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The Fall of the Roman Republic was from 131 to 31 BC. Tiberius Gracchus, a tribune, wanted to create a land reform to give more land to the Plebeians, and to limit the size of the land of the Patricians. The plebeians loved this decision, however, the Senate, which was made up of Patricians weren’t. So, they convinced a tribune named Marcus Octavius to veto Tiberius’ plan. This was not illegal, however, it was sketchy. Then, Tiberius used his influence to kick Octavius out of the Tribune. This was illegal. He later ran for tribune again for a second consecutive year, which was also illegal. To stop his plan, a patrician riot killed Tiberius and his supporters. This was also illegal. Ten years later, his brother, Gaius, tried to complete the land reform and was also killed. Violence and personal influence break political tradition. From 80 to 70 BC, Marius came into power. He became a consul six times in eight years, which is illegal. Sulla was famous for marching onto Rome with an army, killing many of Marius’ supporters, and creating proscriptions, which were political murders and robberies. He also was the first to call himself Dictator, even though there was not any emergency in Rome at the time. The First Triumvirate allowed Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar (the three most powerful people in Rome at the time) to get rid of any political enemies, and allow them to rule Rome. When the deaths pf Crassus and Pompey’s wife Julia, Pompey and Caesar fought each other at the Battle at Pharsalus, where Pompey ran away to Egypt and was killed. Caesar came to Egypt and helped Cleopatra take other the Egyptian throne, where he lived. He eventually made himself Dictator for life, giving him unlimited power. This led to some senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus, to kill Caesar in 44 BC. Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus, formed the Second Triumvirate, defeating Brutus at Philippi. Lepidus was exiled, and Antony went to Egypt, where had children with Cleopatra. Octavian illegally looked into Antony’s will, where it said that he would give a lot of land to his children with Cleopatra. Rome declared war and Antony and Cleopatra lost at the Battle at Actium in 31 BC. Antony killed himself along did Cleopatra. Octavian became the sole ruler of Rome, changed his name to Augustus, and became the first Roman emperor. The republic was dead. In the end, violence and personal influence, allowed selfish rulers to break the rules of the Republic and turning it into an empire. New traditions were made, allowing many personal and illegal goals to be accomplished
