Rome's Early Foreign Expansion
Rome's early foreign expansion was a problem because the Romans were not prepared for their own success. There political system was only designed to govern a land based republic and was now in the situation of possessing a sea based empire as well. What was decided was the Republic gave the conquered land to the generals who had conquered them (Backman) and then by the end of the Third Punic War Rome had seized all of Greece and most of Anatolia. In 146 BCE Rome stood as the “undisputed master of the sea” (Backman). What began to appear were political situations that continued from the Roman Republic to a dictatorship and finally became an empire. With these political mishaps, an economic problem also began to unravel in the rural class.
Firstly, …show more content…
The jobs they looked for were often not there, resulting in an epidemic of homeless inhabitants. Even though the wealthier citizens resided on Palatine Hill, others lived in ramshackle apartments that were either over-crowded or extremely dangerous or even both(Wasson). Rome was also under attack from outside forces, and it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Continuous wars and overspending on supplies had further widened the gap between the rich and poor. At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome’s economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work (Andrews).
The Gracchi brothers and the Senate had an economical dispute about what to do with farmers in 162-133 BCE. Their idea was to redistribute land from the Senate which the Senate did not agree with. Gaius the younger brother proposed Roman citizenship to all the Republic’s Italian allies which would have then blocked the patricians’ efforts to confiscate the land (Backman).
The foreign expansion was something Rome was unprepared for and that is one of the main reasons the republic fell. That and the extreme radicalisms fighting for dictatorship like Sulla and the Emperor Augustus changed not only the political platform of Rome but severely damaged their economy on constantly going to war on neighbors to take over
Firstly, …show more content…
The jobs they looked for were often not there, resulting in an epidemic of homeless inhabitants. Even though the wealthier citizens resided on Palatine Hill, others lived in ramshackle apartments that were either over-crowded or extremely dangerous or even both(Wasson). Rome was also under attack from outside forces, and it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Continuous wars and overspending on supplies had further widened the gap between the rich and poor. At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome’s economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work (Andrews).
The Gracchi brothers and the Senate had an economical dispute about what to do with farmers in 162-133 BCE. Their idea was to redistribute land from the Senate which the Senate did not agree with. Gaius the younger brother proposed Roman citizenship to all the Republic’s Italian allies which would have then blocked the patricians’ efforts to confiscate the land (Backman).
The foreign expansion was something Rome was unprepared for and that is one of the main reasons the republic fell. That and the extreme radicalisms fighting for dictatorship like Sulla and the Emperor Augustus changed not only the political platform of Rome but severely damaged their economy on constantly going to war on neighbors to take over