The Roman Conquest of Italy (Ancient World)

This dry but fascinating book shows how and why ancient Rome transformed painfully from one city-state among many to hegemon and then capital of the Italian peninsula. The special and rare virtue of this book is that it examines the underlying causes and motivations that brought Rome first into conflict with its neighboring peoples, then, ultimately, into a state of mastery over them. More than other ancient-history books I've read, it gives a sense of Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC as a society in process of change--changes which were as often as not forced on it. David shows how the evolution of the Roman Empire was neither smooth nor inevitable. He starts with an overview of the peoples of Italy, all different from each other, many of whom were still organized in rural village structures rather than as cities--from Gauls in the Po Valley to long-standing Greek colonies in the south. The most important shock to the system was the Second Punic War, when Rome was barely able to survive Hannibal's invasion of Italy in 218 BC. It was Hannibal's political shrewdness as much as his military prowess that enabled him to woo many Italian peoples to his side, forcing the Romans to take steps to secure their own alliances. Most of Italy was turned into a war-zone over the coming years, and this set in play forces that would lead to further unification and consolidation under Roman control when Hannibal was finally driven out. The dominance of Rome gradually placed pressure on other cities to gain influence there, and patron-client networks and commercial and military relationships gradually helped Italian aristocrats gain footholds in Roman society. In addition, the explosion of trade in the Eastern Mediterranean became a huge opportunity for Italians generally, and with their new wealth they were able to imbibe ever more Hellenistic culture, which Romans too were adopting as the mark of a sophisticated elite. Eventually the Italians were able to wrest citizenship from a reluctant Rome in an ancient version of "no taxation without representation". The subject states had become full members of a new geographical state. Other reviewers have expressed disappointment that there is not much "conquest" in this book. It's true that this book is not an account of battles; those can be found in many places. It is looking at underlying causal factors: social, economic, cultural, political. It looks at the various players, the groups involved, and sees competing interests and the ad hoc lurches toward unification that resulted. The book is admirably brief, but the prose is actually rather dry and wordy. My guess is that the original French is probably quite academic, and the translation retains or even augments some awkwardness of the writing. Nonetheless, I found the book to be unique, interesting, and insightful--an excellent part of a well-rounded library on ancient Rome.

This book is only 218 pages long yet holds a lot of information. Starting around the fourth century BC, in Italy, the author describes the people of Italy, their backgrounds, governments (or lack of) and orgins. Then Rome steps onto the stage in the next act and we learn how it incorporated the other cities into their state, with or without the use of force. Hannibal and the consequences of the second Punic War are next, followed by chapters on the Italian economy, municipal politics, patronage and Romanization, Roman domination and citizenship, and in the final act the book deals with the Roman instruments of power; money, clients and prestige.

This book is a superb description of the factors that during the last two centuries BC lead Italy from being a collection of states under Rome domination to a sigle political entity. The prospective buyer must be aware that the translation of the title is misleading. This NOT a history of the conquest of Italy by Rome but a history of how after being conquested by Rome Italy became "Romanized".