The so-called Lusitanian War, like the Celtiberian Wars, was a direct result of the Carthaginian collapse in Iberia at the end of the Second Punic War. It would be a long and gruelling fight that would spill much Roman blood and see them suffer a series of humiliations at the hands of much less numerous and poorly armed tribes. In the end it would force the Romans to adopt tactics condemned by contemporaries for their treachery and brutality – nevermind that the sensibilities then were not quite as refined as today’s.
The initial objective of Rome in Iberia was to disrupt Carthaginian access to a region that provided its most reliable source of manpower and precious metals, thus the initial Roman involvement in Iberia wasn't necessarily part of any predetermined imperialistic plan. The same factors that brought Carthage to Iberia later compelled the Romans to stay too. A strong argument can be made that those same material factors, if others are also taken into consideration – namely political, strategic, social and cultural factors - best explain the continual Roman presence and conquest of the rest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Following Mago’s defeat at Ilipa in 206 B.C, Punic power in Iberia was irreversibly broken and the Romans were left to administer territories formerly owned by or allied to them. They inherited a land that was only tenuously held together, inhabited by tribes that did not take lightly to occupation. As soon as the Iberian tribes realized that they hadn’t gained their freedom but merely gained new masters, they began open war against Rome and her allies.
For the next decades the area was the stage of a vicious cycle where the extortions of greedy and corrupt Roman governors ignited local rebellions, the early successes of which eventually gave way to enormously violent Roman retaliations. To better cope with these revolts, reinforcements were sent to Iberia and in 197 B.C the Senate reorganized Iberia into two new provinces. A province would be formed in the North-East of the Peninsula, named Hispania Citerior (literally Nearer Hispania) and another from the South-East to the territories west of Gades, the Hispania Ulterior (Further Hispania). Each was administered by a governor who also possessed military authority within his territories.
The Carthaginians maintained their authority through a system of local alliances that stretched far beyond Carthaginian-controlled areas. The Roman reliance on force in these early years, and the disruptions to Roman authority due to widespread rebellions, effectively permitted and even encouraged the inland tribes to raid and intervene on the side of the other Iberians in the battles raging in the two provinces. It is in this context that the Lusitani first appear in Roman territory. Roman forces defeated a band of Lusitani raiding Turdetania in 194 B.C., and the next year a large army of Lusitani, leading a confederation of Vaccei, Vettones and Carpetani, was defeated near Toletum (modern Toledo, Spain).
While the Romans emerged victorious in both encounters, they dispelled any illusions of safety the Roman had placed on their defences of the Western bank of the Guadalquivir. Three years later, in 190 B.C, the Lusitani handed the Romans their first real defeat, when the forces of the Praetor Lucius Aemilius Paulus were soundly defeated by a Lusitani army that had invaded in support of the rebelling Bastetani. For the next years, incursions were so constant and serious that Consuls and their larger armies were assigned to the Iberian provinces instead of Praetors.
The conflict continued and escalated up to 153/2 B.C., when 2 Lusitani armies operated simultaneously across Hispania. The first under Caesarus would go on to cause 9000 Roman casualties after being victorious over Lucius Mummius, who in the mean time had arrived from Rome with a 14.000-men army. The other army, under a man called Caucenos, destroyed the capital of the Roman allies, the Conii, and would then even cross over into Africa and not only ravaged the countryside but also besieged the city of Ocilis!
The victory over Mummius was also significant in that it inspired the Celtiberians to resume their war on the Romans. After being taunted by the Lusitani, who paraded their captured arms and standards, they felt compelled to also resist. In 152, the remains of Quintus Fulvius Nobilior’s consular army limped back to the Ebro and handed over to Claudius Marcellus, the Consul for the next year.
Back in Lusitania, the legions under Lucius Mummius had managed to rally, and together with some allies managed to surprise Caesarus, defeating him while encumbered with booty. He would then follow Caucenos into Africa and destroy his army as well - feats that would later earn him a Triumph back in Rome.
To his successor, Marcus Atilius, would fall the task of submitting the rest of the Lusitani. In a daring incursion he would reduce the largest Lusitani city, Oxtrakae, and force a peace treaty onto its people and all the neighbouring tribes. However, as neither of the parties represented their entire people, peace lasted only until Atilius had gone into winter quarters, and soon enough all of Roman Beturia was under siege again.
Back in Celtiberia, it would take a somewhat disadvantageous treaty for Rome, forcibly rectified by Marcellus and the people of Rome to bring a rare period of peace to the Central Meseta which lasted…8 whole years.
Replacing the Consul Marcellus in 151/0 were a pair of men who fit perfectly the idea of the greedy, corrupt and treacherous Roman governors in Hispania – Lucius Licinius Luculus and Servius Sulpicius Galba. Seeking to get rich and gain political advancements, Galba quickly subdued Celtiberia and travelled south to attack the Lusitani near the Northwestern border of Ulterior. There he suffered a humiliating defeat that cost him 7000 Roman citizens. The terrible defeat sent him into early winter quarters at Carmone (modern Carmona, Spain).
