Transcript From Republic to Empire

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Romans were
committed to a policy
of imperialismestablishing control
over foreign lands
and peoples.
Other conquests
• Macedonia
• Greece
• Asia Minor
• Provinces
 Rome
starts to
become the center
of the world,
because of all of the
riches.
 Wealthy Roman
family’s establish
Latifundia-huge
estates
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Rome was becoming
very rich, but this led
to the economic gap
between rich and poor
to increase.
Small farmers could
not compete with the
latifundias and their
slave labor.
Angry mobs start to
riot
 Two
young patrician brothers named
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus start
political reform
 Tiberius - distribute land to the poor
 Gaius- buy grain for the poor, by using
public funds.
 Rome
was unable to
resolve its problems
peacefully and civil
wars ignite.
 Slave uprisings
 Army loyalty shifts
to generals
themselves instead
of to Rome
 Spartacus
was
born in Thrace,
became a soldier,
and was captured
by the Romans. He
was sold as a slave
to be made a
gladiator.
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With 70 comrades, he
escaped, hid on Mount
Vesuvius, and raised a
large army of rebel
slaves.
With his army he
defeated two Roman
legions.
Spartacus intended to lead
slaves over the Alps and to
go home, but the slaves
encouraged him to march on
Rome.
A
fresh Roman army
under Crassus finally
defeated Spartacus
and his men. After
his defeat, 6000 men
were crucified as a
warning to other
slaves.
 By
133 BC the
Roman Republic
faced many
problems.
 Social War breaks
out in 91 BC and
bloodshed resulted
finally in Rome
(Senate) gaining
control of the allied
cities that had
rebelled
 Out
of the chaos,
rose Julius Caesar
an ambitious
military
commander.
 The Republic starts
to weaken as a
result of the events
that take place
during Caesar’s rise
 Triumvirate
means
“rule by three”
 Caesar joins Gaius
Pompey and
Licinius Crassus as
the first triumvirate.
 Caesar knew that
with a loyal army
behind him he
could gain control
of Rome
 Crassus
dies in
battle in 53 BC and
Pompey is declared
sole consul.
 Weary of Caesar’s
power he orders
him back to Rome
without his army.
 Caesar refuses
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Instead, Caesar
marches towards Rome
with his army and
Pompey flees to Greece.
Crossing the Rubicon
“The die is cast”
Caesar and his
conquest in Gaul
(France)
Cleopatra’s
appointment to the
throne in Egypt.
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Caesar increases the
Senate to 900
members, but
reduced it’s power
after being declared
dictator for life.
Senator’s begin to
revolt. Led by Gaius
Cassius and Marcus
Brutus
March 15, the Ides of
March-44 BC. The
conspirators kill
Caesar in the Senate
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These were believed
to be Caesar’s last
words which means
even you Brutus.
He really said, “and
thou Brutus, my
child!
Caesar believed that
Brutus was his son,
he had an affair with
Brutus’s mother
lasting some twenty
years.
 After
Caesar’s
death, he intended
for his
grandnephew
Octavian to take the
thrown.
 A struggle for
power however
broke out
 Octavian
(19), Marc
Antony (General),
and Lepidus,
Caesar’s second in
command make the
second triumvirate
 Marc Antony along
with Octavian begin
to hunt down the
conspirators.
 Antony
led an army
east, re-conquering
Syria and Asia
Minor from the
armies of Brutus
and Cassius. Then
he joined his ally
Cleopatra in Egypt.
 Octavian forced
Lepidus to retire.
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Antony and Octavian
divided the Roman
world.
Antony took the east,
and Octavian the west.
Octavian persuaded the
Senate to declare war on
Antony and Cleopatra
Octavian defeats
Antony’s forces in
Alexandria and Antony
and Cleopatra commit
suicide.
Octavian learned
from Caesar’s
mistakes, and did not
present himself as an
emperor.
 Senate gave Octavian
the name Augustus
“the revered one”
 Augustus Caesar
(Octavian)
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