an Afghan tribe, who settled here about 1747. After aiding the sovereign
of Oude to overcome the Mahrattas, they were treated with much treachery
by him, and nearly exterminated. Rohilcund was ceded to the British in
1801. After the great mutiny Rohilcund was tranquillized in July, 1858.
=Rohillas.= An East Indian tribe of Afghans inhabiting the country north
of the Ganges, as far to the north as Oude.
=Roi d’Armes= (_Fr._). King-at-arms, an officer formerly of great
authority in armies; he directed the heralds, presided at their
chapters, and had the jurisdiction of armories.
=Roleia=, or =Rolica=. A village in Portugal, where on August 17, 1808,
a British force under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated a French army under
Gen. Laborde.
=Roll.= A term of varied signification in reference to military matters.
Thus, to _roll_ is to continue one uniform beat of the drum, without
variations for a certain length of time.
=Roll, Long.= A prolonged roll of the drums, as a signal of an attack by
the enemy, and for the troops to arrange themselves in line.
=Roll, Muster-.= See MUSTER-ROLL.
=Roll of Arms.= A heraldic record of arms, either verbally blazoned or
illuminated, or both, on a long strip of vellum, rolled up, instead of
being folded into leaves.
_Rolls of Arms_ are the most important and most authentic materials for
the history of early heraldry. In England they go back to the reign of
Henry III., the oldest being a copy of a roll of that reign, containing
a list of the arms borne by the sovereign, the princes of the blood, and
the principal barons and knights between 1216 and 1272, verbally
blazoned without drawings.
=Roll, Squad.= Is a list containing the names of each particular squad
in a company, etc.
=Roll, Size.= In the British service, is a list containing the names of
all the men belonging to a troop or company, with the height or stature
of each specifically marked.
=Roll-call.= The act or time of calling over a list of names; as, tattoo
roll-call. _To call the roll_, to call off or recite a list or roll of
names of soldiers belonging to a company or troop, in order to
ascertain, from the responses, who are present and who are absent.
=Rollers, Friction.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR, SEA-COAST CARRIAGES.
=Rolling Barrels.= See CAKING.
=Rolling Fire.= A discharge of musketry by soldiers in line, in quick
succession, and in the order in which they stand. See FIRE.
=Rolling-hitch.= Pass the end of a rope round a piece of timber; take it
round a second time, riding the standing part; then carry it across and
up through the bight.
=Romagna.= A province of the Papal States, comprised in the legations of
Forli and Ravenna. It was conquered by the Lombards; but taken from them
by Pepin, and given to the pope, 753. Cæsar Borgia held it as a duchy in
1501, but lost it in 1503. In 1859 the Romagna threw off the temporal
authority of the pope, and declared itself subject to the king of
Sardinia, who accepted it in March, 1860. It now forms part of the
kingdom of Italy.
=Romainville and Belleville=. Heights near Paris, where Joseph
Bonaparte, Mortier, and Marmont were defeated by the allies after a
vigorous resistance, March 30, 1814. The next day Paris capitulated.
=Roman Candles.= See PYROTECHNY.
=Roman Walls.= One was erected by Agricola (79 to 85) to defend Britain
from the incursions of the Picts and Scots; the first wall extended from
the Tyne to the Solway Frith (80 miles); the second from the Frith of
Forth, near Edinburgh, to the Frith of Clyde, near Dumbarton (36 miles).
The former was renewed and strengthened by the emperor Adrian (121) and
by Septimus Severus (208). It commenced at Bowness, near Carlisle, and
ended at Wallsend, near Newcastle. It had battlements and towers to
contain soldiers. The more northern wall was renewed by Lollius Urbicus
in the reign of Antoninus Pius, about 140. Many remains of these walls
still exist, particularly of the southern one.
=Romans.= See ROME.
=Rome= (anc. _Roma_). The most celebrated city of the world, either in
ancient or modern times, the capital of the Pontifical States, and the
ecclesiastical metropolis of Catholic Christendom, is situated on the
Tiber, 17 miles northeast of its mouth in the Mediterranean. Rome is
said to have been a colony from Alba Longa and to have been founded by
Romulus about 753 B.C.; it grew rapidly in size and power. Regal Rome
ruled the whole Latin coast, and the treaties made with powerful
Carthage, with Massilia, and with the Greeks of Southern Italy bear
witness to the respect it enjoyed abroad. Royalty was abolished, and an
aristocratical commonwealth established by the patricians, 509 B.C.; the
Latins and the Tarquins declared war against the republic, 501; were
defeated at the Lake Regillus, 496 B.C. Military tribunes were first
created in 444 B.C. Rome was engaged in war with the Tuscans, 434 B.C.;
the Æqui and Volsci were defeated by Tubertus, 431 B.C.; Veii was taken
by Camillus after ten years’ siege, 396 B.C. In 390 B.C. Rome was
captured and burned by the Gauls; the vigilance of Marcus Manlius saved
the Capitol. Again and again in the course of the 4th century B.C. the
Gallic hordes repeated their incursions, but never again returned
victorious. In 367 B.C. Camillus defeated them at Alba; in 360 B.C. they
were routed at the Colline Gate; in 358 B.C. by the dictator G.
