Julius Caesar Civil Wars Essay

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Gaius Julius Caesar might have been best known as being one of the greatest war heroes of all time. Even before the Roman civil wars, Caesar had full knowledge of his military strength as when he was caught by Cilician Pirates in 75 B.C.E. well before the civil wars broke out, he actually demanded more for his ransom than the pirates had initially offered (Seager n.pg). The pirates had wanted only twenty talents for his ransom, while Caesar had volunteered to pay fifty talents (Seager n.pg). During the civil wars, Rome was dealing with a lacking government (Cook 138). From the governments lacking role in Rome, the power went from the senate and consuls to the wealthy and the military strong (Cook 138). One of the military strong men in Rome was Julius …show more content…

The civil wars were not wanted by either Caesar or Pompey, and the Roman citizens just wanted peace to be restored (Toynbee n.pg). To stop the issues from being so large with full out war, Caesar downsized his forces to the minimum needed for his safety (Toynbee n.pg). The first real fight in the civil war took place in 49 B.C.E. when Caesar pushes his enemies out of Italy to the eastern side of the Straits of Otranto, then destroying Pompey’s forces in Spain (Toynbee n.pg). Heading to the end of 49 B.C.E. Caesar follows Pompey across the Adriatic Sea pursuing him to Egypt, where Pompey would be murdered by one of King Ptolemy's officers (Toynbee n.pg). Caesar would go onto spend the winter time in Alexandria, slowing down his journey and joining up with Queen Cleopatra for a portion of his travel, until 47 B.C.E. when he fought in a local war in Anatolia which is where Caesar finishes off the fight with his famous saying, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” (Toynbee