Its many
wars of conquest were one of the factors that led to the collapse of the Roman Republic. One
reason behind this is that their government was ill-equipped to properly handle the sudden and
vast incoming wealth from Roman overseas conquest. Wealth that was supposed to be distributed
equitably ended up in the hands of the senatorial upper class. The prospect of garnering profits
from war also led to 1) abuse of power from officials in the field, and 2) electoral bribery,
which stemmed from increased competition for high office.
Another reason
behind this is that there was a need for sustained military presence in the provinces Rome
conquered. This led to a high demand for conscription into the Roman militia. There was,
however, little to no profit to be found in being drafted for 16 to 20 years outside Italy, as
the soldiers themselves received minimum wage pay for their military service. Additionally, some
of Romes conquered regions €“ such as Sardinia, Spain, and Corsica €“ proved to be highly
hostile. And so, more and more men fled their land and property to escape conscription. Military
conscription relied on the Roman census property assessments, so the abandonment of ones
property would make one ineligible for recruitment.
The event that led to the
end of the Roman Republic was the assassination of Julius Caesar, one of the members of Romes
first triumvirate. When Caesar had assumed power in Rome, he appointed himself as its
de facto king or ruler. He attempted to fulfill numerous roles of
constitutional power €“ Plebeian Tribune, consul, Pontifex Maximus, and dictator in
perpetuo. As the Romans themselves were hostile towards this type of tyranny,
however, Caesar was murdered as a result of a conspiracy involving more than 60 Roman senators.
The Roman Republic's legal end, however, came with the Roman Senates endowment of the title of
Augustus to Octavian, Caesars great grandnephew, which marked the end of
the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire.
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