Blog Post 47 : Class Notes - The overthrow of the Roman Republic

• What's wrong with Rome 
• People have problems 
• The soldiers/farmers lost their farm's when they returned from Italy 
• They were Proletarian 
• Hey ! It'd s Living 
• War Profiteers ( the Rich / Military officers ) 
• Bought ruined farms 
• 150 B.C. slaves made-up 1/3 of the population of Italy 
• Small plots were merged into large estates: used for; vineyards, olive groves or pastureland for livestock 
• The Gracchi attempt reform 
• They tried to help get rights for the poor 
• murdered by the senate 
• The plan ( could have worked & changed history ) 
• Resettle the city's poor 
• Provide a public subsidy of grain 
• this plan would raise the # of independent self sufficient farmers 
• reduce gap between rich & poor Tribunes came short of time , only could serve 1 yr. 
• His re-election simply enraged his enemies 
• Senate killed Tiberius & over 300 of hi supporters
• Gaius ( 9 yrs. younger ) makes it his goal to carry his brother job 
• But soon he also got killed by the Senate 
• The start of the rise of Julius Caesar 
• talented patrician 
• formed a unique gov. with 2 former sulla 
• Pompey: Accomplished general 
•  Crassus: Richest man in Rome 
• Julius conquered parts of Britain & Germany ( in 8 yrs. ) 
• Giving him great wealth & power
• Power & Ambition 
• Pompey's is jealous & the Senate is worried 
• they tell Caesar to disband his army before returning to Rome 
• He didn't listen and crossed the Rubicon and maked a grand, heroic entrance 
• Pompey gets defeated in Greece 
• Large & In charge 
• 46 B.C. - claimed the title of "Father of the Fatherland" 
• J.Caesar appointed himself as; supreme po
• With his power he extended Roman citizenship to parts of Gaul 
• Build splendid buildings / roads 
• March 15 ( 44 B.C. ): Murder of J.Caesar by the Senate 
• Senate felt he was doing to much  
• And was trying to do the right thing for the republican 
• After the Murder 
• Mark Antony & Octavian ( 18 yrs. ) each got some of J.Caesar's troops and formed NEW triumvirate with another warland - Lepidus 
• They battled each-other 
• M.Antony has a love affair with Cleopatra ( Ruler of Egypt ) - unpopular in Rome 
• Octavian pushes out Lepidus 
• When everything Settles 
• Octavian is supreme warland 
• Runs military dictatorship 
• The name "Augustus" - revered one 
• In charge of greatest empire in the world 
• Start of Pax Romana ( Roman Place )