The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was admired by many ancient political theorists, including Polybius, for its stability achieved by mixing different forms of government.
It was influenced by Hellenism, familiar with Greek culture.
The Romans were previously ruled by hereditary kings and dominated by the Etruscans.
In 509 BC, the Roman Republic was founded after overthrowing the monarchy, led by Brutus.
The legend of resisting royal tyranny was psychologically important in Roman history.
Centuries into the Roman Empire, there was a denial that they had a king and refused to acknowledge him as such.

The Roman Republic aimed to balance different government forms, appreciating the decisiveness of monarchy.
It was run by magistrates who were elected, representing a democratic aspect.
Magistrates were elected by the centuriate assembly, comprised of soldiers who were mostly farmers and landowners.
Magistrates also acted as legislators, passing laws by edict, but their powers were limited.
Magistrates did not serve two consecutive terms, preventing any individual from dominating the offices.
There were always two magistrates for each office, requiring agreement between them to get things done.
Various magisterial offices existed, overseeing finances, justice, and public works.
The key magistrates were the two consuls, who commanded the army and served as heads of state, with one-year terms.
The consuls' power was balanced between them, providing checks to prevent them from becoming too powerful.

The senate represented the oligarchical element in the Roman Republic.
Theoretically, the senate was an advisory body without legal power to pass laws.
In actuality, the senate was the dominant body due to patronage.
Roman society was divided into patricians (elite, wealthy families) and plebeians (commoners).
Patricians were a small minority, tracing their ancestry back to the gods and marrying within their class.
Plebeians who owned land could serve in the army and vote but could not serve as magistrates.
The senate was composed of ex-magistrates, all of whom were patricians.
Advancement in Roman politics depended on finding a patron in the senate, who were often relatives.
The senate controlled political power, and magistrates carried out their will.

The division between patricians and plebeians led to the conflict of orders, a struggle for political power.
Plebeians went on strike to get patricians to yield some of their power.
They would gather on a hill, refuse to work, and demand their needs be met.
The plebeians gained several rights through these strikes:
- The plebeian assembly allowed them to pass their own laws.
- The right to run for public office was opened to plebeians.
- The right to intermarry allowed plebeians to marry into patrician families.
- The creation of the tribune office, with 10 tribunes, protected plebeian interests with veto power.

Rome expanded from a small city-state to a powerful empire through adaptability.
They were constantly at war, initially with their northern neighbors, the Etruscans.
They initially fought in a phalanx formation until defeated by the Gauls.
They adapted by fighting in a looser formation with bigger shields, short swords, and javelins.
They fought in three lines to provide depth and prevent breakthroughs.
In wars against the Samnites, they adopted the Samnite checkerboard formation called maniples.
The maniples allowed lines to pass between each other mid-battle.
In 280-275 BC. Pyrrhus: Rome then encountered Pyrrhus of Epirus, relative of Alexander the Great
Pyrrhus brought war elephants, which the Romans had never seen before.
After initial defeats, the Romans adapted by using fire to scare the elephants.

The Punic Wars were fought between Rome and Carthage (a Phoenician colony in North Africa).
The first Punic War (264-241 BC) saw Rome building and losing five navies.
They developed the crow's beak to turn sea battles into land battles.
The second Punic War (218-201 BC) involved Hannibal's invasion of Italy.
Despite devastating defeats, Rome endured and eventually subdued Carthage.
Rome later expanded against Hellenistic kingdoms, conquering Macedonia and Greece.

Victories brought Rome to power in North Africa, Spain, Greece, and Macedonia.
Massive numbers of prisoners of war came back to Italy as slaves, destabilizing society.
Small farmers, who made up the Roman armies, were away from their farms for years.
Wealthy Romans used slave labor, making it difficult for small landowners to compete.
Small landowners were bought out, leading to a decline in the class of small landowners.
Veterans lost their farms and political participation rights, leading to an angry mob in the city.
Rome's population grew tremendously, with many disenfranchised plebeians.
The army's recruitment base shrank as land ownership declined.
The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius (133 BC) and Gaius Gracchus (123-121 BC), proposed land redistribution as tribunes.
They wanted to limit land ownership, distribute excess land to the plebeians, and rebuild the army.
They faced opposition from patricians and were seen as traitors to their class.
Both Tiberius and Gaius ran for reelection to consecutive terms, violating precedent.
Both were murdered during elections, further destabilizing Roman politics.

The first century BC saw the rise of political strongmen.
Marius served seven consulships, five of them consecutively, professionalizing the army.
He made military service available to all citizens and made it a career.
The army was loyal to the general, creating a dangerous precedent.
Sulla, a patrician, wanted to restore republican tradition and end the chaos caused by plebeians.
Sulla marched on Rome and seized control, establishing a dictatorship to restore aristocratic rule.
He retired after four years, but his lieutenants restored plebeian gains.
The first triumvirate (59 BC) was a political alliance between Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar.
Caesar conquered Gaul and became more famous than Pompey and richer than Crassus.

The Roman senate tried to remove Caesar, but he went to war with them.
Caesar won the civil war and took absolute power in 45 BC, becoming dictator for life.
In 44 BC, he was assassinated by a group of patricians led by Marcus Brutus.
The second triumvirate was made up of Caesar's generals, Lepidus and Antony, and his grand nephew Octavian.
The second triumvirate marched on Rome and forced the senate to vote them absolute power.
They divided the empire between them and then turned on each other.
Octavian gained control of Rome and eliminated Lepidus as a rival.
In 31 BC, Octavian defeated Antony at the battle of Actium, gaining absolute power over the Roman Republic.