By the mid-first century BC, the republican form of government at Rome had essentially fallen, out of this collapse there emerged, in the aftermath of civil war, first the dictatorship of Julius Caesar and then the Principate of Augustus. In an abrupt and conspicuous transformation, a political system founded upon principles fundamentally opposed to monarchy was replaced by a system that was monarchical. Various occasions have been proposed as the fundamental catalysts of the revolution, although we find the breaking point set in 60BC when Pompey, Caesar and Crassus formed an unofficial compact which effectively dominated the operation …show more content…
With Caesar assassinated, there was mass confusion that was spread all throughout the Roman state as people impatiently waited and searched for some sort of political power to come back and help reorder the state. A few political players came into play in the search for power: M. Antonius, C. Octavius, Sextus Pompeius, Pompey; and M. Aemilius Lepidus. These four of these political figures had different ideas as to what they wanted to become of Rome. Rome soared into a cycle of Civil wars, which played the deciding factor of one of the most significant constitutional transformations in history. Rome, The Eternal City, abandoned its trademark Republican system of government and became an …show more content…
Gracchus, however, focused much more on the empowerment of the Italian allies of Rome (this is seen as a move towards populares). C. Marius began to break tradition and law as well by taking men into his army who did not own any land previously. Marius and Sulla were the first two political figures in Rome who used considerable military force to get what they wanted, and this trend continued all through the fall of the Roman Republic and into the Roman