The 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

The republican period was also characterized by seemingly ceaseless warfare. These wars were for the most part successful in that Rome was able to further expand her borders. At this point Rome had already subjugated and absorbed its closest neighbors and began now to fight with more distant peoples such as Greeks and Gauls and Carthaginians. At this time the Romans even took to the seas, crossing first to Sicily, and eventually all the way to Spain and Africa. As a result of the Punic wars, Rome acquires its first province, Sicily and military leaders arise as a force more powerful than the consuls. The generals are more powerful than the consuls because they have rabidly loyal soldiers. What can a consul do when he has no armies to fight for him?

The Roman Empire is known as one of the strongest empires in history, due to their advanced technology, strong military leaders, and republican government. As the empire started to expand, so did their power. However, after years have gone by, the Roman Empire started to fall. Their fall may have been caused by political reason, such as the empire being just too much to handle, Diocletian splitting the territory in half, and their government corruption.

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.

The policies that the romans implemented in the republic years played a crucial role in the conquest of the Latium and the Italic peninsula. The various policies that the romans established to govern Italy is called the Roman confederation. One important policy was that Romans made felt the conquered people that they helped to succeed Rome. Some conquered people, especially the Latins, were allowed full roman citizenship; others received citizenship without the right to

Arguably the greatest contribution to the eventual downfall of the Roman Republic was the institution of Gaius Marius' popular, yet dangerous reforms, and his repeated usage of questionable political tactics to achieve his underlying personal goals. By undermining the power of the senate through illegal political conduct, and by introducing reforms that created the open potential for abuse of military power, Marius paved the way for future military monarchies, civil conflict and the eventual downfall and segregation of the Roman Republic.

The reason for the fall of the Roman Empire is a controversial topic under much historical debate. How did such a great empire, known for being one of the largest that lasted over a millennium, fall?

From the fall of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, in 509 BCE, to the beginning of the principate in 27 BCE, the Roman Republic thrived as a strong and relatively stable government. This was despite its two major issues that eventually led to its downfall- the class struggle between plebeians and patricians as well as the autonomy the military had that allowed for armies to become loyal to its commander rather than the Roman state. For centuries, these issues were kept under control and the Republic was able to grow throughout the Western world. However, starting with more radical figures such as Tiberius and Gaius Gracchi and continuing to Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar, these

There were constant social and class wars that were so destructive they depopulated entire quarters of Rome. Most civil wars were the result of acquisition of wealth, and this caused great imbalance while many people were driven off their land into poverty. The rich wanted to keep their wealth and the poor masses wanted equal distribution."Pax Romana" was a period of peace in the 1st and 2nd centuries with little military expansion and no major civil wars. Caesar took advantage of this opportunity as the people were looking for an advocate. Caesar would provide free grain to the underfed masses to secure their support. The Empire had less frequent civil wars that were less bloody which made it more

“Tiberius and his brother Gaius were regarded in Roman tradition as the initiators of the revolution which led to the breakdown of the Republic.” (Roebuck, 1966:506)

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,

The Roman Republic was a “democratic” republic, which allowed first citizens to vote, and to choose their governors in the senate (Hence, their consuls). However, it was a nation ruled by its aristocracy, and, consequently, the entire Republic`s power was concentrated in a few individuals. Furthermore, the Senate was controlled by Patricians, which directed the government by using wealth to buy control and power over the decisions of the senate and the consuls. This situation aroused the inconformity of the people; as result, a civil war took place in the Republic (destroying it), and then the Roman Empire was born.

After the fall of Tarquinius Superbus’ reign of Rome, the Brutus and Collatinus led patrician revolution leads to the beginning of a new era in Roman history: the republic. The early republic is mostly a patrician favoring institute and created it in order “to restore power and privileges that popular royal tyrants had usurped from them” and to make it “difficult for any one aristocrat to acquire too much power at the expense of the rest” (Ward 59). Greek historian, Polybius, in his book, Histories, talks about the greatness of this Roman republic and its constitution by claiming: “Now the elements by which the Roman constitution was controlled were three in number, … and all aspects of the administration were, taken separately, so fairly

As Rome was facing attacks from the outside there was an even deeper problem happening from within and it was their economy. Rome’s constant war and overspending in building its empire was becoming costly. As their treasury depleted they decided to impose hard taxation to account for the new expense they were generating. Which actually caused many people who were apart of the upper class to move to the countryside to avoid the oppressive taxes(Andrews) . Another economic problem is that inflation began to occur. Marcus Aurelius increased the copper content of the silver coins and then after that there was even more severe inflation on it way(Starr 144-145). A third problem with the economy, also politically, was that there was an ever growing expansion of bureaucracy. The expansion of their government caused more and more officials to have to be paid. Not to mentions cities already were having a hard