Many poorer Romans, forced to leave their farms to fight in long wars, lost their property. Wealth from the east allowed the rich to buy up land and hire thousands of slaves to farm the land.
The father of the Gracchi had been betrayed by Senate and his sons had been raised with a lot of Greek ideas from philosophy, etc.
Tiberius Gracchus, in a trip through Italy, was appalled by the devastation, and how much of the land was comprised now of slave-farms. Slave farms could not furnish either soldiers or citizens. He wanted (133) to give the land that had become public due in Hannibalic war to the poor. Many Senators and other wealthy aristocrats had taken control of this land.
Elected tribune, Tiberius went over the heads of the Senate and appealed directly to Tribal Assembly. The Senate, due to its ability to keep Roman rule together during the dark days of Hannibal, had risen in power and esteem. But now tribunes were beginning to reassert their roles as protectors of the people.
Thus when his fellow tribune Octavius vetoed his measure, Tiberius illegally had him deposed. Then the land reform law passed, and commission set up to redistribute land. When Senate wouldn’t fund the commission in charge of redistributing land, Tiberius suggested the wealth from Pergamum (whose king had willed his realm to Rome) be used for this. This proposal threatened the Senate’s traditional control over money. To keep the program going, Tiberius tried to be reelected as Tribune - normally you serve only one year. In the Assembly a riot broke out, and Tiberius and 300 of his supporters were clubbed to death.
Gaius Gracchus
After Tiberius’ death, many conservatives supported the commission, to show they only objected to Tiberius’ means, and even allowed Gaius Gracchus, Tiberius’ brother, to sit on it. In 123 Gaius became Tribune, Even more a radical, a great orator. He builds on his brother’s projects, is elected tribune twice. Votes to set up new colonies for the poor, even one on ruins of Carthage. He passes a measure that provides for low-cost grain for poor -- a welfare measure.
Senators governing provinces had made vast fortunes by abusing the provincials -- and the courts were controlled by Senators. Gaius passed a law to put knights (the lower level of aristocrat, often very wealthy, but not a senator) on new court to investigate abuse of office by Senators managing overseas provinces. But the knights also acted as publicani, who were in charge of collecting taxes in the provinces. By being in charge of these corruption courts, the knights could act against senators who tried to stop them extorting extra tax money and keeping it for themselves!
By now the Latins of the rest of Italy, who had stood by Rome during the Punic wars, and whose troops had helped Rome in its conquests, wanted full Roman citizenship. But the Senators, who could not control their votes, ignored their desires and even further encroached on their rights.
Gaius’ downfall came when he tried to give Roman citizenship to any Italian who wanted it, and the right of appeal against Roman officials to non-Italians. But a sneaky conservative, Drusus, proposed to exempt all Latins from certain types of punishment, plus he promised more social welfare programs. Many of Gaius urban supporters, feeling this would lessen their power, deserted him, and Gaius could not be elected to a third term. When in the next session enemies tried to annul Gaius’ colony project, a riot broke out, and a servant of a Consul was killed. The Senate made the first decree that that Consul ‘should take the necessary means to protect that State’, the famous Senatus consultum ultimum which allows a purge, led by consul Opimius, who kill Gaius and 3000 supporters.
Back in Gaul (France) the Greeks of Massilia (modern Marseille) appealed to Rome for help against various Celtic tribes. Cnaeus Ahenobarbus, who managed the victorius war in 121, added the whole southern section of Gaul as a new province, called Gallia Narbonensis and built a road across the territory.
Rise of Marius and the war with Jugurtha
Marius was a ‘new man’ whose family had never been senators. In the north African client kingdom of Numidia, after death of King Masinissa, Jugurtha killed one of the legitimate sons and drove the other (Adherbal) to Rome. Romans divided kingdom between them (118), but then Jugurtha attacks Adherbal and kills him and massacres various Romans in the process. C. Memmius urges war. Note how in your reading Sallust has him condemn the unwillingness of Rome to defend justice and the deaths of its citizens. In 112 the consul Opimius invades Numidia and, after some fighting, negotiates a peace with Jugurtha who comes to Rome to defend his actions. He leaves Rome after he has a enemy murdered. There is suspicions that Jugurtha bribed a lot of senators. In 109 Metellus ( a pretty good general) is sent out, but, due to problems of desert warfare doesn’t achieve much.
