Position:Home>History> How and why did the Roman republic become an Empire?

It's a question a lot complicated and strictly related with the political events of the period!.
In the 30 BC Octavian entered in Alexandria, while M!. Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide!.
Octavian was exiting from the war with exceptional powers and reputation, to which he had to give a legal appearance, in order to create the constitutional presuppositions for the use of this power!. That means keeping the institutional republican schema for which formally he fought!. From this came a politics tending to "compromise": slow, prudent, pragmatic and empirical, in order to insert in ideal republican forms an autocratic power in facts, favoring a social balancing between the order defeated (the senatus) and the victorious classes (equites and proletarii)!.
In the 29 BC he made himself proclaimed princeps and he take the name (not the title!) of imperator (that was a title gived to a victorious general), equalizing in that way the citizens to soldiers in front of his imperium!. The senatus was acquiescent when not obsequious (offering him some tribunicial rights as the ius auxilii, some powers of appeal and the "calculus Minervae")!.
In the 27 BC Octavian orchestrate his withdrawal from scene for then accepting with keen reluctance the spontaneous offers aimed to him: an imperium (of uncertain nature) for the provinces not pacatae and, above all, the title of augustus: it was founded the state of auctoritas!. This was an ancestral juridical concept that gave formally more authority to all that Octavian (from now Augustus) would have said or made in comparison to his colleagues with equal power (we have to remember that the powers he was using were still the republican ones, officially he was still no more than a consul)!.
Augustus never ceased to tribute formal honours to senate (such as the institution of the senatorial office of praefectura urbi in the 26 BC), trying in facts to neutralizing its effective powers!.
In the 23 BC there is a new, decisive, constitutional structure: he gave up consulate (that he had holded for many years consecutively, and that formally was giving him the powers used since now), and assumed an imperium maius et infinitus (so all others province governors were reduced to his legates) and the tribunicia potestas for life in its full extension!. In the most pure augustean style he eliminated pointless elements from princeps' powers, confirming the fundamental components: imperium and tribunicia potestas become the pillars of the empire: exercitus and populus, militar base and constitutional base!. The republican form is preseved, the monarchist base assured: the empire is founded!.
This is an institutional overwiew, for others, such as an administrative one or a military one, just ask and I'll be glad to answer!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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You can be a republic ( a form of government ) and still have an empire!.

Rome was technically an empire from around 246BC-they conquered the Sicilian territories previously owned by the Carthaginians and forced the local Greek colonies to accept them!. The Republic appointed governors to the first province of the Empire, but the governors were chosen by a Republican government!.

The Republic finally fell with the start of Augustus' rule!. He took the title "Emperor" and gave up all pretense of ruling under a Republican system-he made the senators agree to whatever he said, passed laws on whatever he liked, whenever he liked!. Even Julius had just extended the powers available to a Repuclican official -the dictator- and extended them for life!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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The "empire" was just a name change!. It became an empire because they got an Emperor!. When it was a republic, Rome was ruled but 2 elected people but the senate!. When they got an emperor it just became an empire!. So the republic never "fell", it just changed its name!. (kinda like in star wars)

If you wanna know more, like look it up on wikipediaWww@QuestionHome@Com

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