Text 2. Overseas Expansion

Read the text and do the tasks that follow.

While the patricians and plebeians struggled for power within the city’s walls, other battles raged on the outside. Year after year, the Roman army marched off to wage war against its neighbors and to expand the area under Roman control. The army was not always victorious, however. In fact, in 390 B.C., Rome itself was attacked and destroyed by the Gauls, a warlike people from the north.

Nevertheless, Rome rebuilt and continued to grow. By 338 B.C., Rome had conquered Latium and Etruria. By 275 B.C., Rome ruled the whole Italian peninsula.

Rome was so successful, in part, because instead of punishing the people it conquered, Rome made them allies. As allies, they had to fight for Rome in any future wars. In return, Rome promised them protection and a share in the profits from future victories. In some cases, Rome even granted citizenship to conquered peoples.

By 270 B.C., Rome had more citizens and well-trained soldiers than any other Mediterranean power. During the text century, Rome used those resources to conquer the Mediterranean world.

In the 200s B.C., Rome was conquering Italy. Another power, Carthage, existed on the opposite side of the Mediterranean. It was a prosperous Phoenician city with trading posts all around the Mediterranean. Carthage and Rome became fierce rivals and fought three long and bloody wars over which power would control the Mediterranean.

By the 200s B.C., Carthage had settlements on Sicily. Rome feared it would gain complete control of the island. In 264 B.C., the two powers went to war over Sicily. This struggle marked the beginning of the First Punic War. Punici was the Roman word for the people of Carthage.

The fighting raged on land and sea. Rome had a stronger army and soon controlled Sicily’s inland. But Carthage controlled the coast with its stronger navy.

In fact, at the beginning of the war, Rome had few ships and little experience at sea. Yet the Romans found a clever answer to their problem. They invented a device called a “crow,” a kind of gangplank with clawlike hooks. The crow was held upright until the Romans pulled their ship up next to an enemy ship. Then they swiftly lowered the crow so the hooks caught in the enemy ship’s deck. The crow thus served as a bridge, allowing Roman soldiers to board the enemy ship easily.

The first Punic War lasted 23 years. Rome was in a better position than Carthage to withstand the heavy losses because of its huge army and loyal allies.

By 241 B.C., the Carthaginian army, led by General Hamilcar, was forced to admit defeat. Sicily became the first territory outside of the Italian peninsula to come under Rome’s control. Rome had begun its expansion into the Mediterranean world.

Despite its defeat at the hands of the Romans, Cartage remained an important power. It immediately began to rebuild its empire, starting in Spain, where it already had numerous trading posts.

Under the leadership of General Hamilcar, Carthage succeeded in expanding its holdings in Spain. In 229 B.C., however, Hamilcar was killed in battle in 221 B.C., the army elected Hannibal commander. Hamilcar’s son was only 26 years old, but it was time for him to fulfill the oath he had made as a child.

Rome watched anxiously as Carthage expanded its empire in Spain. Then, in 219 B.C., Hannibal attacked Saguntum, one of Rome’s allies in Spain. After Saguntum had fallen, Rome declared war on Carthage. Thus began the Second Punic War, which ended in 201 B.C.

The Romans sent troops to Saguntum, but Hannibal had other plans. True to his oath, he decided to invade Italy.

He gathered an army of 60,000 soldiers, 6,000 horses, and 37 elephants. They marched across the Pyrenees Mountains in Spain and through southern Gaul, crossed the Phone River with trumpeting elephants on rafts, and reached the Alps five months later, in winter.

Hannibal crushed the Romans in battle after battle. Only the determination of Rome’s people helped them to survive until a general arose who was a match for Hannibal – Scipio Africanus.

First, Scipio made a secret pact with one of Carthage’s allies, Numidia, the country now known as Algeria. Then, while Hannibal was still in Italy, Scipio attacked Cartage. But just as Cartage was about to admit defeat, Hannibal returned from Italy. Scipio fought Hannibal at Zama, a town near Carthage. With the help of the Numidians, Scipio won. He was given the name “Africanus” in honor of this victory in northern Africa.

This defeat marked the end of Carthage’s empire. Carthage was forced to give up its territories and its ships, and to pay Rome vast sums of money.

In 149 B.C., Carthage rebelled against Rome, thus beginning the Third Punic War. Rome once again defeated Carthage.

With the defeat of Carthage, Rome became the most important power in the western Mediterranean. Next, Rome turned eastward, conquering Greece and Macedonia, the country to the north of Greece, by 146 B.C.

By 50 B.C., Rome controlled the entire Mediterranean area.