- The Third Samnite War (298-290 BC) was the last desperate attempt of the Samnites to remain independent. They persuaded the Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls to join them.

- Rome emerged victorious at the battle of Sentinum in 295 and spent the remainder of the war putting down any possible Samnite resistance. The Samnites were bound to Rome by a series of alliances.

- Rome spent the 280s BC putting down unrest in northern Italy, but its attention was soon directed to the far south as well by a quarrel between the Greek city of Thurii and a Samnite tribe. Thurii called upon the assistance of Rome, whose naval operations in the area provoked a war with the Greek city of Tarentum. As in previous conflicts with Italian peoples, Tarentum summoned military aid from mainland Greece, calling upon King Pyrrhus of Epirus, one of the most brilliant generals of the ancient world.

- The Pyrrhic War, 280-275 BC, Pyrrhus brought 20 war elephants with his 25,000 highly trained soldiers, each elephant had a tower on its back with armed soldiers inside.

- There have been plates and other objects discovered that reveal what these war elephants looked like. They were almost as large as modern elephants but much more fierce. They are extinct now.

- After defeating the Romans at Heraclea and stirring up revolt among the Samnites, Pyrrhus offered peace terms that would have limited Roman power to central Italy. When the Senate became disheartened, Appius Claudius, an aged blind senator, roused their courage and persuaded them to continue fighting.

- Pyrrhus again defeated the Romans in 279 at Asculum. His losses in the two battles numbered 7,500 (almost one-third of his entire force). When congratulated on his victory, Pyrrhus, according to Plutarch, "replied . . . that one other such would utterly undo him." This type of victory has been referred to as a Pyrrhic victory.

- Pyrrhus then left Italy and aided the Greeks of Sicily against Carthage; he eventually returned to Italy and was defeated by the Romans in 275 BC at Beneventum. He then returned to Greece, while Rome put down resistance in Italy and took Tarentum itself by siege in 272.

- By 270 BC Rome had more citizens and well-trained soldiers than any other Mediterranean power.

- By 275 BC Rome ruled the entire Italian Peninsula. Rome was now the unquestioned master of Italy. Roman territory was a broad belt across central Italy, from sea to sea.

- Any conquered peoples were obligated to provide Rome with military forces in wartime.

- In principle, each province was to be administered in accordance with its lex provinciae, a set of rules drawn up by the conquering commander and a senatorial embassy. The lex provinciae laid down the organization of taxation, which varied from province to province.

- During the republic, tax collection was left to private companies of publicani, they were called this because they won by highest bid the contract to collect the revenues. It was the governor's responsibility to keep the publicani within the bounds of the lex provinciae so that they did not exploit the helpless provincials too mercilessly, but this was difficult. Governors expected to make a profit from their term of office, and some collaborated with the publicani to strip the provinces of their wealth.

- According to the Roman census of 225 BC, Rome could call upon 700,000 infantry and 70,000 cavalry from its own citizens and allies.

- The conquest of Italy provided Rome with considerable manpower, and forced it to develop military, political, and legal institutions and practices for conquering and absorbing foreign peoples.

- The Pyrrhic War demonstrated that Rome's civilian army could wage a successful war against highly skilled armies of the Mediterranean world.

(Also see Punic Wars Facts)