They didn't steal the land, that came later afterwards the republic fell. They used their wealth in a free market political field to start wars that the citizen army left to fight, then stepped in to buy the land that the owners were too busy at war to maintain.

And no, control of that land isn't what enabled the grain dole. The lands won by the army did.

This isn't that different than capitalist Venezuela. Loan someone in Venezuela a bunch of arms, they fight, then they have to repay you and look at those discovered oil fields they have!