What led the fall of the Roman Republic?

Answer 1

Julius Caesar's grandnephew was the first emperor. He defeated Antony and Cleopatra and became Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. The Republic ended, but an new Empire started. Julius Caesar was a dictator who was assassinated by members of the senate. He was self declared. For nearly four centuries Rome had an emperor.

Answer 2

The Roman Republic fell under the weight of imperial expansion. This expansion had not been planned and the government was unable to cope with the transformations it had created. The governors of the provinces (conquered territories) acted as if their provinces were their personal fiefs. Tax collection was tendered to private individuals who farmed taxation through extortion to line their pockets. This created resentment in the provinces. Corruption was rampant.

Reforms of the army had made soldiers loyal to their commanders. Some of these commanders used the threat of military violence to obtain what they wanted. One example were Crassus and Pompey who encamped their troops outside Rome to have themselves elected as consuls (the two annually elected heads of the Republic). Pompey was not even eligible. In the last 47 years of the Republic there were 11 civil wars. In one of these Sulla's troops entered the city of Rome even though Roman religion forbade the bearing of arms inside the city walls. The last few of these civil wars led to the fall of the Republic.

Another problem in the Late Republic was the issue of poverty, which became a political hot potato. It led to the conflict between the populares and the optimates. The former was a political faction who championed the cause of the poor and wanted reforms to help them. The latter was a political faction which favoured the interests of the aristocracy and was opposed to the reforms. The conflict between these two factions was a major cause of many of the civil wars.