Fall of the Roman Republic

While the fall of the Roman Empire is well known, the exact causes of why it fell can be difficult to pinpoint. Many historians believe that Rome 's downfall was due to poor leadership, weakened economics, or perhaps a combination of the two along with other seemingly unrelated factors. However, there is a string of evidence suggesting that there were three main components that took place to bring about the fall of the Roman Empire. These determinant attributes did not happen all at once, and there was a domino effect with each one directly influencing the others. The fall of Rome occurred after a series of preventable events, including unacceptable emperors, the heavy reliance on slaves, and the increasingly uncontrollable borders of Rome.

Chalking up the fall of the Roman Republic to a decline in traditional Roman morality, while not false, sells the events and changes that were the causes for the fall of the Republic short. At the end of The Third Punic War with Carthage we arguably see the Republic at its height. However in only a decade things begin to change, we see events that send Rome as a Republic past a point that Rome could not recover. Gaius Marius’s military reforms, specifically that of allowing for the captive cencsi, men who owned no property, and the creation of professional soldiers is the true catalyst for the downfall of the Republic. By enacting these reforms Marius opened up military duty to Rome’s largest group of citizens, however it created unforeseen issues, such as what to do with these men once they returned from battle. These reforms opened the door for military generals like Sulla and Caesar to gain the unquestioned support of their troops, in many instances gaining more respect from the soldiers then they had for the Roman state itself. These military reforms are a constant through line through the fall of the Republic, touching large political issues such as the conflicts between the Populares and the Optimates, or the rise of The First Triumvirate; socioeconomic issues such as the rise of Roman aristocracy, development of a slave based agriculture system to the profits from war. The complexity in which these reforms help lead to this immoral Roman state is complex and has been

This new republic was plagued by tension arising from the class differences of the patricians and plebeians. The Gracchi brothers attempted to equalize things, Gaius Gracchus proposed a redistribution of farm land that would benefit the plebeians. The end result was rather unfortunate as he was killed; his other brother was also killed ten years later for similar reasons.

Events which stretch as far back as the reforms of the Gracchi brothers’ meant that the Rome was facing a Republic that was already deteriorating before Pompey had stepped into power. While Pompey’s quest for power was harmful, many other factors were also baleful to the Republic, and were hence instrumental in its decline. Gnaeus Pompeius’s measures to gain power were harmful because it was primarily a paradox to the principles of being part of a Republic with all its notions of shared and short power. The fundamental reason why there were other reasons for the decline of the system are that the military power was given to him, the already weak Senate, and the fact that Pompey was not the only player in the breakdown of the Republic due

The expansion of Rome, the ruling of Julius Caesar and his death, and the civil war that followed his death all led to the collapse of the Roman Republic.

and fall of what may have been ancient Rome’s greatest leader, Julius Caesar. Caesar’s rise to

Before the collapse of the Republic, Sulla, a roman patrician, declared himself dictator and used proscription lists, a list of people posted in the forum who were declared enemies of the state, to maintain his power. This example shows how lust for power was inherent and already destructive in the Republic, prior to its collapse. Similar to lust for power, greed could be found within the Republic before its collapse. For example, patricians, aristocrats, would buy farmland from plebeians who were serving in the army, and they used the land to increase their wealth. Lastly, loyalty was viewed as an important aspect of the Republic, specifically loyalty to politicians, family, and the Republic’s beliefs. Most Roman households had some allegiance to a certain politician and would support that politician despite their own personal beliefs. These three ideals of the Republic were established and followed long before the collapse of the Republic, and all three grew into destructive forces that caused the collapse of the

