What was the problem between the rich and the poor?
The people who headed the Roman government were mostly Patricians, rich farm owners. They wanted more and more land to farm so they could get more money. They got more land by taking it from the farmers who owned smaller farms. The Patricians used slaves to farm and do all of their work in the city, which took all of the jobs from the jobless poor citizens of Rome. The rich soon saw the problem that the poor were beginning to distrust the government so they came up with Bread and Circuses. This was a gladiator event where food was thrown into the crowd. Two Roman Tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Graccus saw that the Roman Republic was losing its power and would soon fall. They worked to eliminate the gap between the rich and poor by dividing the farming land equally between the citizens of Rome. They were eventually killed for their plans to take land from the rich. This threw the Republic into to further troubles.
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Why did the army enter politics?
The army soon entered the politics of Rome when Marius, a military leader became consul in 107 BC. Marius decided to recruit his soldiers from the poor and paid them with wages and land. Instead of having a volunteer army of soldiers, they all trained a professional army who were not motivated by a loyalty to Rome but to their General. Sulla, a rival general of Marius, decided to gather his troops and take over Rome and declare himself dictator. Other generals saw how Sulla used his power to come to power and followed the same path.
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How did Julius Caesar become famous?
Julius Caesar became famous after forming the First Triumvirate with Marcus Crassus, and Pompey. While Caesar was off winning wars in Gaul(modern France), he sent back messengers to tell the people of Rome about how he was winning the wars. The lower classes of Rome began to see Caesar as a hero. The Senate began to see him as a threat and feared that he would use his power to come to power like Sulla had.
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What type of ruler was Julius Caesar?
While all members of the First Triumvirate were out fighting wars, Crassus was killed at battle. The Senate called Pompey to come back and be dictator. Julius Caesar was also called to return home to Rome. He knew that he had two choices; return and lose his army and be sentenced to death, or start a civil war with his loyal troops. He decided to start the war and he won. He declared himself dictator for life. He started to help the poor, giving them more land and providing more food and jobs. This came to be his demise when he was killed on the "Ides of March" or March 15 by a group of Senators who feared he was giving too much power to the poor and becoming too popular. One of those Senators was his friend Brutus.
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How did Rome become an Empire?
After the murder of Julius Caesar, Rome was thrown into another civil war. Julius Caesar's grandnephew, Octavian; and his two top generals Antony, and Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate. They defeated Caesar's killers and began to quarrel within Triumvirate. Octavian forced Lepidus to retire from politics. Octavian then ruled the western part of Rome while Antony took the east. They began to fight though and Antony formed an alliance with his love Cleopatra VII. Octavian told the Romans that Antony planned to take control of all of Rome for himself, so he declared war on Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian defeated them and they later fled and killed themselves. Octavian now ruled by himself and the Roman Republic was no more.
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Who was Augustus?
Now ruling all of Rome, he knew he had to find a way to unite it where there would not be another war. He noticed that many people liked a democratic or republican form of government. He also noticed that the Republic was too weak to solve many of Rome's problems. He decided to give some power to the Senate, but give most of the power to himself.