Roman Republic Expansion,396-146 BC

Libertyville HS

Conquering Central / North Italy (396-282 BC)

• Romans expanded east and north, conquering Etruscan city-states

• Genius of Romans– Rather than enslaving

conquered populations, Romans turned them into allies

– Their allies gave money & soldiers to help Rome fight and conquer more!

• Romans also established colonies to claim land

Fighting the Greeks (280-275 BC)• By 310, Rome controlled all of

Italy except the “heel”, which was dominated by Greek city state colonies– By 290 BC, most of the Greek

city states asked for “protection” from Rome

– This provoked war with Greece• Consolidation of Southern

Italy– Five year war with Pyrrhus, a

Greek king– Greeks used Macedonian

phalanx (much longer spears), which the Romans had never seen

– Romans lost battles but won the war (“Pyrric Victories”)

Punic Wars (264-146 BC)• By 265 BC, Rome controlled Italy and

central Mediterranean• Brought them into conflict with

Carthage– Carthage was a former Phoenician colony in North Africa– They dominated the Western Med &

Spain• The Punic Wars defined the Romans,

just as the Persian Wars defined the Greeks– Territories held by Rome, Carthage– Persian Wars led to Athenian Golden Age– Punic Wars led to Roman dominance

Cause of First Punic War (264-241 BC)

• Sicily was divided between Carthage and Greeks (Syracuse)

• Carthage invaded Greek side of island

• Greeks asked Romans for help

• Inevitable conflict?

First Punic War

• Romans won land battles, but had no navy

• Developed navy to fight on sea, based on shipwrecked Carthaginian trireme

• Tactics: turn naval battles into land battles through corvus

Corvus

Outcome of First Punic War• Romans lost 50,000

citizens (1/6) to sunken fleets, military defeats (mostly drownings)

• BUT Carthage suffered strategic defeat– Forced off Sicily– Forced to pay reparations

(penalties) to Rome– Forced to free all Roman

prisoners captured in battles

Cause of Second Punic War (218-201 BC)

• Continued power struggle for supremacy in Mediterranean

• Rome expanded through north of Italy and cleared Adriatic Sea of pirates

• Carthage expanded its holdings in Spain• Alarmed, a Greek

city in Spain allied with Rome for protection

Second Punic War• Hannibal, a great Carthaginian

general, defeats Romans in Spain, then crossed Alps with Army and invaded Rome

• For ten years, he defeated every Roman army he fought – but he couldn’t capture Rome

• Rome barely survived this period; but finally, Hannibal retreated to Carthage, and was defeated defending the city

Top: Hannibal and his troops crossing Alps

Bottom: War elephants, in combat

Outcome of Second Punic War• Carthage forced to give up

all of Spain, all islands in Mediterranean

• Numidia (African kingdom) became ally of Rome

• Rome invaded and conquered Macedonia, near Greece, in retaliation for allying with Carthage

• Carthage forced to pay tribute to Rome for 50 years

• Carthage agreed never to wage war without consent of Rome Hannibal takes poison after capture

Cause of Third Punic War (149-146 BC)• Carthage recovered from war;

trade and commerce resumed, and Carthage got rich again

• Roman Senator Cato ended every speech by saying “Carthage must be destroyed”

• Finally, Rome ordered Carthage to give up all its weapons

• Rome then ordered them to move out of Carthage as it was fortified

• Rome provoked war to destroy Carthage

City of Carthage

Cato

Third Punic War• 146 BC – Carthage

besieged by Roman army• Citizens fought against the

Romans building by building, block by block

• Romans conquer city– Destroyed city brick by brick– Enslaved entire population– Sowed salt in ground so

nothing would grow– Made North Africa a province

of Empire

Legacy of the Punic Wars

• Rome was supreme power in Mediterranean• Maintained overseas possessions in Spain,

North Africa, Corsica, Sicily, Balearic Islands