Julius Caesar Main Idea: Military hero Julius Caesar seized
power and created massive reforms within Romebut how did he do
it?
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Julius Caesar Did you know that George Washington, Andrew
Jackson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower all commanded armies before
becoming President Lets learn about the famous Roman who made a
similar jump from military leader to political leader.
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Julius Caesar After Sulla left office, different Roman leaders
battled for power, supported by their loyal armies. In 60 B.C.E.
three men were on top of the Roman government: Crassus, Pompey and
Julius Caesar.
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Julius Caesar Crassus was a military leader and one of the
richest men in Rome. Pompey and Caesar were not as rich, but both
were very successful military men.
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Julius Caesar Drawing on their wealth and power, they formed
the first Triumvirate (Tri-um-vu-rut) Triumvirate is a political
alliance of three people.
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Caesars Military Campaigns The members of the Triumvirate each
had military command in a remote area of the Republic. Pompey was
in Spain
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Caesars Military Campaigns Crassus was in Syria
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Caesars Military Campaigns Caesar was in Gaul (Modern Day
France)
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Caesars Military Campaigns While in Gaul, Caesar battled
foreign tribes and invaded Britainhe became the hero to Romes lower
classes. Senators and others back home in Rome feared that Caesar
was becoming too popular and might seize power like Sulla had
done.
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Caesars Military Campaigns After Crassus was killed in battle
in 53 B.C.E., the Senate decided that Pompey should return to Italy
and rule alonebreaking up the Triumvirate. A few years later the
Senate made a very wild request, they ordered Caesar to give up his
military and return to Italy.
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Caesars Military Campaigns Caesar faced a difficult choice, he
could obey the senate and perhaps face prison or death at the hands
of his rivals, or he could march on Rome with his army and risk a
civil war!!!
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Caesars Military Campaigns Caesar decided to hold on to his
loyal 25,000 soldiers. He marched into Italy by crossing the
Rubicon, a small river at the southern boundary of his command
area.
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Caesars Military Campaigns By doing this, Caesar knew that he
was starting a civil war and that there was no turning back. The
phrase Crossing the Rubicon is used today to mean making a decision
that you cannot take back(Column of Julius Caesar, where he
addressed his army to march on Rome and start the Civil War,
Rimini, Italy)
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Caesars Military Campaigns Pompey tried to stop Caesar, but
Caesar was just the better general. He drove Pompeys forces from
Italy, pushing them all the way to Greece, where Caesar completely
destroyed the entire army.
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Caesars Military Campaigns Pompey had moved the Roman Senate to
Greece, assuring them that he could protect them against a Caesar
attack. However, The Battle of Pharsalus took place on August 9, 48
B.C.E. and was the decisive engagement of Caesar's Civil
Warcommanding only 23,000 soldiers against Pompeys 52,000
soldiers.
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Caesars Military Campaigns The Battle of Pharsalus only cost
Caesar between 200 and 1,200 casualties while Pompey suffered
between 10,000 and 15,000. Additionally Caesar reported capturing
24,000 of Pompeys men
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Caesars Military Campaigns With his army destroyed, Pompey fled
to Egypt seeking aid from King Ptolemy XIII. Shortly after arriving
at Alexandria, he was murdered by the Egyptians... pursuing his
enemy to Egypt, Caesar was horrified when Ptolemy presented him
with Pompey's severed head.
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Caesars Military Campaigns Questions: 1) Who was Julius Caesar?
2) What is a Triumvirate? 3) Where was Caesar and his army
stationed? 4) What small river did Caesar cross to start his civil
war? 5) What country did Caesar push Pompey to and fight the final
battle of the Civil War?
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Caesars Military Campaigns Questions: 1) Who was Julius Caesar?
Successful military general who was not rich. 2) What is a
Triumvirate? A political alliance of three people. 3) Where was
Caesar and his army stationed? Gaul, modern day France. 4) What
small river did Caesar cross to start his civil war? Rubicon. 5)
What country did Caesar push Pompey to and fight the final battle
of the Civil War? Greece
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Caesars Rise to Power In 44 B.C.E. Caesar had himself declared
dictator of Rome for lifewhere do you think this is going??? This
broke with the Roman tradition that allowed dictators to hold power
for only short periods of time.
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Caesars Rise to Power To strengthen his hold on power, Caesar
filled the Senate with all new members, who where all loyal to
him.
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Caesars Rise to Power As the same time, Caesar knew that
reforms were needed. He granted citizenship to people living in
Roman territories outside of the Italian peninsula.
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Caesars Rise to Power He also started new colonies to provide
land for the landless and created work for Romes jobless people. He
ordered landowners using slave labor to hire more free workers and
to free their slavesthese measures made Caesar very popular with
Romes poor.
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Caesars Rise to Power Caesar also created a new calendar with
12 months, 365 days and a leap year. The Julian Calendar, as it was
called, was used throughout Europe until 1582 C.E., when the
Gregorian Calendar was created.
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Caesars Rise to Power The Gregorian Calendar was modified
slightly and is based around the birth of Christ. This calendar has
been used in the United States since the beginning and is used by
most countries in the world today.
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Caesars Rise to Power Caesar found that many Romans supported
him, however, there was a group that opposed him. His supporters
believed he was a strong leader who brought peace and order to
Rome, something that was missing before.
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Caesars Rise to Power His enemies, however, feared that Caesar
wanted to be king. These opponents, led by senators Brutus and
Cassius, plotted to kill him.
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Caesars Rise to Power Caesar ignored a famous warning about his
death that states, Beware of the Ides of March The Ides of March is
the name of the 15th day of March in the Roman calendar. On that
date in 44 B.C.E., Caesars enemies surrounded him and stabbed him
to death.
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Caesars Rise to Power Basically a group of senators led by
Brutus and Cassius laid in wait on the Ides of March as Caesar
approached the Senate they stabbed him to death23 stab wounds were
found on the body. The crazy thing is that Brutus was Caesars
friend, Caesar had actually pardoned Brutus for crimes against Rome
when he was youngerCaesars last words were, even you, my son
(referring to Brutus).
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Caesars Rise to Power Questions: 6) What tradition did Caesar
break when he declared himself dictator for life? 7) What was the
Gregorian Calendar? 8) What were the Ides of March? 9) Who led the
murder of Julius Caesar?
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Caesars Rise to Power Questions: 6) What tradition did Caesar
break when he declared himself dictator for life? Dictators could
hold power for only short periods of time. 7) What was the
Gregorian Calendar? Calendar based around the birth of Christ. 8)
What were the Ides of March? March 15 th and the day that Caesar
was murdered. 9) Who led the murder of Julius Caesar? His friend
Brutus and Cassius.
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Caesars Rise to Power Reading Response: Answer the following
questions in a well written paragraph Do you think that the murder
of Julius Caesar was justified? Should the Senate have handled it
differently? What do you think is going to happen to Rome without
Caesar in control?