What is the Roman Republic - Essay Example

This class of people controlled nearly all religious offices plus issued partum auctoritas (final assent) to some of the decisions passed by the Roman assemblies. The rich had more influence on politics at that time. However, in staying in a Roman Republic and still subjected to injustice just like the eras of Kings, the poorer Roman citizens were not happy with how the current government became ran. Due to unfair distribution of land and debts, the plebians (poorer Roman citizens) became prompted to form their own assemblies and withdraw from certain city-states.

The plebians principal demands remained debt relief plus equitable distribution of conquered territory to Roman citizens. In 287 B.C., wealthier, land rich plebians managed to achieve political equality to the patricians with the Conflict of orders in place. Hence, there was a rebirth of the political system consisting of plebians and patricians, a power-sharing partnership which remained up to the late 1st century B.C. The Republic had a government running it. The government had three main parts: The consuls, the assemblies and the senate.

Rome managed to grow and become a metroplolis consisting of a capital city and vast conquered territory. Roman Republic had provinciae (administered territories) outside Italy like Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, and many others. As the new government acquired more wealth, so did the Roman citizens benefit. The Republic had a strong Army in place responsible for winning many battles and acquiring new territories. With Roman soldiers winning more battles and getting rewarded more, they became more loyal to their generals than the state.

During the same period, Rome became increasingly plagued by many slave uprisings since they were the majority and covered most lands. Between 135-71B.C., there were 3 ‘servile wars’ that involved slaves against the Roman state. The worst of them was the third and was under the command of Spartacus, a gladiator. Furthermore, in 91 BC, social war broke out over dissent between Rome and Italy. Italy often contributed men in Rome’s military campaigns but received no rewards for their help contributed to the social wars.

This led to them breaking away from Rome and becoming independent. Romans started also to wage wars with their previous allies too, like Jugurtha. In 111BC to 104 BC, the Jugurthine war became fought between Jugurtha of North Africa and Rome. Jugurtha became finally captured through treachery instead of a battle. In addition, we also had the wars between the Romans and the Carthaginians. The second Punic war involved Hannibal, a Carthaginian that attacked Rome. This had much impact on the Romans since they could not defeat Hannibal for 15 years.

The Rome mastered and improved their military warfare after endless attempts in fighting with the great commander. It became the tactful help of a Roman, Scipio Africanus, that attackeds Carthege capital leading to the defeat of Hannibal in the battle of Zama. Internal unrest reached its peak as evidenced by two civil wars caused by Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a consul in the beginning of 82 BC. The Roman army led by Sulla overthrew the Republic and paved way to the founding of the Roman Empire. The new wealth generated social break down and led to political turmoil, which eventually led to collapse of the Republic.

In fact, they had issue of people trying to kill those in power in order to overthrow them. For instance, the first Catiline’s conspiracy occurred when Catiline intended to slaughter the new counsels on the day of election and name himself as head of office. In addition, Tiberius Gracchus got killed due to his stand to pass a law that would leave the rich