The Social War, 91 to 88 BCE: A History of the Italian Insurgency against the Roman Republic

The Social War was a significant uprising against the Roman state by Rome’s allies in Italy. The conflict lasted little more than two and a half years but it is widely recognised as having been immensely important in the unification of Roman Italy. Between 91 and 88 BCE a brutal campaign was waged but the ancient sources preserve scant information about the war. In turn, this has given rise to conflicting accounts of the war in modern scholarship and often contradictory interpretations.

This...