204: Paper #2

The Death of the Roman Republic: Writing about Causation

Over the past few weeks, we've been studying the events leading up to the collapse of the Roman Republic. It would be impossible to identify a single cause of this collapse. Every event and factor interacted with every other event and factor in the years leading up to the collapse. Where scientists might try to isolate dependent and independent variables, historians have to deal with nothing but interdependent variables, and lots of them. Your assignment: in a 750- to 1,000-word essay,

Support a generalization about why the Roman Republic ultimately failed.

Please to not try to write a comprehensive narrative of the whole process and you do not need to identify the single cause or the initial cause or even the paramount cause. You just need to show how one particular factor (not three separate factors) played a role in the collapse of the Republic. Think about

  • Immediate and remote causes, paramount and contributing causes, and as much as possible show a continuous chain of causation.

  • Key turning points; was there a point of no return—a moment when the Republic was beyond saving?

  • Contingency and the role of human agency as opposed to large impersonal forces.

  • How things could have turned out differently if just one factor was changed. Could the Republic have been saved if the Gracchi had the political skills of Lincoln or if Caesar had decided not to cross the Rubicon?

    • Interdependence. Show how different factors reinforce each other. Don't try to isolate variables.

Your job is to impose a structure on seemingly chaotic events, and to illustrate cause-and-effect. Avoid the words inevitable and destiny; historians don't generally believe in those things.

Use hedging language where appropriate.

Your paper should have an argument (stated concisely in a thesis statement) that characterizes the process of decline and fall, or identifies a significant cause, a point of no return, or whatever you think is the most important finding of your study.

Also:

  • See the Paper-Writing Guide if you haven't already.

    • Your paper should have an introduction with a thesis statement.

    • A narrative chronological structure is likely to help you illustrate cause-and-effect.

    • Read, think, and review the readings before you begin to write.

    • Make a chronological list of events leading up to the fall of the republic.

  • Leave time for revision and copyediting.

  • 750-1,000 words is about three or four pages long.

    • Include heading with name, format, and word count.

    • Number your pages.

  • Do not use outside sources for this project.