Title: Impact of Gaius Marius’ Reforms
Headings: Impact of Gaius Marius’ Reforms
Impact of Gaius Marius’ Reforms
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Content: The reforms that granted the land to the veterans, had negative long-term effects as many of the veterans originated from the landless classes and did not know how to grow and farm produce. This issue lead to many veterans falling into debt and turning on the Roman Republic with the military skills that they acquired whilst serving in the Roman army (White, 2011). Rome’s army became more of a political force rather than a military force as generals obtained the complete loyalty of their soldiers and used them against each other (Daily History, 2019). Marius pioneered this ambitious approach towards advancing his own agenda as well as his own political career. After the social war, this mentality was adopted by Lucius Cornelius Sulla and allowed him to gain Consulship in 88 BCE (Gill, 2018). In summary, Marius’s reforms made the Senate lose a lot of power and loyalty amongst the legions and once the power-hungry generals understood that their soldiers were completely loyal to them; not the Republic, then their own agendas were pursed. This inevitably led to outbursts of civil wars between generals and their own private armies. Once the Senate lost control over its legions and generals, the power swayed into the hands of powerful men and generals of the Republic. Although, the Roman Republic was already slowly declining before Marius, Marius’s military reforms were introduced to fix short-term problems which inevitably carried long-term consequences and contributed significantly to the decline of the Roman Republic.