Rise of roman republic

Etruscans ruled Rome.

616 BCE

In 616 BCE Roman society was divided into two classes,
patricians and plebeians. The patricians were the ones with the wealth but they were also only the 5% of the population. The plebeians were mostly peasants,laborers, craftspeople, and shopkeepers, they were the poor people or the lower class citizens and also were the 95% of the population.

The patricians fight for the throne

509 BCE

In 509 B.C.E., a group of
patricians rebelled. They drove out the last
Etruscan king. In place of a king, they cre-
ated a republic.In a republic, elected offi-
cials work for the interests of the people, for the patricians the "people" were the patricians themselves not the plebians.

Plebeians fighted for more rights

494 BCE

Rome took a dramatic turn in 494 B.c.E. By then, Rome
was a city of between 25,000 and 40,000 people. Most of the
population were plebeians. Angry over their lack of power, the
plebeians marched out of the city and camped on a nearby hill.
They refused to come back until the patricians met their demands. Do to this rome was in crisis. The patricians thought that the army would be helpless if an enemy struck at Rome.

patricians agreed to the plebeians demands

451 BCE

451 B.C.E., the patri-
cians agreed. The laws were written
down on tablets called the TwelveTables.Next, in 367 B.C.B., a new law said that one of the two Roman con-suls had to be a plebeian. Former consuls held seats in the Senate, so this change also made it possible for plebeians to become senators.

Plebeians get what they wanted

287 BCE

In 287 B.C.E., the plebeians gained the right to pass laws for all Roman citizens. Now, assemblies of all Roman citizens could approve or reject laws. More and more plebeians served alongside patricians in the Senate. After 200 yearsof struggle, the plebeians had wontheir fight for equality.