What caused Rome's political turmoil and violence?

Answer 1

The history of Rome is long and there were different circumstances each time there was political unrest. However the causes can be stripped down to three issues: greed, envy and the prime factor, ego. The poor wanted what the elite had; the elite didn't want to give up anything and a fellow with an inflated ego roused up the people by claiming he could solve their problems. The prime example of this is the Gracchus brothers. They thought they could bring about land and debt reform, but didn't take into consideration the owners of the land and those holding the loans. Their egos seemed to have blanked out their common sense The civil wars of the republic were ego clashes between Marius and Sulla, Caesar and Pompey and Octavian and Antony. Although there were other factors involved, the root cause of the strife was one guy thinking that he could do it better or deserved it more than the other guy.