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In Eric Gruen’s book ‘The last Generation of the Roman Republic’ he suggests that the fall of the Roman republic was merely just an accident. ... The fall of the Roman Republic was inevitable as soon as a complex reshuffling of alignments and alliances began to dominate the political scene from 133 onwards. From the time of the Gracchi which “precipitated the revolution that overthrew the Republic” (Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero) had now set a path for other leading politicians such as Sulla, Pompey and Julius Caesar to follow in their footstep by using political propaganda and hence introducing reforms and radical changes, resulting in political revolution and thus helping in the destruction process of the Roman Republic. ... Furthermore, from the time of the Gracchi it becomes obvious that politicians were taking advantage of their political roles with a pattern emerging of overly dominant, military individuals who used all means to become the most powerful men in the Roman Empire. It was a period of constant violating of traditional Roman customs.
By 133, most Italian and Romans alike were suffering from changing social, political and economic conditions partly arising from the upheaval caused by the Hannibalic war, but chiefly from the influx of wealth from the provinces: This upset the older economy which was based on peasant farmers who also formed the main bulk of the Roman army. ... Tiberius had now found the fault line of Roman politics and once he began to use this to his advantage the decline of the Roman Republic began. ... Scullard explains that Tiberius’s aims were to set the people good first for which there was an overwhelmingly popular response, even taking into consideration the less pleasant by products of the law however what he failed to realise was that he was the first of many politicians who send Roman politics into upheaval.
Perhaps, the Roman republic’s downfall to some extent was an accident at the time of Tiberius Gracchus because it has been suggested by Appian that “what Gracchus had in mind in proposing the measure was not money, but men, but he took no account of the difficulties surrounding it which will change the course of Roman politics forever”. ... This led to the rise of powerful political armies in the time of Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Caesar which in turn used the faults of roman politics exposed by the Gracchi brothers to their advantage by not only expanding Rome’s empire but also obtaining through personal means tremendous status and honour and thus contributing to the already declining empire. ... Gruen states, although it was an accident,” the Gracchan movement had left a considerable mark on both Roman judicial processes and Roman politics” (Gruen sjsjsjs sjsjsj) however the motives and actions of other leading politicians and military generals in the following years were not by any means accidental and furthermore resulted in Rome’s downfall.
It is also suggested from the works of Scullard and Crawford that the downfall of the Roman Republic was not an accident precisely because the senate failed to stop early reformers from the beginning and as a result the consequences of dominant individuals such as Marius and Sulla who through militaristic means achieved tremendous status and personal power and more evidently greatly contributed to the downfall of the roman republic.
Approximate Word count = 2458
Approximate Pages = 9.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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