How Did The Rise Of Rome And

Its Empire Assist In The Development Of Western Europe.. Essay, Research Paper

Early historical Italy contained a diversity of peoples, with different languages, cultures and levels of civilisation; the city of Rome being just one of many scores of Italian communities scattered over Italy. However, in a very short time Rome began to rise above its neighbouring counterparts, quickly establishing itself as a city of great power within Italy. The gradual expansion of its interests abroad led to the formation of one of the greatest Empires the world has ever seen. It was this dominance, especially of the western hemisphere, that allowed the process of `Romanisation’ to proceed. The traditional date for the foundation of Rome is 753BC. At this time the development of the city began with the unification of several hilltop settlements into one large urbanised area, later extending into the bend in the river Tiber. From its outset, Rome had the supreme advantage of a central position in the Italian peninsula (Appendix, figure 1) and with the distinctive topography of its site (see Appendix, figure 2), it soon developed into an emerging european power. This map (figure 2) shows Rome at a later stage in its development but indicates adequately how the seven hills it is built upon provided an easily defendable site. It also displays how essential the Tiber was to the development of Rome; acting as a bridging point and allowing the city to operate as a port and a place of contact between the Mediterranean maritime world and the peoples of the Italian peninsula. As Rome accumulated wealth and power from this maritime trade its attention turned to more ambitious matters; that of conquering the various races that constituted Italy. After repeated failures Rome overcame the Etruscans and Gauls in the north; the Sabines, Volscians, and Hernicans in the near east and south; and the Greeks in the south. The extent of Roman expansion in Italy by 268BC was remarkable, other than a few Samnite settlements in the south, the Romans had total control of the nucleus of the Italian peninsula (Appendix, figure 3). During this period of expansion throughout Italy, one of the most important victories, and the one that had the most far-reaching consequences for the future development of Roman Italy, was against the Samnites. The first stage of the war resulted in the foundation of the fortresses Luceria, Apulia and Campania and also the construction of the great south road, the Via Appia, and the great north road, the Via Flaminia. As the conflict continued the Samnites drew support from various other races, their resistance making necessary the consolidation of Romes’ position by the building of further roads and colonies. By the time the Samnites were finally defeated the Romans had laid the foundations of an infrastructure that was to play a key role in the future development and defense of Italy, and was to be used as a blueprint for the subsequent conquest of foreign territories. The development of the road network throughout Italy (as a result of the war against the Samnites) acted as a powerful instrument of social change, a property that the Roman government recognised and utilised to its fullest extent (Ward-Perkins, 1972). Whilst building the roads Rome realised that they would cause a significant shift in the emphasis of the population, away from many of the old towns and rural areas to the new settlements that developed along its length. Any existing towns that the new road system avoided would be unlikely to prosper economically since they would not be situated on the emerging trade routes. This realisation was used by the Romans to reduce the power of some of their more hostile neighbours, especially the Etruscan city of Veii which for several decades threatened the very existence of Rome, and thus further enhanced its position as Italy’s leading city. Once the Romans had established this superiority, the central political body in Rome sought to maintain it; their first principle being Divide et impera (Divide to conquer). This meant that Rome tolerated no league or alliances between tribes or cities, treating each one as an independent unit and giving them all separate treaty’s. This was instigated to minimise the risk of a combination of races cooperating with one another to overthrow Romes dominant position. Romes emphasis on political measures as a means of control resulted in further policies being implemented to ensure the loyalty of the newly conquered races. This involved categorising tribes/cities into “full Roman citizenship”, “partial Roman citizenship” or simply “allied community” groups (Appendix, figure 3). Each category was given different rights within the Roman constitution; “full Roman citizenship” meant that the population were allowed to vote at the Citizens Assembly and therefore had some power over future law changes and policy adaptations; “allied communities” had none of these privileges and were simply required to send their own contingents to fight alongside the Roman legionaries if necessary. This hierarchy of privilege groups meant that tribes/cities in the upper echelons were permanently trying to thank the government of Rome for the honour they had been bestowed with, and thus remained loyal and trustworthy as a means of repayment. The majority of these privileged groups were concentrated in a close proximity to Rome and thus, via the implementation of a number of clever