The Caudine Forks 321 BC: Rome's most humiliating defeat

In its long history, Rome suffered many defeats, but none were as humiliating as the Caudine Forks in 321 BC. Rome had been at war with the Samnite League since 328 BC. The rising powers vied for supremacy in central and southern Italy, and their leaders were contemplating the conquest of Italy. The new Roman consuls of 321 BC were the ambitious, but militarily inexperienced, Veturius Calvinus and Postumius Albinus. They were determined to inflict a massive blow on the Samnites but their troops were instead surprised, encircled and destroyed. The survivors were forced to retreat under the yoke in a humiliation worse than death. This new study, using specially commissioned artwork and maps, analyses why the Romans were so comprehensively defeated at the Caudine Forks, explains why the aftermath of their defeat was so humiliating and how it spurred them on to their eventual triumph over the Samnites.