Download Unit 7 Lesson 3 The Republic in Crisis

Unit 7
Lesson 3
The Republic in Crisis
Lesson 3 – The Republic in Crisis
1. Former slaves led by ________________ ultimately defeated the
Roman army and took over much of southern Italy.
(Hannibal/Spartacus)
2. To help end unemployment, __________________ encouraged
poor people to join the army. (Lucius Cornelius Sulla/Gaius Marius)
3. Roman soldiers were organized in __________________, which
were groups of up to 6,000 soldiers. (Punic Wars/legions)
4. ______________ led an army through Spain and across the Alps
toward the city of Rome; however, he was never able to capture
Rome itself. (Hannibal/Lucius Cornelius Sulla)
5. Marius and _______________ were engaged in a civil war in
which ____________ won and named himself dictator.
(Spartacus/Lucius Cornelius Sulla)
6. The fiercest of the wars Rome fought were the
_________________. (Punic Wars/legions)
Generalization: Social injustice often leads to social conflict
Big Idea – The later period of Roman Republic was marked by wars of expansion and
political crises
Questions
- explain – what happened to the tradition of the small farm in
Italy? Many farmers went to Rome, leaving their land to be
bought by wealthy Romans who created large farms worked by
slaves
- predict – how might history have turned out differently if a bad
storm at sea had delayed the Roman’s crossing to northern Africa
- describe – how did Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus try to help poor
Romans? They tried to create farms from poor Romans and to sell
food cheaply to poor citizens.
- identify – in the Roman army what was a
legion? A century?
A group of 6,000 soldiers; a group of 100
soldiers
- draw conclusions – how did the growth of the
city of Rome affect trade?
Rome had grown so much that local farmers
couldn’t grow enough food to support the city.
Merchants brought in food from other parts of
the Mediterranean, along with metal goods
and slaves.
- reading check – how did the Romans gain
territory?
They took control during the Punic Wars. From
there, they spread north and east, conquering
Gaul, Greece, and part of Asia
Attempts at Reform
- 133 BC – reforms proposed to the Assembly of the People
- by Tiberius Gracchus
-wanted
- limit the amount of property a person could own
- redistribute land to the poor
- wanted to recreate the earlier small farms and deal with
the urban poor
- opposed by the Senate
- did not want to give up their land or power
- assassinated Tiberius
MAJOR TURNING POINT
- killing the opposition becomes an accepted means of government
- this began the fall of the Republic
123 BC
- little brother Gaius Gracchus
- tried to pass the same reforms as his brother
- also killed by the Senate
For the next 100 years
- continued conflict between plebeians and patricians
- leaders claimed they were trying to restore the old Republic
- many of the new leaders were military generals
- RESULT – social disorder and civil war
- explain – why was violence more common
after the Gracchus brothers than before?
People saw that violence could be used as a
political weapon
Gaius Marius
- became a consul in 107 BC
- turned the Roman army into a professional army
- any citizen could join
- serve for 16 years
- at the end of their service was given land
- usually in the newly conquered areas
- RESULT – the rise of the generals
- Legions became more loyal to their general than the Senate
- find main idea – why might it be a problem if
a nation’s army is more loyal to leaders than to
the government?
The army could become a political too, and
individuals could take control of the
government if they had the army on their side.
The generals started challenging each other and the Senate for control
- Marius – hero for his victories in Western Europe
- Cornelius Sulla – Marius’ lieutenant
- emerged as a powerful general
- became a consul
- was choose by the Senate (over Marius, the people’s choice) to
deal with a rebellion in Asia Minor
- Sulla brought his army to Rome
- declared Marius an outlaw
- Marius fled to Africa and Sulla went east
- Marius took advantage
- he and his followers took control of Rome
- Marius died, but his followers continued the fight
- 82 BC – Sulla returned and marched on Rome
- began the First Civil War
The First Civil War
- Marius’ followers supported by the plebeians
- Sulla and followers supported by the patricians
- fought outside of Rome
- Sulla won and declared himself dictator
- returned power to the Senate
- took power from the people
- stepped down in 80 BC
New Generals Arise
- Pompeius Magnus – Pompey
- military leader in Spain
- Crassus
- defeated slave rebellion in Italy
- with help of Pompey
- became consuls in 70 BC
- worked together to control Rome
- evaluate – why may some Romans have
considered Spartacus a hero, while others
considered him an enemy of Rome?
Spartacus and the Slave Rebellion
- first major slave rebellion in history
- was a gladiator
- raised an army of thousands of slaves to fight Rome
- successful for a while, but Rome could not allow him to win or to
escape
- he and many of his leaders were killed in battle
- rebellion fell apart
- most of survivors captured
- 6,000 slaves crucified as an example