Julius Caesar: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:20, 25 November 2022

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator of Rome from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC.

Reforming the world

The Marian Reforms introduced to the Roman army by Roman general and politician Gaius Marius (157-86 BCE). These reforms transformed the Roman army from a semi-professional militia to a professional fighting force.

Property ownership had previously been a requirement to be a Roman soldiers, but now the recruitment of vast numbers of poor, propertyless plebeians would do almost anything to obtain land redistributed after Gaul was invaded. These new professional soldiers served for longer consecutive terms and were personally bound and singularly loyal to their commanders.

The threat of the German Cimbri and Teutoni tribes when they invaded Gaul in 109 B.C. with numerous successes allowed a free hand for generals of Tome to alter the nature of the army.

Marius' military restructuring proved itself during the war by 102 B.C. As a vast gathering of Germans neared the Alps one of the bloodiest battles in history took 130,000 lives, decimating the Teutones. A similar battle at Vercellae saw the slaughter of more than a 100,000. In a single war with three major battles almost 300,000 men were killed on a scale not seen.

These Celtic and Germanic tribes were migrating and traveled with their wives and children. Upon these massive defeats the women killed themselves and their children in order to avoid the growing slave markets. The remaining Cimbri and their allies, the Boii settled in southern Gaul and would eventual face Julius Caesar.

The structure of the army with the need for profitable wars through acqusition of land and wealth through the slave trade changed the perception of war. This would lead the way for Julius Caesar to use the military as one of the largest slave running operations in history as he invaded Gaul. The revenue from this operation amassed the wealth needed to finance his political aspirations by buy the loyalty of his troops and the Roman populous who were lavished with free bread and circuses.

Gallia divisa

"Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres"

Julius Caesar had held the offices of Pontifex maximus (64–44 BC), Consul (59 BC), Proconsul (Gaul, Illyricum) (58–49 BC), Dictator (49–44 BC), Consul (48, 46–44 BC), Dictator perpetuo (44 BC).

"He was a politician and statesman who eventually took supreme power in the Roman Republic and made himself a monarch in every practical respect, although he never took the name king," wrote historian Adrian Goldsworthy in his book "Caesar: Life of a Colossus(opens in new tab)" (Yale University Press, 2006).

"In his triumph in 46 [B.C.] Caesar listed the number of [enemy] soldiers killed in all his battles — thus not only in Gaul — as 1,192,000," wrote Kurt Raaflaub, emeritus professor of classics and history at Brown University, in the New England Classical Journal(opens in new tab) in 2021

"It was not only the Roman sword that inflicted death on the Gallic population. Large parts starved to death because the harvests were confiscated or destroyed and their settlements and farmsteads burned, or they froze to death when the legions drove them out of their settlements in winter and burned down buildings, villages and towns," Raaflaub wrote.

Caesar wrote that when the "Sigambri" fled from his army he "burned all their villages and houses, and cut down their corn,"^[1]

"I came, I saw, I conquered,"

Caesar was very willing to pardon his opponents and enemies unlike Sulla who had murdered Romans by the thousands.

"It is said that he [Caesar] received twenty-three [stab wounds]; and many of the conspirators were wounded by one another, as they struggled to plant all those blows in one body," wrote Plutarch.

"He [had] a large and gradually increasing political influence in consequence of his lavish hospitality and the general splendour of his mode of life," Plutarch

Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC in hopes of restoring the Republic. He was the maternal great-uncle of Octavius his adopted son and heir so Gaius Octavius was named his successor becoming Augustus Caesar.

The Rubicon

Crossing the Rubicon on the 10 of January 49 BC. would reveal Caesar's ultimate aspirations and mark a point of no return. In this moment of history the Roman Empire was born and the Republic was smothered in the bed of its own making. The world was forever altered.

When Julius Caesar stepped into the River Rubicon, he declared, “Jacta Alea Est.”, “Let the die be cast.”

Gaius Marius had reformed the Roman army and made the people drawn from the masses mercenaries in their own land as a professional army. These soldiers increasingly owed their loyalty to their generals rather than the more abstract idea of a citizen republic.

Power corrupts and powerful men became more powerful by altering the way they had done things before in the Republic. Now men were fielding their own private armies, and the last troubled years of the Republic had seen the Senate’s power crumble in the face of the ambition of Marius, and his rival Sulla. But the great degeneration within a Republic does not begin with its leaders but with the degeneration of the masses through legal charity.

Chronology

July 13, 100 B.C.: Caesar born in area of Suburra.

