The Roman Empire Result of the Punic Wars

The Roman Empire

Result of the Punic Wars �How can war change the way an empire is governed? �From 264 to 146 BCE, the Romans fought three wars against Carthage, known as the Punic Wars. �The two great powers fought for control of strategic islands throughout the Mediterranean region. �Rome eventually destroyed Carthage and took control of its lands. After its success against Carthage, the Roman Republic continued to expand by conquering new lands. �These new lands were organized into provinces and put under the control of local governors.

An expanding empire �Why would local �This focus on expansion led to businesses get negative effects on the city of Rome up set over new and its surrounding areas. provinces producing more �Agriculture in the provinces was goods? more successful than in the areas surrounding Rome. Local farmers lost business to the competition from the new provinces, which contributed to a widening gap in wealth between the commoners and the elite members of society. �This led to growing unrest in the Republic.

Julius Caesar’s Rise to Power �What was Julius Caesar like? �Caesar served in the Roman military and was a skillful soldier. He also was a clever politician and a skilled writer and speaker. �In 60 BCE, he formed a political alliance with Pompey the Great and Crassus, two other political leaders.

Julius Caesar VS. Pompey �Why was Pompey jealous of Julius Caesar? �Military success in Gaul provided Caesar with increased political power, money, and popularity. Pompey, who was also very ambitious, saw Caesar’s increasing power as a threat to his own quest for power and began working to undermine him. �Caesar and Pompey became enemies. Pompey began to try to prevent Caesar from gaining more power.

End of the Republic �What was �Under the influence of Pompey, who had powerful connections in Rome, the Senate consider commanded Caesar to give up command of the act his army and return to Rome alone. that ended the Republic? �Caesar agreed only on the condition that Pompey would also give up command of his army. When the Senate refused Caesar’s request, he ignored their order, and in 49 BCE he led his army across the Rubicon River into Italy to fight Pompey and his army. �By ignoring the Senate and crossing the Rubicon River, Caesar was seen as having committed an act of war. Because of this, many historians see Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon as the end of the Roman Republic.

Start of the Roman Empire �How did Julius Caesar become dictator? �Julius defeated Pompey’s army and continued to travel conquering land. �Caesar returned to Rome in triumph. He was very generous toward the commoners in Rome, which made him very popular. �Caesar was declared dictator for life instead of the normal term of six months.

Murder in the Senate �Why did the �The rise of Caesar made some members of the Roman Senate fear he was gaining Senate want Julius Caesar too much power. dead? �They wanted Rome to remain a republic, and they thought that Caesar was trying to establish himself as a monarch, or king. � If that happened, each leader would pass the crown to his heir instead of being elected. �This would mean the crown would stay in a single family line, creating a dynasty, and the Senate would lose much of their power.