er. The latter dominated the thoroughly oligarchical structure of the Roman Republic. At the same time, political power remained concentrated in Rome itself, the other Italians remaining effectively disenfranchised "allies," though all of Italy was the recruiting ground of Roman armies.
Between 134 BC and 122 BC, two noble Roman brothers, the Gracchi, attempted to push through land reforms and a "new deal" in Rome (Fuller 22-23). They were suppressed by the aristocratic faction, and the social tensions increased. Later, between 90 BC and 78 BC, Rome's Italian "allies" revolted, and though the Romans won the resulting civil war (called the "social war," from Latin socii allies), Roman citizenship was extended to other Italians as a necessary peacekeeping and military-recruiting measure (29-36).
Moreover, not long before Caesar's birth, the Roman general Marius had carried out a sweeping reform of the Roman military system (Fuller 25). Previous to this time, the Roman army had been organized as a militia, based on short-term active service. Long campaigns were ruinous to soldiers who often returned to find their farms overgrown or seized by wealthier landowners. (This was a major factor in the agrarian and social crisis the Gracchi had tried to address.) Marius introduced more adequate pay for the troops, as well as the practice of awarding veterans with land on their honorable discharge. But Marius' reforms were not bac
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