Fall of the Roman Republic

How exactly did the Roman Republic fall, leading to the Roman Empire? There is almost universal consensus that the fall was gradual and that the Republic truly ended when Octavian was made emperor. But, there is still contention as to the exact causes of the fall. Various theories have been posited, such as military expansion and inherent flaws in the Roman political system. It has been said that “Ironically it was the very success of the Roman republic in war and imperial expansion that led to the overthrow of the republic.” This is certainly one of the causes, and can be said to be the leading cause.

Roman expansion led to a few things that precipitated the fall of the republic. For one, it did terrible damage to the Italian farmlands and gave power and money to the upper class. These members of aristocracy forced the peasant farmers off of their land, while many other peasant farmers abandoned their land themselves. This led to political and social instability, resulting in the Gracchi brothers attempting to fix the situation. Their attempt introduced many elements that would spell the fall of the Roman republic. First, Tiberius Gracchus, instead of consulting the Roman senate, proposed his land reform bill to the Roman public, undermining the power of the senate. Furthermore, he silenced a tribune who opposed his bill and ran for re-election, an unprecedented move. His death, which was the result of assassination, introduced political violence murder into Rome.

The divide between the rich and the power, with the rich upper class receiving most of the wealth that was coming into Rome as a result of the expansion, resulted in political division between the populares and optimates. The two factions often came into conflict, causing much turmoil and strife within Rome. The wealth coming into Rome even led to political bribery and illegal political abuses.

Additionally, as a result of Roman expansion, Rome had to depend upon its Italian allies for troops. Unlike Rome, these Italian allies received almost nothing, no land distributions nor monetary bounties (Levick 54). This led to strife in these Italian allied states, with some demanding full Roman citizenship. Some politicians, such as the aforementioned Tiberius Gracchus, wanted to spread Roman citizenship, but this was heavily opposed. Eventually, Italian discontent led to the Social War, resulting in even more social and political turmoil (Bringmann 296).

Also, a result of Roman expansion was private militaries. When the Roman Republic failed to resolve rebellions on its own, it called on its private armies. These private armies, such as the ones by Marius and Sulla, were more loyal to its generals than the Roman state (Mellor). Because of this loyalty, Sulla was able to march into Rome with his army and eventually incite a civil war. This loyalty to the generals was carried on in conflicts between figures such as Pompey and Julius Caesar as well as the one between Octavian and Marcus Antonius. Because the generals had so much military power, they were able to convert that into political power and dominate Rome, laying the foundations for the Empire (Bringmann 247-59).

Finally, the burdens of the growing Republic were supported mostly by the Roman provinces. This burden was made intolerable by the greedy tax collectors, and led to turmoil in those provinces. Rebellions occurred in Spain, Corsica, Sardinia, and Greece, with Mithradates of Pontus deciding to go to war every once in a while (Levick 56-7).

All this strife and turmoil gave Julius Caesar an ample excuse to make himself dictator in order to sort out the problems. This was a prime opportunity for him to take control and essentially make himself emperor for life. Even after he was assassinated, his successor, Octavian, carried on what Caesar started and made himself emperor. Although it was a gradual transition and Octavian made use of heavy propaganda, his transformation into emperor was generally well-received by a public tired of social and political upheaval. Octavian provided the power and ability needed to end the chaos (Mellor).