Increases in the price of food and decline in its availability commonly trigger discontent. Caesar’s enemies acted because they saw the moment as favorable, with Caesar’s popular support waning.
The thing is that the Roman Republic was already dead from the murders of the Gracchi brothers (120 BC) or the Social war (90 BC) - by that time the Roman republic was an oligarchy with no control on the elites.
Marius followed by Sulla took advantage of this and were Emperors in all but name, as was Caesar.
In fact the “Emperors” for the first 300 years were titled “Princep” — “first Citizen” - hence the term used is the Princepate.
During that 300 years the Republic technically continued with lessening power, until Diocletian started the Dominiate and threw away the last fig-leaf of a republic.
I don’t see weather as a factor from 130 to 27 BC - rather that the Roman Republic became an Empire without an Emperor and didn’t know how to manage its new wealth.
As chatty as Roman writers were, you would think one of them might have mentioned it was chilly...
Wait until Yellowstone or Mammoth Mountain erupt.
Then, the snowflakes will melt.
Collapse of the Second Triumvirate (And Octavian/Augustus being the last man standing of the three) around 11 or so years, after the eruption, was more influential than a natural disaster.
Ping to SunkenCiv.
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3386361/posts
Above is a link to an old article with regards to climate change and the Vikings having a rough go with it. Along with an interesting link (in the posts) about some book a bunch of Freepers liked.
I read books and listened to podcasts about the fall of the Roman Republic and never seen one word describe weather as a factor. The date of 43 BC is important because Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar has already delivered the mortal blow to the Republic.
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So true. Don’t know if you may be referring to the Mike Duncan “History of Rome” podcast; a most excellent series.
The Roman Republic was on a trajectory to fail for decades before 43 BC with the rise of the Gracchus Brothers and later Gaius Marius. Civil wars had already broken out by the time of Mariaus as his legions faced off again st Lucius Sulla. By the time Julius Caesar rose to power, the Republic was little more than a fiction and its burial was complete following the 40 year reign of Ocatvius/Agustus.
Volcanos in Alaska had zero to do with it.
The real problem is that a Republic is an excellent system of government for a people who have a common set of values and identity, but it doesn’t work for running a far-flung empire.
A Republic needs *citizens* who value individual freedom and accept personal responsibility, trusting the government little and those who run it hardly at all.
An empire needs obedient subjects who fit into their place in a giant machine run by those who know best for them; there’s no other way to integrate people from many different cultures, with many different values and languages.
Rome after the second Punic war, as with the United States after WW2, gained an empire but lost a republic.
The Republic fell because the senate got corrupt to the point of stupid.
A useful tool to process any historical circumstance such as the collapse of the Roman Republic is “political efficacy.”
The “efficacious” political system 1) provides for the needs of the people; and 2) responds to their will.
The Romans were obsessed with Tradition and Law (and war), which yielded incredible growth, prosperity, and a continually wider distribution of power. But following the Punic Wars, the needs of expansion clashed with its benefits, which neither tradition nor law could accommodate. In terms of political efficacy, both the Senate and the Tribunates failed to respond to the changing conditions and popular demands.
Instead, the laws became more rigid while violations of it became more rampant, viz. Gracchi bros. Each continuing episode yielded more law and more violations thereof. For example, Sulla codified the cursus honorum, which was previously followed by tradition, especially regarding age limits for the various offices. However, by codifying it, Sulla instead installed the basis for its violation by Pompey, whose ambition far outran his age, but whose ambition was fueled by the popularity of his conquests.
There’s truly no comparable place or time to this period, but the American Founders fully understood its implications and created a system that has allowed for dissent, adjustment, and continuity — so far.