3.2 Rome at war

Rome’s military expansion across Europe and the Mediterranean created, at its peak, the most extensive political and social structure in Western civilization. The expansion of the Roman empire did not, however, occur all at once and was the result of different political, economic and social circumstances, reflecting the changes and the broad transformations that were taking place in Roman society at the time. The impact of Roman conquest was different, depending on the time and the cultural and social context in which it took place, being it Western Europe, Northern Africa, Egypt or the Greek speaking world. It also had a deep and long-lasting influence on European and Western culture, from the Holy Roman Empire to the British Empire and still affects the way conflict is discussed and sometimes portrayed today.