this video is brought to you by captivating history the roman republic lasted roughly 500 years in that time rome went from a small city-state to a master of the mediterranean the romans would learn extraordinarily quickly how to copy the other ancient powers they encountered and their ability to do so helped them extend their global reach however with wealth and power came long-lasting internal conflicts which would eventually spell the demise of the republican system according to legend rome was founded in 753 bc but their early history is shrouded in myth rome was founded as a monarchy but by 509 rome's last king had been kicked out of office according to legend their seventh and final king tarkinius superbus was a morally bankrupt tyrant who was rightfully deposed freed from their kings the romans became fiercely republican and monarchy itself became a taboo subject their new government evolved as a balance of powers and a compromise between several different systems the senate was oligarchical drawn from the wealthiest landowners but the popular assemblies were democratic and composed of ordinary citizens every year two consuls were elected to lead the government and they had fairly extensive legislative and judicial powers in elections the richer you were the more powerful your vote was which meant that small blocks of wealthy citizens could often sway the result by the 6th century bc rome was one of many small states that made up latium italy's latin-speaking region at this time the major power in italy was still the etruscan civilization a trade-rich maritime power we know little about partly thanks to the destruction wrought on them by the romans the romans had gotten at least some of their kings from the etruscans who held dominion over parts of central italy rome sought to protect itself in the region by expanding its borders and limiting nearby threats they gradually edged out the etruscan run states and came to overpower the rest of the latins as well we do not know a vast amount about this period because we do not have many contemporary sources still we do know that the etruscan's massively influenced roman culture including introducing them to gladiatorial games the romans would next turn south to fight the samnites before attacking magna grisia a collection of italian greek city-states by this time rome's aggressive behavior was starting to worry some of her more powerful neighbors alarmed by the romans expansion a greek king pirus of eparus arrived in italy to check this new upstart power he had received a cry for help from the city of tarentum after the romans had sailed warships into their harbor despite winning several massive victories the pyric war was so devastating to the greek king's army that to this day to have a pirate victory is to win in a way that does you harm pirus would decide to leave italy in 275 bc and the lands he had defended were lost to the romans meanwhile in neighboring sicily a series of battles broke out between the island's competing powers the small city of masana close to mainland italy was caught up in a conflict between the tyrant of syracuse and the mammatines rome decided to get involved and sent troops to the island at this time carthage controlled part of sicily intervening here was an incredibly daring and reckless move on the part of the romans carthage was the superpower in the mediterranean in the 3rd century and their empire included parts of north africa and spain as well as various mediterranean islands the carthaginians would not stand any interference and the romans would be locked in a deadly battle for survival against these powerful foes till the mid-second century rome had to develop a powerful navy and fast to defend themselves a remarkable feat that they pulled off against all odds rome captured sicily sardinia and corsica in the first punic war and a peace treaty was signed between the two powers the carthaginians were furious about their losses and after a brief interlude their brilliant general hannibal would seek revenge on the romans hannibal would make an extremely unlikely attack on italy by marching a large army and a contingent of war elephants across the alps once there he would win an important series of battles in an absolutely devastating fashion hannibal was often outnumbered in italy but he was such a brilliant tactician that he repeatedly crushed the romans on the battlefield the battle of canai in particular was forever immortalized as one of the greatest tragedies in roman history during this battle tens of thousands of men were butchered in one day when hannibal's smaller force encircled them hannibal was able to capture most of southern italy and he stayed there for 15 years meanwhile rome launched a counter-attack in spain and the great general scipio was sent there to steal the carthaginian's overseas possessions scipio was a young and clever general whose father had been killed by the carthaginians so the conflict was personal he subsequently put all his energy into studying hannibal's tactics and headed to north africa forcing hannibal to return from italy to face him while in africa scipio would copy some of hannibal's ideas and recruited local numidian cavalry in large numbers his careful study of hannibal ultimately worked incipio would win a great victory at the battle of zama after which carthaginian power was irreparably broken having dramatically changed the balance of power in the mediterranean greece became the epicenter of various conflicts between competing powers rome stepped in to resolve some of these conflicts and slowly absorbed large chunks of the eastern mediterranean the impact of roma's prolonged contact with the greeks was enormous greek literature art religion and philosophy were all absorbed into roman culture greek style architecture increasingly replaced humbler roman buildings and the romans made giant leaps in their knowledge of mathematics and engineering after conquering greece rome was a wealthy global power but its large empire started to create problems at home with a sudden influx of cheap foreign grain and slave labor poorer romans began to struggle with unemployment and poverty in response to widespread social problems two political factions emerged the popularities who pushed for reform and the conservative optimates who tried to block them the conflict between these two groups would soon lead to violence two early popularised politicians the gracie brothers tried to institute reforms that gave excess land to the landless proles when one of these brothers stood for