The rebellion of Spartacus took place in Italy in 73-71 BC. The riot of slaves began in Capua with the conspiracy of the gladiators of the Batiat school. About 70 conspirators led by Spartacus fled to Vesuvius. Fortified there, runaway slaves began to raid the rich estates of the Campania. The detachment was quickly replenished with runaway slaves and soon totaled about 10 thousand people. The three thousandth and then ten thousandth Roman detachments directed against them were defeated by rebels.
From Campania, the uprising quickly spread to the southern regions - Lucania, Apulia and Bruttius. The army of Spartak by this time became more organized, military discipline was established, the slaves had weapons captured from the Romans. In addition, the production of weapons by the slaves themselves was established in the camp itself. The army of Spartacus was built on the model of the Roman. The rebellion of Spartacus differed from all the revolts of slaves in Sicily in that the leader did not declare himself king, passing all the decisions to the military council of commanders and the assembly of soldiers.
In 72, 2 armies were sent against the rebels by the Roman Senate under the command of the consuls Lentulus and Gellius, which meant that Rome regarded the situation as extremely dangerous. One of the armies was able to destroy the 30,000th detachment of slaves detached from the main forces, led by Crixus. But the plan of encircling the Spartacists in the Roman armies was never realized. Spartak was able to separate the Roman armies and defeat them one by one. The rebellion of Spartacus is at the stage of its greatest strength.
Rebels marched all over Italy along the Adriatic coast. Having reached the province of Cisalpine Gaul, they were able to destroy the troops of the proconsul Cassius in the battle of Muchin. In all likelihood, Spartacus sought to withdraw his army from Italy. But after the victory gained over Cassius, he unexpectedly turned the army back to the south, and went along the coast of the Adriatic.
At this time, the Senate scored 6 new legions and connected them with the surviving consular forces. The Roman army at that time numbered about 40 thousand people. The commander was appointed the richest slave owner Licinius Crassus, who was able to restore discipline in his troops and began the persecution of slaves led by Spartacus. The uprising for some time passed into a stage of calm.
Spartak sought to get to Sicily in order to negotiate with the pirates about the supply of ships to them. He managed to get to the Strait of Messina, but the count on the pirates failed: the slaves did not receive ships. Crassus managed to cut off the Spartak army on this stretch of land, breaking through the moat from sea to sea, fortifying it and thus separating it from the rest of Italy.
To break through the fortifications, the Spartak army had to make a lot of efforts and lose about 2/3 of its composition. The uprising of Spartacus at this time was going through one of the most difficult stages. However, the rebels were able to quickly replenish their army, again bringing it to 70 thousand. Spartacists went to Brundisia, planning to leave for Greece. In response, the Senate sent them to meet the Spanish army of Pompey Gnei and a detachment from Thrace under the command of Mark Lucullus. On the border of Lucania and Puglia, a decisive battle took place between the rebels and the army of Crassus. About 60 thousand slaves died, including Spartak himself. The survivors (about 6 thousand) were crucified along the road from Capua and Rome. Scattered squads of slaves continued the battles in different parts of Italy for several years after the suppression of the uprising.
The rebellion of Spartacus, whose history is one of the most impressive among the revolts of antiquity, was, however, initially doomed to failure, because at that time the slave system was flourishing, there were no prerequisites for the destruction of slavery. Slaves, on the other hand, were divided into classes (rural, urban, intelligentsia), therefore they had different interests, which prevented them from developing a unified program. However, this rebellion was very important in the history of the Roman Empire: it accelerated the emergence of a powerful centralized empire, as slave owners realized how much strong state power was needed to prevent such riots.