Roman Conquest Of Spain Research Paper

Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2003

Any student of history has come to recognize the fact that history is written by the victor and in lieu of this, research becomes essential to uncover where the truth lies. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, so ironically named, is a personal account for historical events leading up to the conquest of New Spain, formerly known as the City of Mexico. The author, Bernal Diaz, was a soldier of the conquering army who composed the document well after the events took place sometime between 1552 and 1557. Though the document did provide insight in regards to the victor’s perspective, it also served as a tool to rewrite the account of the conquered people.

Spanish Colonization- Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 Spanish Colonization continued for centuries. The Spanish Empire eventually would include half of South America, most of Central America, and a lot of North America. The Spanish used the Encomienda System to control and use Native Americans. Spaniards received grants of Native Americans from the Spanish government who they could take tribute from in the form of goods or labor as long as they tried to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism. This system worked out horribly for the Native Americans with many treated harshly and forced to do hard physical labor. The Natives were not willing slaves though and rebelled numerous times which contributed to African slave labor replacing the Encomienda System. The Spanish intermarried with the Native Americans leading

Rome had control over Hispania for a while during Pax Romana, until they started to resist it. Augustus traveled to Spain to get rid of this resistance. He was mostly successful but over the next twenty years revolts kept breaking out. Rome’s defeat was completed by 13 BC.

Restall’s ultimate goal in writing this book is to provide readers and scholars alike with a more realistic viewpoint and history of the Spanish conquest. He wishes to dispel the many myths that accompany the epic tale so as to provide a better understanding of who the natives were and, more importantly to Restall, who the Spanish were. He does an excellent job of questioning the who, what, and where of the personalities and motives of the men involved in conquest. These questions are heartily answered in a well-written and easy to read history book.

There were three Punic or Carthaginian Wars is Roman history. These were between 264 and 146 BC. These wars were the first great wars of Roman expansion outside Italy. The enemy of Rome had a large empire that stretched along the coast of North America and southern Spain and some parts of Sicily. This empire was known as Carthage. The purpose of these wars was to decide which power would become the dominant force around the Mediterranean Sea.

The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts between Rome and Carthage for control of the Mediterranean. They are called the Punic Wars because the word “Punic” is derived from the Roman word for Phoenician, in reference to the Carthaginians’ ancestry. Carthage was founded by settlers from Phoenicia on the fertile land of North Africa. The Phoenicians were known as brave and skillful sailors and merchants. By the third century BC, Carthage became a substantially strong power of the Western Mediterranean. It was considered the richest city in the world. All maritime trade between East and West Mediterranean went through it. Hundreds of ships transported goods from all over the world. The city, built up with tall buildings, had 700 thousand inhabitants. The Greek colonies in Sicily and Southern Italy were the only serious competition to Carthage. There was a continuous struggle between them for the possession of the island for 100 years, since the end of the fifth century BC. Four times the Carthaginians conquered the island. However, they could not take the city of Syracuse.

Rome’s main military opposition was Carthage, a kingdom located on the northern coast of Africa. Carthage and Rome fought in a series of three wars known as the Punic Wars. The second Punic War, fought from 218-202 BC was led by Hannibal on the Carthaginian side and Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus with Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus on the Roman side. The Battle of Lake Trasimene 217 BC was a major battle in the Second Punic War. Under Hannibal, the Carthaginian army defeated the Romans, who were lead by the consul Gaius Flaminius. This battle helped the Carthaginians to bring the Romans close to defeat, Hannibal was able to execute his father Hamilcar’s strategy perfectly in this battle. In the Battle of Cannae, the Carthaginians were just as lucky. Rome’s larger army, under Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro, was efficiently and easily defeated by the Carthaginian forces. Though Carthage surprised Rome with many victories, the Punic War ended in 202 BC with the The Battle of Zama. Scipio lead the Roman army and defeated the Carthaginian army led by Hannibal. Though Hannibal's army had more men than Scipio's, and he had eighty elephants, Rome showed their superiority and skill in ending the Second Punic War with this battle. Many years after this, another kingdom of North Africa, Numidia, fostered a connection with Rome. King Jugurtha of this region was able to benefit from the Roman soldiers through bribery and connections with them.

