Roman Empire Project- Anna

 

My Booklet with Artifacts and Timeline

"History of the Roman Empire"

Map that I made, during the highest point of the Roman empire in 395.

Mad Man Writings-

1. How did the Roman Empire acquire power?

Rome existed as a republic for about 400 years- but it kept getting bigger and bigger. At the battle of Actium, where Octavius, a roman military general, fought against Cleopatra and her army, Octavius won and he became the first roman emperor. When he became the roman emperor, he changed his name to Augustus.

The Roman Empire grew even more powerful when an emperor called Julius Caeser came to power. He was a very smart leader, and built a strong army. With this army, Julius conquered lots of land. By 300, the population of the entire Roman Empire was 60 million, and most of Western Europe was part of their territory.

The main reason the Roman Empire grew powerful is because of the strong military they were able to expand. Since they owned so much land, they had lots of soldiers to fight.

2. How did the Roman Empire become successful? 

The Roman Empire was very successful with Julius Caesar as a leader. When he became dictator in 49 BC, he had total control over the government. With this power, he made a lot of changes right away- such as, he gave land to his soldiers, free grain to poor citizens, made a new calendar (the Julius Calendar), and granted roman citizenship to people who weren’t born in Rome. This way, the Roman Empire could have even more soldiers to fight- so they could have a very strong army.

With this powerful military, Rome won many battles- allowing the empire to gain territory, power and population. By 300, the population of the entire Roman Empire was 60 million.

As an emperor, Julius Caesar conquered Rome and France, and governed it for 9 years. He also conquered almost all of Western Europe, and most of the Mediterranean world.

3. How did the empire influence its population?

As a dictator of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar wanted the citizens to trust him, believe in him, and think he was extremely powerful. To put these thoughts into their heads, he made lots of changes as a dictator.

Firstly, he made new and improved laws. The citizens liked these laws, because they improved their lives. For example, he gave free grain to poor citizens and more land to the soldiers. He also named a calendar after his name- the Julius Calendar, and, he named a month in the calendar after his name- July, for Julius.

These changed led the citizens to believe that Julius was trustworthy, smart and a very powerful leaver.

For example, at the time when the Roman Empire was overrun with crime, and people were afraid to go out into the streets, Caesar spoke to the people.  He told them what to do, and the Roman citizens believed and trusted him as a leader. They never doubted him, because of what he led them to believe.

4. What circumstances led to the end of the empire?

Lots of things led to the end of the Roman Empire. One of the big reasons was bad leadership- firstly, no one came up with a reliable system for electing emperors, so many emperors made terrible decisions, some of which were hard to reverse.

Over time, the power from the government slipped into the hands of single leaders. Some of them even ignored the advice given from the senate. There were also constants battles over power- for example, if somebody wasn’t elected emperor, they would violently kill the emperor and become leader.

The Roman Empire also faced financial problems. Roman emperors often bribed their soldiers with money, to make sure they remained loyal. When they didn't have enough to pay their soldiers, they would mint cheaper coins. This caused the value of roman money to plummet.

Also, since there was money shortage, there was also food shortage- so crime increased in the empire. It didn’t help that many emperors wasted huge sums of money on parties and festivals.

The biggest problem was that most of the roman military had been stationed on the border of the empire. When troops left their post to fight one another, it left big gaps, allowing invaders to sneak into roman territory. The problem was that the tribes that invaded were stronger than the actual roman army.

When Romulus Augustus surrendered to the tribe leader in 476, the Roman Empire officially came to an end.

5. How did the empire interact with other civilizations?

Trading was vital to the Roman Empire. They got lots of important goods, which they couldn’t get themselves throughout the trading.

The Roman Empire traded with Britain for silver and wool. They used the silver to make jewelry and coins, and they used the wool to make clothes. They also imported dyes to color their clothes, and spices to flavor their food from the southeast. From China, they imported silk to make fine clothing. Cotton came from Egypt, and wild animals for the gladiator fights came from Africa.

In 430, Attila, the leader of the Huns, invades Italy and starts a battle. In the end, they ended up signing a peace treaty with the Roman Empire.

Also, Julius Caesar conquered Rome and France, and governed it for 9 years. He conquered almost all of Western Europe, and most of the Mediterranean world.