The Roman assembly chooses the new man Marius as consul to take over the war (107). Marius, breaking with tradition, raises an army of essentially landless men (originally soldiers had to had some land), who are in effect his clients. They will have to depend on him for land when they leave the army.
Marius becomes the first general to really use soldiers to actively support his private aims. Marius, with the crafty help of his lieutenant Sulla, manages to capture Jugurtha, who is executed in 104.
But at this time German tribes in the North threaten. Two consul suffer a grave defeat at Arausio (Orange) in France in 105. Marius enters this war, and crushes the Germans in 102. Totally against custom, Marius is elected consul year after year. One is only supposed to be consul once every ten years. Marius also reformed the organization of the army, made it more efficient -- and more loyal to the general in charge.
When Marius tried to disband his army, the Senate refused to provide land for his veterans, so Marius allied with a radical, Saturninus (tribune 103-101 B.C.). He and Marius used the veterans to apply political and physical pressure on the Senate, who were forced to give the veterans their land. Eventually Marius, now consul for 6th time) breaks and then destroys the too-radical Saturninus. After this, Marius, hated both by the Senate and the radical populares, effectively loses power.
The Social War
Soon the Social war breaks out (90-87), as the Latin allies try to form their own state in north. The allies do OK at first., but, halfway through the war, the Romans give in and grant their requests and the war soon is ended, with all Italians who live south of the Po river having citizenship. However, it was soon realized that mere citizenship was not enough; for the Romans would only enroll the new citizens in 10 of the 35 tribes. Sulpicius Rufus (88) tried to get them admitted to all the tribes, and when he failed due to conservative opposition, he turned to Marius, who was very angry at the way he’d been treated. He agreed that, if Marius would help him, he’d get Marius command of the new Eastern war with Mithridates of Pontus, who had invaded areas controlled by Rome and caused 80,000 Italians to be killed, and caused some Greek states to revolt against Rome.
Sulla, his dictatorship and attempt at Constitutional Change.
Sulla, who had been a subordinate of Marius, initially gets the command against Mithridates. But when he and his army leave the capital, Sulpicius makes the assembly take it away from him and give the command to Marius. Then, in faithful moment, Sulla turns his army around and invades Rome. This events really spells beginning of end for Republic. When he captures Rome, he declares various enemies to be outlaws to be killed, then sets out to the war with Mithridates. Marius, who barely escaped, then comes back to Rome with his supporters, murders a large number of his enemies, and then dies half-crazy in 86. Marius’ supporter Cinna then takes charge of Rome, who bravely handles a number of grave financial problems. But he is murdered in mutiny in 84.
Meanwhile Sulla is in the East conquering Mithridates and wrecking much of Athens, who had supported Mithridates. He negotiated a rather mild peace with Mithridates in 85, because he needed to return to Italy, which he invaded. He defeated is enemies in 82 and, with a picked force of 10,000 men, had 40 senators and 1600 knights killed and their lands confiscated for Sulla’s soldiers.
Sulla made himself dictator ‘for m making laws and setting up the state.’ and tried to revise the constitution along strictly conservative lines -- although he had radically challenged the state. He forbade any law to be brought up in the Assembly that had not been approved in the Senate. No tribune could ever hold a major office again -- which kept ambitious people from being tribune. Sulla gave all the courts back into the control of the senate, but he allowed more Knights into the Senate. He made strict age rules for admission to higher office, and limited the power of provincial governors. He also created a court to try cases of treason. And then, after he had passed his laws, Sulla retired, and he died soon after in 79 B.C. His constitutional changes didn’t last long.