WI Pyrrhic Invasion Stymied

What if the Romans caught word of Pyrrhus's elephants, and coincidentally had a sort of expert nearby, or at least somebody with experience in dealing with war elephants (perhaps a veteran of the Wars of the Diadochi)?

So the Battle of Heraclea turns from a Pyrrhic Victory for Pyrrhus to a complete victory for the Romans: Pyrrhus's great surprise is spoiled, Publius Valerius uses his terrain and numbers to advantage, and the Epirote army basically disintegrates. There is nowhere for them to go except the nearby Greek city-states; the Republic could use this hosting of refugees as a reason to war against the city-states, thereby taking them over or exerting their superiority earlier than in OTL. With the stunning victory at Heraclea, the Italian tribes and socii that were already pretty subjugated by Rome in this time period are even more content to lie low.

Since Pyrrhus's invasion is nipped in the bud, he doesn't have a chance to invade Sicily as well and reduce Carthaginian influence there.

What are the effects of all this? A stronger Rome earlier in Italy means they have time to build up their forces and economy, and maybe even to take tentative steps into Cispadane Gaul. Maybe Tyrant Agathokles of Syracuse, fearing Carthaginian power and hegemony, appeals to the Romans (farther away, with no land on Sicily yet, but with an economic and geopolitical stake there) for protection; could the Romans being enamored of Greek culture help out with Agathokles's good opinion of them? In this way, the issue of the Mamertines in Messana is gelded; indeed, Agathokles isn't appealing to the Carthaginians for Messana, but to the Romans for fear of Carthage.
 
The veteran of the First Diadochi War fled to Rome? Of course, it was a possible POD. Let's see...

In my own speculation, the true POD was Antigonos Monophtalamos' Defeat agaist Allied Diadochia was much more severe. The allied generals then proceed to take over Makedonia and forcing Demetrios, son of Antigonos, to flee west. For some reasons (realpolitik is a bitch), the court of Epeiros reject him, and he was forced to flee further west and finally take shelter in Rome.

Assuming that Makedonia simply given to another Diadoch, and the POD does not prevent the trouble in Megale Hellas. Phyrrhos attack on schedule and invade Rome with elephants.

But the Romans, knowing that Demetrios was now an obscure Rich Greek trader in Roman soil, decided to enroll him into position of Military Advisor.

so blah - blah - blah, Demetrios train the Romans to effectively use Peltastai tactics and mental preparations to facing elephants (loose your formations and swarm the elephants from the front, if some deaths occurs just brave it, you can't fight elephants in melee without taking some loses yourselves). And as the result, the Romans won crushing victory against Phyrrhos.

...

But ironically, Quick Romaioi Victory at this point will only make every other Diadochoi in the west wary about them, prematurely if I must. And since at this point the Romaioi does not have the manpower to stand against either Seleukidai, Ptolemaioi, or worse BOTH, we can quickly see an enraged Epeiros court summoning their cousins to crush the Romaioi Barbaroi. Especially since the Romans are unlikely to ditch Demetrios at this point after he help them win against Phyrrhos..

If Romaioi win against Diadochi invasions... Demetrios will be most likely ask his payment in form of "borrowing" Romaioi troops and Megale Hellas citizens. Of course, to retake the now weakned Allied grip on Makedonia. The result is roughly Makedonia under Demetrios and friendly Romaioi pick to expand west in a century or two (betraying their saviour aren't thing they will do quickly).

If Romaioi lose against Diadochi invasions, expect them to end up as third rate city states in Italy.
 
Wait, even if he's forced to flee further west, the last place he is going to flee is to Rome. He'd flee to either Tarentum or Syracuse first, and failing that he'd even go to Carthage, before he went to Rome, which was so minor and unimportant at the time to the Greek world that it would never cross his mind to flee there.

Considering he also had megalomania, assuming he did go to Rome for some reason, he'd want an army to go back and attack again, and the Romans aren't giving him that. I don't know why the Diadochi would invade italy either because the Romans defeated Pyrrhus-they were more or less rooting for Pyrrhus to get his assed whooped and, better yet, for him to die, or failing that, at least never come back to Greece. They would be more than happy with the outcome and would not even give Rome much thought still, though Rome would at least be on the map. You are seriously overestimating Rome's position in the eyes of the Diadochi, Pyrrhus knew next to nothing about them other than the Tarentines calling them disorganized and easy to beat barbarians.
 
slydessertfox, you're back! Thanks again for providing me with feedback.

Considering your TL, you probably know enough about history to be correct; if Pyrrhus really did know so little about the Romans, that settles it then.

As for the veteran of the Wars of the Daidochi, I don't mean for him to be a noble himself. This is just some dude who has nothing to live for in the East (perhaps he committed a crime and is now slightly well-known and infamous). Being famous/infamous, he can't reside in the Greek city-states; the people there know of his deeds. Either he doesn't like the Carthaginians or they won't have him (in order to not provoke Syracuse), and so he goes to Rome, the only other civilized city in a thousand miles.
 
Sorry for not actually addressing your question, I got carried away there. In the case of Pyrrhus' early demise in Italy, Syracuse is in a worse, but I don't think a terrible position, Carthage had a knack for never being able to finish them off when they had the chance presented.

It would be interesting to see what Syracuse does though-they could still, I imagine, call on Pyrrhus,. Assuming his army isn't completely annhilated, and considering the diadochi powers may still be very much interested in sending him packing back west, he could still have enough capabilities to go to Sicily.

Now, without Italy to go back to, could he finish his campaign in Sicily? He seemed to have no problem sweeping up the Carthaginian holdings in Sicily until he reached Lillybaeum. With no other action to turn to, he might have the patience to see the siege through, which opens up a whole new can of worms-the sicilian allies would be uppity for him to leave now that they don't need him, and at the same time, a fresh new adventure would be open to him-an attack on North Africa, though I don't know how he'd procure the fleet to do it.
 
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