Roman Republic Timeline

An explanation for the beginning of the collapse of the Roman Republic

The Roman Republic, the precursor to the colossal Roman Empire; one that would last (in one form or another) for 1500 years, is the first example in European history of the complete collapse of a constitutional system. The Crises of the Roman Republic is contemporarily used to describe an extended period of time where Rome faced political instability and unrest that ended in the demise of all functions of the Republic, and the beginning of the Empire. This period lasted from about 134BCE until 27BCE, when Octavian took on the name Augustus, founded the Roman Empire, and became its first Emperor. However, some controversy exists in regards to the exact dates of the Crisis,
The murder of Tiberius Gracchus by a mob of senators and their clients gave clear notice that the ruling consensus of the Roman Republic was shattered. Tiberius Gracchus took office as the tribune of the plebs in late 134 BCE when "everything in the Roman Republic seemed to be in fine working order."4 However, during this time Roman society was highly stratified in terms of class, and divisions bubbled just below the surface. Consisting in this system were noble families of the senatorial rank, the knight or equestrian class, citizens (grouped into two or three classes depending on the time period - self-governing allies of Rome, landowners, and plebs or tenant freemen), non-citizens who lived outside of south-western Italy, and at the bottom, slaves. Only men who were citizens could vote in certain assemblies, and only men who owned over a certain threshold of property could serve in the military; a career that granted social prestige and other benefits of citizenship. The Roman government owned large plantations of farming land that it had gained through invasion, and rented these lands out to large landowners, whose slaves worked the land. There was some social mobility and limited suffrage. The plebeians were a socio-economic class, and were the ‘populist’ political party during this time, aiming to ensure that the lower classes (only of
However, Gracchus tried to address the concerns of the plebeians, and bypassed the Roman senate to pass a law limited the amount of land belonging to the state that any individual could farm. This legislation would have resulted in the breakup of large plantations maintained by the rich on public land. Gracchus’ plan of reform was put in place “to increase the number of Roman citizens who owned land and consequently the number who would qualify as soldiers according to their census rating."5 Furthermore, he also wanted to increase the efficiency of farmland, and dole out small parcels of land to tenant farmers, his populist constituency. The Senate, as the place of the wealthy aristocrats who benefitted most from the status quo, almost unanimously did not agree with this law; so Gracchus used a loophole- the lex Hortensia of 287 BCE. This allowed the assembly of plebs to bypass the Senate. However, a tribune for the Patrician class (descendants of the founders of Rome, the highest nobility), Marcus Octavius, used his veto to scuttle the plan. The crisis escalated: Gracchus pushed the assembly to impeach and remove Octavius; the Senate denied funds to the commission needed for land reform; Gracchus then tried to use money out of a trust fund left by Attalus III of Pergamum; and the Senate blocked that, too. Gracchus