Romans at War: The Roman Military in the Republic and Empire

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The first of the campaigns fought by the Romans in this legendary account are the wars with various Latin cities and the Sabines. These wars, starting in 264 BC [89] were probably the largest conflicts of the ancient world yet [90] and saw Rome become the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean, with territory in Sicily, North Africa, Iberia, and with the end of the Macedonian wars (which ran concurrently with the Punic wars) Greece as well.

The Roman army had not yet seen elephants in battle, [77] and their inexperience turned the tide in Pyrrhus' favour at the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC, [74] [77] [79] and again at the Battle of Ausculum in 279 BC. The Romans also fought, but with less success, the Germanic tribes in northern Europe and the Parthians in the Middle East. Victorious commanders also used the spoils of war to beautify Rome, for example, Pompey's theatre, Augustus' forum and Vespasian's Colosseum.

Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal defeats the Romans under Tiberius Sempronius Longus with the use of an ambush. the Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC), during which the Romans declared "the freedom of Greece" from the Macedonian Kings.

In 150 BC, Galba betrayed the Lusitani leaders he had invited to peace talks and had them killed, ingloriously ending the first phase of the war.

On top of all this, Rome was more or less in a continuous state of war or readiness for it and believed absolutely in the necessity of defending and imposing on others what she firmly believed was her cultural superiority. The Roman army battled first against its tribal neighbours and Etruscan towns within Italy, and later came to dominate the Mediterranean and at its height the provinces of Britannia and Asia Minor. Battle of the Cremera – All the Fabii except Quintus Fabius Vibulanus are killed in battle with the Veii|Veians. In the early Republican period troop formation followed the example of the Greek phalanx but from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century BCE the tactics for infantry deployment changed. Many details are generally accepted to be fictional, but scholars disagree about the degree to which the legendary narratives may or may not have a foundation in historical fact.

Again in 508 BC Tarquin persuaded the king of Clusium, Lars Porsenna, to wage war on Rome, resulting in a siege of Rome and afterwards a peace treaty. Battle of the Lupia River (11 BC) – Roman forces under Augustus's stepson Drusus win a victory in Germany.In addition, it came to be recognised that terrain could be an important factor in aiding or hindering troop movements. However, Rome still controlled only a very limited area and the affairs of Rome were minor even to those in Italy [45] and Rome's affairs were only just coming to the attention of the Greeks, the dominant cultural force at the time. Roman conquest of the Nabataeans (106) – The Third Cyrenaica legion moved north from Egypt into Arabia Petraea, while the Sixth Ferrata legion, a Syrian garrison unit, moved south to occupy Bostra. Quinqueremes, with five banks of rowers, were fitted with a bridge used to hold enemy vessels so that they could be boarded, a device known as the corvus (raven). Marcomannic Wars (166–180) – Roman Empire tried to expand in central Europe and stablish proposed roman province of Marcomannia (parts of the modern states and Slovakia and the Czech Republic) and Sarmatia (on Great Hungarian Plain).