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The Roman Republic was established after the last Etruscan king was overthrown. This transformed Rome's previous monarchy into a Republican form of government.
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The Conflict of Orders was the time period in which the plebeians were struggling to achieve greater political representation, in order to be equal with the patricians. This class struggle played a great role in developing the Roman Republic's Constitution.
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Rome was sacked by the Celts during this time. It took the Romans a while to recover from this attack (multiple decades). This incident led the Romans to swear they would never fall victim to another attack on their city ever again. This is why they were so successful during the Roman Expansion.
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The end of the Roman Republic occurred when Octavian defeated Mark Antony's forces. Mark Antony and his lover Cleopatra killed themselves as a result of their unhappiness. Octavian then commenced his process of manipulating the Roman Republic's institutions, which transformed it into an Empire.
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During the Pax Romana, the Roman Empire reached its height in glory, power, and riches. The three distinct dynasties of this time period included: the Julian dynasty (14-68 CE), the Flavian dynasty (69-96 CE), and the "Five Good Emperors" dynasty (96-180 CE).
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The Roman Empire reached its peak of territorial expanse under the leadership of Trajan.
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During the crises of the Roman Empire, the Romans faced an increasing amount of pressure from foreign invaders along their border. The political instability within the Empire also played a great role in the crises.
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The Roman Empire was officially declared Christian by Theodosius I, which eventually meant that all important people to the Empire had to be Christians. This led to the fall because it began to divide the people of Rome.
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The fall of Rome occurred as a result of its corruption and weakening, its infiltration by cultures that were "barbarian," and the gradual disappearance of its political unity.
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The city of Rome and its home country, Italy, were removed from the empire that was still known as "Roman" by those who resided in the eastern empire.
