Roman Empire

The Roman Empire (Imperium Romanum) was a civilization which was based out of the Italian City of Rome. It was notable for unifying the Mediterranean under their rule and being one of the most advanced civilizations of Classical Antiquity, with only China and a few others surpassing it.

Roman History 101

The Early days

According to the Legends, Rome was founded in 753 BCE. What is more well established is that Rome used to be one of several city states in Italy and was ruled by a King. Eventually the Romans got fed up with monarchy and did away with their kings, becoming a Republic. At the top of Rome were Patricians, wealthy landowners who could run for senate if they served in the arms. That army had a lot to do because the Romans ended up conquering their rivals one by one. Those people who accepted Roman Rule were integrated into the empire without much fuss, those that did not were enslaved. Either way each new conquest giving them manpower and money to conquer more city states. Underneath them were the Plebians, who were regular citizens who did not own much land but still had civil right and eventually managed to get the Patricians to give them their own council. Eventually they eliminated their rivals and got most of Italy under their control, even if they had to put up with unwashed Gauls rampaging through their northern frontier.

The Romans were good at mustering up and organizing large forces of soldiers. In 280BCE the Greek King Pyyrhus launched an attack against Roman Italy. Though he managed to defeat the Roman Army at the Battle of Heraclea, he lost a decent number of his army. The Romans, however, raised new troops and wore him out.

The Punic Wars

Meanwhile, in what's now Libya there was another power on the rise, a city called Carthage. The Carthaginians were good traders, were ruled by an elite class or wealthy merchants and financiers and spent their money on Mercenaries, which they used to conquer an empire of their own in Africa. Eventually their began to be some friction between the two groups as Carthage moved into Sicily and Sardinia. This let to three wars called the Punic Wars where Rome and Carthage clashed.

The first Punic War (264 BCE to 241 BCE) involved the Romans fighting the Carthaginians over Sicily and Sardinia. The Romans begin to take to the sea for the first time. A Carthaginian war galley crashed on the shores of italy and the Carthaginians were so go good as to use standardized and numbered components to speed up production, the Romans quickly copied the design. Eventually the Carthaginians threw in the towel and accepted terms with the Romans, even though one of their generals, Hamilcar Barca had been doing well in his campaign. He got pissy about this and led an army into Spain. The Carthaginian government did not authorize this, but since news of this came back with a lot of money they allowed him to continue and set up his own personal kingdom in Spain. From which, he and his son prepared for round two.

Romans at War

Long story short, you don't get an Empire which reached from Iraq to Portugal without being good at fighting and the Romans were good at that.

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