to help the landowners/soldiers of Rome (Hanes 1997). The brothers tried to redistribute the public land of Rome to small farmers. The Senate, however, feared that the brothers were trying to take power away from the government. They ordered mobs to kill the brothers and hundreds of their supporters. The Gracchis efforts were the beginning of the Roman Revolution (Hanes 1997). In 107 B.C.E, a popular general named Marius was elected consul. Because of his military background, Marius was interested in improving the army. He started to accept anyone into the army regardless of whether they owned any land. This created a vast change in the makeup of the armies. Many poor people decided to join in hopes that they would benefit financially from any victories. Soldiers became attached to Roman generals rather than the state because of the possible economic gains (Hanes 1997). The governments separation of the army would prove to be a major problem. Laws could only be enforced if The Republic controlled the armies. When the army followed a general rather than the government, the government lost all power. In 90 B.C.E, Roman allies in Italy finally rebelled against the city. The allies were angry that they were not considered citizens of Rome. They had benefited little from Roman expansion even though their citizens had served in the military. After a very bloody campaign, the Social War, as it was called, eventually ended when the allies were defeated. The Senate, however, decided to grant citizenship to the allies (Hanes 1997). This move expanded the Roman State to all of Italy. As the number of citizens grew, The Republic became harder and harder to manage. During the Social Wars, one general, Lucius Cornelius Sulla proved to be very successful in battles. Based on this military success, Sulla was elected consul in 88 BCE After completing his term, Marius tried to stop Sulla from taking any military command. Sulla countered by marching his ...