Galba's colleague, the Consul Luculus, was operating in Hispania Citerior at the time, failed to take the city of Cauca (modern Coca, Spain) by siege and instead signed a treaty wherein 2000 Roman soldiers would be allowed a presence in the city. Once inside the city, however, he betrayed the treaty and had the population, approaching 20,000 people, massacred. The brutal act brought shame to Rome, and resulted in a massive uprising. When Luculus was unable to contain the uprising at the sieges of Intercatia and Pallantia, and instead suffered heavy losses, especially to the Vaccei cavalry, he turned south to join Galba in Turdetania.
Both men joined forces in 150 B.C, and dedicated themselves to solving the Lusitani problem once and for all. Since force seemed not to break the will of the intrepid Hispanics, they would resort to another strategy. Similarly to what happened at Cauca they offered a peace treaty, which they had no intention of respecting. Having announced that those Lusitani who were willing to lay down their weapons would be offered tracts of land inside the Roman provinces, 30,000 people assembled, ready to live in peace with Rome. They were divided between three camps, and after laying down their weapons Galba ordered that the men be killed. Of the 30,000, two-thirds were sold into slavery, 9,000 were killed, and only about 1,000 escaped. Rome would regret having let a particular man escape - Viriatho.
The massacre enraged the Roman senate, which pressed charges against both men, who by then had returned to Rome laden with their plundered riches. Luculus immediately bribed some key senators and had a temple to Felicitas built to atone for his actions, and the charges were dropped. Galba on the other hand was brought to account before the court, to which he brought his sons, hoping to draw sympathy from the people of Rome, should the senate find him guilty. He gave up some of the wealth he gained in Hispania, and made a humbled plea for mercy, which succeeded in securing his acquittal. He was elected Consul in 144, just a few years later, and his sons and their descendants were among the leaders of Rome. Indeed, such is the power of money…
Severely debilitated by the long years of wars and massacres, the Lusitani would still not give up their fight. In 147 B.C, an army of 10,000 men (among them Viriatho) invaded Turdetania once again. Surprised while on a raid by the Praetor Caius Vetilius, who commanded 10,000 Roman troops, they suffered a number of casualties and were forced to retreat to a hill nearby where they were surrounded. Sending an emissary to the Roman commander, the Lusitani asked for land in exchange for peace and as Vetilius was prepared to formalize the pact Viriatho spoke of what he had witnessed, and reminded his tribesmen of just how many pacts the Romans had broken before and reminded them also of how some of those present were all that survived the massacre of Galba. He also promised to get them out of their predicament if they would elect him their commander.
Encouraged by his enthusiasm, they elected him to lead them out of the Roman encirclement. He then ordered all the army into battle formation, and kept 1000 of his best cavalrymen with him, while the Roman army formed below to offer battle. At a pre-arranged signal Viriatho’s cavalry attacked the Roman line, while the entire army melted away and dispersed in all directions, each group taking different paths to the Beturian city of Tribola, the designated rendezvous point. Paying no attention to the smaller groups Vetilius concentrated instead on Viriatho who spent the next two days slowing the Roman army down by attacking and retreating multiple times as the heavy legions pursued and the outmatched Roman cavalry tried to close in. In the meantime his army reformed and waited his return.
Having joined forces with the rest of his army during the night, Viriatho was able to reorganize his men and set them up in positions overlooking a pass in the Mountains of the Ronda, along the valley of the river Barbesula (modern Guadiaro, Spain). He then resumed his strategy of skirmishing with the Roman vanguard which once it had enough prodding, dutifully pursued him inside the valley. Once the Roman army was fully committed, Viriatho suddenly turned around and blocked the Romans. The Lusitani troops who had been hiding charged down on the flanks and rear of the formation. The result was a complete disaster for the Romans, who lost 4,000 men killed. The Roman praetor Vetilius was taken prisoner with a few others, but was mistaken for a useless hostage on account of his obesity and old age and speared (due to their own customs, the Lusitani who killed him assumed such a men was not fit to command an army). Little more than 5,000 men managed to punch through to the nearby city of Carteia.
The implications of the Lusitani victory were enormous. The immediate consequence of the battle was the continued survival of what was probably the last significant Lusitani army. After the battle, the Lusitani gained military superiority on the province of Ulterior and a large number of cities in Beturia and the Baetis valley (modern Guadalquivir river, Spain) defected to their cause, and some were even sacked. Further, their example inspired the Celtiberi, the Vettones, the Carpetani and the Vaccei to fight on and resume wars of their own with Rome. Most importantly, the success and the continued leadership of Viriatho enabled them to resist on equal terms with the Romans for another 9 years until the demise of Viriatho, which quickly precipitated the fall of the Lusitani.