82 B.C.: Sulla become dictator of Rome; Caesar speaks out and flees Rome.

78 B.C.: Caesar returns to Rome when Sulla dies.

75 B.C.: Caesar goes to Rhodes to study oratory but but is captured by pirates and ransomed.

74 B.C.: Caesar returns to Rome and politics, using his family fortune to gain influence.

69 B.C.: Caesar's wife Cornelia dies but praises her to increase his popularity.

61-60 B.C.: Caesar serves as governor of Iberia, suppresses tribes who oppose Roman rule.

60 B.C.: Caesar, Crassus and Pompey form triumvirate to rule Rome.

59 B.C.: Caesar's daughter Julia marries Pompey.

58-50 B.C.: Caesar campaigns in Gaul and England successfully.

54 B.C.: Pompey's wife Julia and her child die.

53 B.C.: Crassus is killed in a disastrous defeat fighting the Parthians.

January 49, B.C.: Caesar crosses the Rubicon and marches on Rome.

49–45 BC: Caesar's Civil War between Julius Caesar and the Optimates initially led by Pompey

August 9, 48 B.C.: Caesar defeats Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece; Pompey flees to Egypt.

September 48 B.C.: Pompey killed by Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy XIII; Caesar is presented with the head and is reportedly disgusted at the way Pompey was treated.

September 48 B.C. – January 47 B.C.: Caesar restores Cleopatra VII to power. Ptolemy XIII fights against Caesar and Cleopatra's forces but is killed.

June 47 B.C.: Caesarion, the son of Caesar and Cleopatra VII, is born. Caesar doesn't acknowledge the child as his own.

45 B.C.: Caesar implements new calendar system in Rome that has 365 days in a year and an extra day in February every four years.

January 44 B.C.: Senate names Caesar "dictator for life."

March 15, 44 B.C.: Caesar is stabbed to death in the Roman senate.

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Footnotes

↑ Caesar wrote (translation by W. A. McDevitte & W. S. Bohn).

[1] Caesar wrote (translation by W. A. McDevitte & W. S. Bohn).

[1]

Julius Caesar: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:20, 25 November 2022

