Empires: Rome -The Background History Part Three

The alliances with other city-states in Italy and the mostly non-brutal, yet ultimately self-serving way in which they were done helped Rome grow dramatically in military and economic strength. By 275 B.C., Rome had become the largest state in Europe. Its area was 50,000 square miles from the Rubicon in northern Italy, to the straits of Messina off Italy's southern coast. 10 years after this, Rome began to reinforce its control of the entire western Meditteranean. The next phase in the building up of Rome's empire was a very rough one. To me it seems that Rome's rise rise from when it was a tiny city-state up until the time I am going to talk about now had been a comparitively easy road to become the dominant power of the surrounding areas. Indeed, by the 260s B.C. with surprising speed they had mastery over the entire Italian peninsula. However, the 'easy' days of Rome's conquests were about to end-in fact Rome would soon be engaged in a battle for its very survival. The wars with Carthage were the most devastating it ever fought. Carthage was a city of Semitic settlers on the North African coast. Carthage was mostly a maritime power and dominated the trade routes of the western Meditteranean. Carthage possessed resources as great as Rome's. For centuries Carthage had bouts of warfare with the Greek cities of Sicily. By this time Rome was poised beyond the Straits of Messina. This factor led to the Greeks on the island of Sicily getting the Romans involved with their continual disputes with Carthage.

Finally, in 264 B.C. Rome went to war with Carthage over a minor disagreement over treaty rights. Rome had no naval tradition to speak of and lost many fleets to the enemy and storms. Despite this, Rome tolerated more than twenty years of huge numbers of casualties to finally achieve victory over Carthage. The terms of the peace treaty imposed on Carthage required them to withdraw from Sicily. In 227 B.C. Sicily was made a Roman province. I think this action is very important, as others of this type because it relates to one of my major questions about empires-Do some empires arise accidentally? When Rome took over Carthage and made Sicily a province, she found herself the beginnings of an overseas empire without ever planning it this way.

This was by no means to be the last Rome would hear of Carthage. With Sicily lost, Carthage next turned her attention on Spain. The Carthaginians began to mine for the riches in precious metals Spain possessed. It wasn't an easy go for the Carthaginians, as they had to brave bloodthirsty tribes who were encamped all over the mountainous regions of Spain. The venture turned out to be worth its weight in gold (no pun intended) for Carthage. The flow of new wealth from the Spanish mines led Carthage to think about resuming its conflict with Rome. This time Carthage's generals and military strategists were suffering from no illusions about the strength and indomitable will of the enemy they faced. If they were to contemplate making war with Rome, victory would be impossible unless the Republic was destroyed.