CLA2104 Lecture 3: Middle Republic / Gracchi / Marius / Social War
18 Jan 2018
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Economic troubles continued: ruin of peasant farmer. Farmer couldn"t work on the latifundia because they were slave labour plantations: latifundia had taken away his relevancy. He went to town to seek his fortune and nd a job. There were jobs at rst (building, urban growth, etc. ) but when the war money ran out (spoils dried up), there were no more jobs. Result: big, unemployed, hungry, and bored proletariate. Only slaves worked on the latifundia so peasant farmers couldn"t so they moved to the city and created a new proletariat. Once the spoils of the war ran out, there weren"t any jobs or any more money for people. The gracchus brothers stepped up to create changes: shortage of soldiers. Ruin of farmer created a military problem: peasant farmer no longer had the necessary property/assets to be eligible for the draft. They could not meet the property requirement. The shortage of soldiers was a problem.
