Almost the entire peninsula of Italy was under the rule of the Romans, this became as the ‘Romanization’ of the country. The noblest families of Rome married into the most powerful and wealthiest families of the conquered cities. This created a direct link between Rome and the conquered countries.
The Romans brought stability to most of Italy and Rome became the protector of Italy, defending Italy from attacks from tribes of Gauls coming from the north.
The Romans built a vast network of roads, which allowed their armies to move rapidly throughout the country in case of attacks. (This was later also inputted all over Europe by the Romans). The most famous road, Via Appia connected Rome to towns in the south of Italy. While the other main road, Via Clodia connected Rome to Etrucia.
The Romans always maintained the fact that they only fought if they had to defend themselves. But this was a lie! With it’s military superiority and it devotion the Mars, the God of War. Rome started looking for enemies, and more territory to conquer.
In 282BC Rome turned it’s attentions towards Greater Greece. Pyrrhus ruled the kingdom of Epirus in Greece. In 280BC, a Greek city called Tarentum asked Pyrrhus for his help against the Romans. Pyrrhus brought a massive army, which included 22,000 foot soldiers, 3,000 cavalry soldiers, and 20 war elephants.
When the Roman soldiers saw this they were so scared that they fled in panic. Although Pyrrhus had won he had lost 4,000 soldiers. However the defeated Romans did not give up. They fought a second time, and lost a second time! In the next battle the Romans were finally victorious.
This summed up the Romans because; up until now they had just been able to walk over their opposition. But when they came up against a challenge, they did not give up until they won. This attitude meant the Romans were able to create one of the greatest empires ever!