The Social War (91-88 BC) and the First Civil War (88-82 BC) Flashcards
explosion of the already simmering discontent of the Italian allies
peaceful attempts at a solution failed between 100-91 BC and in 91 BC most allies took up arms. they established their own federal state.
the Social War
91-88 BC. a short and savage war in which Rome managed to quickly win over Italian regions with close ties to Rome by making concessions: granting of Roman citizenship to those first areas.
citizenship for Italian allies
after 88 BC, Rome admitted the Italian to the Roman citizenry and recorded them as such but slowly. this was done to avoid the alienation of her allies.
result of granting of citizenships
Italy came to consist of self-governing communities of Roman citizens (oligarchic town councils and local magistrates at the head). the romanization process and urbanization process were largely accelerated. the Italian notables came to form a third order (decuriones) below the senators and knights.
the popular assemblies
roman citizenship became more of a legal than political concept as very few were able to vote on a regular basis. the popular assembly was dominated by a group of citizens living in Rome. they used intermediates to influence the groups of town-dwellers (members of trade association). they were known as collegia. popular politicians used tribunes as their henchmen.
civil wars
in these wars conflicting interest groups rallied around generals who competed for power and used their troops as political weapons.
caused by political tensions that started to build up from the middle of the 2nd century.
the first civil war
88-82 BC. caused by a conflict between two most important generals and politicians of those days (Marius vs L. Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC). they competed for supreme command in a new foreign war against Mithridates from 120-64 BC. senate granted Sulla the command (he was a consul in 88 BC). a tribune sympathetic with Marius made the popular assembly give the command to him. Sulla responded by marching his army into Rome and occupying the city. he gained more magistracies as allies and resumed command. in 87 BC Marius seized power in Rome, killed some of Sulla’s followers. Marius died in 86 BC.
in 83-82 Sulla won the war against Mithridates and defeated Marians. in 82 BC he had himself declared dictator without the 6 month restriction.
after the first civil war
Sulla began a reign of terror. he has been rumoured to have killed many senators and knights. this is also known as a proscription as the enemies of the terror were publicly identified. Sulla did nothing do stop the inequality as he shamelessly enriched his soldiers and high followers.
he introduced a series of new laws:
statutory rules, ejected the knights from the juries but admitted his sympathizers to the senate (an end to the senate’s internal cohesion), created five permanent criminal courts, tribunate was stripped of many of its powers. Sulla resigned in 79 BC and died in 78 BC.
