Roman Expansion

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Roman Expansion

• Survival or Greed?
• 493 133 BC

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The Struggle of the Orders 494 287 BCE

• Early Roman society consisted of two classes
  Patricians and Plebeians
• 494 BCE Office of the Tribune created
• 460 BCE Voting residence replaced wealth
• 450 BCE Twelve Tables
• 445 BCE Lex Canuleia-marriage
• 367 BCE Licinian-Sextian Rogation-consuls
• 287 BCE Lex Hortensia- Plebeian Council

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Roman Expansion

• 493 BCE Battle of Lake Regillus/Latin League
• 396 BCE Battle of Veii/Etruscans
• 390 BCE first only setback Gauls seige on
  Rome
• 350 BCE - Romans bounced back- rebuilt the
  Servian Wall and remodeled the army
• 340- 290 BCE The Latin Wars/Roman Federation
• 282-270 BCE defeated Greeks/Tarentum Epirus
  
• By 264 BCE, 5 major world powers Syria, Egypt,
  Macedonia, Carthage and Rome

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By 264 BCE, 5 major world powers Syria, Egypt,
Macedonia, Carthage and Rome
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• By 264 BC, Rome had achieved two important
  successes
• It had secured social cohesion by redressing the
  grievances of the plebeians
• It had increased its military might by conquering
  the peninsula, thus insuring the human resources
  with which it would conquer the Mediterranean
  world.

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How was it possible for Rome to conquer so much
so quickly?

• First, the strong and balanced government had the
  total support of the Roman people.
• Second, some defeated peoples (Latins) were
  treated as friends and, in several cases, made
  citizens.
• Third, Rome's army was highly disciplined and
  experienced by years of warfare.
• Fourth, Romans greatly valued military success.
  In fact, military success was needed if a man
  hoped to advance in the Roman government.
• Fifth, wars brought a lot of money and treasure.
  Valuables seized from the enemy made the
  government, as well as individual leaders,
  wealthy. Prisoners from the conquered lands
  became slaves.

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The Punic Wars

• Three wars against Carthage started in 264 BCE
  and ended with Rome an international superpower
  in 146 BCE.

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The Punic Wars, 264-146 BCE
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The first Punic War

• The first war started over Sicily
• 264 and 241 BCE ended in defeat for the
  Carthaginian admiral Hamilcar.
• Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica became Roman
  territories

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• Hannibal Barca
• 247183 BCE

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Hannibal and the Second Punic War, 219- 202 BCE

• Started over control of a city in Spain
• Hannibals army of 50,000 men, 12,000 horses and
  37 war elephants crossed the Alps in 15 days
• Hannibal hoped for support from the Gauls and
  other Latin people
• Battle of Cannae 216 BCE ended with 60,000 Romans
  dead.

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Hannibals army of 50,000 men and 37 war
elephants crossed the Alps
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Battle of Cannae, 215 BCE - 60,000 dead. Romes
future looked very bleak!
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Publius Cornelius ScipioRome sent an army under
Scipio to Carthage, forcing Hannibal to return
to Carthage to protect his homeland

• Scipio Africanus

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• The Battle of Zama brought the 2nd Punic War to
  an end

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The 3rd Punic War, 149-146 BCE

• A one-sided affair!

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Consequences of expansion

• The Hellenization of Rome
• Rise of a business/merchant class
• Immense wealth a taste for luxury
• Most benefits of expansion went to the wealthy,
  patrician class
• Serious economic dislocations for the common
  people was under way

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The legacy of wars

• Farms had been ravaged and remained unproductive
• Citizen-soldiers returned after prolonged absence
  to find their families on the brink of
  bankruptcy
• Growth of Patrician latifundia (slave
  plantations)
• Growing slave population drove down wages

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Problems for the small, independent,
self-sufficient farmer

• The increase in the slave population displaced
  the common farmers
• In debt, without prospects for work, ruined
  farmers joined the ranks of unemployed in Rome
• By 150BCE -a revolution was brewing!

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Any Questions?