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[[File: Crassus one.jpg |200px300px|thumb|left| A bust of Crassus]]The Warfare defined the final century of the Roman Republic witnessed many battles. One of the most important of these was the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC). This was a battle that was to have one of the most important because it had profound implications for both Rome and for the eastern provinces of its Empire. At this battle, for the first real time, the Empires of Rome and Parthia clashed. Carrhae was one of the greatest and most decisive Roman defeats in its thousand years year history.
This article will examine the impact of the defeat at Carrhae on Rome. It will argue that it The defeat resulted in the fall of Crassus, which hastened the start of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. The outcome of which was the end of the Roman Republic and the introduction of an imperial system in Rome. Carrhae also meant that Roman expansion in the east was contained and that for several decades the Parthians were a grave threat in the Roman East. The Roman defeat left a legacy of enmity between Rome and Parthia that led to many more wars in the region.
====Background====
[[File: Carrhae 2.jpg |200px250px|thumb|left|A Parthian horse archer]]
Roman had annexed Asia Minor and the truncated Seleucid Empire in the 1st century AD. This was to have far-reaching strategic repercussions for the Romans. For the first time, they came into contact with the Parthian Empire. The Parthians were an Iranian people who carved out an extensive Empire out of the Seleucid Empire. Their empire stretched from modern Iraq to Pakistan. Rome in the 1st century AD had greatly expanded its Empire and many of its leaders believed that the Republic was invincible.<ref>Sampson, Gareth, The Defeat of Rome: Crassus, Carrhae, and the Invasion of the East (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2008), p. 17</ref>
