Two Leaders, One Year, No Kings
In 509 BC, according to tradition, the people of Rome drove out their last king, Tarquin the Proud. They were determined never to let one man hold all the power again.
Their solution was clever. Instead of a king, Rome would have two consuls, elected for just one year. Each could block the other with a veto, so neither could act alone.
This was the start of the Roman Republic, known in Latin as Res publica Romana, which lasted until 27 BC. It grew up at around the same time as democracy in ancient Greece, with officials elected every year. Modern historians think the real story of the king's fall was messier, but the system it created was real.
Rules Made to Stop Anyone Grabbing Power
The Republic was full of checks and balances. Every important office was shared by at least two people at the same time. After serving a one-year term, an official had to wait ten years before holding the same job again.
The Senate, a council of experienced leaders, gave advice that officials almost always followed. Over time, it came to control money, foreign affairs and the army.
In a real emergency, Rome could appoint a dictator with total power. But even this was limited: the job lasted only six months, and then normal government returned. Citizens also had a right to appeal against unfair treatment by an official, an early form of the protection we now call habeas corpus.
The Strike That Changed Rome
At first, power belonged to a small group of about 50 wealthy families, the patricians. Most ordinary citizens, the plebeians, were farmers, traders and craftsmen with little say in how Rome was run.
In 494 BC, the plebeians found a powerful weapon. They simply walked out and stopped working, in protest at how poor people in debt were being treated. Faced with this mass strike, the Senate gave way.
The plebeians won the right to elect their own officials, called tribunes, who could veto laws. Over the next century and a half, they kept pushing, until they reached political equality by the 4th century BC. The struggle was resolved peacefully.
Crossing the Rubicon
The Republic grew from a single city into the master of the whole Mediterranean. But in its final century, it was torn by rivalries between powerful generals with their own loyal armies.
The most famous was Julius Caesar. In January 49 BC, he led his army across the river Rubicon, the legal border of Roman Italy that no commander was allowed to cross with troops. It was an act of open rebellion, and it started a civil war.
Caesar won and was made dictator for life. Fearing he would become a king in all but name, a group of senators killed him on 15 March 44 BC. His heir Octavian later took the title Augustus in 27 BC, and the Republic gave way to the Roman Empire.
