This Day in History

In 390 B.C. or 387, a Gallic leader named Brennus led somewhere between 30 and 70 thousand Gauls against roughly half as many Romans. In later years, they might have survived such odds, but now then. Badly outnumbered, the Romans lost to the Gauls at the Battle of the Allia, a tributary of the Tiber, on July 18.
The Battle of the Allia was one of the worst defeats in Roman history.
According to Academic Presentations on The Roman Empire, this battle taught the Romans that their phalanx and javelin style of fighting was no match for the slashing sword technique of the Gauls and led to Roman military innovations, like the scutum and the gladius.
Read more about The Battle of the Allia.
Worst Roman Defeats

July Calendar | Daily Quiz | God of the Day