Rome Homework

consul- two roman officials. 
veto- consul being overruled. 
senate- aristocratic branch of Rome's government.
assembly- the democratic side of the Roman government. 
dictator- a leader who had absolute power to make laws and command the army. 
mercenary- soldiers who fight in any army for pay. 


1. 
A.) Plebeians were dissatisfied with the government in the early years of the republic. Plebeians were barred by law from holding most important positions in government. Like commanding armies, serving as high priest, or holing high offices.


B.) Plebeians won the reform. Plebeians won a greater share of political power. Between 494 and 287 B.C, thousands of plebeians refused to fight in the Roman army unless patricians agreed to certain reforms. 


C.) The plebeians gained higher political positions and more favorable laws. They made a written law called Twelve Table. Marriage between the two groups was allowed and enslavement by debt was ended.


2. The Romans are considered to have a balanced government.Their government was partly a monarchy, partly an aristocracy, and partly a democracy. This gave them the best features of all kinds of governments.


3.  Rome had conquered most of Italy. The won the conquered people over because different parts of the conquered territory had different laws and were treated differently.


4.
A.)  At the start of the Punic Wars Carthage seemed to be stronger. That is because they have a population of about 250,000 and that was 3 times the size of Rome. They also had a huge 500 ship Navy.


B.) Rome was in fact the stronger. They had three advantages. First, Rome could draw a reserve of more than 500, 000 troops. Also, Rome's citizen troops were a lot more loyal and reliable than the mercenaries employed by Carthage. Last, warfare was a Roman specialty.  


5. The Battle of Zama was a major turning point in history. If Hannibal would have won Rome and Carthage would not have became the greatest empire. Rome was victorious, and because of that Rome passed down laws, its government, and its culture to Western Civilization.


6.
A.) Greeks at first welcomed Roman Armies because they went marching into Macedon and looked like protectors of Greek freedom. The Roman Army released Greek from the rule of Philip V of Macedon.


B.) The Greek attitude changed. The Romans interfered with the Greek polotics, crashing all opposition to rulers favored by Rome. Roman power in the east became ruthless. A couple Greek city states tried to free themselves from the Roman power. They failed at that though.