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Roman Republic Expansion, 396-146 BC

Roman Republic Expansion, 396-146 BC. Libertyville HS. Roman Republic Army. Who were the soldiers who unified Italy and defeated the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars? Landowners Provided own equipment Primarily infantry Cavalry played supporting role

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Roman Republic Expansion, 396-146 BC

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  1. Roman Republic Expansion, 396-146 BC Libertyville HS

  2. Roman Republic Army • Who were the soldiers who unified Italy and defeated the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars? • Landowners • Provided own equipment • Primarily infantry • Cavalry played supporting role • Citizens were on call for up to 16 (during PW, 20) years of service

  3. Republic Legion Tactics • Troops were citizen-soldiers, not professionals • Did not use complicated maneuvers • Fought in three lines • velites (poor people) in front to skirmish • Hastati in first line (sword and pilum) • principes (veteran) second line (armed as hastati) • triarii (elite spearmen) in third line, as defensive last line of defense • Aim was to tire enemy out with hastati, then use principes to strike decisive blow, w/ triarii in reserve Roman soldiers: a hastatus (L front), a triarius (R front), and a velite (back)

  4. Romans first expanded eastward, to Adriatic Coast Romans then expanded north, conquering Etruscan city-states Genius of Romans Rather than enslaving conquered populations, Romans turned them into allies and tributaries Their allies gave money, soldiers to help Rome fight and conquer more! Romans also established colonies to claim land Conquering Central / North Italy (396-282 BC)

  5. By 310, Rome controlled all of Italy except the “heel” which was dominated by Greek city state colonies By 290 BC, most of these city states had 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, which the Romans had never seen Romans lost battles but won the war Fighting the Greeks (280-275 BC)

  6. Punic Wars (264-146 BC) • By 265 BC, Rome controlled Italy and central Mediterranean • Brought them into conflict with Carthage • Carthage was a Phoenician colony, in North Africa • They dominated the Western Med, Spain • Series of wars fought for control of Mediterranean • Defined the Romans, like the Persian Wars defined the Greeks • Territories held by Rome, Carthage

  7. 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?

  8. Romans won land battles but had no navy Developed navy to fight on sea, based on shipwrecked Carthaginian ship Tactics: turn naval battles into land battles through corvus Corvus First Punic War

  9. Outcome of First Punic War • Romans lost 50,000 citizens (1/6) to lost fleets, military defeats (mostly drownings) • Carthage suffered strategic defeat • Forced off Sicily • Forced to pay reparations (penalties) to Rome • Forced to free all Roman prisoners captured in battles

  10. Cause of Second Punic War (218-201 BC) • Carthage expanded • its holdings in Spain • Alarmed, a Greek city • in Spain allied with • Rome for protection • Continued power struggle for supremacy in Mediterranean • Rome expanded through north of Italy and cleared Adriatic Sea of pirates

  11. 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 can’t take Rome Rome barely survived this period Finally Hannibal retreated to Carthage, and was beaten at the Battle of Zama (202 BC) Battle of Cannae (216 BC) Second Punic War

  12. 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 invades and conquers Macedonia in retaliation for allying with Carthage • Carthage to pay tribute to Rome for 50 years • Carthage agreed never to wage war without consent of Rome Hannibal takes poison after capture

  13. Cause of Third Punic War (149-146 BC) • Carthage recovered from war, trade and commerce resumes, and Carthage got rich again • Roman Senator Cato ended every speech by saying “Carthage must be destroyed” • Rome ordered Carthage to give up all its weapons • Rome then orders them to move out of Carthage as it is fortified • Rome provoked war to destroy Carthage

  14. Third Punic War • 146 BC – Carthage besieged • Citizens fight building by building, block by block, defending their city against Romans • Romans conquer city • destroy city brick by brick • enslave entire population • Sow salt in ground so nothing would grow • Make North Africa a province

  15. Legacy of the Punic Wars • Rome was supreme power in Mediterranean • Maintained overseas possessions in Spain, North Africa, Corsica, Sicily, Balearic Islands

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