Roman Military Case Study

1. The Roman military was arguably the most important factor in Rome’s illustrious history. Using your knowledge of Rome’s military from the video, text, and the document provided, make an argument for why the Roman military was so successful.

According to the video BC Battles: Caesar Super Siege the Roman military was so successful because they were a nearly professional, very large army consisting of more than 50,000 soldiers, between 10 legions. The Roman military used their technological advances to forge innovative armor and weapons, such as the gladius, a small stabbing sword. They had siege weapons, ballistae, which fires a lead shot, and used catapults to pummel the enemy from afar. They created obstacles for their enemies like sharpened sticks that acted as barbed wire on their walls. They utilized booby traps, such as wooden spikes, and placed them at the bottom of the trenches. They had cavalry, mounted troops, which was very effective against ground soldiers. In the battle of Alesia, Caesar decided to build a 12-foot wall around the

Using each of the criteria above, provide information from the text, documents, videos, and class notes to describe how each positively defined the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic was defined by:

Pragmatism (domestically) - The Romans were pragmatist (they used the common-sense approach). They took what worked from cultures like the Greeks and Egyptians. Domestically the Republic was full of comprise, the patricians compromised with the plebeians so they didn’t secede.

Ruthless expansionists- The ruthless expansion of the Romans was evident in the Punic Wars. “The population of Rome itself increased to unheard-of levels: From somewhere around 100,000 before the first Punic Wars to easily five times that figure a little more than a century later.” 1 (pg. 188) Through the Punic Wars, Rome gained Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, and Spain. Expansion was important because more land meant more resources for the Roman