Pax Romana and the Roman “imperialism” in the 1st century A.D

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Abstract

This article is devoted to such a historical phenomenon as the Roman “imperialism” in the epoch of Augustus and his coming successors. Despite the fact that the founder of the Principate had declared the coming of “pax Augusta”, he spent several wars of conquest (for instance, in Spain and Germany). But Tiberius had already refused of “aggressive imperialism”, then the Empire moved to defense at all frontiers. The emperors of the 1st century A.D. only from time to time took offensive actions (for example, in Armenia or Britain). Probably, there were two reasons for the Romans’ rejection of expansion policy. First of all, by that moment they had already conquered practically all the Mediterranean, and the expanding of the boundaries of the Empire hadn’t sense any more. Secondly, the creation of professional army led to the noticeable decline of the militarization level of the Roman society, which from that on was keenly interested in the keeping of peace and stability all over the “pax Romana”.

About the authors

Vladimir O. Nikishin

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: cicero74@mail.ru

Candidate of Historical Sciences, senior teacher of the department of the ancient history in the history faculty

Lomonosovsky Av, 27-4, Moscow, Russia, 119991

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