Rise of an Empire The Roman Republic lasted for centuries, gaining territory largely by being attacked. Neighboring civilizations attempted to conquer Rome, but were defeated and their existing territory lost to Roman control. Over time, the empire grew from a city to a city-state and into an empire with several people groups under the control of the Republic. Throughout this long period of time their form of government evolved, with lower classes gaining a voice in government. But there remained the idea of self-government – that at least some of the people would be able to elect their leaders and they would not have a king. Eventually, that system would come to an end, though the Empire would last for several more centuries. REXCERPTS FROM THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE CHOSEN BY MRS. SOLTESZ UPDATED: SEP 13, 2019 ORIGINAL: OCT 29, 2009 Punic Wars The three Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome took place over nearly a century, beginning in 264 B.C. and ending in Roman victory with the destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C. By the time the First Punic War broke out, Rome had become the dominant power throughout the Italian peninsula, while Carthage–a powerful city-state in northern Africa–had established itself as the leading maritime power in the world. The First Punic War began in 264 B.C. when Rome interfered in a dispute on the Carthaginian-controlled island of Sicily; the war ended with Rome in control of both Sicily and Corsica and marked the empire’s emergence as a naval as well as a land power. In the Second Punic War, the great Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy and scored great victories at Lake Trasimene and Cannae before his eventual defeat at the hands of Rome’s Scipio Africanus in 202 B.C., which left Rome in control of the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the Third Punic War, the Romans, led by Scipio the Younger, captured and destroyed the city of Carthage in 146 B.C., turning Africa into yet another province of the mighty Roman Empire. Background and First Punic War (264-241 B.C.) Tradition holds that Phoenician settlers from the Mediterranean port of Tyre founded the city-state of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa, … around 814 B.C. (The word “Punic” was derived from the Latin word for Phoenician.) By 265 B.C., Carthage was the wealthiest and most advanced city in the region, as well as its leading naval power. Though Carthage had clashed violently with several other powers in the region, notably Greece, its relations with Rome were historically friendly, and the cities had signed several treaties defining trading rights over the years. In 264 B.C., Rome decided to intervene in a dispute on the western coast of the island of Sicily (then a Carthaginian province) involving an attack by soldiers from the city of Syracuse against the city of Messina. While Carthage supported Syracuse, Rome supported Messina, and the struggle soon exploded into a direct conflict between the two powers, with control of Sicily at stake. Over the course of nearly 20 years, Rome rebuilt its entire fleet in order to confront Carthage’s powerful navy, scoring its first sea victory at Mylae in 260 B.C. and a major victory in the Battle of Ecnomus in 256 B.C. Though its invasion of North Africa that same year ended in defeat, Rome refused to give up, and in 241 B.C. the Roman fleet was able to win a decisive victory against the Carthaginians at sea, breaking their legendary naval superiority. At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily became Rome’s first overseas province. Comprehension questions: First Punic War 1. Were relations between Rome and Carthage friendly or hostile before the First Punic War? 2. What event sparked the first Punic War? 3. What did Rome have to develop in order to confront Carthage? 4. Who won? Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) Over the next decades, Rome took over control of both Corsica and Sardinia as well, but Carthage was able to establish a new base of influence in Spain beginning in 237 B.C., under the leadership of the powerful general Hamilcar Barca and, later, his son-in-law Hasdrubal. According to Polybius and Livy in their histories of Rome, Hamilcar Barca, who died in 229 B.C., made his younger son Hannibal swear a blood oath against Rome when he was just a young boy. Upon Hasdrubal’s death in 221 B.C., Hannibal took command of Carthaginian forces in Spain. Two years later, he marched his army across the Ebro River into Saguntum, a city under Roman protection, effectively declaring war on Rome. The Second Punic War saw Hannibal and his troops–including as many as 90,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry and a number of elephants–march from Spain across the Alps and into Italy, where they scored a string of victories. Hannibal’s daring invasion of Rome reached its height at the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C., where he used his superior cavalry to surround a Roman army twice the size of his own and inflict massive casualties. After this disastrous defeat, however, the Romans managed to rebound, and the Carthaginians lost hold in Italy as Rome won victories in Spain and North Africa under the rising young general Publius Cornelius Scipio (later known as Scipio Africanus). In 203 B.C., Hannibal’s forces were forced to abandon the struggle in Italy in order to defend North Africa, and the following year Scipio’s army routed the Carthaginians at Zama. Hannibal’s losses in the Second Punic War effectively put an end to Carthage’s empire in the western Mediterranean, leaving Rome in control of Spain and allowing Carthage to retain only its territory in North Africa. Carthage was also forced to give up its fleet and pay a large indemnity to Rome in silver. Comprehension questions: Second Punic War 1. What event in Hannibal’s childhood might have prompted him to attack Rome? 2. What unusual item(s) did Hannibal take across the Alps into Rome? 3. Who was the Roman general who won victories in Spain and Northern Italy during the Second Punic War? By what name was he known later? Why do you think his name was changed? Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.) The Third Punic War, by far the most controversial of the three conflicts between Rome and Carthage, was the result of efforts by Cato the Elder and other hawkish members of the Roman Senate to convince their colleagues that Carthage (even in its weakened state) was a continuing threat to Rome’s supremacy in the region. In 149 B.C., after Carthage technically broke its treaty with Rome by declaring war against the neighboring state of Numidia, the Romans sent an army to North Africa, beginning the Third Punic War. Carthage withstood the Roman siege for two years before a change of Roman command put the young general Scipio Aemilianus (later known as Scipio the Younger) in charge of the North Africa campaign in 147 B.C. After tightening the Roman positions around Carthage, Aemilianus launched a forceful attack on its harbor side in the spring of 146 B.C. After seven days of horrific bloodshed, the Carthaginians surrendered. The surviving 50,000 citizens of Carthage were sold into slavery. By year’s end, Rome reigned supreme over an empire stretching from the Atlantic coast of Spain to the border between Greece and Asia Minor (now Turkey). Comprehension questions: Third Punic War 1. What started the Third Punic War? 2. What do you think “hawkish” means in the first paragraph of the section on the Third Punic War? 3. What did Rome gain from the Third Punic War? Citation Information Article Title: Punic Wars Author: History.com Editors Website Name: HISTORY URL: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/punic-wars Access Date: April 23, 2020 Publisher: A&E Television Networks Last Updated: September 13, 2019 Original Published Date: October 29, 2009 Roman Republic to Roman Empire Abridged by Mrs. Soltesz https://rvms.dcsdk12.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_142278/File/Becky%20Carson/Roman%20Republic%20to %20Roman%20Empire%20--%20Foldable%20Reading%20Article.pdf Start of the Roman Revolution By the second century B.C., the Senate had become the real governing body of the Roman state. Members of the Senate were usually wealthy landowners, and they remained Senators for life. Rome’s government had started out as a Republic in which citizens elected people to represent them. But the Senate was filled with wealthy aristocrats who were not elected. Rome was slowly turning into an aristocracy, and the majority of middle and lower class citizens began to resent it. Land was usually at the center of class struggles in Rome. The wealthy owned most of the land while the farmers had found themselves unable to compete financially with the wealthy landowners and had lost most of their lands. As a result, many of these small farmers drifted to the cities, especially Rome, forming a large class of landless poor. Changes in the Roman army soon brought even worse problems. Starting around 100 B.C. the Roman Republic was struggling in several areas. 1)The territory of Rome was expanding quickly and the republic form of government could not make decisions and create stability for the new territories. 2) The Republic was also experiencing problems with collecting taxes from its citizens. The larger area of the growing Roman territory created difficulties with collecting taxes from a larger population.