The Expansion of the Roman Empire Essay

The first Punic War lasted from 264-241 BC. It was fought mainly at sea, off the coast of Sicily. This was the first time Rome had built a navy. Rome besieged many of the Carthaginian cities on Sicily, and when Carthage attempted to raise the siege with its navy, the Romans utterly destroyed them.

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)

During the early stages of the Republic Rome was completely surrounded by hostile neighbors called Etruscan's. The Romans were constantly attacked by these people and ironically in defense they conquered these people. This theme of Romans conquering land in defensive wars will continue on even after the Republic. One of the reasons that the Romans defeated the Etruscan's was the Roman army. They improved upon the phalanx that they borrowed from the Greek by adding cavalry to it, and eventually they would replace the spears with swords. However the flexibility and adaptability of the Roman army certainly helped them during their wars.

Rome was governed by leading figures in a “constantly changing network of mutually dependent relationships” (Cultures of the West, p. 176). The Romans valued simplicity, and placed a high value on families, or “Familia”, where the men were mostly dominant. They arranged their government so that one group of people could not monopolize over power, and that each senate/assembly could be governed by another, which laid groundwork for the way a lot of governments run today. Republican Rome also gave birth to something much bigger in the scheme of territories during this time, being that the Roman Empire saw that they could simply not make peace with any of their neighbors until they had complete control of the Mediterranean sea. This lead to the Punic wars, which were fought over about 80 years between the Romans and the Carthaginians who lived in North Africa. These wars were fought over three main battles, one in 264 BCE over Sicily, one in 218 over Spain, and the last big battle fought in 149 BCE, which ultimately ended in the complete destruction of Carthage and every Carthaginian, besides some who were sold into slavery (Cultures of the West, p. 182). After the victory of the Carthaginians, Rome recognized the power they had now that they controlled the Mediterranean entirely to themselves. The openness and calmness of the waters lead to easy trade of

As Rome increased in supremacy around the expanse of the Mediterranean Sea, various enemies were made that caused numerous invasions, increasing Rome’s vulnerability. The archeological record shows that the population on the outskirts of the Roman empire was increasing and this might have led to a scarcity of resources (Goldsworthy 2009). Due to the increased population and decrease in resources the barbarians attacked the empire frequently (Goldsworthy 2009). The first of these more devastating attacks were conducted by the Huns in central and eastern Europe in the years 376 A.D. and 405 A.D. (Heather 2005). Damages from these attacks as well as from other invaders caused massive amounts of revenue lost to

In their struggle, Rome’s large hills helped defend them against any attack. Although the Etruscans made Rome vulnerable to attack by the Greeks (who were their rivals for trade and sea power) as they organized an association of independent city-states. The Greeks won the victory which enable Rome to conclude the Etruscan rule around 500 BCE, although Etruscan invasion became a severe threat for the following

A King in north-western Greece of the Molossians of Epirus named Pyrrhus (Agothocles’ son-in-law), turned his eyes to Sicily after defeating the Roman army in two battles on the Italian mainland. He quickly became king of the island, and in 276 he again issued a challenge against Rome. He was defeated in 275 B.C. at Benevento (Beneventum). Pyrrhus then left Italy and Sicily in order to reclaim Macedonia from a new king. He was killed attempting an attack on Sparta in 272 B.C. He had predicted that Sicily would become a battleground for Rome and Carthage, which became true as the start of the Punic wars broke

This war between the Romans and their most powerful enemies, the Carthaginians, incurred devastating losses on both sides, with the Romans eventually rising to victory. Following their victory, the Roman Republic was almost geographically unrecognisable and had been moulded by the Second Punic War into the “super-powered Empire of the Mediterranean” (UNRV History, Results of the Second Punic War, 2015).

After the first Punic War, the Romans gained Sicily, a strategic island. Additionally, the Romans assembled their first navy in order to combat the strength of the Carthaginian navy. Furthermore, the Romans reached the peak of their power as the Roman Republic from the Punic Wars. With this in mind, the Romans made their first push for power through the gain of Sicily and Corsica.

One of the Greatest victorious in Gaul has been the taking of the town of Alesia. This town had very strong walls all around it, and it has defended by a great army of Gauls have commanded by a brave chief named Vercingetorix. Caesar has surrounded the town with his army and has prevented them food from being sent in to the inhabitants. He also has defended an army that came from the other parts of Rome. In 53 B.C. Crassus has died in the war.

During the early republic, the Roman state grew exponentially in both size and power. Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded under the leadership of the military hero Camillus, eventually gaining control of the entire Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful city-state in northern Africa. The first two Punic Wars ended with Rome in full control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.), the Romans captured and destroyed the city of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making a section of northern Africa a Roman province. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence

In this last territory, the opposing interests of the Carthaginians and Romans, the one masters of the western part of the island, the others of the eastern part, determined the outbreak of the first Punic war. During this war, which took place largely on the Sicilian territory, the Romans soon realized that in order to be able to completely drive away the Carthaginians from Sicily they would have had to defeat the powerful Punic navy. In fact, within a few years the Romans managed to equip themselves with their own fleet of over 100 warships (Vermeule & Ferguson, 2018); with this navy, the Romans succeeded in defeating the Carthaginians first at Milazzo in 260 BC, and then at the Egadi Islands in the 241 BC. The Carthaginians accepted at this point the peace with the Romans, and they were forced to evacuate Sicily and to pay an indemnity to Rome. They remained an independent nation, though. For Rome this was the beginning of its naval

In 753, we begin to see the rise of the Roman Republic. Rome had just taken over Italy, which was known for containing great fertile agriculture, valuable in Rome. Soon after Rome had taken over Italy, Rome fought the Carthaginians in the first Punic Wars. Carthage was a prominent commercial empire that made its fortune through trade in the Mediterranean. They had a tough army, strong navy, and solid government. Though the Carthaginians fought extensively and brutally with the Romans, they were financially struck and had no other choice but to create a truce. After Rome earned the title of the successors of the Punic wars, Rome ultimately became a force of power not to be reckoned with. By the end of the first Punic War, Rome not only controlled Italy and

From 1000 to 1300 western Europe went through political and economic reorganization. There was no revival of central imperial authority in western Europe, even though there was an establishment of the Holy Roman Empire. Agricultural improvements brought increased food supplies, which encouraged urbanization, manufacturing, and trade. In the high middle ages, Roman Catholic Christianity was the cultural foundation of European society. The church advanced educational institutions such as cathedral schools and universities. Between 1000 and 1300, western European peoples strengthened their own society. There was an establishment of regional states, an economic growth and social development, European Christianity during the Middle Ages, and medieval expansion in Europe.

Us Romans, Just like all other people, take the damage from defeated enemies. In the early period of Rome’s development, the most important thing to us is land. Rome has a lot land to provide for all of the citizens but it is not enough. we can’t solve the problems of land shortage through colonization or trade, say the Athenians. So, Roman settlements are to be in Italy, and this meant that they take land away from another state to achieve the goal. Roman politicians knew they could relieve population pressures at Rome by fighting to receive more land, so political leaders, who were also, military leaders actively fought wars.