The “Social War”
Calling any war social is as much a misnomer as calling any war civil. But in this case, we can make an exception: socius in Latin means, “ally”, and it was precisely Rome’s allies that revolted in 91 BC, sparking off the first of the series of civil wars that came to characterize the late Roman Republic. Why Rome’s allies revolted is another question. Roman propaganda stressed that it was for full Roman citizenship, which was ultimately granted to them anyway. But we should always remember that history is written by the victors. Surviving traces of allied propaganda suggest the opposite; that the allies had fought to cut loose from the snowballing city-state of Rome.
The big question in the early 90s BC was citizenship, namely whether it should be extended to Rome’s Italian allies. It was a tricky issue. Some allies towns were doing very well out of their relationship with Rome, providing manpower for the legions and taxation in exchange for a generous share of the booty. But they were still very much second-class citizens, Practically excluded from having a say in Roman policymaking through voting and often subject to some brutally harsh treatment at the hands of rogue Roman officials.
The idea of enfranchising the allies led to an outbreak of xenophobia back in Rome. Gracchus’s old enemies addressed crowds, warning them how Rome would imminently be swamped by immigrants intent on stealing their jobs and taking up their spaces at the games and festivals (rhetoric that’s all too familiar today). Then in 92 BC, a populist Tribune of the Plebs called Marcus Livius Drusus tried to pass legislation extending citizenship to the Italian allies, earning him a dagger in the heart from an unknown assassin.
Drusus’s death roughly coincided with an act of mass genocide against Roman citizens in the Apulian town of Asculum in 91 BC, leading directly to war across Italy. Among the cities, Rome fought against was Pompeii, which was besieged in 89 BC. The city is, of course, famous for the disaster it suffered 168 years later. But almost as famous as the southern Italian city was the man who was besieging it, Lucius Cornelius Sulla “Felix”, a patrician of illustrious heritage and one of the chief architects of the Roman Republic’s ruin. And this is the real contribution of the Social War in the Republic’s downfall: it provided a stage for some of the big generals of the time, like Sulla and Marius, and with the faith invested in them by the Roman people led them to overreach with their power.