Birth of the Republic

In 13th century BC, the Etruscans, early Italian settlers built city-states throughout central Italy

and ruled Rome for over a century; and in 510 BC the last king was deposed. The king was expelled by a group of aristocrats led by Lucius Junius Brutus. The founding of the new Republic did not mark the end for Roman troubles, since the new constitution was not flawless and there remained powerful external enemies.

Internally, one serious threat was the feuding of the leading families.

Another was the struggle between the ruling families (patricians) as a whole and the rest of the population, especially the plebeians. After years of conflicts the plebs forced the senate to pass a written series of laws (the Twelve Tables) which recognized certain rights and gave the plebs their own representatives, the tribunes. By the 4th Century BC, the plebs were given the right to stand for consulship and other major offices of the state.
Rome became the ruler of a great Mediterranean empire. The new provinces brought wealth to Italy, and fortunes were made through mineral concessions and enormous slave run estates. Slaves were imported to Italy and wealthy landowners soon began to buy up and displace the original peasant farmers. By the late 2nd Century this led to renewed conflict between the rich and poor and demands from the latter for reform of constitution. The background of social unease and the inability of the traditional republican constitutions to adapt to the needs of the growing empire led to the rise of a series of over-mighty generals, championing the cause of either the rich or the poor, in the last century BC