Civil War and the Destruction of the Republic

Conflict among members of the Roman upper class in the late second century B.C.E. turned politics into a violent competition. This conflict exploded into civil wars in the first century B.C.E. that destroyed the Roman Republic. Senators introduced violence to politics by murdering the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus when the brothers pushed for reforms to help the poor by giving them land. When a would-be member of the elite, Gaius Marius, opened military service to the poor to boost his personal status, his creation of “client armies” undermined faithfulness to the general good of the community. The people’s unwillingness to share citizenship with Italian allies sparked a damaging war in Italy. Finally, the competition for power by the “great men” Sulla, Pompey, and Julius Caesar peaked in destructive civil wars.