Classical West Timeline
1180BC
(in between)
753BC
478BC
Delian League
The Delian league strengthened the power of Athens, many city-states fear Athens because of its power and prestige, which caused the relationship between Athens and other city-states to change from an alliance into conqueror and conquered, leading Athens to rule other city-states and join other city-states into the Athenian Empire.
450BC
Twelve Tables
431BC
Peloponnesian war
The war also is connected to how Philip II conquered Greece, a main reason that he can do that is that this war weakened the entire whole of Greece, from both military and wealth, which later causes Philip II to conquer Greece that easily.
Both sides used robust strategies to put the other to devastation, burning out a tremendous amount of supply for war. Additionally, a plague in Athens as an incident with the Peloponnesian War, made the Athenians feel worse. And during the Plague, their leader Pericles died as well.
Athens wanted the money which all Greeks stored together on the island called Delos, which can make Athens even stronger and become the most powerful city-state in Greece, even if it can make the other city-state frustrated, Athenians still bring the money back to Athens.
339BC
Philip II conquer Greece
Philip's conquers greatly influenced his son, Alexander, enabling him to continue his dream of conquering the world and establishing an empire.
After conquering the land around Macedonia, Philip conquered Greece. He got a well-trained army, he also figured out a tactic of combining cavalry and infantry, and he also liked to use catapults, and rams to smash and damage through gates. In addition, the greeks had not yet recovered from the Peloponnesian war, as a result, Philip completed his conquest of Greece at 338BC
Philip II was kept as a hostage at Thebes, one of the Greek city-state when he was young, this caused him to have a lot of observation of military tactics, which gave him knowledge for him to become a military genius when he was 23, he became the king of the country called Macedonia, he wanted to build an empire including the Greeks and even farther east.
335BC
Alexander the Great's conquest
Alexander the Great continues his father’s plan on conquering the world, and of he started becoming the ruler of the Macedonian empire. Alexander the greats father Philip was assassinated at his daughter’s wedding making it possible for Alexander the Great to become the ruler of the Macedonian empire, being taught by the finest Greek scholars and trained in the professional Macedonian army.
While Alexander does his conquest, what he also doing at the same time is that he brought greek culture and religion with him, and spread it to the place he conquests. This is one of the main reasons why the western cultural things are so similar to the greeks, while one of the other reasons is the Romans.
Alexander the great aims for the places his dad did not aim for, such as the Persian empire that once threatened the Greek city-states and Greece itself. And attempts to conquer them later. And those were all after him becoming the king.
264BC
Punic war
After hundreds of years of founding Rome, Rome finally controlled central Italy and conquered the Etruscans in the north. Around 275 BC Rome controlled the whole Italian territory. And after defeating so much Rome was down in soldiers, and they needed soldiers to fight in the Punic war in 264 BC this was a series of wars in Carthage, which is known from the story of Aeneas and is a rich city on the border of Africa.
Rome’s victories in the Punic wars gave them control over the western Mediterranean and brought Rome a lot of wealth. This also lead to the later conquest of the east Mediterranean which caused the expansion of Roman territory and made Rome more powerful
Rome won Carthage in every series they fought besides the second. And during the second series Hannibal, a Carthage general tried to bring elephants to cross the Alps and attack Rome, this plan almost succeeded, however, the Roman general Scipio attacked Carthage which forced Hannibal to go back to Carthage to help defend his country, which led to the victory of Rome.
82BC
This will later result in a civil war known as the Peloponnesian war, as Athens broke the rules of the league and which made the other city-state that is also very powerful, Sparta very angry.
After the Persian wars, the Greeks found that they can work together, so they decided to form a league to help each other. Athens made the league and it’s known as the Delian league since they store all the money together on an island called Delos.
Trojan war(1180BC), Aeneas and Romulus founding Rome(753BC)
Aeneas' descendants, Romulus and Remus, at first were abandoned by their mother and saved by wolfs. After they became adults, they argued about what location they should set for Rome, Romulus killed Remus and set the boundaries around Palatine Hill, and it was said that founded Rome.
This is the first connection between the Greeks and Romans, Romans connect their own history to the Greeks, and believe that their ancestors once live in Troy, which is a city-state in Greece. This explains why and how tactics and technology of Romans are so similar to the Greeks such as legends, art, and architecture.
According to the epic poem: Aeneid, the Trojan War is caused by Paris which is from Troy took the most beautiful woman at that time, Helen, from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. After Troy got destroyed, a troy hero, Aeneas brought a couple of people to retreat and drift on the sea for years and finally arrived in Nowadays Italy.
The Twelve Tables solved this problem from some level, the Twelve Tables were passed by the Patricians around 450 BC, and they established fundamental rights and duties for Roman citizens. It is the first legal code of the Roman Republic it is also a sign that the Roman Republic comes.
This is the start of the Roman Republic, during the Republic period, Romans continued to conquer and expand their territory, while Rome it self becomes more and more powerful.
Patricians are wealthy landowners, which mostly got government positions, Plebeians are normal citizen which got no government positions but are allowed to vote. After Rome conquer more and more territory, more "trophies" start to appear, such as slaves, the wealthy people (Patricians) can afford slaves, but the Plebeians can not, slaves can grow more crops, which cause the Plebeians to lose their competitive advantage, this made the relationship between the two social class tenser.
Citation:
The Civil war of Marius and Sulla
A general called Marius fought for the plebeians, and a general named Sulla fought for the patricians. In 82 B.C., the patricians won. Sulla took power and became a dictator.
Sulla is the first dictator of Rome, this signs that the Republic period has ended, and that the most powerful and strong period of Rome will come, the Roman Empire. This civil war is a sign which Rome change from a Republic into an Empire
After all the conquest Rome accomplish, the generals became extremely wealthy, and they start hiring poor farmers as soldiers, but this led to a problem, these soldiers are not loyal to the Roman Republic but to these generals. This caused the generals to become more and more powerful and finally lead to a conflict between the two classes plebeians and patricians.
“Rome's Transition from Republic to Empire.” Education, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/romes-transition-republic-empire/.
“What Started the Trojan War?” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/question/What-started-the-Trojan-War.
Carnine, Douglas. World History: Ancient through Early Modern Times. McDougal Littell, 2009.
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By:Thomas(Y7D)
Trojan War - History. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-greece/trojan-war-video.
“The Roman Empire (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/roman-a/a/roman-empire.
Alexander the Great: Empire & Death | History - History. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/alexander-the-great.
“Peloponnesian War.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Mar. 2023, https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War.
Kershaw, Daniel. “The Twelve Tables: The Foundation of Roman Law.” History Cooperative, 20 Feb. 2023, https://historycooperative.org/the-twelve-tables/.
“Delian League.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Delian-League.