Contents

Reforming the world

Gallia divisa

The Rubicon

Chronology

Footnotes

Navigation menu

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator of Rome from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC.
+== Reforming the world ==
 The Marian Reforms introduced to the Roman army by Roman general and politician Gaius Marius (157-86 BCE). These reforms transformed the Roman army from a semi-professional militia to a professional fighting force.
@@ Line 9: / Line 12: @@
 Marius' military restructuring proved itself during the war by 102 B.C. As a vast gathering of Germans neared the Alps one of the bloodiest battles in history took 130,000 lives, decimating the Teutones. A similar battle at Vercellae saw the slaughter of more than a 100,000. In a single war with three major battles almost 300,000 men were killed on a scale not seen.
-These Celtic and germanic tribes were migrating and traveled with their wives and children. Upon these massive defeats the women killed themselves and their children in order to avoid the growing slave markets. The remaining Cimbri and their allies, the Boii settled in southern Gaul and would eventual face Julius Caesar.
+These Celtic and Germanic tribes were migrating and traveled with their wives and children. Upon these massive defeats the women killed themselves and their children in order to avoid the growing slave markets. The remaining Cimbri and their allies, the Boii settled in southern Gaul and would eventual face Julius Caesar.
 The structure of the army with the need for profitable wars through acqusition of land and wealth through the slave trade changed the perception of war. This would lead the way for Julius Caesar to use the military as one of the largest slave running operations in history as he invaded Gaul. The revenue from this operation amassed the wealth needed to finance his political aspirations by buy the loyalty of his troops and the Roman populous who were lavished with free [[bread and circuses]].
+== Gallia divisa ==
+* "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres"
+Julius Caesar had held the offices of [[Pontifex maximus]] (64–44 BC), Consul (59 BC), Proconsul (Gaul, Illyricum) (58–49 BC), Dictator (49–44 BC), Consul (48, 46–44 BC), Dictator perpetuo (44 BC).
+ "He was a politician and statesman who eventually took supreme power in the Roman Republic and made himself a monarch in every practical respect, although he never took the name king," wrote historian Adrian Goldsworthy in his book "Caesar: Life of a Colossus(opens in new tab)" (Yale University Press, 2006).
+"In his triumph in 46 [B.C.] Caesar listed the number of [enemy] soldiers killed in all his battles — thus not only in Gaul — as 1,192,000," wrote Kurt Raaflaub, emeritus professor of classics and history at Brown University, in the New England Classical Journal(opens in new tab) in 2021
+"It was not only the Roman sword that inflicted death on the Gallic population. Large parts starved to death because the harvests were confiscated or destroyed and their settlements and farmsteads burned, or they froze to death when the legions drove them out of their settlements in winter and burned down buildings, villages and towns," Raaflaub wrote.
+Caesar wrote that when the "Sigambri" fled from his army he "burned all their villages and houses, and cut down their corn,"<Ref>Caesar wrote (translation by W. A. McDevitte & W. S. Bohn).</Ref>
+"I came, I saw, I conquered,"
+Caesar was very willing to pardon his opponents and enemies unlike Sulla who had murdered Romans by the thousands.
+"It is said that he [Caesar] received twenty-three [stab wounds]; and many of the conspirators were wounded by one another, as they struggled to plant all those blows in one body," wrote Plutarch.
+"He [had] a large and gradually increasing political influence in consequence of his lavish hospitality and the general splendour of his mode of life," [[Plutarch]]
 [[Julius Caesar]] was assassinated in 44 BC in hopes of restoring the [[Republic]]. He was the  maternal great-uncle of Octavius his adopted son and heir so Gaius Octavius was named his successor becoming [[Augustus Caesar]].
+== The Rubicon ==
+Crossing the Rubicon on the 10 of January 49 BC. would reveal Caesar's ultimate ''aspirations'' and mark a point of no return. In this moment of history the Roman Empire was born and the Republic was smothered in the bed of its own making. The [[world]] was forever altered.
+When Julius Caesar stepped into the River Rubicon, he declared, “Jacta Alea Est.”, “Let the die be cast.”
+Gaius Marius had reformed the Roman army and made the people drawn from the [[masses]]  mercenaries in their own land as a professional army. These soldiers increasingly owed their loyalty to their generals rather than the more abstract idea of a citizen [[republic]].
+Power corrupts and powerful men became more powerful by altering the way they had done things before in the Republic. Now men were fielding their own private armies, and the last troubled years of the Republic had seen the Senate’s power crumble in the face of the ambition of Marius, and his rival Sulla. But the great degeneration within a Republic does not begin with its leaders but with the ''degeneration'' of the [[masses]] through [[legal charity]].
+== Chronology ==
+July 13, 100 B.C.: Caesar born in area of Suburra.
+B.C.:  Sulla become dictator of Rome; Caesar speaks out and flees Rome.
+B.C.: Caesar returns to Rome when Sulla dies.
+B.C.: Caesar goes to Rhodes to study oratory but but is captured by pirates and ransomed.
+B.C.: Caesar returns to Rome and politics, using his family fortune to gain influence.
+B.C.: Caesar's wife Cornelia dies but praises her to increase his popularity.
+-60 B.C.: Caesar serves as governor of Iberia, suppresses tribes who oppose Roman rule.
+B.C.: Caesar, Crassus and Pompey form triumvirate to rule Rome.
+B.C.: Caesar's daughter Julia marries Pompey.
+-50 B.C.: Caesar campaigns in Gaul and England successfully.
+B.C.: Pompey's wife Julia and her child die.
+B.C.: Crassus is killed in a disastrous defeat fighting the Parthians.
+January 49, B.C.: Caesar crosses the Rubicon and marches on Rome.
+–45 BC: Caesar's Civil War between Julius Caesar and the Optimates initially led by Pompey
+August 9, 48 B.C.: Caesar defeats Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece; Pompey flees to Egypt.
+September 48 B.C.: Pompey killed by Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy XIII; Caesar is presented with the head and is reportedly disgusted at the way Pompey was treated.
+September 48 B.C. – January 47 B.C.: Caesar restores Cleopatra VII to power. Ptolemy XIII fights against Caesar and Cleopatra's forces but is killed.
+June 47 B.C.: Caesarion, the son of Caesar and Cleopatra VII, is born. Caesar doesn't acknowledge the child as his own.
+B.C.: Caesar implements new calendar system in Rome that has 365 days in a year and an extra day in February every four years.
+January 44 B.C.: Senate names Caesar "dictator for life."
+March 15, 44 B.C.: Caesar is stabbed to death in the Roman senate.
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Julius Caesar: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:20, 25 November 2022

Reforming the world

Gallia divisa

The Rubicon

Chronology

Footnotes

Navigation menu

Search