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Period: 616 BCE to 509 BCE
The Etruscans ruled Rome
The Etruscans had power and society was divided between plebeians and patricians. -
Period: 509 BCE to 494 BCE
The patricians rebel
The patricians wanted to start their own republic, so they rebelled against the Etruscans. However, the plebeians still made up most of the population and had no power. The senate and consuls were only patricians, and the plebeians had to fight in the army but couldn't decide when to go to war. -
494 BCE
The plebeians rebel
The plebeians finally rebelled against the patricians. They left to camp on a nearby hill, and as they were the farmers, laborers and most of the army, this posed a serious problem for the patricians. They had no food, army, or laborers, so they had to compromise. -
Period: 494 BCE to 451 BCE
The plebeians' power grows
The plebeians gradually gained power. They got their own lawmakers, but they could only make laws for plebeians, not patricians. They kept making protests, gradually gaining power. -
493 BCE
Romans sign a treaty with the Latins
Romans make allies of their neighbors, the Latins. -
451 BCE
The plebeians' 1st major step towards equality
The patricians agreed to carve the laws in stone so that they couldn’t be changed at will -
390 BCE
The city is sacked by Gauls
Most of the people fled the area and the republic nearly ended right then. -
367 BCE
The plebeians' 2nd major step towards equality
Plebeians are allowed to be consuls. Former consuls could be on the senate, so the plebeians could be on the senate too. -
Period: 300 BCE to 200 BCE
The Romans battle and conquer
The Romans conquered the Etruscans and other neighbors and battled with the Samnites in the south and some Greek cities. -
287 BCE
The plebeians gain equality
Plebeians could make laws for all Roman citizens. They had the same amount of power as the patricians -
264 BCE
Rome controls all of Italy
Rome is an empire and has control over all of Italy. -
Period: 264 BCE to 241 BCE
The First Punic War
The first war was fought almost completely overseas. The Romans copied and improved upon the Carthaginians' powerful navy, and the war ended in a decisive Roman victory. They took over Sicily and other islands. -
Period: 218 BCE to 202 BCE
The Second Punic War
Carthaginian general Hannibal made his famous surprise crossing of the Alps. The unsuspecting Romans battled his troops for 15 years before he had to go back to Carthage to defend it against another Roman army, where he was defeated in battle. The Second Punic War ended with Carthage giving Rome Spain and enormous sums of money. -
Period: 146 BCE to 149 BCE
The Third Punic War
Roman senator Cato wanted Carthage to be burned to the ground, so the Romans went and did just that. They also killed many Carthaginians and sold others into slavery. At the end of the war, Rome was officially the greatest power in the Mediterranean. It controlled North Africa, much of Spain, Macedonia, and Greece. -
91 BCE
Rome's allies rebel
Rome's allies grew tired of serving in the army without enjoying citizens' rights, so they finally rebelled. Rome had to let all free Italians become citizens. -
73 BCE
Spartacus revolts
A slave named Spartacus led his famous revolt, but his army was crushed and he was killed in battle. Thousands of the surviving rebels were hung on crosses. -
50 BCE
Pompey and Julius Caesar fight
Pompey and Julius Caesar, two famous and powerful generals, both wanted to control Rome. Pompey, however, was backed up by the Senate and he got them to banish Caesar. -
49 BCE
Caesar crosses the Rubicon
Caesar disobeyed the Senate and returned to Rome with his army. He wages war with Pompey. -
46 BCE
Caesar is named Dictator for Life of Rome
Caesar defeats Pompey in battle. They frightened Senate names him Dictator for Life. -
Period: 46 BCE to 44 BCE
Caesar rules
Caesar gave work to the poor and kept them happy by making free gladiator contests. He also started the modern calendar. He offered citizenships to the people in Gaul and Spain and made new colonies. Caesar dreamed of Rome as a huge empire. -
44 BCE
Julius Caesar is assassinated
Marcus Brutus and his conspirators killed Caesar as he was entering the Senate one day. They hoped that they could stop the empire and bring back the republic. -
34 BCE
Octavian becomes the ruler
After more than 10 years of civil wars and chaos, Octavian, Caesar's grandnephew and adopted son, stood above everyone else as the ruler. -
31 BCE
Octavian defeats enemies and is named Augustus
Octavian defeated general Marc Antony and his wife, Cleopatra of Egypt. He told the Romans that he was restoring the republic, but he was in complete control. The Senate named him Augustus, or "revered". -
14
Rome is officially an empire
Augustus fixed ruined temples, encouraged literature, art, and education, and established the city's first firefighters, police force, and library. He got the empire on its feet. -
117
Rome is at the peak of its power
The Roman empire is at its maximum power and the greatest empire in the Mediterranean, controlling modern-day Spain, Italy, France, southern Britain, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and northern Africa. -
Period: 120 to 300
Gradual decline
The Empire's power declines from causes such as: the politicians and rulers growing more and more corrupt, inner fighting/civil wars,
and attacks from barbarian tribes such as the Visigoths, Huns, Franks, and Vandals. The Praetorian Guard, a set of personal bodyguards for the emperor established by Augustus Caesar, was murdering so many emperors that almost 20 men took the throne in 75 years. -
285
Diocletian splits the Empire
Emperor Diocletian decided that the Empire was simply too big. He split it in two, but that wasn't the end of it: over the next hundred years, it would be merged into one, split into three, and finally, much later, permanently split in two. -
Period: 300 to 476
More gradual decline
The army grew less dominant as it was full of people who were strong fighters, but had little to no loyalty to the Empire. The Empire itself was simply too big to govern properly, and the coffers were quickly emptying from spending on the military, which grew with the Empire and needed more funds as it did so. -
Period: 300 to 400
Barbarians penetrate the Empire
Throughout the 300s, barbarians penetrated the Empire, sacking cities and killing people. -
378
The Goths rebel
The starving Goths, who had been forced by the Romans to give their children into slavery in exchange for dog meat, finally rebelled. They routed a Roman army and killed emperor Valens in the battle of Adrianople. -
395
The Empire divides
Constantine split the Empire permanently in two: the Western Empire, ruled by Rome, and the Eastern Empire, ruled by Constantinople. -
410
The city is sacked
The city of Rome, thought to be impenetrable, was successfully sacked by the Visigoth barbarian king Alaric. -
455
The city is sacked again
The Vandals, led by King Geiseric, sacked the city again -
476
Rome falls and the Dark Ages begin
Germanic leader Odoacer knocked the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, off the throne and claimed the city for his own tribe, and the Western Empire (the one controlled by Rome) fell to barbarism. Then the Dark Ages began. The Eastern Empire (the one controlled by Constantinople), lived on much longer.