2. What were the military, social, and economic events that led to the Gracchan land reforms (discuss one event each of military, social, and economic)? How did the Gracchi attempt to resolve these problems (discuss three)? How effective were they?

When Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune, the social structures that had nourished the Republic as it developed from an independent city-state were already breaking down. The consolidation of public land under the emerging latifundia system had turned roughly 7% of the population (Last, 1932a, p. 9) into indigents as displaced peasant farmers flooded Rome and other cities, only to find demand for their labor limited at best. Meanwhile, the army was starving for recruits as the traditional citizen military class proved too small to police the vast Roman frontier and quell slave revolts closer to home. Finally, relations with the Italian and even the Latin allies had become increasingly strained....
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