Download World History, Chapter 6, section 3

Expansion and Crisis
Section2
Main Idea
• Economic and
social problems
brought down the
Roman empire
People to Meet
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hannibal
Scipio
Tiberius Gracchus
Gaius Gracchus
Marius Sulla
Julius Caesar
Octavian
Marc Antony
Places to Locate
• Carthage
– Currently, Tunis
Expansion and Crisis
Roman Legions
Introduction
• Rome threatened by neighbors 500 B.C. to
300 B.C.
– Conquered them
– Forced them to ally with Rome
• Until 264 B.C., Rome ruled entire
peninsula
Roman Legions
• Rome’s success in
war was due to its
strong army and to its
small mobile fighting
units
Roman Legions
• All males had to serve
• Changed from the
•
Greek phalanx to
small fighting units of
60 to 120 soldiers—
more mobile
Could defeat the
phalanx
Roman Legions
• Well trained
• Deserters punished by
•
•
death
Rome treated
conquered foes well
Could keep own
governments if they
fought Rome’s wars
Roman Legions
• Gave the conquered
•
partial rights—some
even made citizens
Rome set up
“coloniae”—
permanent military
settlements
Rome Against Carthage
• Carthage became
Mediterranean’s
wealthiest city
– Conquered Spanish
coast
– Conquered most of
Sicily
– Romans decided to
stop their expansion
The First Punic War
• In 264 B.C., Carthage
•
threatened to seize
the Strait of Messina
Rome sent a security
force and war broke
out
The First Punic War
• In 264 B.C. the
Roman army
conquered most of
Carthage’s colonies in
Sicily, but the
Carthage’s naval
superiority at first
gave Carthage the
advantage at sea
The First Punic War
• Undaunted, the
Romans eventually
built a larger fleet and
forced Carthage to
retreat
The First Punic War
• Rome used new tactic—large grappling
hooks “hook” Carthage’s ships and the
Romans boarded them to defeat them
• War lasted from 264 B.C. to 241 B.C.
• Carthage was forced to pay Rome an
indemnity—payment for damages
The Second Punic War
• In 221 B.C. Hannibal,
who had become
general of the
Carthaginian army in
Spain, grabbed on of
Rome’s allied cities in
Spain
The Second Punic War
• Hannibal then took
•
40,000 troops and 40
elephants across the
alps to fight the
Romans
Half his force and half
the elephants died on
the journey
The Second Punic War
• Outnumbered,
•
Hannibal still defeated
the Romans
By 216 B.C., Hannibal
had nearly destroyed
the Roman army
The Second Punic War
• Rome raised a new
•
army
Led by General
Publius Scipio, they
attacked Carthage,
forcing Hannibal to
return to Carthage
The Second Punic War
• Scipio defeats
•
Hannibal’s army at
Zama, just outside
Carthage in 202 B.C.
Carthage gave up
lands in Spain and
warships and paid
indemnity
The Third Punic War
• After 50 years,
•
•
Carthage grew to
greatness again
No threat to Rome
Senator Cato, for
years, had ended all
his speeches with,
“Carthago delenda
est”--Carthage must
be destroyed
The Third Punic War
• In 146 B.C. the
•
Romans burned
Carthage to the
ground and sold its
population into
slavery
Legend is that the
Romans placed salt
on the earth to keep
crops from growing
The Third Punic War
• Victory over Carthage
gave Rome complete
control of the
Mediterranean
The Punic Wars
• The timeframe of the
Punic Wars was from
264 B.C. to 146 B.C.,
a period of 118 years
The Republic in Crisis
• Rome now
owned/controlled
most of the
Mediterranean area
• Romans began
referring to the
Mediterranean as
“our sea”
The Republic in Crisis
• Between 230 B.C. and
130 B.C., Rome
brought most of the
eastern
Mediterranean area
under its rule
The Republic in Crisis
• The Romans were
•
powerful but they
faced growing social
unrest
Conquered peoples
complained about
corrupt officials
stealing wealth for
personal gain
The Republic in Crisis
• The Roman Empire
was a vast territory
– Rome’s government
established to govern
small city-state
– Political problems led
to social and economic
upheaval
Exploiting the Provinces
• Rome organized nonItalian territories into
provinces
– Pay tribute to Rome
– Recognize Rome’s
authority
Exploiting the Provinces
• Senate appointed
governors called
proconsuls
– Often accepted bribes
and robbed provinces
• Publicans—people
who collected taxes—
also took money
Exploiting the Provinces
• Taking money
became an accepted
way of life for the rich
to get richer
Exploiting the Provinces
• The Provinces
•
rebelled due to unfair
treatment
Roman legions had to
be stationed in the
provinces to keep
order
Exploiting the Provinces
• Most provinces
•
•
adjusted
Jews in Palestine
resisted
Romans sacked
Jerusalem in A.D. 70
Changing the Countryside
• Roman government expanded into
provinces and acquired property
– Holdings were rented to wealthy Romans
– Created large estates called “latifundia”
– Slaves of conquered lands worked the farms
Changing the Countryside
• Slaves resulted in less
•
labor costs for
growing crops…less
than farmers in Italy
Latifundia owners
captured the grain
market and brought
wealth to provinces
Changing the Countryside
• Latifundia owners
•
forced small farmers
out of business
Proconsuls and
publicans bought up
small farms in Rome
to create latifundia
Changing the Countryside
• Proconsuls and
•
publicans devoted
latifundia to sheep
ranching and raising
olives and fruit
Put even more
farmers out of work
Crowding the Cities
• Slave labor replaced
•
paid labor
Landless farmers
streamed into the
cities looking for
employment
Crowding the Cities
• Jobs were not
•
available for former
farmers
They became the
urban jobless and
poor
Crowding the Cities
• The urban poor barely
•
eked out a living
Supported any
politician who
promised them “bread
and circuses”—cheap
food and free
amusements
Crowding the Cities
• Gap between rich and
•
•
poor widened
Upper class lived in
fear of revolts
Rome stationed
soldiers in strategic
locations to prevent
civil strife
Crowding the Cities
• Spartacus led 70,000 slaves and
plundered the countryside
• Rome finally crushed Spartacus, but not
without great cost Spartacus led 70,000
slaves and plundered the countryside
• Rome finally crushed Spartacus, but not
without great cost
Crowding the Cities
• Urban poor and new middle class
increased
– Equites (EH*kwuh*TEEZ) (or knights)
• Just below patricians
• Saw more values in wealth than character
• Influenced Romans to seek similar values
Link to the Past
• Discuss
• Are we creating a permanent underclass in
America? Who are they?
