History

Rome's first period of expansion included more than 200 years of almost constant warfare. During this time, Rome gradually took control of the entire Italian peninsula.

After the last Etruscan king was overthrown in 509 B.C.E., the Romans began to expand their territory and influence. In 493 B.C.E., Roman leaders signed a treaty, or agreement, with their Latin neighbors to the south. The treaty stated, "There shall be peace between the Romans and all the communities of Latins as long as heaven and earth endure." These new allies agreed to band together against their common enemies. During the next 100 years, the Romans fought a number of wars against the Etruscans, as well as against tribes living in hills surrounding Rome.

Then, in 390 B.C.E., Rome nearly came to an end. A band of Gauls (gawlz), a warlike people from the north, crushed a Roman army and surged into the city. Most of Rome's people fled into the countryside, and the Gauls looted the city, burning most of it down.

With the city in ruins, the Romans considered fleeing. Instead, they bravely decided to start over by rebuilding their city and surrounding it with walls. They also developed their army, and, before long, Roman soldiers were on the march again.

During the 300s B.C.E., Rome conquered the Etruscans and many neighboring tribes. To the south, they battled a people called the Samnites and several Greek city-states. By 275 B.C.E., Rome's conquest of the Italian peninsula was complete. However, expansion came at great cost. Romans had been fighting for two centuries, and the Gauls had once destroyed their capital city.

As Rome's territory expanded, the city had to maintain a large, permanent army to defend it and the conquered lands. As a result, more and more Romans were forced to serve in the army. Many soldiers were plebeians who resented this fact, leading to civil unrest.

Roman citizens were not the only ones who sacrificed for Rome's expansion. Rome allowed the people of some defeated cities to become Roman citizens. Unfortunately, other cities were not treated so well. Many received more limited privileges, such as the ability to trade with Rome. And Roman allies were required to pay Roman taxes and supply soldiers for Roman armies.

By 264 B.C.E., Rome had more citizens and well-trained soldiers than any other power in the Mediterranean world. But very soon, the Romans would face their greatest challenge yet. During Rome's second period of expansion, it fought three savage wars for control of the Mediterranean region. In each of these brutal wars, Rome's enemy was Carthage, a powerful city-state in North Africa.

When the wars began, Carthage held North Africa, most of Spain, and part of the island of Sicily. It also controlled most of the trade in the western Mediterranean. The Greek cities in southern Italy had frequently clashed with Carthage over trading rights. When Rome conquered these cities, it was drawn into the fight with Carthage.

Rome's wars with Carthage are referred to as the Punic Wars, after the Latin name for the people of Carthage. The First Punic War began in 264 B.C.E. and was fought mostly at sea. Carthage had a very powerful navy, but the Romans developed their own navy by copying and improving on the Carthaginians' ship designs. A decisive victory at sea in 241 B.C.E. won the war for the Romans. The triumphant Romans took over Sicily, as well as other islands in the area.

The Second Punic War started 23 years later when the Carthaginians decided to attack Italy itself. In 218 B.C.E., Hannibal, a brilliant Carthaginian general, surprised the Romans by marching his army from Spain across the Alps (a high mountain range) and into Italy. His troops rode elephants and braved snowstorms, landslides, and attacks by local tribes. For 15 years, Hannibal's men fought the Romans in Italy.

In 202 B.C.E., Hannibal needed to return home to defend Carthage against an attack by a Roman army. There he was defeated in the battle that ended the Second Punic War. Carthage was forced to give up Spain to Rome, along with huge sums of money.

For about 50 years, there was peace between Rome and Carthage. Then, encouraged by Cato (KAY-toh), a senator who demanded the complete destruction of Carthage, the Romans attacked once more.

The Third Punic War lasted three years. In 146 B.C.E., the Romans burned Carthage to the ground. They killed many people and sold others into slavery. Rome was now the greatest power in the Mediterranean region, controlling North Africa, much of Spain, Macedonia, and Greece.

The Punic Wars expanded Roman power and territory, but Rome's victories came at a price. Countless young men had died in the long wars. Additionally, people living outside Rome suffered huge losses in population and property. Hannibal's army had destroyed thousands of farms, and others had been neglected while farmers went off to fight in Rome's armies. By the time the soldiers returned home, Rome had been forced to import grain from Sicily and other places. Small farms were being replaced by large estates, where the wealthy planted vineyards and raised livestock. Unable to compete with the wealthy landowners, many poor farmers were forced to sell their land.

As riches and enslaved people were brought Rome from the conquered lands, so were new customs, many of which came from Greece. Wealthy Romans competed with one another to build Greek‑style homes and beautiful temples. By 145 B.C.E., Roman conquests had brought considerable wealth to the city of Rome, but they had also put the ideals of the republic under great strain. By the end of Rome's third period of expansion, the republic collapsed.

