What are two reasons for romes success for expanding its power across Italy?

Answer 1

One reason was the size of Rome's military manpower. When Rome expanded into central and southern Italy in the 4th century BC and the first part of the 3rd century BC, she made alliances with the peoples in these areas. These allies had to supply soldiers who fought in auxiliary units which supported the Roman legions at their own expense. The system worked because the Romans supported the ruling elites of these peoples and shared the spoils of war, which could be considerable. In this period the allied supplied 60% of the pool of military manpower available to Rome. This was the largest pool in the Mediterranean. Later, the auxiliaries were recruited from all over the Roman Empire and doubled the size of the Roman army.

Another reason was Rome's ability to mobilise several legions (army corps) on several fronts at the same time. This ability was developed early on, in the 6th century BC, when Rome was attacked by several neighbours and had to fight both to her north and south. At one point during the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) Rome was capable of fighting in Italy, Spain and Greece at the same time.

The Roman army was already well organised and efficient when it was a citizen militia. Later she developed a professional army where the soldiers careers lasted 16 years at first and then 20 years.

Flexibility was another feature. When Rome fought against the Samnites of the mountains of southern Italy she changed her military formation from the Greek system of the phalanx to the manipular system of the Samnites, the enemy. This was because the maniples were more flexible and better suited to mountain warfare.

The Romans were single minded in warfare and went to any length to win wars. Here are some examples. The stone paved roads, a major construction undertaking, had the military purpose of speeding up the movement of troops or the transport of supplies to soldiers at the front or stationed in garrisons. The first such road was built in 312 BC and went from Rome to the front of the Second Samnite War. Towards the end of the First Punic War (264-241 BC) the Roman fleet was depleted and the Roman state run out of money. The Roman rich paid for the construction of another fleet. This fleet won the final naval battle and the war. When the Romans decided to fight the Dacians who were attacking the empire from across the river Danube the emperor Trajan had a six and a half mile long bridge built across the river.

Answer 2

There two of the reasons why Rome became the dormant power in the Mediterranean were:

1) Rome won a number of wars which led to territorial expansion. Rivalry with Carthage, the other great power in the western basin of the Mediterranean, led to the three Punic Wars and to Rome seizing her territories (western Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain, Tunisia and western Libya) and becoming the dominant power in this part of this sea. Dominance in the western part of the Mediterranean came for war with the other big power in this area, the Seleudic Empire to defend Greek allies, the annexation of mainland Greece, which aimed at stopping wars between Greek states to defend Greek allies, war with the king of Pontus in present day Turkey who attacked the Romans and Roman allies in Turkey because he wanted to take over this area, and the annexation of Syria because it was collapsing and there were civil wars.

2) Rome had one of the largest pools of military manpower in the Mediterranean. Rome fought some wars in Italy and she extended her control to central and southern Italy by establishing alliances with Italic peoples. These peoples had to provide soldiers who fought in auxiliary units which supported the Roman legions at their expense. This system worked because the Romans supported the ruling elites of these peoples and because she shared the spoils of war, which could be considerable. The allies supplied at least 60% of the pool military manpower available to Rome. Such numbers gave her great military strength. It was such large manpower that allowed the Romans to fend off the attempted invasion of southern Italy by Pyrrhus, a Greek king, in the Pyrrhic war. It also a key factor in the failure of Hannibal's campaign in Italy in the Second Punic War.

Answer 3

One of the reasons for Rome's ability to grow was the establishment of alliances with other Italic peoples when she expanded into central and southern Italy in the late 4th and early 3rd centuries. The Italic allies had to supply soldiers who fought in auxiliary troops which supported the Roman legions at their expense. The system worked because Rome supported the ruling elites of these peoples and because she shared the spoils of war, which could be considerable. The allies provided some 60% of the military manpower available to Rome. This gave Rome the biggest pool of soldiers in the Mediterranean Sea.

Another reason was Rome's ability to adapt militarily. The early Roman army adopted the hoplite military formation of the Greeks. When the Romans fought against the Samnites of southern Italy, the abandoned the hoplite system and adopted the manipular system of their enemies because it was more suited to mountain warfare. When they fought their first against the Carthaginians, they needed to fight naval battles. They built a navy from scratch, modelling their ships of those of the Carthaginians and eventually developed a better navy.

Answer 4

aqueducts and roads because aqueducts was how the water got around and the roads made the army get around

also they had the strongest military power in the world at that time

Answer 5

Roads! It's all about logistics