• Are American mainstream jobs being
taken? Is the middle class threatened?
• Do people vote for politicians who promise
them free “bread and circuses’
• Divide into groups and report back
Reformers and Generals
• Many were concerned
•
with helping the
plebeians
Two brothers tried to
enact laws that would
help but met with
violent ends
Reformers and Generals
• Feuding among Rome’s leading families
weakened Rome
• Tiberius Gracchus (tribune) proposed
limiting the size of latifundia and was
killed in street fighting
• Gaius Gracchus, his brother, was killed 10
years later proposing the same reforms
• Wealthiest Romans keep the system
Crowding the Cities
• General Gaius Marius
•
•
(and other generals)
Tried to help poor
Army leaders came to
power in Rome and
privately paid
unemployed poor to
serve in the army
Crowding the Cities
• For the first time
•
soldiers owed
allegiance to
commander, not the
republic
General Lucius Sulla
used army against
Marius and civil war
broke out
Crowding the Cities
• The usual farmers
had been decimated
by government
actions to enlarge
farms into latifundia
Marius and Sulla
• Raised armies and fought each other in
the streets of Rome for ultimate power
• Sulla finally won after 6 years of fighting
• The practice of using the army to gain
political power was copied by Julius
Caesar
• Violence overtook law
The First Triumvirate
• Julius Caesar
– Born into aristocratic
family—100 B.C.
– Skilled in politics, he
rose to power
– Allied himself with
Pompey and Crassus
The First Triumvirate
• With their help, he
•
was made consul
The three ruled Rome
as a triumvirate
With force and
bribery, they ruled
The First Triumvirate
• Caesar realized the
•
need for military
victories to advance
his career
He defeated the Celts,
fought the Germanic
tribes and had other
successes in Britain
The First Triumvirate
• The lower classes
•
•
hailed him as a hero
Crassus was killed in
battle while leading
forces in Asia
Pompey was in Rome
as Caesar was at war
The First Triumvirate
• Pompey and Caesar
•
remained
Pompey, with support
of the senate, ordered
Caesar to leave his
legions north of the
Rubicon River and
return to Rome
The First Triumvirate
• Caesar kept 5,000
loyal troops and
headed for Rome,
crossing the Rubicon,
a river that divided
the military provinces
from Roman Italy
The First Triumvirate
• Caesar realized there
•
•
was no turning back
Civil war inevitable
Ever since, “crossing
the Rubicon” has
meant making a
decision that cannot
be undone
The First Triumvirate
• He quickly captured
•
all of Italy
He drove Pompey and
troops out of Rome
and finally defeated
him in Greece
Julius Caesar
• Took over government as dictator for life
• He added to the Senate representatives
from the provinces
• He made central government more
responsive to the conquered provinces
Julius Caesar
• Set up public works programs to hire poor
• Ordered slave owners to hire the
unemployed
• Colonies were founded to divide up the
land more
• Distributed free grain, but limited the
number of people eligible for it
Julius Caesar
• Replaced the old Roman calendar with the
new solar calendar based on 365 days per
year and one extra day every fourth
year—leap year
• Calendar later named “Julian” after him
Julius Caesar
• Senators led by Brutus and Cassius
stabbed him to death on March 15, 44
B.C.
• Some senators considered him a tyrant
who wanted to be a king and tyrants
could be killed without trial
End of the Republic
• Caesar’s 18-year old nephew, Octavian,
and Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus
defeated Caesar’s killers and divided
Rome’s territories into 3 major provinces
• This was considered to be the Second
Triumvirate
• Lepidus was forced to retire
• Antony married Cleopatra
End of the Republic
• Octavian convinced
Rome that Antony
intended to run Rome
with Cleopatra (queen
of Egypt) by his
side—unacceptable
End of the Republic
• Octavian declared war
•
•
and scattered
Antony’s forces
Antony and Cleopatra
commit suicide to
prevent their capture
Octavian is
undisputed ruler