Rome was a Republic For about 500 years…. Outstanding soldier & political maverick Unprecedented 6 terms Army reforms (poor) volunteers long-term veterans.

Rome was a Republic

For about 500 years…

Outstanding soldier & political maverick

Unprecedented 6 terms

Army reforms

• (poor) volunteers

• long-term

• veteran’s bonus

Marius

State supplied equipment (it had to)

Soldiers devote all their time to training

Soldiers get land for own farms at the end

Reluctant & inefficient peasant draftees > more efficient professional army

Army loyal to its general, not the state

Army Reforms

Sulla

Distinguished self in Social War

Sulla vs Marius

• army used against fellow citizens

• long civil war

• massacre opponents

Takes absolute power

Restored (& increased) Senate’s power

• restored right to veto acts of the Assembly

• limited power of tribunes & Assembly

• reduced military power of provincial governors

• increased Senate membership to 600

Sulla’s Dictatorship

Pompey -- powerful, popular general

Crassus -- rich, ambitious senator

Julius Caesar -- skilled young politician

Senate standing in the way of what each wants

The First Triumvirate

The First Triumvirate

Pompey

Crassus

Caesar

Senate standing in the way of what each wants

Together, they’re able to get these things

The First TriumvirateGot elected by promising to:

•restore power of tribunes•restore equestrians to courts

Repealed Sulla’s reforms

Work together for military commands to earn reputation, support, & army to rival Pompey

Caesar’s conquest of Gaul (59 - 51 BCE)

wealth, fame, military power

worries Senate, Pompey

51-ish BCE Pompey made sole consol

49 BCE Caesar ordered to return

Civil war…

Caesar’s Rise to Power

Victory for Caesar!

Appointed dictator for 10 years; then, for life

Reforms:

• give land in provinces to peasants, veterans

• grant citizenship to many

• tax reforms

• deal with debt situation

Government Under Caesar

Reforms:

• stronger regulation of free grain

• public works projects

• fixed the calendar

• increased Senate to 900

Government Under Caesar

increases the control he has

over them

Lifelong dictatorship is the last straw

March 15, 44 BCE (‘the Ides of March’)

Group of 60-ish senators, led by Cassius and Brutus (‘Et tu, Brute?’)

Stabbed 23 times

Death of Caesar

More civil war

Cicero:“Our tyrant deserves his death, [for his]

was the blackest crime of all. [Caesar was] a man who was ambitious to be king of the Roman people and master of the whole world…. The man who maintains that such an ambition is morally right is a madman, for he justifies the destruction of law and liberty.”

Death of Caesar

Mark Antony Octavian Lepidus

The three triumvirs split up theEmpire between them

Brutus Cassius

West

Africa

East

In 42 BCE, the triumviral armydefeats Brutus & Cassius

Mark Antony Octavian Lepidus

Not long afterwards, Lepidusis taken out of the picture

Mark Antony & Octavianstruggle for power;by 32 BCE, all pretense at cooperation dropsCleopatra

OctavianMark Antony

Conflict of East vs West,Rome vs Alexandria

Intrigues and propaganda

In 31 BCE, Octavian’s general,Agrippa, wins a decisive victoryagainst Antony & Cleopatra

CleopatraThey flee to Egypt, but are hunted down;they commit suicide in Alexandria

Octavian

Octavian emerges asmaster of the Roman world!

He has enormous power,but an enormous task ahead of him

Pompey’s Conquests

Crassus killed (53 BCE) in military campaign

Julia (Caesar’s daughter, Pompey’s wife) dies

Triumvirate Falls Apart