Sometimes an emergency arose(a war) and that required the leadership of an individual. Only the senate and the consuls could choose a temporary leader until the crisis was over. That one individual had control over the entire military. The number one example of a dictator was a citizen named Cincinnatus. In one major emergency the senate called Cincinnatus from his home to lead the Roman army into battle. In 15 days Cincinnatus returned victorious, and Rome gained control once again.

In 449 B.C.E. government leaders carved the most important rules into 12 tablets. The Romans had taken a very different approach to places they had conquered. Instead of forcing them to become a citizen, they invited them. Even new citizens had to obey these laws. The new citizens were no longer enemies of Rome, they were a part of Rome.

It started in 343 B.C. when the Samnites wanted to expand to the west. They had attacked a small village nearby, called the Sidicini. The Sidicini had asked for help to Campania. They responded to their call but they had been attacked as well. So they asked for help from the Romans, but this was a problem. The Samnites had been allies with the Romans for a decade. So the Campanians surrendered to the Romans. Then the Romans sent out envoys to the Samnites asking if they would not attack them. When they refused to accept this the Romans declared war.  

After the Romans had declared war, the Samnites were too pre-occupied with another problem. They were in another battle with a Greek colony and its ally king Alexander. Once that battle was over they could deal with the Romans. In 327 B.C. the Romans arrived and had thrown out the Samnite Garrison, which led to the second Samnite war.  

In 298 B.C.(after 6 years of the 2nd Samnite war)  the Romans thought about their rocky history between themselves and the Samnites. So that's when the start of the 3rd war began. The war had begun in Neapolis. The threats made to Rome were incredibly real, on top of that they were surrounded my enemies. They had the Samnites to the south and the east and they had Etruscans and Gauls to the north. Early in the war the Romans had destroyed a Samnite army in the south, so that gave them more time to focus on their other enimies. 

The Punic wars had started in 264 B.C.. When it first broke out, Rome was the dominate power in Italy. It started when Rome had interfered in a disagreement on the Carthaginian-controlled island. The first war ended up with Rome in control of Sicily and Corsica and had marked there republic emergence.

In the 2nd Punic war Carthaginian general Hannibal had invaded Italy and was victorious in battle at lake Trasimene and Cannae. That was before his defeat of Rome's Scipio Africanus. In 203 B.C. Hannibal's forces had to abandon their struggles in Italy if they wanted to defend North Africa.

In 149 B.C. after Carthage had broken its treaty with Rome declaring war with Numidia. Then the Romans sent an army to North Africa, which was the beginning of the third war. The 50,000 survivors of Carthage were sold as slaves. Also in 146 B.C. the Roman troops moved forward to defeat king Philip V of Macedonia.