Roman Empire lasted about 1101 years from 625 BC to AD 476. Naturally the most obvious achievement of the Romans was their vast empire, which spread over three continents.
The Romans achieved world fame with their incredible army. The Roman Legion was perhaps the most powerful army ever.
Europe would not be the same without the Romans.
All over the continent they founded cities which still stand today. The great city of London for example, the capital of the United Kingdom, was founded by the Romans under the name Londinium. Also the great German city of Cologne is Roman (Colonia Agrippina). In fact, the list of towns and cities founded by the Romans seems endless.
The greatest challenge the Roman Republic faced was that of the Carthaginians. Carthage was a very powerful city in North Africa which, much like Rome, controlled its own empire. The fight between the two sides was a long one and took place on land and on sea. Though Rome in the end won and Carthage was completely destroyed in the year 146 BC.
Julius Caesar famously constructed a bridge across the Rhine in only 10 days. Trajan built a huge bridge across the Danube into Dacia. These were fetes of incredible engineering skill, performed with only the most basic tools. No other civilization but the Romans could have achieved this at the time.
Under the emperor Titus the Colosseum, which his father Vespasian had begun, was completed. It was indeed the most magnificent amphitheatre in the world.
Rome has a glittering history. But Rome had a bad side to it.
The Romans kept slaves. All the hard work all over the empire was mostly done by slaves. They belonged to their owners as though they were animals. Just like animals they could be bought and sold, punished and whipped by their masters.
Also, some of their emperors were maniacs. The most famous was Nero but there were many others. Brutality was often the order of the day. Nero killed his mother and his wife. And the cruel emperor Septimius Severus had the body of his dead opponent Clodius Albinus laid out before him, so that he could ride over it with his horse.
If an emperor wanted rid of a particular senator, he would simply write him a letter, ordering him to kill himself.
Rome was brutal in its enforcement of its religious views. Several wars were fought with the Jews in order to try and get them to accept the worship of the deceased Roman emperors as gods. The fighting was so fierce, the great city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and with it the ancient temple of Solomon was razed. Most famously, the Christians were thrown to the lions by Emperor Nero who blamed them for the Great Fire of Rome.