Transcript Links from U.S. to Roman Empire

Links from U.S. to
Roman Empire
Expansion of the Roman Empire
 Romans were originally under the rule of the Etruscans. They
then revolted and ousted the Etruscans. This began the Roman
Empire.
 After the Etruscans were out of the picture, the Romans quickly
began to conquer neighboring city-states in Italy.
 They began to take over land in Greece and by 270 B.C. they
had complete control over all of Italy.
 Rome had a very disciplined and skilled army which was one of
the main reasons why they were so successful.
 The Roman armies were made up of citizens who were not paid
and were required to supply their own weapons.
 A legion was the name of the band that was formed of about
5,000 men.
Expansion of Rome over the years
509 B.C.
270 B.C.
The Roman Empire at the
height of it’s success. As you
can see it spread across three
continents and covered the
majority of Europe.
Expansion of the U.S.
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The U.S. was very similar to Rome in the fact
that we had ousted another Empire in order to
gain land and power.
 We went into war with the British Empire in order
to gain independence. This is what the Romans
did to the Etruscans.
 We began with 13 colonies and went on and
gained land much like the Romans to acquire
the amount of land that we have today.
United States in the beginning
United States 1803 after Louisiana Purchase
Current day United States. As you can
see we have gained a lot of land just like
the Romans.
Similarities of U.S. and Roman
Empire: Military spread thin
Roman Empire
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The Romans in their golden ages, had 2.2 million square
miles of land.
This meant that not only their wealth and land was
spread out, but also their military had to be spread out
all over this land to protect the borders and keep the
citizens safe.
This meant that instead of having one very strong army,
they had many weak legions that were not as skillful.
In the beginning of the Roman Republic, they were
compact and this meant that they could fight extremely
well and could keep their money and army closer
together and spread less thin.
This was one of the main reasons that led to the
downfall of the Roman Empire.
U.S. borders
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The borders length between the
U.S. and Mexico is 1950 miles
long.
The borders length between U.S.
and Canada is 7063 miles long.
This means that in total America
has a border that is 9013 miles
long.
This means that in order to
control the borders we need a lot
of military resources and money
will be further spread apart.
About 250,000,000 people cross
the border from America into
Mexico and vice versa both for
vacationing and other causes.
This means that there needs to
be a lot of money spent on
keeping the borders safe and the
people who are not supposed to
be coming in and out away from
the opposing county.
Conclusion
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As you can see, the Roman Empire and America were
similar in both of these matters. Both the Romans and the
United States has a lot of land and this means that both
military and money are spread out thinly. This was one of
the main reasons why the Roman Empire collapsed and is
one of the worries for Americans today.
Also much like the Romans, we began in a small spot and
did not account for much land. After years of building up
and having extraneous rulers, this meant that eventually
both the U.S. and Roman Empire expanded and gained
more land. The Romans kicked out the Etruscans like we
ousted the British and expanded.
This how the Roman Empire and the U.S. are very similar
and I believe that through contrasting we are following in
their foot-steps.
A video of the expansion of the U.S.
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Expansion of U.S. video
URL’S
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http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shep
herd/us_expansion_shepherd.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_history
http://www.roman-empire.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/
http://www.apl.com/boomerangbox/resource/ro
man1.jpg
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Tyler/Im
ages/RomanEmpire.gif
Fin