What dictator was responsible for the end of the roman republic?

Answer 1

Julius Caesar was appointed dictator four times. He had himself first appointed dictator in 49 BC to preside over his own election as consul (the consuls were the two annually elected heads of the Republic) and resigned from the post after 11 days. He then was appointed dictator for one year in 48 BC. Although this was more than the usual 6 months of the term of this office, it was not totally unprecedented. Another man, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, had been appointed dictator for one year 33 years earlier. Caesar started fully breaking the mould in 47 BC when he had himself appointed dictator for 10 years. Finally, he had himself appointed as dictator for life in 44 BC, shortly before his assassination.

Julius Caesar was not solely responsible for the end of the Roman Republic. After his death there were four more civil wars. The final war was a fight between Octavian (also called Augustus) and Mark Antony (and his ally Cleopatra VII of Egypt) over who would become the sole ruler of Rome and her territories.

The process of disintegration of the Roman Republic had started before Julius Caesar's rule (49-44 BC). In the last 64 years of the Republic (starting in 91 BC) there were 12 civil wars. Most of them were related to clashes between strong military leaders and the conflict between populares and optimates (see below) spilling into violence. These civil wars eventually led to the fall of the Republic. It was replaced by absolute rule by one man: the emperor.

The Roman republic was brought down by the weight of imperial expansion. The central government had become dysfunctional, and lost control over the provinces (conquered territories). The governors of the provinces became unruly and treated their provinces as if they were their personal fiefs. Tax collection in the provinces was carried out by private collectors who 'farmed' the taxes to line their pockets. Corruption was rampant. There was mass poverty. The army was professionalised. This made the soldiers loyal to the commanders of their legions who could use them to obtain what they wanted through the threat of or the use of military violence. In 71 BC Crassus and Pompey encamped their troops outside Rome to have themselves elected as consuls (the two annually elected heads of the Republic). Pompey was not even eligible on the grounds of being below the required age and of not having served some public offices which were required before the consulship. In 88 BC Sulla entered the city of Rome with his troops during his first civil war against forces of Marius, even though Roman religion forbade the bearing of arms within the city walls. The senators were seen as being concerned with the interests of the aristocracy, rather than those of the poor and were unpopular among the middle and lower classes. They were also seen as being corrupt.

Another problem in the Late Republic was the increase in the number of dispossessed peasants who lost their land to the expanding landed estates which used slave, who were war captives. These people flocked to Rome to try to eke out a living, swelling the masses of the poor in the city. The problem of poverty became a political hot potato which led to the conflict between the populares and the optimates. The former was a political faction which championed the cause of the poor and tried to introduce reforms to help them. The latter was a conservative political faction which favoured the aristocracy and opposed reforms. The clash between these two factions was a major factor which led to civil wars.