Sulpicius Peticus; and in 350 B.C. by Lucius Furius Camillus. By the
middle of the 4th century B.C. the whole of Southern Etruria had
submitted to the supremacy of Rome, and was kept in check by a Roman
garrison; as was also the land of the Volsci. Becoming alarmed at the
increasing power of Rome, the Latins and Hernicans withdrew from their
league with Rome, and a severe and protracted struggle took place
between them and their former ally. Nearly thirty years elapsed before
the Romans succeeded in crushing the malcontents, and restoring the
league of Spurius Cassius. In the course of this war the old Latin
confederacy of the “Thirty Cities” was broken up, 384 B.C. Rome made a
treaty with Carthage to repress Greek piracy, 348 B.C. Now commenced a
tremendous struggle between the Samnites and the Romans; the former
fighting heroically for the preservation of their national freedom,--the
latter warring with superb valor for dominion. The Samnite wars, of
which three are reckoned, extended over 53 years (343-290). The victory
of the Romans at Sentinum (295 B.C.) virtually ended the struggle. At
the close of the first Samnite war, an insurrection burst out among the
Latins and Volscians, but the defeat inflicted on the insurgents at
Trifanum (340 B.C.), by the Roman consul Titus Manlius Imperiosus
Torquatos, almost instantly crushed it, and in two years almost the last
spark of rebellion was extinguished. The famous Latin League was now
dissolved. A mighty coalition was formed against Rome, consisting of
Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls, in the north, and of Lucanians,
Bruttians, and Samnites, in the south, with a sort of tacit
understanding on the part of the Tarentines that they would render
assistance by and by. In the course of a single year the whole north was
in arms, and once more the power and even the existence of Rome were in
deadly peril. An entire Roman army of 13,000 men was annihilated at
Arretium (284 B.C.); but Publius Cornelius Dolabella marched into the
country of the Senones at the head of a large force, and literally
extirpated the whole nation, which henceforth disappears from history.
Shortly afterwards, the bloody overthrow of the Etrusco-Boian horde at
Lake Vadimo (283 B.C.) shattered to pieces the northern confederacy. The
Lucanians were quickly overpowered (282 B.C.); Samnium, by its long and
luckless struggle, and overawed by the proximity of a Roman army, could
do nothing. The Tarentines invited Pyrrhus over from Epirus, and
appointed him commander of their mercenaries; he arrived in Italy with a
small army of his own, 280 B.C. The war between Pyrrhus and the Romans,
which lasted only six years, ended in his being obliged to return to
Epirus without accomplishing anything; this war led to the complete
subjugation of Peninsular Italy by Rome. In 264 B.C. war was formally
declared between Rome and Carthage, and it was incomparably the most
terrible contest in which Rome was ever engaged. For details of the
Punic wars, see CARTHAGE, NUMIDIA, and PUNIC WARS. The leading feature
of the _first_ was the creation of a Roman navy, which, after repeated
and tremendous misfortune, finally wrested from Carthage the sovereignty
of the seas. A lapse of twenty-three years occurred before the _second_
Punic war, during which interval the Romans bullied their weak and
exhausted rival into surrendering Sardinia and Corsica. In addition they
had carried on a series of Gallic wars in Northern Italy (231-222 B.C.),
the result of which was the extension of Italy to the Alps. The Romans
vigorously suppressed Illyrian piracy, 219 B.C. The grand events of the
second Punic war were the crossing of the Alps by Hannibal, the terrible
disasters of the Romans at Lake Trasimene (see TRASIMENUS LACUS) and
Cannæ (which see), and the final overthrow of Hannibal at Zama (which
see), 202 B.C., by Scipio. The _second_ war virtually sealed the fate of
Carthage, and the _third_ displayed only the frantic heroism of despair.
