The Civil War: Why Was The Civil War Inevitable?

The battle of Pharsalus was a key battle in Roman history that proved to be a vital step towards the future. Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon River began the civil war between his army and Pompey’s. The Roman Empire had been split two years earlier into two classes into the optimates and populares. Pompey lead the patrician faction, called the “optimates,” which was made up of Rome’s aristocrats and senators. On the other hand Caesar lead the populist faction, the “populares,” which was made up of nobles supported by Rome’s farmers, veterans and middle class.

Throughout the course of the Roman Republic, there were major conspiracies, alliances, and power struggles, but no person was able to establish political dominance for life and carry on that power until Julius Caesar. Although there was an assortment of people seeking political dominance, the Republic was able to last for hundreds of years. When Julius Caesar entered Rome after the leader of the old government, who declared Caesar an enemy, retired, he became an orator. This position propelled him to a political career, and he continued to improve his position. After Caesar launched a Civil War with him crossing the Rubicon River, he successfully defeated his main rival, Pompey.

Pompey was in on the deal and he was supposed to take over. Caesar knew that if he entered the city of Rome without his troops he would be killed by Pompey and so he crossed the Rubicon with his troops and attacked Rome. He took over as a dictator for life and gained a lot of power. He was able to run a strong military and even though he was considered only a dictator he wrote laws that actually made him have the same powers as a king. The conspirators saw the problem that had arised and so they planned the murder of Caesar on the Ides of March.

The reason why Julius was killed was because Julius Caesar was for not doing his actions in secrecy and deceit. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, there were civil wars occurring and there was a period of unrest. Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavius then ruled Rome. In 27BC, Octavius changed his name to Augustus Caesar. This period was when Augustus won the battle for rule of Rome, so now the triumvirate was gone.

The Carthaginians were then told that they must halt their invasion or war would be waged. They did not stop and Rome declared war. The first battle was fought entirely in Sicily, in 263BCE, and since the Romans were the superior fighters they took the ground battle and continued to prevail until 256BCE. After the victory over Carthage, the Romans began besieging Greek cities that allied with the Carthaginians. The Romans sacked these cities, which caused them to harden their resistance.

Roman soldiers stood out as particularly great fighters in the ancient world. Although a lot can be said about the value of virtus and the expectation of dying a hero rather than fleeing a coward, the Roman soldier, and how they performed in battle, was in many ways completely dependent upon the actions of their commanders. Generals and emperors of the time had a huge influence on the morale and obedience of their troops. Some generals chose to try and emulate the ways of Julius Caesar, Fabius Valens, for example, new the importance of his presence to his troops, others created their own battlefield persona, of which some were successful, and some not. A great example of these different characters presents itself during the Year of Four Emperors.

Such persons started to compete for that power, and use it to exploit Rome’s politics. Subsequently, competition for power led to civil wars that paved the way to the growth of a one-man leadership. Gradually, dictatorship replaced republic government, and when Augustus rose to power, he became the sole and undisputed leader of Rome. This marked the beginning of the Roman Empire, where the ruling was carried out through Augustus’ policies. Augustus’ foreign policy focused on the expansion of the Roman Empire.

By doing that, Julius Caesar showed that he cares enough about his people that he will not only make successful plans for them, but fight wit... ... middle of paper ... ... during his time and even after, he was one of the greatest military minds and leaders in all of history winning almost all battles, and gaining more land for Rome. He was very experienced with politics and saved the Roman economy from corrupting. In addition to that he kept his citizens happy by giving them the respect they deserve and putting what they want first, influencing how leaders in present society run their nations. Julius Caesar was simply different from any other leader the Roman Republic had ever had, and changing Rome for the better. Yes, he became power crazy and that is what got himself murdered, but his mistakes taught his nephew how to deal with the growing power properly, which helped create an outstanding leader for the Roman Empire.

Civil War on Pompey In 49 B.C., Gaius Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army, declaring civil war on Pompey and his supporters in the Senate. In this paper, I will explore the political and legal issues that pushed Caesar to the brink. Looking at Rome’s political struggles at the dawn of the first century B.C., it becomes apparent that the groundwork for Caesar’s Republic shattering revolt was lain down by Marius and Sulla. To be more specific, the stage was set by the class struggles between the Aristocracy, who demanded control of the Republic by virtue of tradition, and the masses, which demanded a voice. Marius made a major step in pushing the Republic towards constitutional upheaval when, in 107 B.C., he abolished the property requirements for military service (Meier, 29).

They waited to see if they could turn Rome allies against them but it was to no avail. This should be a good lesson on when to be aggressive and when not to be. Carthage should have taken a page out of the Roman’s play book and took the fight to the Romans. But they didn’t and that was there downfall. In the end greed and power was all the reason Rome needed to conquer Carthage and the rest of the Mediterranean territories.