How the Roman Republic decayed and became the Roman Empire Essay

How the Roman Republic decayed and became the Roman Empire - Essay Example The prominence of Rome Rome was a small province town which after many wars became the focus and command center of the vast empire of Rome. However, history tells us that it took hundreds of years and a combat of many wars to rise to this prominence. It gained influence over a significant portion of southern Europe, northern Africa, and Middle East. Rome conquered nearly all the surrounding territories going beyond the Mediterranean Sea. It was this military dominance in the region that helped the Roman republic rise and became a formidable force of influence. The republic had appeasing methods of keeping her citizens happy and content. In this endeavor, Rome respected and protected the people’s local cultures with the sole purpose of keeping the people pacified. The Romans in their quest for improved stability, offered a healthier way of life to her war captives, giving them protection, improved mode of doing business, and the freedom to share in her civilization, like the hi gh quality road network. The import market was enhanced, and more affordable goods were made available to the citizens. Under the roman rule, the public enjoyed better and improved livelihood than in their previous regimes. The Roman social planners developed a plan on how to facilitate distribution of economical products such as food that used to contribute to widespread riots. This proper food allocation to its citizens that spread across the whole regime made it gain prominence. Rome’s geographical location’s place of control was another contributing factor. Its control over the Mediterranean Sea gave the regime sizeable amount of dominance. The Roman Republic The founding of Rome is not conclusively documented, in that there is scanty information on how it was initially conceived to its prominence. Nonetheless, mythical explanations state that Rome was initially ruled by kings as a monarchy for many years. As a republic, it began by the overthrow of the traditional roman monarchy, an event that ushered in the introduction of a government that was headed by two representatives. Annual elections were conducted to elect new representatives to head the government. Subsequently, a constitution representing the will of the people was developed. The enactment of this constitution was largely as a result of the struggle between the Patricians and the Plebeians in the effort of the Plebeians trying to prevent Patricians dominance of power. The constitution enabled the participation and representation of everyone at the national level of public affairs, without dominance of a party or ethical group. The fall of Roman Republic The fall of the republic of Rome was motivated by social reasons, military reasons, political reasons, and economic reasons. The fall began with political rivalry within the ranks of power which spread to the city where rival gangs supporting their leaders furthered the rivalry. The two political leaders were Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. Their rivalry was promoted by their indifference in political leadership when Pompey was appointed, against the spirit of the constitution, to head the consul alone. This angered Caesar who waged war against Rome forcing Pompey to flee. Military Reasons During the roman republic, the army was comprised of citizen soldiers who went to war in defense for their country for some years. This was the product of Rome spreading its territorial control, where the soldiers were