207 BCE
The Battle of the Metaurus was a pivotal battle in the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, fought in 207 BC near the Metauro River in Italy. The Carthaginians were led by Hasdrubal Barca, brother of Hannibal, who was to have brought siege equipment and reinforcements for Hannibal.
135 BCE – 132 BCE
The First Servile War of 135–132 BC (also known as the First Sicilian Slave War) was a slave rebellion against the Roman Republic, which took place in Sicily. The revolt started in 135 when Eunus, a slave from Syria who claimed to be a prophet, captured the city of Enna in the middle of the island with 400 fellow slaves.
91 BCE – 88 BCE
The Social War (from Latin bellum sociale, "war of the allies"), also known as the Italian War or the Marsic War, was fought between the Roman Republic and several of its autonomous allies (socii), largely from 91 to 88 BC in Italy, with some holdouts persisting until 87 BC. The war started in late 91 BC with the rebellion of Asculum. Other Italian towns also rebelled and the Roman response was initially confused.
28 October 312
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October AD 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber.
June 533 – March 534
The Vandalic War (533–534) was a conflict fought in North Africa between the forces of the Byzantine Empire (also known as the Eastern Roman Empire) and the Germanic Vandal Kingdom. It was the first war of Emperor Justinian I's Renovatio imperii Romanorum, wherein the Byzantines attempted to reassert Roman sovereignty over territory formerly controlled by the Western Roman Empire.
July 552
The Battle of Taginae or Battle of Busta Gallorum took place in July 552 AD, where Byzantines led by Narses defeated the Ostrogoths (Goths) under King Totila in the late stages of the Gothic War (535–554). The Byzantine victory paved the way for the Byzantine reconquest of the Italian Peninsula and the dissolution of the Gothic Kingdom.
October 552
The Battle of Mons Lactarius took place in October 552 during the Gothic War (535–554) between Byzantine forces and the Ostrogoths (Goths) at Mount Lactarius near Mount Vesuvius in Italy. After the defeat and death of the Gothic King Totila at the Battle of Taginae, Teia was chosen as the new Gothic king, who attempted to gather allies and the remaining Gothic forces.
29 May 1176
The Battle of Legnano was fought on 29 May 1176 between the army of Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, and the forces of the Lombard League near Legnano, between Milan and Como, in the Kingdom of Italy. It was the climactic field engagement of Frederick's fifth Italian campaign and one of the most consequential battles of the long conflict between the emperor, the northern Italian communes and Pope Alexander III. The encounter itself arose unexpectedly from manoeuvres by two armies that were aware of one another but did not possess precise information about the other's position.