What caused the collapse of the Roman Republic? We have 2 choices, either the development of political factions or violence as a political tool. What do you think?
‘Romanes Eunt Domus’
Brian
Does this have to be an either/or question? I’d answer, but I get the terrible feeling this is a homework assignment.
We have far more than two choices:
Factions
Violence
Both
Both, but only in conjunction with some other set of circumstances
Neither, but some other set of circumstances
Factions, but only in conjunction with some other set of circumstances
Violence, but only in conjunction with some other set of circumstances
None of the above (Rome is still doing quite nicely, today)
(I wouldn’t try to push that last option too much.)
As Captain Amazing noted, we are not too keen on doing other posters’ homework for them. I will note that if you are having trouble discovering how to present this to class, you might want to consider the various aspects of the story that you can find in your history texts:
- What were the relationships that existed among the Patricians, Equites, and Plebeians that were incorporated into the rules of the Republic?
- How did those rules premit or restrict the management of crises?
- How did the expansion of the late Republican empire affect the poverty or prosperity of the people actually living in Rome?
- What did the various factions throughout the last two hundred years of the Republic each hope to gain (not in the sense of personal plunder–although that existed–but in the sense of establishing a stable government that would not destroy their position in society)?
It is not a homework assignment, however, it is one of five statements I have to answer on an upcoming test. I didn’t want you guys to explain…just wanted an opinion. We have to decide if the statement is valid or not.
Well, the statement that there are those two either-or choices is not valid – or at least not supported to any extent that allows us to consider it valid. The factions AND the violence may have been the symptoms of underlying problems.
FWIW, although you can get into the details of which leader did what, probably the overall reason why the Republic collapsed was simply because it did become an empire. That is, once Rome began conquering regions outside the Italian peninsula, it needed a powerful standing army (the Legions) which replaced the original citizens’ militia. Once conquest became a better way of making a living than farming and trade, the social and economic fabric of Roman life changed forever.