How did Rome conquer her Empire?

Hi dear readers!

Today, I'm going to answer the big question that is burning you since my last post: How did Rome manage to conquer her Empire?

I'll sum it up in three points:

• Military strategy:

Romans had an interesting recruitment strategy: Every years, recruiters looked for soldiers by the roman citizens and especially by the landowners. Why so? Because they thought soldiers who had  personal interests in defending Roman territories (or volunteers) where the ones who fight with ardor. Obviously, it turns out to be true!

The strict military discipline and organisation enabled fast mouvements and reactivity during battles.
Soldiers were split into three groups:

- hastati: the youngest soldiers, in first lines
- principes: more experimented, in middle lines
- triarii: the oldest, in last lines or for back up

The management of Roman armies are certainly a good explanation of the Roman conquests but not the only argument...

• Diplomatic strategy: 

The political model of Rome during the Republic, was very attractive for the neighboring nations because it permit a larger part of the population to have power, instead of just a governor.
Romans, aware of the popularity of their Republic, developed a diplomatic strategy to annex more nations without fighting. They came in cities and offered them to be part of their new successful nation. This cities seeing the rising Rome preferred to be part if it, beneficing the protection and political organisation of Rome. The perfect example is Capua witch directly offers her submission to Rome!

• Roman culture:

The Roman culture was completely inspired by the Greeks, after the first struggle with them in the Pyrrhic War. The Roman lifestyle was very opulent and distracting, with lots of fountains, thermae (baths), games and villa. This was appealing for neighboring which wanted to access this rich culture. 

Reconstitution of a Gallo-Roman Amphitheater

Even if in our minds Romans get their Empire by winning wars and battles, their diplomatic strategy and cultural charisma played huge roles especially in the first conquests. 

Citations:

image www.parisculture.fr

The Roman Republic: the Territorial Expansion

Hi Bros!

Still wearing that suit from last time. So without any further talk, here comes the territorial expansion of Rome during the public period.

The territorial expansion : 

Since its foundation, Rome has always been just a city stuck between the other tribes of the Italian peninsula and sometimes under their control: the Etruscans ruled and/or influenced Rome during the Kingdom era. But when the Republic arrived this tendency changed...

In the early Republic, Rome struggled with its direct neighbor from the region of Latium. And in the beginning of the 4th century BC, Rome finally ended up with the leadership of the Latin League (a confederation of the tribes of the Latium). By that time, Romans were rather pacifists and didn't conquered their neighbors.

However, in 390 BC, a drastic change in this policy happened with the sack of Rome by Gauls. I think this episode was a traumatic event for the Romans and probably persuaded them to attack other nations as a defense mechanism. This policy, which continued till the end of Roman Empire, is called defensive imperialism. It can be sum up with the well known Latin adage: "Si vis pacem, para bellum" (If you want peace, prepare for war).




Because the Roman expansion is quite impressive, I will only give you a list of the major conquests

- 338 BC: conquest of the Latium
- 290 BC: Samnites and Umbrians territories
- 272 BC: Pyrrhic war, led to the conquest of the Great  Greece (Greek colony in South Italy)
- 264 to 146 BC: Punic Wars, led to the conquest of North Italia (Cisalpine Gaul), Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Iberian Peninsula (actual Spain and Portugal) and parts of the North Africa.
- 111 to 104 BC: Jugurthine Wars: conquest of Numidia (North Africa)
- 89 to 63 BC: Mithridatic Wars: conquest of Pontus, a kingdom in Asia Minor (actual Turquey)
- 59 to 49 BC: Gallic Wars: conquest of Gaul

Step by step, Rome is merging an incredibly vast Empire on the Mediterranean Sea witch will dominate the western world for half a millenium. From a little insignificant city to a prosperous Empire, Rome achieved real improvements during the Republic period.

Here are a maps of the major civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea at different moments, to make you an idea of the geopolitical situation around Rome.

Rome and the major Mediterranean Civilizations in 306 BC

In red Rome, in blue the Etruscans, in yellow the Greeks and in green the Carthaginian Empire

Mediterranean civilizations in 220 BC

Rome at the end of the Republic : 44 BC

How did Rome manage to get there in such a (relatively) short time? How did it surpass the surrounding major civilizations and became the only major civilization of the Mediterranean Sea? Subject of my next post!

Citations : 
Images from Wikipedia in French and English

The Roman Republic: The Political History

Hi bros! Today, as I said, I'm wearing the history teacher's suit. (Well I'm actually just wearing a suit, because I don't really know what an history teacher's suit looks like...)

Anyway, Today's lesson is about the Roman Republic, a very important part the Roman history. It marks the beginning of the huge changes in Rome: political, cultural, economical and obviously territorial changes. The Republic lasted about half a millennium, so I'll just draw an overview as short as I can. Firstly, I'll speak about the Republic in a political aspect and then in a next article the territorial expansion.

Political history: 

After the expulsion of the last King of Rome (509 BC), the Republic was founded and a struggle for the control of power began between the two Roman social classes: the patricians and the plebeians.

- the patricians are members of a ruling class family group, called gens. 
- the plebeians are the other free citizens of Rome, the ordinary people, such as artisans and traders.

Social Hierarchy in the Roman Republic

Little explanations on this picture: senators are assimilated to patricians, and equites are middle class people, who have a big impact in the military life of Rome (they are like wealthy plebeians who ride horses at war and have a high military grade). I'm not talking about them because they are not playing a huge role in those conflicts.

In the early Republic, patricians took power and founded an oligarchy (power to an elite) ruled by the Senate, a council of patricians. None of the plebeians were represented in this presumed republic. After a multitude of conflicts and civil wars, plebeians obtained the right to be represented in a special council: the Plebeian Tribune, which had the power of veto over the acts of the Senate and the magistrates. The consul magistrates were the most powerful people in the Republic; they take care of the budget, the defense and other administration business and are two at sharing the title.

Take a look at this fantastic organization chart (with lots of arrows in many directions), which explains the institutions of the Republic.

In 133 BC, after a long time and many conflicts, all the free citizens of Rome were finally represented and had a real impact in the Roman political life, and thus Rome became one of the first Republic in World history (after Vaishali in India and Athens in Greece).

Nevertheless, this relatively fair political system got threatened in late Republic by internal unrest. In 1st Century BC, at least twelve civil wars and rebellions occured. Involving the slaves and the citizens of Rome (the Servile Wars), Rome and its Italian allies (the Social Wars) and the citizens of Rome themselves. 

All these troubles led to the ascension of Octavian and the foundation of the Roman Empire (27 BC).

Next time the territorial expansion of Rome and its explanation. 

Citations : 

images from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Roman_Republic) and google images