In 132 BCE, Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune of the plebs. Tiberius proposed massive land reform that would break up some plots owned by the wealthy and powerful and give it to poor and landless Roman landlords. Naturally, this legislation was supported by the plebeians and opposed by the wealthy patricians. The Senate was especially opposed to this proposal. Therefore, there was a large clash (relatively unheard of in the past) between the Senate and a tribune. The other consul, Octavius, blocked Tiberius’ proposal using his power as tribune to block any business. Tiberius was able to use his power as tribune to extraordinarily remove Octavius from office. This was unprecedented to use these powers for this purpose and it purported to open the Pandora’s box for other politicians to use their powers in extraordinary ways to subvert Roman republicanism. Tiberius was killed but his brother Gaius came to power as tribune nine years later to carry the mantle for populism. Gaius expanded his populism past land reform into cheap grain and making juries in corruption trials come from the equestrian and not senatorial class. Because

Political, economic and social aspects were all involved in the fall of the Roman Empire. In 395 A.D., Rome was divided into two empires, with one capital in Rome and the other in Constantinople. During that time, the western Roman Empire was being invaded by barbarian tribes from the North. In 410, the Visigoth tribe succeeded in conquering the western capital in Rome. In 476, the western Emperor Romulus Augustulus was finally overthrown at the substitute capital set up in Ravenna, and in 529 the eastern Emperor Justinian declared that the pagan religions of ancient Rome were illegal. All of these events caused the end of the western Roman

Ancient Rome was an empire so dominant, wealthy and economically- stable which came to a dramatic fall in the period of 250AD- 500AD. Ancient Rome faced unexplained unfortunate events which crumbled the Great Empire from the affluent empire to a impoverished society. For centuries historians have timelessly theorised and analysed many debates and research in relation to the Fall of the Roman Empire. What really caused the predominate Roman Empire to fall? Did Rome fall naturally? Was disease, such as malaria a major contributor to the Fall of the Empire, Was man -made infrastructure a problem during Ancient Roman times? Was the fall a natural event? Was the climate changing causing natural disasters? Maybe, perhaps, all the theories interweaved with each other at the same time causing a catastrophic downfall, defeating the Ancient Roman Empire. Edward Gibbon (Gibbon, 1909, pp 173-174.) quoted,

Subsequently, the system was corrupted because weak or vulnerable individuals were associating with men in power; in exchange of support, and loyalty, for the sake of protection, which broke the Democracy. Socrates said, “Democracy elevates men to positions of authority not because of their wisdom or their fitness to govern, but because of their ability to sway the masses with empty rhetoric. In Democracy, it is not truth that matters; it is public relations.” That is exactly what it was happening in the Roman Republic.

It is clear that the dynamics that characterized Rome’s society during the Republic were never easy. There was a constant push and pull of intentions and interests between Patricians and Plebeians. The Patricians always wanting to maintain economic and political supremacy while the Plebeians were in constant

The next set of military reforms come in 107 BC by then consul, Gaius Marius. These reforms expanded Rome’s army vastly and was influential in Rome’s future conquests, as well as protecting Rome from invaders. The reforms also gave military leaders more power than ever, and swayed soldiers to being loyal to their commanders instead of the Roman state. Marius, himself, is a very unlikely person to bring this kind of reform to the Roman army given his background. Although there is some conflicting sources as to Marius’ parents occupations with Plutarch claiming that they were poor peasants, “who supported themselves by their daily labour” (Plutarch 549), and other sources

In Rome, two consuls ruled for a year. Caesar was elected for consul and the other consul was Bibulus. Caesar spoke on behalf of the lower and middle class of Rome. Bibulus spoke on behalf of the upper class. Caesar noticed the Senate wasn’t very fond of him, so he created the triumvirate. The triumvirate was an alliance that benefited all its members. It consisted of Caesar, Crassus, and

Gaius Julius Caesar rose through the ranks from Roman general to Emperor. A critical role he played in Roman politics, was his role in the events that were to lead to the downfall of the Roman Republic and the growth of the Roman Empire. He joined with Crassus and Pompey to form a political alliance. This alliance of three would go on to dominate politics in Rome for several years. “Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus now formed a triple pact, jointly swearing to oppose all public policies in which any of them might disapprove” (Graves and Suetonius 19). The conservative ruling class of the Roman Senate opposed their attempts to accumulate power through the use of populist tactics.