Tiberius And Gaius Gracchus Impact On Rome

Rome was once the most powerful empire in the world. It expanded and changed leaders almost constantly, but there were a few figures in Roman history who made a huge impact. Together, Caesar, the Gracchus brothers, and Jesus, permanently affected the Roman government, economy, and created a whole new religion. These four men were instrumental to the development of Rome. Tiberius Gracchus may not have made the largest impact on Rome, but he created a way for the poorer Roman citizens to move up through the ranks of society. As stated in the article on Tiberius Gracchus, “Tiberius brought forward a bill to the concilium plebis for a creation of allotments mostly out of the large area of public land...It also restored to the list of those eligible

As stated in the article in Gaius Gracchus, “However questionable their political tactics at times were, the brothers Gracchus were to show up a fundamental flaw in the way Roman society was conducting itself. Running an army with less and less conscripts to oversee an expanding empire was not sustainable” (Gaius Gracchus Article). Both Tiberius and Gaius tried to help elevate the poor people of Rome and expand their army without also increasing Roman land and population. Rome had clear flaws in leadership, but the flaws that eventually brought about its fall were the issues Gaius and Tiberius tried to address. It is impossible to control an ever increasing population with a small army that never gets much bigger because of the strict laws around conscription. The Gracchus brothers realized that having an army with few conscripts and the lack of representation for the lower classes were major problems for

As stated by McKay, “Caesar took the first step to break down the barriers between Italy and the provinces, extending citizenship to many of the provincials who had supported him. He also took measures to cope with Rome’s burgeoning population. He drew up plans to send his veterans and some eighty thousand of the poor and unemployed to colonies throughout the Mediterranean” (A History of Western Society). Caesar understood the problems Rome was facing and he gained the political power to begin to fix them. His reforms made Rome and Italy much closer allies. Even though giving citizenship to the Italians increased Rome’s population, Caesar created colonies to spread Rome’s influence and spread out Rome’s population. In the short term these reforms had a positive effect, but if Rome’s fall came from how thinly it spread its army and leadership, then these reforms may also have led to Rome’s eventual