Roman conquest of Italy and the Mediterranean world

Roman Empire was one of the most interesting and fascinating historical experiences of the history of civilizations. Its creation, expansion, and demise were all taken to astronomic size. Better said, the Roman Empire, regardless of the stage of evolution, represented an important historical step in the history of civilization.

One of the most important reasons for this aspect is the way in which the Empire was conducted and the means it used to ensure its influence in the conquered territories and afterwards empire. More precisely, the Roman Empire is often considered part of the Cradle of Civilization particularly because it used its institutions to promote the Roman way, whether it was a matter of governance, military affairs, or democratic institutions.

In the first centuries of its expansion, the Roman Empire proposed an entirely new world for the provinces it had under its care and the territories it conquered. From this point-of-view, one of the essential elements in this sense was trade. Trade in the Roman Empire resembled to an extent to the current European Union's engagement of free markets in the sense that trade was open between provinces. Especially in the first two centuries of the Empire, form the Black Sea to the Mediterranean trade was possible on the Roman roads constructed by the armies of the Empire. In this sense, the unity of the Empire grew and all the provinces were able, at one point or another to provide the necessary natural resources for the capital as well as for the army that in turn would defend the boundaries of the empire.

Another crucial point that connected the Roman Empire was the Army itself. Rome, as one of the most important cities of the Ancient world had developed a different set of values regarding the army. More precisely, the army was constituted from professional soldiers that were not only well paid in the times of glory of the empire but were also respected members of the Roman societies. However, the borders of the empire extended in time to include also parts of Africa and the entire Mediterranean basin. Most of the times, it was the army that had connected with the local population and provided a greater sense of unity with the empire. For instance, in parts of Eastern Europe that had been conquered by the Romans in the First Century b.c the Roman army played a crucial role in what today are the Romanian people. This included marring native women and settling in those parts of Europe.

Clearly related to the role played by the army, the Latin language is an additional factor that enabled the Roman Empire to increase its influence and grip on the territories conquered. More precisely, the language spoken by the Army was considered vulgar Latin, that is the language spoken by the commoners rather than that used by the scholars. However, the armies that defended the boundaries of the Empire ensured the spread of vulgar latin that eventually resulted in setting the base for most of the European languages spoken today: French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian. Therefore, the Roman army played not only a key role in spreading the culture of the Roman empire but it also ensured the dissemination of the Latin language that would set the base for the languages Europe is now using.

There are a great number of achievements that can be attributed to the Roman Empire and that can demonstrate the importance of this construction for the first centuries b.c However, the road infrastructure, the cultural achievements, as well as other aspects of Roman influence were only possible as a result of strong and constant policies undergone by the Empire. In this sense, it was clear for Rome that the army was of crucial importance. Therefore, all soldiers enlisted in the Roman army benefited from the same rights and advantages as the ones being stationed in the Capital, for the simple reason that the Roman army from the capital could not ensure its detachment for every threat at the boundaries of the Empire. Therefore, conditions were created that soldiers formed the territories and provinces conquered would enlist in the Roman army and therefore defend the boundaries of the Empire from any perpetrators. This enabled an extremely efficient means of defense for a very large empire.

Furthermore, the Roman empire was known for its extremely efficient Latin law created in the first centuries. This type of law became applicable in the provinces as well. Given the fact that very important scholars in Roma had created it and from the entire Roman empire it had become very efficient and correct and soon the provinces started to use it as opposed to the local law that was most of the times arbitrary.

One of the most important examples of the Roman might was the confrontation known in history as the Punic Wars that opposed the Roman Empire to the city of Cartagena, on the African continent. Although the Romans were not as skilled as the armies of Cartagena, they managed, during the three Punic wars to establish such a fleet that would undermine the African center and would determine the full Roman control over the Mediterranean basin. However, this victory would not had been possible should the Roman army not collaborate with the Roman Senate on the military tactics. Therefore, the Roman Empire was, at the time of its utmost fame, one of the most well trained, well prepared from a political point-of-view, and most advanced mechanism of civilization, from the language it promoted to the way in which the armies trained and acted on the battlefield.