Roman-Iroquois war

Beginning and Preparations At the beginning of the 23rd century, the emperor Gaius Ducius Caesar Augustus decided, after having consolidated the territories obtained with the last expansion towards the east, to finally challenge and subjugate the barbarians in the north of the new continent. In fact, the absence of horses and wine, in addition to the strange appearance of the peoples of that continent had instilled in the Emperor the idea that, despite the fact that they had obviously an organized state, they were little more than animals, and that it would be easy to defeat them. This, even though his predecessor had faced these "barbarians", succeeding only in snatching some northern islands of little value, among which the easternmost of all, renamed by the Romans Insula Glacei. But the Emperor's desire to conquer was fueled also and above all by internal motivations; since an unforeseen demographic explosion and a senate that saw him as a weakling forced him to a new demonstration of military value, that the conquest of the territories aroundthe Urals had not satisfied. The expedition was planned. The idea was to exploit the good weather to make the fleet converge on the new colony of Insula Glacei, and then exploit the second largest colony conquered, Inuitia and its short distance from the main continent to organize a northern attack. For this expedition the imperial shipyards were put to the test for 2 years, churning out a quantity of ships never seen before in such a short time, so as to completely deforest some regions of Germania Superior. At the same time the II, VII and X legions were mobilized and reinforced, and the XXI legion, called Ducia, was created in honor of the Emperor. At the end of the preparations, which were so expensive that the Empress had to commit her jewels to subsidize the fleet, were built over a thousand ships according to the estimates of the time, but were probably between 600 and 700. The fleet sailed from the ports of Hibernia and of Britannia in June 2232 towards Insula Glacei, where an unscheduled eruption of a volcano made it impossible to dock, in addition to destroying some of the ships. The Emperor, consulted with his generals, decided to do a series of religious services that included most of the religions of the empire, so that the various deities who watched over it looked favorably at the expedition. Having done this, and after waiting several days off to be able to dock without the eruption calming down, the Emperor decided to head equally to the west despite many of his officers considered the move extremely risky.

When we saw the erupting volcano for the first time, we were all greatly disturbed, even the Italics, accustomed to their volcanoes, looked frightened. However, the Emperor did not say anything, merely clenching his fists on his hips, before summoning his generals. While many hid or prayed their gods I distinctly heard [the Emperor] complaining to his slave that he had spilled the wine instead of pouring it into his cup

From the journal of Artorius Garrus, commander of the Aquila Aurea, the fleet flagship
First contact Evidently the deities had not been satisfied by the prayers, as a strong wind coming from the north forced the fleet to moor near the point where the city of Nova Eboracum would have been founded, right in enemy territory. However, luck was not completely against the Emperor, in fact that area had been left almost unguarded because, being so central to their Empire, neither the sovereign nor the Iroquois generals had ever thought possible that someone decided to dock there, and then find themselves surrounded by enemy territory. But, while it was not excessively fortified, that area still possessed an important port, which contained several warships, as well as a permanent garrison of 300 men. The naval battle was won by the Romans, though demoralized and hungry, only thanks to the numerical superiority and the surprise, which did not allow the enemy fleet to organize effectively, and none of the Iroquois ships escaped from the battle. Once a bridgehead was established in the Iroquois territory, the actual war operations began; the ships still in good condition were used for hit and run attacks against the other Iroquois ports, so as to cause delays in the preparation of an answer, while several avant-gardes of explorers began to enter deep into the enemy territory, so as to get a precise idea of the territory and the possibilities of raid.
The march to Niskayuna Two weeks after landing, the legions began the march to the enemy capital, Niskayuna. While the II legion and the X continued in a direct northward direction, the VII received the order to cover the right flank while the XXI covered the left one. However, the Iroquois had not stayed still, and at the beginning of July a contingent of 20,000 Iroquois soldiers intercepted the legions near the Saratoga lake. After a hard battle the victory smiled to the Roman troops. Defeated the Iroquois forces the legions resumed the march, arriving at Niskayuna and besieging it, however the morale was low, both because reinforcements would not arrive until the following spring, and because rumors were circulating that the Iroquois were amassing a force 10 times bigger than the one just defeated. The Emperor Gaius Ducius then, recalling the lesson of the great Gaius Iulius Caesar in Alesia, built a ring camp, so that nothing could get out of the city, and at the same time nothing could attack the besiegers. The reinforcements arrived, but they were not enough to make the Roman troops desist from the siege, and after 6 months of siege the city fell to besiegers hungry almost as much as the besieged. Both the battle of Lake Saratoga and the siege demanded their tribute to the legionaries, and the XXI legion was dissolved and merged into the other three, in order to bring them back to full capacity.
Ending and Aftermath Defeated the bulk of the Iroquois forces and conquered two of the most important cities of the enemy Empire the rest of the campaign was reduced to a series of cleaning operations; however a series of reward for delactors and those who had sided with the conquerors helped a lot Romans to gain control of the territory, while also assisted by the arrival of another legion, the XI Fulminata. Unfortunately, Emperor Gaius Ducius could not enjoy the fruits of his victory for long, because a mysterious illness, probably a particularly virulent case of syphilis, led him to a rapid death before returning to Italy.

The Conflict

Prelude

Growing internale pressure in the Roman Empire, and the desire to avenge the previous defeat.

Deployment

In total five legions and a fleet of 600-700 ships on the Roman side. A fleet of 200-300 ships and a total of 60000 soldiers on the Iroquois side.

Battlefield

The Northern-Eastern part of the Mayan continent.

Outcome

The conquest of the north--easter territories.

Aftermath

The establishment of a foothold on the continent as a base to wage war with the Mayans.

Historical Significance

In Literature

This war has been the setting of different works, not only in literature but in almost any medium.

Included Conflicts

• The Siege of Niskayuna

Conflict Type

Military Campaign

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

June 2232

Ending Date

September 2233

Conflict Result

The Roman Empire emerged victorious, and was the birth of the province of Irochesia.