The Republic Expands
•The external history of Rome during
this period was chiefly military.
•Rome had acquired all of Latium
before the close of the regal period.
–Assisted by their allies, the Romans
fought wars against the Etruscans, the Volscians, and the Aequians.
•The defeat of the Romans at Allia
and the capture and burning of Rome by the Gauls in 390 BC were great disasters, but their effect was
temporary.
–By the middle of the 4th century BC
all southern Etruria was kept in check by Roman garrisons and denationalized by an
influx
of Roman colonists.
–Victories over its central neighbors
gave the Romans control of central Italy and brought them into conflict with the Samnites of southern Italy, who were
defeated in a series of three wars, extending from 343 to 290 BC.
–The northern confederacy, made up of
six neighboring states was defeated in 283 BC and the so was the rest of the southern states soon after.
–The Greek colonies in far southern
Italy and Northern Sicily were next.
–By 276BC the Romans controlled all
of Italy as far north as the Arno and Rubicon rivers.