Rise of Rome

The Samnite War was one of the many wars fought by the Roman Republic in the fourth and third centuries BCE for control over the Italian peninsula. Like the Latin War and the Pyrrhic War, the Samnite War ended in victory for the Roman Republic and the growth of Roman territory on the Italian peninsula.

The Roman province of Gaul, conquered by Julius Caesar in 50 BCE, included significant amounts of territory in modern-day France and Belgium.

The Tarquin Monarchy ruled the city of Rome in the waning years of the Roman Kingdom. The rulers of the Tarquin Monarchy were in power before the rise of the Roman Republic in 507 BCE. Also, due to their great antiquity, they are somewhat legendary figures whose lives cannot be reliably confirmed.

At the beginning of the Punic Wars, Carthage was the dominant power in the Mediterranean. The Carthaginian Empire spanned much of North Africa, the Iberian peninsula, the coast of southern France, and many islands close to Rome. The Punic Wars were fought over a period of approximately one-hundred years and ended with the destruction of Carthage and the domination of Rome over the entire Mediterranean.

The Marian Reforms were a series of reforms to the Roman military enacted by Gaius Marius in 107 BCE. Prior to the enactment of the Marian Reforms, only relatively wealthy people could afford to serve in the armies of the Roman Republic. The Marian Reforms opened military service to the common people of Rome and, in doing so, dramatically altered Roman society.

The Battle of Regillus was fought in 496 BCE between the Roman Republic and the forces of the Latin League led by the deposed Roman king Tarquinius Superbus. It ended in victory for the Roman Republic and the final defeat of Rome’s last monarch.

The Marian Reforms, enacted by Gaius Marius in 107 BCE, created a professional standing army drawn from the lowest ranks of Roman society. This meant that landless peasants could join the army for the first time in Roman history, and significantly, were paid a guaranteed wage for their service. The promise of significant wealth caused the common people of Rome to enlist in dramatic numbers and ensured that armies would be loyal to their generals, rather than to the Republic. This situation contributed to the decline of the Roman Republic by allowing some generals to grow immensely powerful (notable examples include Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, Lucius Sulla, Marcus Crassus, Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus).

Prior to the Marian Reforms of 107 BCE, service in the Roman army was only open to those who could afford their own equipment. The soldiers in the Roman army were also grouped according to their wealth and social status. The hastati were some of the poorer and less experienced members of the Roman army. They were frontline infantry troops expected to lead the first charge into battle and hold the frontlines. Individual members of the hastati could rise up the ranks through “exemplary” military service (mainly by continuing to survive).

Legionaries were trained soldiers in the Roman army. After the Marian Reforms, the Roman Republic possessed a professional standing army. This army was comprised of legions (a group of six-thousand soldiers) which was subdivided into cohorts and then again into centuries.

The Battle of Philippi was part of the Wars of the Second Triumvirate. It was fought between the army of Octavian and Mark Antony and the forces led by the tyrannicides (those who conspired to murder Julius Caesar). It ended in victory for the Second Triumvirate and consolidated their control over the territory of the Roman Republic. It also witnessed the suicide of Brutus and Cassius, the two main rivals to the political hegemony of the Second Triumvirate.