Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Jewish-Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE. They consisted of three major uprisings: the First Jewish-Roman War (66-73 CE), the Diaspora Revolt and Kitos War (115-118 CE), and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 CE). The conflicts were driven by Jewish aspirations to restore political independence lost when Rome conquered the Hasmonean kingdom.
The First Jewish-Roman War was triggered by a combination of local provocations and Roman misrule. A dispute over land adjacent to a synagogue in Caesarea escalated when a Greek resident sacrificed birds at the synagogue entrance. Procurator Gessius Florus then plundered the Jerusalem Temple treasury and ordered crackdowns that killed thousands. The decisive break came when Temple captain Eleazar ben Hanania stopped the daily sacrifices offered on behalf of Rome, effectively declaring rebellion.
Jerusalem was besieged by Titus beginning in early 70 CE. The city suffered catastrophic famine, disease, and factional violence during the siege. Roman forces breached the city's defenses, fought their way to the Temple Mount, and destroyed the Second Temple. The rest of the city was methodically razed, with only the Western Wall and a few towers left standing. Titus and Vespasian celebrated a triumph in Rome in the summer of 71 CE, parading the Temple menorah and executing the rebel leader Simon bar Giora.
Simon bar Kokhba led the revolt of 132-136 CE, declared "Nasi (Prince) of Israel," and was identified as the Messiah by Rabbi Akiva, one of the most revered sages of the time. His forces used guerrilla tactics and an extensive tunnel network, initially controlling much of southern and central Judaea. The revolt failed when Emperor Hadrian assembled a massive force under Sextus Julius Severus, comprising six full legions plus reinforcements from up to six additional legions, which systematically devastated Judaea. Bar Kokhba died when the fortress of Betar fell in 135 CE.
After the Bar Kokhba revolt, Emperor Hadrian renamed the province of Judaea to Syria Palaestina. Historian Seth Schwartz described the name as intended to "celebrate the de-Judaization of the province." Historian Werner Eck argued this was the only recorded instance of Rome renaming a province specifically in response to a rebellion, a punishment not applied after revolts in Britannia or Germania. The old name Judaea carried a clear ethnic association with the Jewish people, being derived from the Latin Iudaei.
The Temple's destruction in 70 CE eliminated the sacrificial cult that had been central to Judaism for centuries. The Sadducees and Essenes, groups whose identities were tied to Temple institutions, disappeared entirely. The Pharisees emerged as the dominant force and rebuilt religious life around prayer, Torah study, and synagogue gatherings. The sage Yohanan ben Zakkai established an academy at Yavne that became the center of rabbinic Judaism. Scholars at centers in Galilee and Babylonia eventually compiled the Mishnah in the early 3rd century and later the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds.