'First Our Neighbours, Then the World' examines the growth of the Roman state and its army from the early battle of Veii, in which the Etruscan kings were routed, to the Celtic sack of Rome and the subsequent reorganisation of the army that went on to wrest control of the Mediterranean from Carthage in the Punic Wars. Late Republican power struggles culminating in the dictatorship of Julius Caesar resulted in the formation of the professional army that forged the Empire.