The final years of the republic were marked by still more wars. Many of Rome's allies resented having to pay Roman taxes and fight in Roman armies without enjoying the rights of citizenship. In 90 B.C.E., some rebelled, and, to end the revolt, Rome agreed to let all free Italians become Roman citizens.

Rome also had to fight to subdue revolts by enslaved people. As Romans conquered new territory, they brought hundreds of thousands of prisoners to Roman lands and enslaved them on farms and in the city. Although some enslaved people were respected, Romans often treated enslaved people very harshly. An enslaved man named Spartacus led a famous revolt in 73 B.C.E. After crushing his army and killing Spartacus in battle, the Romans sentenced thousands of the surviving rebels to death on crosses.

There was trouble brewing in the city, too. With so many enslaved people to do the work, thousands of farmers and laborers had no jobs. They crowded into Rome, becoming a mob that an ambitious leader could turn into an army.

Rome's army was producing many such leaders. Generals used their armies to gain fame and power in distant lands and then to fight for influence in Rome. In one such civil war in the 80s B.C.E., a Roman leader named Sulla commanded an army to put down a revolt by Italian allies to obtain Roman citizenship.

Forty years later, another civil war erupted between two ambitious generals, Pompey (POM-pee) and Julius Caesar (SEE-zer). Pompey had expanded Roman rule in such eastern lands as Syria and the island of Cyprus, while Caesar had conquered much of Gaul.

By 49 B.C.E., Pompey was back in Rome, while Caesar commanded an army to the north of Italy, across the Rubicon River. Both men wanted to control Rome, but Pompey had the support of the Roman Senate.

Encouraged by Pompey, the Senate forbade Caesar to enter Italy with his army. Caesar disobeyed in January of 49 B.C.E. and crossed the Rubicon with his army. After three years of fighting, he defeated Pompey. The frightened Senate named Caesar dictator for life. With Caesar in control, and after nearly 500 years, the republic came to an end.

As dictator, Julius Caesar introduced many reforms. He provided work to thousands of Romans by starting projects to create new roads and public buildings. To keep the poor satisfied, he staged gladiator contests that they could watch for free. He also adopted a new calendar that is still used today.

Caesar had a vision of Rome as a great empire. He started new colonies and granted citizenship to the people of cities in Gaul and Spain. However, he did not live to see his vision come true. On March 15, 44 B.C.E., a group of enemies stabbed Caesar to death as he was entering the Senate.

The men who killed Caesar thought they were saving the republic, but were wrong. Instead, real power would never return to the Senate, as an emperor eventually emerged to replace Caesar. Caesar's murder plunged Rome into civil wars that lasted over ten years. When the fighting ended, Caesar's grandnephew and adopted son Octavian was the sole ruler of Rome. So began the Roman Empire, and Rome's fourth period of expansion.

To gain power, Octavian had to defeat jealous rivals, one of whom was Marc Antony, a popular general. Antony had married Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. In 31 B.C.E., Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra in a sea battle near Actium, Greece. His army chased the couple to Egypt, where they killed themselves. Octavian was now the supreme ruler of the Mediterranean region.

Octavian knew that the Romans prized their republic. He told them he was restoring the authority of the Senate, but in fact, he was in complete control. The Senate gave him the title Augustus, which means "revered" or "honored." He ruled for life as Caesar Augustus, and historians call him Rome's first emperor.

Augustus encouraged education, art, and literature. He completed grand construction projects, repairing more than eighty temples. "I found Rome brick and left it marble," he boasted. He also gave Rome its first police force and firefighters.

Augustus ruled over more than fifty million people. He turned eastern kingdoms, such as Judea and Armenia, into Roman provinces. To better defend the empire, he pushed its borders to natural boundaries: the Rhine and Danube rivers in the north, the Sahara in the south, and the Atlantic in the west.

The empire needed a strong economy, so the Roman government implemented taxation in order to fund the building of harbors, canals, and roads to improve trade. Romans also established a single system of currency, which made it easier for goods to flow across the empire and into foreign lands, as far away as China.

But Rome's final expansion brought new problems. To reform Roman morals, Augustus harshly punished people for being unfaithful to their husbands or wives. To protect himself and his family, he established a private army, the Praetorian (pray-TORee- uhn) Guard. Later, this same Guard sometimes participated in murder plots against the emperors it was supposed to protect.

Under Rome, the Mediterranean world was mostly at peace for 200 years, a period which is called the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. But keeping the peace cost the Romans a great deal. During Augustus's reign, one rebellion in the east took three years and thousands of soldiers to subdue.

Later emperors added to the territory controlled by Rome. From Britain to the Red Sea, a single power ruled over the greatest empire the world had ever known.