McNair Scholars Research Journal
Abstract
The Roman Republic sits in the annals of history as one of the world’s first empires that boasted a representative democracy. Established in 509 B.C.E. and lasting until it was officially dissolved in 27 B.C.E., the Republic endured an incalculable amount of trials and tribulations. In the early first century B.C.E., Rome would begin to fail the tests thrust upon it. It was from these failures that a half-century of stagnation, fear, and bloodshed emerged. Starting with the age of Sulla in the 80s B.C.E. and persisting until the ousting of its democracy by Octavian in the 20s B.C.E. Rome found itself ripe with political discourse, uncertainty, and civil war. Rome, as a whole, was an empire enthralled by tradition, the one that captured the most devotion from its people was the practice and preservation of the democracy that composed its foundations. It is with this understanding that one would find themselves asking a question of the utmost importance: Why would Rome succumb to the challenges cast upon it in the first century B.C.E. and allow its most crucial tenet of democracy to be thrown to the wayside in favor of an era of emperors? This research will show that Rome’s Republic fell largely because of the escalations of political polarization and violence seen in Rome before Caesar crossed the Rubicon.