109 - Civil War 1: Breakdown
- The political crisis of 51-50 BCE as Caesar's enemies demand his recall from Gaul
- Curio's shocking defection and proposal that both Caesar and Pompey lay down arms
- The breakdown of negotiations and Pompey's fateful acceptance of command against Caesar
- His lightning campaign through Italy as cities surrender without a fight
- The siege of Corfinium and Caesar's revolutionary policy of clemency toward enemies
- Pompey's strategic retreat to Greece, abandoning Rome and splitting the Republic
- The brilliant Spanish campaign at Ilerda, showcasing Caesar's military genius
- The brutal siege of Marseille and Caesar's appointment as Dictator
As Lucan wrote of this cosmic struggle: "Of civil wars and worse waged on Thessalian fields / Of crime made law we sing, how a powerful people / Turned on its own heart its conquering hand."
The war that would transform Rome forever begins not with grand ideology, but with Caesar's refusal to submit to humiliation—and his enemies' fatal miscalculation of the man they sought to crush.
Works Cited
Kurt Raaflaub (ed.), The Landmark Julius Caesar
Matthias Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman
Erich Gruen, Last Generation of the Roman Republic
Also Thanks Dr. Richard Johnson, the Crassus to this Caesar series!
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