The Romans won the Second Punic war for a variety of reasons. These included the role and strategy of the Roman Senate and the failure of the Carthaginian government to support Hannibal. Rome’s strong control of the sea as well as Carthage's failure to rebuild their navy contributed greatly. The actions of Fabius Maximus and Scipio Africanus brought about the decline of Hannibal's momentum in Italy and his final defeat. Thus, there was no single reason as to why Rome were victorious against Carthage.

The three Punic Wars demonstrated the Roman emperors’ power over Rome with laws over land, environment, and conflicts. In The three Punic Wars Carthage and Rome fought for power over Mediterranean Sea. Carthage was lead by hannibal. The first Punic War was in 264 BC when Rome and Carthage wanted power to rule Sicily. The wars started when when Mercenary soldiers surrounded the city of Messena which is now Messina in Sicily and requested aid from Rome and Carthage against Hiero II, the king of Syracuse. Carthage and Rome hadn't always been enemies, they were on friendly terms before the greek king Pyrrhus had entered Italy.

In Imperial Spain, J.H. Elliot examines the history of early modern Spain from the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, to the reformation of the Spanish government by the first member of the Bourbon dynasty. According to the author, at the start of the 15th century, Spain was internally weak, hopelessly divided and isolated from the continent by the Pyrenees. Yet, by 1492, Spanish society experienced a tremendous transformation which allowed Isabella and Ferdinand to unify the country, secure the largest transoceanic empire the world has ever known, and for a

By 200 BC, Rome was quickly becoming one of the world’s greatest empires with their excellent military conquering territory from modern day Scotland to Spain. After the Punic Wars and the defeat of Carthage, Rome had full control of the Mediterranean region, establishing colonies in North Africa, Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia Minor. Julius Caesar became Rome’s first emperor using his military influence. Under his reign, Rome shifted from a republic to an empire under the rule of an emperor and the military. Rome steadily increased in stability, power, and wealth, reaching Pax Romana (the time of Roman peace) under Emperor Augustus Caesar. Rome was forced to discover, as many other

With the introduction of the hoplite phalanx to the Roman army, came a multitude of wars and long drawn out campaigns that the Romans were involved in throughout the republic period. One such campaign or campaigns that set the Roman republic as the uncontested superpower in the Mediterranean was the Punic Wars. Rome fought three wars against Carthage between 264 and 146 BCE. These wars constituted major events in the history of Rome and the Mediterranean basin (Marcel Le Glay 2009) p. 73. Though these wars were fought for reasons such as competing economics, revenge (most notably the Carthaginian general Hannibal), and a fear that could be related in today’s terms of opposing forces such as (the United States and Soviet Union feared each other during the Cold War) the fact is in the end Rome defeated the Carthaginians, not only were the Carthaginians defeated, but the city of Carthage was demolished and the people massacred or sold into slavery so as not to threaten the Romans ever again. In the fall of the city, in obedience to the Senate’s orders the inhabitants were reduced to slavery or forced to emigrate, the town was burnt and soil was

Historians believe Rome was threatened by the wealth of Carthage and its stronghold in the Mediterranean Sea. Rome and Carthage came head to head during the First Punic War when Rome was called to aid a group of bandits who had started a war with a Carthage ally in Sicily. During the conflict, Rome realized although their ground soldiers were superior, the navy of Carthage was sure to crush them in defeat. Rome resolved to build a rival navy and eventually conquered most of Sicily and Corsica. They modeled ships using an abandoned Carthage vessel and created an ingenious drawbridge for their soldiers to board the Carthage ships during war skirmishes. Emboldened by victory, Rome pressed on to shore, but they were cast out of Africa, but would return to fight again (Morey,

Carthage had superior naval forces while Rome had an effectual--by land--military forces. When it comes to leadership Carthage has possessed leaders with great intellect and knowledgeable in various military tactics and maneuver-- who has the ability to change the future of war--if not. Rome in contrast, had military leaders and soldiers devoted to her and to the whole empire. In addition, Roman leaders were motivated to achieve the desired result for the entire empire, through their incomparable allegiance (Morey,1901). During the Second Punic War, we had learned that during the time when Rome was about to falter, after it was badly destroyed by Carthage, its leaders continue to press forward through the help of its faithful citizens and allies, they never gave-up. They fought with their enemy through their mental strength and courage despite with all the carnage among its military and abomination did Hannibal and its soldiers have brought about in major cities and towns of