Rise of Rome - Ancient History: Rome

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 Latin War was fought between the growing Roman Republic and the weakening Latin League in the mid-fourth century BCE. The Latin League was a loose confederation of towns and city-states who grouped their militaries together to provide mutual protection. In the years leading up to the war, Rome had taken effective control over the Latin League. In 340 BCE certain members of the League rebelled against what they saw as heavy-handed Roman government. The war was swiftly won by the Romans, who completely dissolved the Latin League and incorporated all of its territory into their growing dominion.

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.

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).

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 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.

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.

In the Final War of the Roman Republic, Octavian and Mark Antony fought against one another for sole control of the entire Roman territory. During the rule of the Second Triumvirate, Mark Antony had lived in Alexandria with the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra. The decisive battle of the Final War of the Roman Republic occurred in 31 BCE. The Battle of Actium was a naval engagement fought between the forces of Octavian and the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. It ended in complete victory for Octavian. Shortly thereafter, Mark Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, thus ending the war and bringing to a close the history of the Roman Republic.

Gaius Marius was a Roman consul towards the end of the history of the Roman Republic. He was elected as consul an unprecedented number of times and was instrumental in the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. Specifically, Gaius Marius is notable for the successful reforms he made to the Roman military. He created professional standing armies and authorized the recruitment of landless peasants into the Roman army.

The Battle of Gergovia was fought in 52 BCE between the Gallic forces of Vercingetorix and the forces of the Roman Republic led by Julius Caesar. It ended in victory for the Gauls and forced the temporary withdrawal of the Roman army.

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

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).

The Battle of the Colline Gate was fought in 82 BCE between Sulla and the Marian forces loyal to Gaius Marius. It was the final battle of the brutal civil war between Sulla and Gaius Marius and ended with Sulla taking control of the city of Rome and Marius committing suicide.

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.