A Brief History Of The Roman Empire, Part 6: Julius Caesar And The March To The Ides

Veni, Vidi, Vici

After crossing the Rubicon river, Julius Caesar spent the next five years fighting Senatorial forces in Italy, Spain, Greece, and North Africa, invading Anatolia, and intervening in a civil war over the Egyptian throne. He became one of the greatest military commanders to ever live.

During the civil war, Caesar faced very little opposition in Italy, as the Republic’s legions were scattered across border provinces to guard against revolting tribes or foreign invaders. Pompey, a great general in his own right, retreated from Italy to Greece where he began massing a proper army. Caesar, who was named dictator by the few remaining senators in the city, initially wanted to follow Pompey, but loyalist legions in Spain threatened his rear. He mopped up the Spanish legions first before launching a naval invasion of Greece from Italy.

Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus and emerged as the presumptive ruler of Rome. Among his first acts was to fix the Roman calendar. He pardoned many of his former political rivals, including Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, to appear as