The imperial supremacy of Rome was now as unconditional in the western
Mediterranean as on the mainland of Italy. During 201-196 B.C. the Celts
in the valley of the Po were thoroughly subjugated. The Boii were
finally extirpated about 193 B.C.; the Ligurians were subdued 180-177
B.C.; and the interior of Corsica and Sardinia about the same time. The
wars in Spain were troublesome and of longer duration, but they were not
at all serious. The Romans suffered frequent defeats, but in the end the
superior discipline of the legions always prevailed. The Romans felt it
necessary to hold Spain by military occupation, and hence arose the
first Roman standing armies. The most distinguished successes were those
achieved by Scipio himself, by Marcus Cato, by Lucius Æmilius Paulus, by
Caius Calpurnius, by Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, and by Tiberius Gracchus.
The Macedonian wars were owing immediately to the alliance formed by
Philip V. of Macedon with Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ. The
Macedonian wars were three in number. The _first_ (214-205 B.C.) was
barren in results; but the _second_ (200-197 B.C.) taught Philip that
another, not he, must rule in Greece. The battle of Cynoscephalæ was
followed by a treaty which compelled him to withdraw his garrisons from
the Greek cities, to surrender his fleet, and pay 1000 talents toward
the expenses of the war. A similar fate befell Antiochus of Syria. Next
the Ætolians were crushed, and a little later the quarrels between the
Achaians and Spartans led to a general Roman protectorate over the whole
of Greece. The _third_ and last Macedonian war began 172 B.C.; the
result of which, after four years’ fighting, was the utter destruction
of the Macedonian army at Pydna (168 B.C.), and the dismemberment of the
Macedonian empire. The last Greek and Punic wars came to an end in the
same year (146 B.C.). The former was virtually closed on the
destruction of Corinth by the consul Mummius. For the results of the
former, see CARTHAGE. The Celtiberian and Numantine war began 153 B.C.,
and ended in the final overthrow of the undisciplined and uncivilized
combatants, 133 B.C. Toward the conclusion of the Numantine war occurred
the first of those horrible Social outbreaks known as “servile” or
“slave” wars, which marked the later ages of the republic. The first
slave insurrection broke out in Sicily, 134 B.C. The slaves overran the
island, like demoniacs let loose, and routed one Roman army after
another. In 132 B.C., the consul Publius Rupilius restored order. After
a fierce struggle, the Romans obtained the kingdom of Pergamus, and
formed it into the province of Asia, 129 B.C. In Africa, the overthrow
of Jugurtha by the consul Marius added further to the renown and
strength of the republic. In 105 B.C. a Roman army of 80,000 was
annihilated at Arausio on the Rhone, by the Cimbri (see ARAUSIO and
CIMBRI). Marius nearly exterminated the Teutones at Aqua-Sextiæ (Aix, in
Dauphin), 102 B.C., and in 101 B.C. the Cimbri at the Campi Raudii near
Vercellæ. (See CIMBRI and TEUTONIC.) In the same year a second
insurrection of the slaves in Sicily was suppressed by the consul Marius
Aquillius. Now followed the Social war, 90-88 B.C. Then followed the
fearful years of the “civil wars” between the two chiefs, Sulla and
Marius. In 87 B.C. Rome was besieged by four armies (viz.: those of
Marius, Cinna, Carbo, and Sertorius) and taken. In 88 B.C. broke out the
“Mithridatic wars,” which were three in number; begun by Sulla 88 B.C.,
they were brought to a successful close by Pompey, 65 B.C., although the
general that had really broken the power of Mithridates was Lucullus.
(See MITHRIDATIC WAR.) The result was the annexation of the sultanate of
Pontus, which was formed into a Roman province. Then Pompey conquered
Syria; reduced to a state of dependence Phœnicia, Cæle-Syria, and
Palestine, 63 B.C. In the same year the conspiracy of Catiline was
crushed by the consul Cicero. Then came the campaigns of Cæsar in Gaul
(58-50 B.C.), by which the whole of the country was reduced to
subjection; his rupture with Pompey; his defiance of the senate; the
civil wars; his victory, dictatorship, and assassination; the second
triumvirate, composed of Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian; the overthrow of
the oligarchy at Philippi; the struggle between Antony and Octavian; the
triumph of the latter, and his investment with absolute power for life
as Augustus Cæsar, which put an end at least to civil dissensions that
had raged so long. To keep the now enormous territory quiet which
contained so many different races, an army of forty-seven legions and as
many cohorts was maintained. The most notable incident during the reign
of Tiberius was probably the concentration of the Prætorian guards in
the vicinity of Rome, who, until their dissolution by Diocletian, were
the real sovereigns of the empire. In Nero’s time Armenia was wrested
from the Parthians; the Roman authority in England was likewise extended
as far north as the Trent, and a great rebellion in Gaul, against Nero,
headed by Julius Vindex, was crushed by T. Virginius Rufus, the
commander of the Germanic legions. The chief military events from the
days of Vespasian to those of Marcus Aurelius, are final conquests of
Britain by Agricola, the final conquest of the Dacian monarchy, the
victorious invasion of Parthia and Northern Arabia; and the conquest of
the valley of the Nile, as far south as Upper Nubia, by Trajan; the
chastisement of the Marcomanni, Quadi, Chatti, etc., by Marcus Aurelius.
