BC210-191 Terra Cotta Soldiers and Punic Wars

In the twenty years from 210-191 BC the first Emperor of China, Shi Huang, died and was buried with 8,000 life-size terra cotta soldiers (pictured); the Second Punic War ended in 202 BC; the Second Macedonian war started in 200 BC; and the Seleucid War started in 192 BC.

With his brother Hasdrubal's death, and without backup from Carthage, Hannibal was losing the war in Italy and Spain. Scipio captured the local Carthaginian cities in Spain, made several alliances with local rulers, and then invaded Africa itself.

With Carthage now directly threatened, Hannibal returned to Africa to face Scipio. At the final Battle of Zama in 202 BC the Romans defeated Hannibal and the Second Punic War ended.

Carthage sued for peace, and Rome agreed on condition that Carthage give up its foreign colonies, pay a huge indemnity, and desist from forming an army or navy again.

Hannibal took a leading role in rebuilding Carthage, and succeeded so well that a vengeful Rome forced him to flee to Asia Minor in 195 BC, where he served several local kings as a military adviser, finally serving in the court of the Seleucid Empire.

The Second Macedonian War (200-196 BC) broke out after ambassadors from Pergamon and Rhodes brought evidence before the Roman Senate in 201 BC that Philip V of Macedon and Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire had become allies.

Rome launched a second Macedonian war with aid from its Greek allies. It was an indecisive conflict until the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC made Rome the victor.

By the Treaty of Tempea, Rome forbade Philip V to interfe with affairs outside his borders. It was a condition he adhered to for the rest of his life.

The Seleucid War broke out shortly after, in 192 BC. It was caused by the Greek Aetolian League asking Antiochus III of Seleucid Syria for assistance in ridding them of Roman interference.

The Aetolian League was unhappy with the amount of territory ceded to them by Rome in return for their aid in the Second Macedonian war, and wanted to rid Greece of the Romans.

Because Antiochus III had given Hannibal shelter, Rome responded to the arrival of Antiochus's small army by sending a force of 30,000 troops under Scipio Africanus back into Greece, driving out the Seleucids.

The first Roman victory was at Thermopylae in 191 BC, and more were to follow.

BC250-231 Rome Controls the Mediterranean Sea

In my first twenty years, from 250-231 BC, the First Punic War ended in 241 BC giving Rome total control of Sicily -- and then it gained Corsica and Sardinia as well in 238 BC.

With the exception of the disastrous defeat at the battle of Tunis in Africa -- and the naval engagements of Lipari Islands and Drepana -- the first Punic war was mostly an unbroken string of Roman victories.

In 241 BC, Carthage signed a peace treaty giving Rome total control of Sicily. However, in 238 BC the mercenary troops of Carthage revolted and Rome took the opportunity to seize the islands of Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage as well.

From that point on, the Romans effectively controlled the Mediterranean and could prevent amphibious invasions as well as control the sea trade routes.

BC150-131 Tiberius Gracchus Champions the Plebs!

In the twenty years from 150-131 BC the Roman Republic destroyed two great cities -- Corinth and Carthage -- and with its massive land and slave acquisitions Tiberius Gracchus (pictured) emerged to protect the Plebians against increasingly greedy Patricians.

This period saw the outbreak of the fourth and final Macedonian War and the third and final Punic War.

In the Fourth Macedonian War (150 to 148 BC) Andriscus, claiming to be a son of Perseus, led a popular uprising in Macedon which Rome put down but did not withdraw from the region. In response, the remaining free Greek powers of the Achaean League rose up, were swiftly defeated and punished with the destruction of the ancient city of Corinth in 146 BC. Greek independence was ended, and the Roman provinces of Achaea, Epirus and Macedonia were established.

After the Second Punic War, Carthage had been reduced to a single city-state dependent on Rome for military protection and arbitration and mostly lost out to its neighbour Numidia -- a favored 'client state' of Rome -- in Roman rulings. After fifty years of humuliation, Carthage discharged its war indemnity and -- considering itself no longer bound by the restrictions imposed by Rome -- it mustered an army of raw recruits to repel Numidian forces.

Although Carthage lost its war with Numidia, its new-found militarism alarmed many Romans, particularly Cato the Elder who ended all his speeches with demands that Carthage be destroyed.

In 149 BC, while Rome was involved in the ongoing Macedonian wars and pacifying its newly acquired territory in Hispania, it ordered the Carthaginians to demolish Carthage and re-built deeper into Africa. Carthage refused and Rome declared war.

In the Third Punic War (149 BC to 146 BC) Scipio Aemilianus besieged the city before breaching its walls, burning Carthage to the ground. and selling survivors into slavery. (A century later, Octavian rebuilt Carthage as a Roman veterans' colony).

In 133 BC, the tribune Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus tried to introduce land reform to redistribute latifundia -- publicly held land -- to the landless returning soldiers. Latifundia were large plantations, leased by rich Patricians, and worked by slaves who grew cash crops.

Many of the plantations lessees were also Senators who would lose property if this land reform law was enforcemed. To circumvent the opposition of the Senate, Tiberius tried to pass his reform through the Plebeian Assembly as a plebiscite, using the legal principle of Lex Hortensia. While technically legal, this was a violation of political custom, and outraged many patricians.

With the land reform passed, the Senate refused to fund the land commission and Tiberius used the plebeian assembly to divert funds for this purpose. When it became clear that Tiberius did not have enough time to finish his land reforms during his term of office, he announced that he would run again for the tribunate.

The violation of 'annuality' angered the patricians who, fearing that Tiberius was setting himself up as a tyrant, responded by slaughtering Tiberius and 300 of his followers in the streets of Rome in 132 BC.