The ancient Romans lived in the country we now call Italy. They built a vast empire across Europe and the Middle East that lasted for about 1200 years, from 700BC to 476AD.

The Romans based their empire on military power. The Roman army was used to rile the provinces in the empire. It was the only army in the world with paid soldiers. This meant the soldiers were full time, and because they were well paid, they wanted to keep their jobs. Their training meant they were the world's best fighters of the time.

The Romans were first ruled by a king. Then the kings were overthrown and Rome was ruled by a governor. But this did not work very well, so generals from the army took over and eventually made themselves emperors. Julius Caesar was the first emperor.

Roman emperors had to show they they were powerful in order not to be overthrown. One way to do this was to conquer more territory. This is why Julius Caesar attacked Britain in 55BC, and again why Claudius invaded in 43AD.

The empire got larger and larger until it was unmanageable. Then the Roman Empire collapsed.