The reign of Alexander Severus is marked by the downfall of the Parthian
dynasty of Persian kings, and the rise of the native Sassanidæ (which
see), which proved far more formidable enemies than the Parthian rulers.
After the assassination of Severus (235 A.D.) followed a period of
confusion, bloodshed, and general mismanagement. The names of Maximin,
Maximus, Balbinus, Gordianus, and Philip recall nothing but wretched
quarrels, often ending in assassination. Then followed the “beginning of
the end.” The whole of Europe beyond the Roman frontier--the mysterious
North--began to ferment. The Franks appeared on the Lower Rhine, the
Suabians on the Maine; while the Goths burst through Dacia, routed the
forces of Decius, slew the emperor himself at Mount Hæmus, crossed the
Euxine, and ravaged the whole northern coast of Asia Minor. A little
later--during the reigns of Valerian, Gallienus, and the so-called
Thirty Tyrants--the empire was nothing but a wild distracted chaos;
Franks, Alemanni, Goths, and Persians rushing from their respective
quarters like vultures scenting prey. The Goths swept over the whole of
Achaia, while the Asiatic hordes of Sapor committed even greater havoc
in Syria and Asia Minor. By Claudius Gothicus (268-270), and his
successors, Aurelian, Probus, and Carus, the barbarians of the north and
northwest, as well as the Persians in the East, were severely chastised.
The division of the empire into East and West by Diocletian led to those
labyrinthine confusions and civil wars, in which figure the names of
Maximian, Constantius, Galerius, Maxentius, Maximin, Licinius, and
Constantine, which were only brought to a close by the surpassing genius
of the last mentioned. Julian’s efforts to repel the incessant
incursions of the Franks and Alemanni displayed a fine valor and
generalship, and were crowned with success. But after the death of
Julian the signs of the approaching dissolution of the empire became
more unmistakable. Swarms of ferocious Huns drove the Goths out of
Dacia, and forced them to cross the Danube into the Roman territory,
where they devastated the whole East from the Adriatic to the Euxine.
They were subdued and disarmed by Theodosius. Hardly was Theodosius dead
when they rose again, under their chief Alaric, against Honorius,
emperor of the West. Three years earlier, hordes of Suevi, Burgundians,
Alemanni, Vandals, and Alans burst into Gaul, which led to the invasion
of Africa by Genseric. In the East the Huns had reduced vast regions to
an utter desert; for nearly fifty years, indeed, the little ferocious
demons had rioted in destruction. (See HUNS.) Eudoxia, the widow of
Valentinian, to be revenged on Valentinian’s murderer and successor,
Petronius Maximus, invited Genseric, the “scourge of God,” over from
Africa, and exposed Rome to the horrors of pillage for fourteen days.
Later, Odoacer, placing himself at the head of the barbarian mercenaries
of the empire, overthrew the last, and the most ridiculous, occupant of
the throne of the Cæsars (476), who, by a curious coincidence, bore the
same name as the founder of the city,--Romulus. Rome was recovered for
Justinian by Belisarius, 536; retaken by Totila the Goth, 546; recovered
by Belisarius, 547; seized by Totila, 549; recovered by Narses and
annexed to the Eastern empire, 553. Rome became independent under the
popes about 728; was taken by Arnulf and the Germans, 896; taken by the
emperor Henry IV., March, 1084. The pope removed to Avignon (1309-1377).
Rome was then virtually left without a government, the Guelphs and the
Ghibellines, Neapolitan and German armies, and the noble families of the
Orsini and the Colonna being alternately masters. Cola di Rienzi, a man
of the people, made himself master of Rome, 1347; it was captured and
pillaged by the Constable of Bourbon, 1527; it was harassed by the
French, German, and Spanish factions from the 16th to the 18th
centuries; the French proclaimed a Roman republic, March 20, 1798; was
recovered for the pope by the Neapolitans, 1799; retaken by the French,
1800; was restored to Pope Pius VII., 1801, and annexed by Napoleon to
the kingdom of Italy, 1808. It was restored to the pope, January, 1814.
