The+Roman+Republic

After the Republican revolution the monarchy in Rome was overthrown and the government of Rome became a republic. The republic was based on two magistrates, or consuls. These consuls usually came from the highest and richest class in Rome, the Patricians. The Patricians were the wealthiest land-owning class in Roman society. Also the Patricians controlled most of Rome's government in the early republic. The other class at the time were the Plebians. The Plebians had very little control over the government in Rome even though many Plebians were as wealthy as Patricians, but if you were born into the Plebian class then you were known as a Plebian and you were not equal. Eventually in Rome the Plebians earned the right to become a consul.

In the early history of the Republic the Latins and the Greeks joined forcees to push the Etruscans from the southern Tiber river. After this occured Rome became a member (and eventually the leader) of the Latin League. The Latin League was an alliance of countries along the Tiber river.

Shortly after, this a group of Gallic tribes slowly went through the Alps and then crossed the Appenines and destroyed Rome. However, it is said that only the city of Rome survived because of its heavy fortifications. Rome survived and quickly recovered and started conquering Italy. First they took over the Latin League, then the Etruscans. The Sammites also fell. By 290 BC Rome controlled all of central Italy. In 283 BC they conquered the Gallics, then turned their attention to the city-states of Greece. In the year 273 BC, Greece fell. Rome then went to war with the citizens of the North African city of Carthage. The first war was for Sicily, this war happened from 264 BC to 241 BC. Rome was successful in their campaign for Sicily, but the people of Carthage would later appear with the general Hannibal to wage war with Rome.



These wars that rome would fight with carthage are known as the Punic Wars.

The Punic wars are a series of three wars that Rome fought with Carthage. Carthage was a large city/state in North Africa. It was the equivalent to the city of Rome in size and population. Also Carthage rivaled Rome with its military. The Punic wars lasted over a century.

The first Punic wars happened because Carthaginians heald a city in north Sicily. Rome was concerned about this because this city was very close to the Greek cities that were under Rome's protection. So once a mercanary group known as the Mamertines wanted help from Rome to drive off the Carthaginians, Rome could not refuse, even though the Senate was hesitant to fight Carthage. When Rome moved its soldiers into Sicily the first Punic War began.

Both Rome and Cathage wanted the town of Messana. Carthage wanted this so it could expand its ports and have even more control over the Mediterranean. Rome wanted the town to serve as an outpost, so Rome could defend its own land. These two powers had never fought before, but they were very different from each other culturally.


 * Rome started off this war by taking over many cities in Sicily, but the Carthaginians made sure that the Romans had no easy victories. Rome realized that the only way to win would be to control all of Sicily. To do this Rome would need a navy. At this point Rome did not have a navy. Sadly for the Romans Carthage had a vest and powerful navy. The Romans made a navy of 160 ships each equipped with bridges. This allowed the Roman soldiers to have land battles at sea. The Romans could lower one of their bridges onto another ship and engage the enemy in close quarters. This is how the Romans were trained to fight, up close and personal. So of course they planted this idea into their navy. Of course the Romans did not just figure out how to make their own ships. They adopted the idea from their enemy at the time. They got their ship ideas from Carthage.

These new ships allowed the Romans to dominate the seas. This new advantage allowed Rome to control Sicily.

The second punic war occured when Carthage was having problems with mercenaries in its own region, so it pulled most of its troops out of the island in the Mediterranean. Rome took advantage of this and decided to take over the island. This angered Carthage and they decided to move a large force of troops into Spain where they already had a foothold. Then Carthage siezed the Mediterranean town of Saguntum. Saguntum was a Roman ally, so when this happened Rome declared war on Carthage.

The armies Carthage had in Spain were being lead by Hamilcar Barca, but he died around the time that Rome declared war and his son was now in charge of the armies in Spain. His son was Hannibal a very famous general. He also was a military genius. He planned one of the most ambitious attacks in history. Hannibal wanted to attack Rome by going through the Pyranees, the Rhone valley and the Alps. He brought elephants with him on this journey. This confused the Romans. Hannibal met many Roman armies on his way to Rome and he easily defeated them all. After Rome's monumentous defeats at the batle of lake Trasimene and at the battle of Cannae they realized that it was not wise to fight Hannibal. So this is when Scipio Africanus decide that he would go around Hannibal and attack Spain. This proved to be quite successful. Also Rome won a great many naval battles against Carthage. This cut Hannibal off from getting reinforcements and supplies. This made Hannibal realize that to conquer Rome he would need support from Rome's allies in Italy, but this did not work because the allies of Rome were afraid of the wrath of Rome if Carthage were to lose, so most of Rome's allies stayed loyal to Rome. These positive turning points allowed Scipio Africanus(A very smart, loyal and respected general in Rome) to take his men to North Africa were the Romans destroyed many Carthaginian forces. This caused Hannibal to pull his armies out of Italy and go defend Carthage. Scipio defeated Hannibal in North Africa at the battle of Zama. Carthage signed a treaty with Rome in 201 B.C. the treated made Carthage give up its navy and its territory in Spain. Also Carthage had to pay Rome a sum of 10,000 talents over 50 years.

This would then lead up to the third and final punic war. This punic war would start in 149 B.C. and end in 146 B.C..

After the second punic war Carthage was a shadow of its former self, but Carthage did recover. However Carhage would be attacked by Masinissa, the governer of Numidia and a holder of a strong alliance with Rome, this attack violated the treaty Rome had signed with Carthage. When Carthage complained about these attacks to Rome, Rome sent a tribunal to deal with the matter. This tribunal sided with Masinissa. This meant that Carthage was forced into another war with Rome because of an outside party. In 149 B.C. Rome declared war with Carthage. The Romans landed their ships in Carthage and the Carthaginians surrendered fearing a massacre. Carthage denied the new treaty that was made, because the Romans wanted to destroy the city of Carthage, so Rome decided to send its troops back to Carthage and take the city. This siege took three years. Once Rome controlled the city they tore down the walls and destroyed the city. It is said that the Romans salted the earth at Carthage so nothing could grow there again.

While Rome was fighting with Carthage Philip V, the ruler of Macedonia, wanted to expand his power by making an alliance with Carthage. Philip sent ambassadors to Hannibal's camp in Italy. the two agreed on a treaty to defeat a common enemy. This enemy was Rome. the Romans learned of the alliance when a Romen fleet captured Macedonian ambassadors trying to go to Carthage. This began the First Macedonian War. Rome achieved its goal of not letting the Macedonians aid the Carthaginians by using what little land forces it had to fight the Macedonians. Rome's land forces were limited because rome was fighting a war with Carthage at the same time.

Later in 200 B.C. Macedonia started to encroach on the territory that ws claimed by the city states of Greece. The Greeks pleaded for help to their ally Rome. Rome gave Philip V an ultimatum. Macedonia had to stop the aggression against greece and Macedonia would become a Roman province. When Philip denied these demands the Second Macedonian War began. This war lasted only three years. In 197 B.C. Macedonia was defeated at the Battle of Cynoscephalae. This battle marked the end of the war.

Rome turned its attention to the Seleucid empire in Greece. The Romans defeated the Seleucids at the Battle of Thermopylae. Then the Romans pursued the seleucids outside of Greece and defeated the Seleucids again at the Battle of Magnesia.

In 179 B.C. Philip V died. His son Perseus took control of Macedonia. Perseus, like his father, was inteested in Greece. He also started to encroach on Greece. Rome declared war on the Macedonians. perseus had more sucess than his father against the romans. Rome just sent another army against Perseus. The Second Consular Army defeated the Macedonians at the Battle of Pydna. This ended the Third Macedonian War.