Samnite Wars

The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars, between the early Roman Republic and the tribes of Samnium, extended over half a century, involving almost all the states of Italy, and ended in Roman domination of the Samnites. The Samnites, who held the Apennine Mountains to the southeast of Latium, were one of early Rome's most formidable rivals. Defeating them was a key stage in the process by which Rome went on to conquer the rest of Italy and spread further out, eventually conquering the whole of the Meditteranean and beoyond and creating the Roman Empire.

Samnite Wars in In High Places
The Samnites and their allies proved too much for Rome, and the Samnite Wars ended with the Romans decisively defeated and in no position to ever again engage in conquest. Nor did anybody else create a Meditteranean Empire. By the Twenty-First Century, gunpowder was not yet invented, and warriors used bows and arrows. There was neither Christianity not Islam. What corresponded to Spain was divided beween Punic and semi-Basque peoples. The rest of that alternate, where renegade Crosstimers tried to set themselves up as slave owners, was not well-known. Annette Klein wondered if Jews, who already existed at the time of the Samnite Wars, were still around in that alternate's 21st century, and what kind of people they were.