Roman Revolution

A century of political violence and civil war between 133 and 27 BCE destroyed the Roman Republic and ended with one-man rule under Augustus.

Overview

Reforming tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were killed by senators for proposing land redistribution, normalizing political murder in Rome. General Marius opened the army to the landless, creating soldiers loyal to their commanders rather than the state. Sulla marched his legions on the city twice and proscribed his enemies by the thousands. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, defied the Senate, and crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE, winning the ensuing civil war before his own assassination in 44 BCE. Further wars destroyed his killers and then split his heirs. In 27 BCE Octavian, taking the name Augustus, converted the Republic into the Principate, an empire ruled by one man behind republican forms.