The Roman Republic And Roman Empire

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Roman Republic vs Roman Empire
The Roman Republic flourished for almost 500 years, until the Roman Empire started. Although the Roman Republic gave more power to the people, the Roman Empire brought great prosperity to Rome and its people. Many factors caused this rare transition of going from a system with elected officials to a society ruled by a dictator.
The Roman Republic was the time of the ancient Roman civilization. They’re government was one where the officials were elected. This republican form was started by the Roman monarchy being overthrown in 508 BC. It ended up lasting 482 years. When the republic first started, it was controlled by an aristocracy. Later on though, laws were repealed, causing the individuals of the aristocracy to not dominate the government. This caused a new aristocracy. Instead of depending on laws, it depended on the society. Similar to today, the republic had a constitution they went by. Separation of powers and checks and balances were the two main rules followed. Rome began to expand their territory, ruling the Mediterranean completely. Then they moved on and ruled North Africa, Greece, France, and the Iberian Peninsula. Regions such as Egypt became allies with Rome. According to the textbook, Prentice Hall World History, “by 133 BC, Roman power extended from Spain to Egypt.”(157) Having control over these lands brought great riches into Rome. The Romans kept conquering lands and forced the captured to slavery on big farming estates. Prentice Hall World History textbook by Ellis and Esler states that “by the last days of the republic, around a third of Italy’s people lived in slavery.” (157) The rich got richer and the poor became poorer causing angry mobs to start riots. Having a...

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...e, the only government body was the senate. They issued unalterable orders. The senate served as a high court with elected magistrates. Since the emperor had absolute power, the senate had minimal power. It consisted of about twice as many as the republic’s senate did.
Overall it’s clear to see that the Roman Republic was more about the Roman people and what they desired, but the power, in both the empire and the republic, still stayed within the few people of high power. As you can tell from history, one of the main factors of the downfall was that the power became too concentrated and caused the Roman Republic to fall. The Roman Empire came to be because of what the senate let happen. By giving so much power to Octavian, the monarchy turned into an imperium. All together the empire and the republic were very successful in bringing Rome prosperity and expansion.

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