While the military is running Zimbabwe, there is no hope of anything resembling a functioning democracy replacing the tyrant Robert Mugabe after 37 years. But at least there is one small mercy — the army in Zimbabwe appears to be united.
The end for the Roman republic was in sight when wealthy individuals with powerful backing raised private armies to impose their will upon the state.
Sulla was the first person to attack Rome in this way in 87 bc and then make himself dictator in 83 bc. Once that precedent was set, it was open house for others to try.
It is an irony of history that one of the people who might have been ‘disappeared’ by Sulla’s thugs was Julius Caesar (Sulla warned at the time that he would be big trouble). It was, of course, Caesar who defeated Pompey in the next civil war of 49 bc and made himself dictator.
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