Battle of the Caudine Forks

During the Second Samnite War, Roman armies entered a mountain pass near Caudium and discovered that the exits had been blocked. Unable to break out or obtain supplies, the consuls negotiated surrender.

Roman soldiers were disarmed and subjected to the humiliation of passing under the yoke. The episode became a lasting example of strategic entrapment and the political consequences of accepting a dishonourable peace.

Ian Hughes uses the Caudine Forks to show that a defeat could be decisive even without a large battlefield death toll.