In 1848 the people rose in rebellion, drove out Pius IX., and
established a republic under the triumvirate of Mazzini, Armellini, and
Saffi. An appeal to France brought once more a French army to the gates
of the city, and the siege was begun. Rome was taken after a brave
resistance in July, 1849. For twenty years French troops garrisoned the
Eternal City, and when they were at last withdrawn (1870) Italy had
become one great nation. After a brief resistance from the foreign papal
troops, stopped by order of the pope, the Italian troops under Cadorna
made a breach, and entered Rome amid enthusiastic acclamation of the
people, September 20, 1870.
=Rompu.= In heraldry, a term applied to a chevron when the upper part
is taken off, and remains above it in the field.
=Roncesvalles= (Fr. _Roncevaux_). A small Spanish village, province of
Navarre, in a narrow valley inclosed by lofty mountains, through which
one of the principal roads leads from France across the Pyrenees into
Spain. Here Charlemagne was attacked in 778 by the Basques, and his
whole rear-guard destroyed. In honor of those who had fallen he built a
chapel on the spot where the battle took place, and among the names
enumerated in the inscription was that of Roland. In the modern
French-Spanish wars, several bloody encounters (in 1793, 1794, and 1813)
occurred in the same valley, and in 1833, Don Carlos was first
proclaimed king here.
=Rondache= (_Fr._). In ancient armory, a circular shield carried by
foot-soldiers to protect the upper part of the person, having a slit in
the upper part for seeing through, and another at the side for the point
of the sword to pass through.
=Rondel.= In fortification, a round tower, sometimes erected at the foot
of a bastion.
=Rondelle= (_Fr._). A small round shield which was formerly used by
light-armed infantry.
=Rondellier= (_Fr._). Archer or pikeman who carried the _rondelle_.
=Rondells.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR, NOMENCLATURE OF ARTILLERY
CARRIAGE.
=Ronfleurs= (_Fr._). Frederick the Great applied this name to some
12-pounders of 22 calibers, weighing 3200 pounds, which, before the
battle of Leuthen, he had drawn from the neighboring fortress of Glogau.
The charge for this gun was 5 pounds.
=Rope.= A large, stout, twisted cord, of not less, usually, than an inch
in circumference. It differs from _cord_, _line_, and _string_ only in
its size. Ropes are ranked under two descriptions, _cable-laid_ and
_hawser-laid_; the former composed of nine strands, or three great
strands, each consisting of three small ones; the latter made with three
strands, each composed of a certain number of rope-yarns.
=Rope, Drag-.= See DRAG-ROPE.
=Rope-ferries.= See PONTONS.
=Rose.= In heraldry, is drawn in a conventional form, and never with a
stalk, except when expressly directed by the words of blazon. Being
sometimes argent and sometimes gules, it cannot be designated proper;
but when blazoned “barbed and seeded proper,” it is meant that the barbs
are to be green, and the seeds gold and yellow. The rose gules was the
badge of the Plantagenets of the house of Lancaster, and the rose argent
of that of York. The York rose was sometimes surrounded with rays as of
the sun, and termed _rose en soleil_. As a mark of cadency, the rose has
been used as the difference of the seventh son.
=Roses, Wars of the.= A disastrous civil contest which desolated England
during thirty years, from 1455 to 1485, sacrificing 80 princes of the
blood, and the larger proportion of the ancient nobility of the country.
It was so called because the two factions into which the country was
divided upheld the two several claims to the houses of York and
Lancaster, whose badges were the white and red roses, respectively.
After the house of Lancaster had possessed the throne for three
generations (see PLANTAGENET), Richard, duke of York, whose title was
superior to that of Henry VI., began to advance, at first somewhat
covertly, his claim to the throne. In 1454, he was appointed protector
of the realm during Henry’s illness, and on the king’s recovery he
declined to give up his power, and levied an army to maintain it. The
accession of Henry VII. may be said to have terminated the “wars of the
roses,” although the reign of Henry was from time to time disturbed by
the pretensions of Yorkist impostors.
=Rosetta.= A seaport city of Egypt, near the mouth of a branch of the
Nile. It was built by one of the Saracen caliphs in the 9th century. In
1798 this place was taken by the French, and in 1807 it was besieged by
the British, who were repulsed by the Turks. The battle of the Nile was
fought near Rosetta, August 1, 1798.
=Rosettes.= Two small bunches of ribbons, that were attached to the
loops by which the gorget of an officer was suspended on his chest.
=Roslin.= A village of Scotland, 7 miles south of Edinburgh, on the Esk.
In this neighborhood the Scots gained three victories over the English
on the same day in 1302.