reelection on the back of a tide of popular support he was murdered during a riot ten years later his brother would commit suicide after being declared an enemy of the state by a jumpy senate despite this horrendous violence many more politicians would attempt to copy the gracie to win the popular vote general gaius marius further complicated the problem of the landless poor marius had abolished the property holding requirements needed to join the roman army generals would now provide land to their impoverished veterans when they retired making late republican generals dangerously powerful and extremely popular marius would hold the councilship a record-breaking seven times before becoming embroiled in a bitter civil war against another popular general named zula mirius had become a law unto himself and many in the senate felt the need to stop him to restore the peace sula was made dictator of rome after marius's death but when he marched into rome he butchered thousands of men who were in any way connected to marius and his faction he also tried to reform the state to prevent any other generals from becoming too powerful again sula's reforms had little impact and by the mid-first century bc two new generals had risen to prominence due to their campaigns of conquest and popular politics pompeii magnus and julius caesar were powerful commanders who promoted populist reforms they made a political alliance with the extremely wealthy marcus crassus known to history as the first triumvirate together these three men pushed through significant legislation including land reforms and sometimes used intimidation to ensure they got their way caesar also spent 10 years after his consulship conquering gaul where he earned his reputation as a great roman hero after crassus died the relationship between caesar and pompeii broke down pompeii had married julius caesar's daughter to secure an alliance between them but when she died in childbirth the two men's barely disguised rivalry was suddenly out in the open pompei started to drift towards the optomates in the senate who were useful allies against caesar feeling they had another dangerous politician cornered the senate finally asked caesar to give up his posting gall and disarm caesar was fearful of prosecution for some of his past actions and tried to negotiate the senate responded by officially declaring him a public enemy with no apparent alternatives left the senate had forced caesar's hand he crossed the rubicon the river boundary into italy and marched into rome unlike zula before him caesar was remarkably peaceable when in italy and remained incredibly popular he would soon follow pompeii all over the mediterranean and ultimately defeated him at the battle of farceless in 48 bc pompeii fled to egypt where he was murdered upon his arrival much to julius caesar's horror caesar responded by getting involved in egyptian politics and installing a new client queen cleopatra with whom he had a brief love affair after caesar had definitively won the civil war he returned to rome to govern it as dictator he would show great clemency to many members of the senate who had fought against him caesar was eventually declared dictator for life which was the final straw for die-hard republicans in 44 bc he was stabbed to death during a sentence meeting by many of the men he had forgiven marcus junius brutus who had been like a son to caesar in some respects was among the key plotters according to satonius caesar's last word to brutus were you too kid this grave betrayal was extremely unpopular with ordinary people if the senators who killed caesar were expected to be praised as heroes they were sorely mistaken during caesar's funeral a riot erupted after his right-hand man marc anthony gave a rousing speech about the beloved leader after the crowd tried to find and kill the assassins brutus and his co-conspirator cassius fled to the provinces for their safety meanwhile marc antony seemed likely to replace caesar as the most popular politician in rome when anthony tried to forcibly oust the governor of gaul to take up his post there the senate took the opportunity to get rid of him julius caesar's great nephew octavian who had been named caesar's son in air in his will was asked to resolve the situation octavian's army did defeat anthony but the senate's trust in the boy turned out to be seriously misplaced this dangerously ambitious young man immediately marched back to rome with all his army and demanded to be appointed council he also made a pact with anthony and the powerful marcus lepidus in an alliance known as the second triomarine unlike julius caesar octavian would show no mercy and murdered all of his political enemies as soon as possible the leading conspirators against caesar brutus and cassius were soon hunted down and killed and the empire was now effectively governed by three men once again lepidus was dismissed from this arrangement eventually but marc anthony would administer the eastern half of the empire from egypt while octavian managed rome in the west while in the east mark antony would have a great romance with egypt's client queen cleopatra just as caesar had done before him antony was already married to octavian's sister so this scandalous love affair was not well received by the public when it eventually came to light that mark anthony had decided to cede large parts of the empire to cleopatra's children public opinion finally turned against him octavian would ultimately go to war against antony and defeat him at the battle of actium in 31 bc now left as rome's sole ruler octavian soon to be known as augustus would become rome's first emperor to disguise this fact he would ask to be called for citizen and was careful to use subtle propaganda octavian turned out to be a ruthless but extremely effective statesman and his lengthy rule would ensure the end of the republic ultimately in its final century the republic had failed to support a large chunk of its impoverished citizens despite maintaining some democratic institutions as a result the demagogues ultimately won the day and the republic would never return to learn more about the roman republic check out our book the roman republic a captivating guide to the rise and fall of the roman republic sbqr and roman politicians such as julius caesar and cicero it's available as an e-book paperback and audiobook also grab your free mythology bundle ebook while still available all links are in the description if you enjoyed the video please hit the like button and subscribe for more videos like this