Positive And Negative Effects Of Roman Conquests

The great Roman Empire expanded across all of Europe and into the Middle East. Its military was one of the finest. With major trading in Africa and Britain, the economy flourished with brining many citizens a healthy income. With amazing advancements in culture and technology, Roman society was at its finest. During the Pax Romana, the Romans had 200 years of peace and good ruling by level headed dictators and emperors. Despite Rome’s greatness in all of these areas, Rome would eventually fall. Surprisingly all of these qualities that led up to a flourishing empire were the same ones that led to its demise. As Germanic tribes invaded, the military weakened and the government became unstable.

Between approximately 509 BCE and the third century CE the Roman empire continually expanded and became one of the largest in history. While this expansion was due to many reasons, not the least of which was greed, to a great extent it was made possible because of Rome's overwhelming military and its combination of a democratic and republic government. (Lee) (Ferril)

The Roman Empire conquered land at a previously unparalleled rate, within the known world, affecting its institutions from the rest of the Empire’s prevalence. From Hispania to Britannia sweeping across the mediterranean, gaining Egypt, ending in Persia; the absorption of Carthage and North Africa, and finally the civil war being won by Augustus, all brought upon the negative effects of their conquest. The Empire continued to grow from the year 200 B.C.E. to the year 200 C.E.; this growth had many effects upon the Empire. Although expansion and conquest are often good, seen as liberating, or wholly expansive in mathematical, philosophic, and scientific thought, this is not inherently the case. The Roman Empire’s expansion was not entirely as powerful and awe inspiring as many claim it to be; the greedily performed collection of lands resulted in many negative outcomes. These outcomes largely presented Rome with an issue they would never be able to recover from: empiric decay. The effects of militaristic expansion, of the Roman Empire, resulted in the decay of previously prosperous economic, political, and social institutions.

Slaves also worked on farms in olive and grain fields as well as in gold and silver mines (Cartwrightand Cartwright). Slaves were used in all manual labors in every aspect except in the public office (Cartwrightand Cartwright). Today, the everyday person looks back on this time and sees Roman slavery as the unfair treatment and manipulation of the lower class of people. But without these slaves, Rome would have never been the highly advanced civilization we know today. Slaves were¼ of the population and were found everywhere. Their large numbers worried government members about revolt and rebellion ("The Roman Empire: In The First Century. The Roman Empire. SocialOrder. Slaves & Freemen | PBS") but, due to their lack of education, those feared revolts were very unlikely. In Rome, the massive statues and famous ancient ruins were all built by slaves. Roman culture was known for their giant bath houses and complex cities, all completed under the manual labor of slaves. All the architecture built, all the items made and sold, everything that boosted the constant rising economy of Rome were all because of the handiwork of the slaves ("Slavery In Ancient Rome | UNRV.Com"). Slaves were the reason for the Roman civilizations’ continuous advancement that influenced modern countries. Fast forward to 1619 when the very first slaves were broughtto Americafrom Africa to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia (America). A few years later, the Atlantic Slave Trade had

During the Roman Republic, Ancient Rome was at its very beginnings and a civilization was just being created. Like any other civilization there were different levels of status between classes and several positions of power in which people could obtain. Subsequently, just as there were people of power and wealth, there were also people of little to no power and poverty. The Ancient Romans utilized the institution of slavery to help promote their civilization and became a major factor in the economy of the Roman Republic. In a way slaves helped shape Rome into what it is today. Without slavery in Ancient Rome, history could have been written differently when considering Rome as a powerful city and civilization.

The negative effects of the Roman conquest, are certainly numerous and profound. Rome had disrupted, and in some instances cut short a cultural development of the entire societies that were at a significantly higher social standing than the conqueror. The process of Romanization certainly was not exclusively a triumph of superior civilization over a savage westerners, and decadent Orientals.

The Romans created a great and mighty empire. Their effects are still present today,such as the idea of citizenship and how to become one. One way they made people become citizens is by rewarding conquered people become citizens. Everyone except slaves were given some form of rights, even the lower classes. In addition, they did not exile their own citizens when they were too powerful, they just reorganized them.

The Roman empire expanded and influenced a large region of the Indo-European continent. This influence served as a model, in some ways,by shaping the present day culture and laws we have. The large expansion of the Roman empire during the reign of Augustus brought about the assimilation of the Roman influence into various systems of politics, law, religion, and culture.

Due to the mass amounts of civil war taken place on Roman land, farming and agriculture greatly suffered. Land was over worked and overused causing the land to become infertile. Soon food shortages and diseases caused the population to decrease. From the cumulations of lost money to war and farming the economy weakened and inflation became high. The gap between the rich and poor gradually increased and the economy weakened. Between civil wars, high taxation, and food shortages, citizens lost a sense patriotism that once flourished throughout society.

The Roman Empire was a slave owning society, one fourth of their population was made up of slaves. The Romans accrued slaves through piracy, trade, and warfare. Accounting for most of the labor force, slaves performed household tasks, and the grueling and tiresome work of mining and farming. Slavery in Rome was a way for them to assimilate new people into their society. Individuals could be released from slavery by either being bought out or after paying their debt to their owner (Ivanovitch, 1957: 26).

The War with Veii played a significant role in the expansion of the Roman Empire. The war, which ended in 410 B.C., set in motion an entirely different Roman army. No longer was the army a volunteer militia, instead it became a paying and contractual organization. The “Roman victory brought an end to Rome’s most threatening neighbor and began its rise to prominence in the central Italian peninsula” (www.warandgameinfo.com).

As the Roman Empire began conquering other empires, they gained two things: power and slaves. With both of these, came great amounts of responsibility. As the empire attained slaves, citizens became less and less required to work. This is exemplified when Document 3 states, “The abundance of slaves led to the growth of the latifundia, the great estates that… came to dominate agriculture and ruin the free coloni [farmers]....” (Muller, 1967). As slavery took on a greater role, small farmers were pushed out of their land where they became tenant farmers or unemployed city dwellers. These roles were unable to account for the amount for the money the empire lost as a result. This forced the Roman Empire to fall because the increase in unemployment became a problem for the country in a major economic way.

The money coming from the newly conquered countries and provinces was feeding the Roman Empire. When the Empire no longer was expanding, the empire stopped gaining wealth. (Doc 3) Taxes went up, causing a welfare system to go in effect. At this point, with the high taxes, people were becoming poor. People started to lose motivation, and realized that just depending on welfare would be enough. (Doc 4) There were also the slaves, who moved to the cities for jobs because of the abundance of them, and this meant less money paid to workers as well. (Doc 4) The economy was

After they conquered a foreign land, the Romans became responsible for maintaining the area. If the Romans failed to maintain their new territory, they would eventually lose it to foreign invaders. Workers would be needed to secure the area and repair any structural damage that may have resulted from the initial conquest of the area. But, workers are not cheap, and the Romans would want to save their money for future conquests. That’s where slavery comes in. The Romans enslaved all of the people they conquered in order to meet the demand for affordable

Like Qin, the Roman Republic also faced daunting troubles after a period of impressive territorial expansion. By the late 2nd century BCE Rome, formerly a small Latini town along the Tiber River, had become a mighty power that stretched all the way from Hispania to Asia Minor. Centuries of warfare, however, had forced landowning Roman citizens to abandon their field to serve their military terms, leaving the country’s agriculture wrecked, households famished, and many women widowed.3 In such times of hardship, the rich purchased land from struggling peasants at deflated prices to create vast plantations worked by slaves acquired from conquered territories.8 Landless peasants then flooded the cities as unemployed proletarians, whilst the dwindling