Summary of Mike Duncan's The Storm Before the Storm - E-book - ePub

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Tiberius Gracchus was the son of Scipio Africanus and Cornelia, and he was a great military leader. He was also present at the siege of Carthage, where he watched the city burn. #2 After the Second Punic War, the Roman Republic was flooded with treasure, which some senators feared would lead to moral degradation.
However, this only affected the small group of noble families who controlled the spoils of war. #3 The rich families that acquired all the land also bought slaves to work their growing estates. The demand for free labor plummeted just as poor Roman families were being pushed off their land. As a result, the poor tenants became peasants forever tied to their landlords unless someone came along and offered them a way out. #4 The Roman Republic faced a crisis in the second century, as the rich pushed the poor off the land, leaving less citizens able to meet the minimum property requirement to be drafted.
The Romans had faced similar crises in the past, and responded by lowering the property requirement to bring more men under arms.