Trajan was the first Roman emperor to come from the provinces. His identity as a provincial indicates a qualitative change in the status of provincials in the ruling class. This was a symbol that the highest office in Rome was being opened to all persons of higher rank, whether Roman or provincial.

Trajan was universally praised both in the army and in the Senate, not only because he was a highly decorated marshal, but also because of his great charm and the kindness and concern he showed for his people.

After he succeeded to the throne, he did not return to Rome to accept power in 98 AD. Instead, he stayed in the Rhine and Danube areas for more than a year, inspecting, consolidating border defenses and planning a war with Dacia. Preparation. In 99 AD, Trajan returned to Rome and pursued the policy of reviving the Senate. He gave the Senate a distinguished status, treated the senators with kindness and respect, and appointed members of the Senate from various eastern provinces, thereby gaining the favor of the Senate and strengthening the His relationship with the Senate.

Trajan reformed local administration, appointed some loyal confidants to serve as governors in the provinces, and improved the relationship between the central government and the provinces; he understood the importance of cultivating the people's power, so he reduced the burden on the people by levying small amounts of corvee and small taxes. burden and use government loans to help small farmers maintain their livelihoods. In addition, he also followed the method pioneered by Nerva, that is, the government used part of the tax revenue to set up funds in various places to raise poor orphans.

Another achievement for which Trajan was praised was that he encouraged and personally supervised the vigorous expansion of public works in Rome, Italy and the provinces, such as building roads, building bridges, digging ditches, reclaiming wasteland, Establish ports, build buildings, etc. Remains of these buildings can still be seen in modern Spain, North Africa, the Balkans and Italy.

He received the title of "Optimus princeps" given to him by the Senate. As the emperor of a military empire, Trajan is famous throughout the world mainly because he was the largest and last successful expander and invader of Rome after Caesar. The wars of foreign aggression and conquest he launched were very successful, and the empire's territory was expanded to an unprecedented scale.

In terms of foreign policy, Trajan broke away from the tradition of the early empire established by Augustus, but resurrected the aggressive tendencies of the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire. He ended generations of emperors who had done nothing to expand their territories. He actively carried out foreign expansion, and his main purpose was to plunder wealth and increase treasury revenue through such foreign aggressive wars to make up for the lack of tax revenue, solve the lack of funds required for various domestic undertakings, and satisfy the squandering needs of the ruling group.

In order to meet the needs of foreign wars, he expanded the Roman legions to 30, and the size of each legion also increased. The auxiliary personnel who cooperated with the regular troops were composed of new and various The local troops were expanded and they were composed of non-Roman tribes and ethnic units with their own weapons, including cavalry wearing armor. Trajan relied on such a huge army to launch a series of foreign aggressive wars.

Dacian War

The Dacian Kingdom on the lower reaches of the Danube River was the first target of Trajan's invasion and plunder. Under the leadership of King Decebalus, Dacia became powerful from the end of the 1st century AD and became a serious threat to the Roman Empire.

In the spring of 101 AD, Trajan made careful preparations, gathered 200,000 troops, divided them into two groups, and sailed across the Danube River. Trajan personally led the army on the west route, overcoming thorns and thorns all the way, passing through the virgin forest, and went straight to the capital of Dacia, Sarmizegetusa (today's Valkhele). The Dacians resisted and the Romans suffered heavy losses.

In 102 years, the Romans crushed the resistance of the Dacians and approached the Dacian capital. Decebalus was forced to accept the peace treaty unconditionally and stated that he would never be friends or enemies with Rome.

In 105 AD, Decebalus took advantage of the Romans' departure from Dacia and restarted the war. Trajan mobilized 12 legions to fight against the Dacians and captured Dacian strongholds one after another. The two sides launched the most vicious and bloody battle at Sarmizegetusa. Just like the Carthaginians, when there was no hope of victory, Dacia would rather die by taking poison than be a slave to the Romans. Trajan When entering the city, it is almost like entering an empty city without people. Trajan plundered a great deal of treasure. The capital of Dacia was razed to the ground.

Trajan built a huge stone bridge across the Danube River and incorporated Dacia into Rome, becoming a new Roman province.

Trajan established numerous Roman settlements on the north bank of the Danube. Descendants of these settlements still call themselves Romanians and their country Romania, all terms derived from the word Roman.

The conquest of Dacia not only eliminated a powerful enemy and stabilized the lower Danube area, but also obtained huge wealth and land, which provided funds for Trajan's grand public construction. Trajan announced in Rome a 123-day festival to celebrate the victory in the Dacian War. Taking such a long time to celebrate the victory of a war is unique in ancient and modern Chinese and foreign history.

The Parthian War

Subsequently, Trajan directed his aggression towards Asia and fought with Parthia.

Since the middle of the first century BC, Parthia has been a strong enemy of the Roman Empire. There have been constant wars between the two countries and the borders have changed from time to time. On the one hand, Trajan was dissatisfied that Rome's eastern border was limited to the upper Euphrates River; on the other hand, he was also tempted by the wealth and vast land of Parthia and was eager to follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great and annex this country. As early as 105, In preparation for the war with Parthia, Trajan sent troops to occupy the Kingdom of Nabatea in northern Arabia, controlled the main route of eastern trade, and established a new province here - the Province of Arabia.

In 110 AD, the Parthians took control of Armenia, deposed the king who originally supported Rome, and established a new king. The fight for Armenia became the trigger for the war between the two countries. In 114 AD, Trajan sent troops to occupy Armenia, deposed the king supported by the Parthians, and declared Armenia a new province of Rome and included it in Roman territory. This effortless victory stimulated Trajan's desire for expansion, and he decided to continue eastward and occupy the entire Mesopotamia. The Roman army divided into two groups and advanced together. They reached the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at the same time and occupied Upper Mesopotamia.

In 116 AD, the Roman army went south along the Tigris River and occupied Ctesiphon, the capital of Parthia. At the end of this year, Trajan's troops arrived in the Persian Gulf. This was the first and last time that the Roman army arrived in the Persian Gulf. Trajan was the only Roman commander to arrive here.

Here, Trajan, facing the sea, was quite moved, and his eyes filled with tears because he was too old to repeat Alexander's achievements in conquering India. However, when he visited the ruins of Babylon and saw the place where Alexander died 440 years ago, he sighed differently: "What a reputation, it's just a pile of rubbish, stones and ruins."

< p>He incorporated the newly conquered areas into Rome and established the provinces of Mesopotamia and Assyria here. His fleets ravaged the towns along the Arabian coast, and Trajan boasted that his forces had almost reached India.

After a series of expansions by Trajan, the territory of the Roman Empire expanded to its greatest extent. It stretches from Mesopotamia in the east, most of Britain in the west, Egypt and North Africa in the south, and reaches the Rhine and Dacia north of the Danube in the north.