The seven sackings of the subtitle are the Gauls, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Normans, Hapsburgs, French and Nazis. In the year 387 BC, about 10 miles north of the city, an army of the Republic, less than 10,000 men, prepared for an attack by the Gauls. Although the Romans were organized and disciplined, they fell before the savage ferocity of the invaders. The Gauls soon descended on a city that was home to about 25,000 people. According to Livy, whom the author suggests simply synthesized tales and myths into history, the Romans defended the city, and bought their freedom from the marauders for 1,000 pounds of gold. Afterward, they built a new wall and reorganized the army.
Rome reigned supreme for over seven centuries until the 4th century AD. The Visigoths in 378 crushed a Roman army at Adrianople and killed the Emperor Valens. Led by Alaric, they sacked Athens, and proceeded to lay waste to northern Italy. Alaric headed south and in November, 408, a horde of 150,000, a fifth of them warriors, appeared outside the gates of Rome. The city that Alaric approached was much changed from its heyday in the 2nd century. It was half its size, with about 800,000 residents. It was not as rich as it once had been after centuries of internecine warfare and endless defense of the realm. Most of the Temples were abandoned because of the ascent of Christianity. Trade, prosperity, and wealth were all a fraction of what they were in the past. Surrounded, the city began to starve. The Goths were bought off, but it was only a matter of time because they entered the city two years later. As they were Christians, it is believed their three days in the city were not a classic rampage and sacking. Most of the city's great buildings and monuments survived but Rome did lose half its population.
One hundred and twenty-seven years later, Ostrogoths would do much greater damage than their cousins had. The last western Emperor had quietly retired in 476. The Ostrogoth, Theodoric, took over as king and ruled for decades, but a succession issue led to the Eastern Emperor Justinian sending an army to Italy. While the Gothic leader was in the north, Count Belisarius led a Roman army into the city. Rome was a fraction of her former self, occupied in the sixth century by only tens of thousands. The Ostrogoths vastly outnumbered Belisarius and began a siege by cutting off food and water to the city. The Goths broke it off after a year and Belisarius returned to the east. A new Gothic leader returned stronger and wiser and entered the city in 546. This time, the Goths truly sacked Rome and brought it low. It was emptied and deserted. The Goths faded away and the city slowly came back to life. It was a diminished place, but slowly recovering under the tutelage of the new potentates, the Popes. Later, when the Muslims overran Jerusalem, it became the first city of Christendom.
In 1077, King Henry IV of Germany, Burgundy and Italy came to Italy to prostrate himself before Pope Gregory VII. "Four years later, in May 1081, King Henry appeared outside Rome at the head of an army, keen to enjoy a little revenge." After decades of corruption and moral failure, the papacy was assumed by Gregory who intended to reform the church, if not the continent. He had clashed with Henry, but Henry strengthened his base in Germany and marched south desirous of a papal coronation. Henry wasn't very well prepared and immediately disengaged. His on again, off again campaign finally succeeded and three years later when he was crowned Emperor in March, 1084.The Romans had repudiated Gregory and locked him away. He had requested help from his ally, Robert Guiscard, the Norman leader in the south of Italy. As the Germans left, the Normans entered and returned Gregory to St. Peter's, but in the confusion, substantial parts of the city burned. Gregory was compelled to leave for the south with Guiscard. As it always had, the city recovered.
Clement VII, a Medici allied to the Emperor Charles V became pope in 1523. Clement was a pious man hopeful of leading a reform as Martin Luther was stirring up the Christian world. When Charles, who was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, was offended by Clement's dalliance with Francis I of France, he sent an army to depose the pope. The city in the 16th century had retained its cosmopolitan feel, was up to a population of 80,000 and had a Jewish community of 2,000. Although St. Peter's was being reconstructed, the Vatican was on the way to becoming the largest palace in Europe. Still protected by a wall, the city withstood the beginning of the Imperial siege. However, the army of 20,000 was soon inside the walls and unleashed the most vicious thrashing the city had ever seen. There were at least three full days of rape, pillage and plunder. Neither the clergy nor church property was spared. Plague struck the city and still, the soldiers stayed for ten months. They extracted every ducat they could find. Yet, in the ever-shifting world of Imperial and Italian politics, six years later, Clement crowned Charles Holy Roman Emperor.
The revolutions of 1848 swept the continent and triumphed in Italy in February, 1849 with the establishment of a new Roman Republic under the leadership of Italian patriots, Mazzini and Garibaldi. The previous fall, the pope had sought sanctuary with the conservative King of Naples. The forces of reaction recovered from the tumult and desired to place Pius IX back on the throne. It was a French army that came to Rome that spring to reinstate the pope and still any discussion of a unified Italy. The army breached the defenses on April 30. Pius and his cardinals sought revenge and absolute control. The Papal States had but two decades before unification ended the Church's days as a temporal power. When the time came and the Pope was limited to ruling Vatican City, Pius declared himself and his successors infallible in matters of religion.
In July of 1943, the Fascist Grand Council stripped Mussolini of his power and appointed King Emanuele as commander-in-chief. The king promptly removed Mussolini from office and arrested him a week later. In September, Hitler's soldiers, knowing full well that the Italian assurances about continuing the war were not believable, occupied the Eternal City, once again home to a million-and-a-half people. The German occupation was an immediate threat to the the thousands of Allied pilots in hiding and the city's Jews. The first roundup was in October and 1,000 of Rome's 12,000 Jews were on their way to Auschwitz. As winter approached, food became scarce and a curfew kept Romans in, even on Christmas Eve. To the west, a battle was raging after the Allies landed at Anzio. When the Germans staged equipment in the city, the Allies bombed it, creating a huge antipathy to them. In March, the Germans massacred 335 men and boys in retaliation for a partisan attack on a small SS unit. The Allied breakthrough seemed to take forever, but finally materialized in May. The Americans were soon pouring into Rome. Once again, Rome had survived.
This is a unique and interesting way to tell the story of a city. I suspect anyone who ever took a Latin course, or took an Ancient Roman course or Medieval Europe course, or anyone who has ever visited Rome, would enjoy this book.
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