EQ: how did rome change from a kingdom to a republic to an empire?
In the late 1st century BC the Republic had become pretty much disfunctional. It was prone to infighting, greed and class warfare, and could barely deal with the problems of the day. Several critical issues, such as land reform and what to do with soldiers that had completed their service, festered for decades without any solutions. Violence erupted frequently. Civil wars between generals were frequent. The Republic was almost always in crisis, and it struggled to govern the large empire won by Rome through several wars in the 3rd and 2nd century BC.
Prior to Augustus, Julius Caesar had briefly grabbed supreme power and started some badly needed reforms. But he was murdered before he could accomplish much, and the Republic fell into chaos for another generation.
After Augustus defeated Mark Antony, he marched on Rome. Once there, backed up by his army, he became defacto ruler of all of Rome. He worked with the Roman senate to have him granted several separate political offices, which effectively put him legally in charge for life, all the while maintaining the outward facade of the Roman Republic. After that he set up a series of reforms to fix the problems with the government. All this helped him to appear as a legitimate and legal ruler, who had the citizen's best interests at heart, rather than a power-hungry warlord bent on brutal world domination.
EQ:What happened in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd punic wars? The First Punic War was fought for the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters.The war was fought between Ancient carthage and the Roman Republic. Carthage began the war as the great sea-power of the western Mediterranean, while Rome had but a small fleet of fighting ships. The Second Punic War was also fought between Ancient carthage and the Roman Republic.The war was to a considerable extent initiated by Rome but followed by Hanniba’ls journey into the alps and crushing victories over Roman armies. was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage and the Roman Republic. This war was a much smaller engagement than the two previous Punic Wars. The war resulted in the complete destruction of the city, the annexation of all remaining Carthaginian territory by Rome, and the death or enslavement of the entire Carthaginian population.
In the late 1st century BC the Republic had become pretty much disfunctional. It was prone to infighting, greed and class warfare, and could barely deal with the problems of the day. Several critical issues, such as land reform and what to do with soldiers that had completed their service, festered for decades without any solutions. Violence erupted frequently. Civil wars between generals were frequent. The Republic was almost always in crisis, and it struggled to govern the large empire won by Rome through several wars in the 3rd and 2nd century BC.
Prior to Augustus, Julius Caesar had briefly grabbed supreme power and started some badly needed reforms. But he was murdered before he could accomplish much, and the Republic fell into chaos for another generation.
After Augustus defeated Mark Antony, he marched on Rome. Once there, backed up by his army, he became defacto ruler of all of Rome. He worked with the Roman senate to have him granted several separate political offices, which effectively put him legally in charge for life, all the while maintaining the outward facade of the Roman Republic. After that he set up a series of reforms to fix the problems with the government. All this helped him to appear as a legitimate and legal ruler, who had the citizen's best interests at heart, rather than a power-hungry warlord bent on brutal world domination.
EQ:What happened in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd punic wars? The First Punic War was fought for the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters.The war was fought between Ancient carthage and the Roman Republic. Carthage began the war as the great sea-power of the western Mediterranean, while Rome had but a small fleet of fighting ships. The Second Punic War was also fought between Ancient carthage and the Roman Republic.The war was to a considerable extent initiated by Rome but followed by Hanniba’ls journey into the alps and crushing victories over Roman armies. was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage and the Roman Republic. This war was a much smaller engagement than the two previous Punic Wars. The war resulted in the complete destruction of the city, the annexation of all remaining Carthaginian territory by Rome, and the death or enslavement of the entire Carthaginian population.