The Rise and Fall of the The Roman Republic Essay Example

📌Category: History, History of the United States
📌Words: 1209
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 12 May 2021

Known to be one of the most noteworthy civilizations of all time, The Roman Republic is still being talked about to this day, which in turn is about the ample amount of successes and advances that had happened in a short period of time in one civilization. A civilization that had at first been formed in a smaller city state was able to elevate to another level and become an empire in its own right. While there was a multitude of various successes that accounted to the rise of the Roman Republic, their successes also led to their own downfall. The Roman Republic suffered from becoming too big of a civilization too quickly and not adapting accordingly, this will be highlighted through the paper from Rome's humble beginnings at the start of the republic to the collapses that ended one era of the more advanced civilizations in that time period.

To specifically pinpoint all of the successes of the Roman Republic, we must look at the city state from its earliest stage. One of the successes that helped catapult Rome into one large republic was their geography, it played a huge part in carving their victories. (127) When compared geographically to an earlier civilization such as Greece, Rome had more of an advantage as the land made it easier to shape their system of agriculture and made it easier as well to be a productive city-state. (127) The location of Rome also aided it in the growth of the Republic as it made it more favorable and helped in turn unify trade as well as their overall cultivation.

Another huge success that must be talked when discussing the Roman Republic would be how quickly they were able to acquire and take over most of Italy. (128) In their earliest conquests, the city-state had either made allies with a bunch of their bordering civilizations or taken them over completely. As Rome began to suddenly increase in size throughout Italy, the power of the republic as a whole became more and more serious. To account for the gain in population, social divisions were also made in place to separate the romans from their allies suitably. (129) Rome's ability during the Republic to expand assisted in what became known as one of the powerhouse civilizations of the world, The Roman Republic.

Furthermore, branching out on the idea of roman successes in the republic, one of the other successes was their willingness to have an established government. Moving away from the idea of a monarchy that plagued the downfall of past civilizations, the romans built a system that had consuls that ran one term for a shorter period of time to avoid the problem of having a monarch led city-state. (129) This in part helped the romans as a whole due to the system having a senate that also played a huge role in dictating what happened in Rome and the territory that either was taken or allied with it. Other various branches such as the Centuriate assembly and council of the plebs made sure all romans were loyal to Rome. This helped bring success to Rome as it made every man want to either get to the status of consul or be in one of the assemblies.

Additionally, when one speaks about The Roman Republic and the successes of it, they also touch on the subject of battle. The Romans were no strangers to battle and during the republic won key encounters against enemy civilizations trying to weaken Rome. A main example of Rome's victories in battle at the time could be shown from the Punic wars. The first Punic war was against rival city Carthage for the land of Sicily. It was a bloodbath that was won by the Republic due to their sense of battle, leadership and being able to fight per their strengths. (131) This was one of the many battles that had a domino effect on the growth of The Roman Republic and rise of it. Other battles that could be also shine light on how efficient Rome was at war would be the battles during their conquest of the Mediterranean and the second Punic war just to name a couple. (130)

Now with these main successes highlighted and showcased, the downfall that led to the collapse due to their rapid rise must be shown. As for the agriculture, once Rome became bigger and bigger, this led to more people wanting to own land that Rome did not have to give out. The small farmers that had land previously were losing it to the wealthier land owners buying their land out. (134) Before this had happened, the small farmers were thriving and carrying the economy of the city of Rome. (134) In Rome's quick effort to try and fix the rising economic as well as social issues from taking land from small farmers, they angered the opposing side, the wealthy landowners who bought off the land, which led to them burning another bridge along the way. (134)  This was a key component in the collapse of the Roman Republic.

With Wealthy Land owners being most of the senate, the social aspect of the Roman Republic began to crumble down. Once Wealthy land owners were stripped of their land, they became furious and took matters in their own hands. This started with the angry senate members killing one of the roman consul leaders at the time, Tiberius in 133 B.C.E. . (134) Tiberius had a brother who suffered the same fate twelve years due to him trying to fix the underlying issues of social divisions causing most of the population to become uneasy as well as restless. (134) Due to all the social rankings cause from acquiring new land throughout Italy, the republic started to break down.

As panic spread through the Republic, it was easy to see that their rapid rise to success was the same reasoning for it's just as rapid collapse that was happening. The Government had changed from one consul serving their term and then being switched to three consuls at once to control the damage. (134) This was inefficient and led to each leader trying to get the other killed so that the last standing member could have full control of Rome. This was showcased when Crassus, Pompey and Julius Caesar were placed into power. Each time a member of the three was either killed or lost power, it would drive the other to make sure they were in full control of Rome. (135) This in turn shows how quickly an established government can be neglected during a time of crisis from the Republic collapsing.

To conclude this analysis of the rises and successes of The Roman Republic, it must be noted that this civilization shouldn't be underestimated nor undermined for their shortcomings. The Roman Republic, collapse and all was still such an advanced civilization that should be credited for their ability to grow in such a short amount of time. These successes though did set off the chain of events that led to its ultimate downfall. With the geography being just in the right spot when it was first started, Rome did not account for the rest of the land once they acquired it via conquest, causing a ripple effect in the collapse of the Roman Republic. This point ties in with the first success as Rome was able to control these huge amounts of land quickly but did not adjust to prepare the ruining of the civilization from tensions of social divisions. These social divisions from achieving vast land in a like manner forced Rome to break off their established government that aided in the success of the rise. The Roman Republic is a perfect example of how quick rises to successes can cause more harm to a civilization than good.

 

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