Tag Archives: Rome

Today, On March 15, 44 BC, the founder of the Roman Republic and the rise of Roman Empire, Julius Caesar was assassinated and killed by members of the Roman Senate. The world`s most famous political murders.

Caesars second heir were among the assassins. There were totally as many as sixty assassins. Caesar was stabbed twenty-three times and died at the base of Pompeys statue, but the assassins made a big mistake.

They didnt know what to do after Caesars death.

They didnt have a plan, so they mistakenly allowed Marcus Antonius (Mark Antonio), who was Caesars cousin and right-hand man, to live. Caesar`s death is a key moment in history. It all resulted in a cycle of civil wars, which resulted in one of the most significant constitutional transformations in history.

They went from a republican system of government and became an empire. Supporters of the Republic point to how it threw off the tyrannical king Tarquin the Proud and introduced elements of democracy.

It became popular also in Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Macedonia, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia.

Julius Caesar was born 12 July 100 BCE. His father was a Praetor who governed the province of Asia and his mother was of noble birth. Both held to the popular ideology of Rome which favored democratization of government and more rights for the lower class as opposed to the optimates factions` claim of the superiority of the nobility and tradition Roman values which favored the upper classes.

It should be understood that the Optimate and the Populare were not political parties in conflict with each other but, rather, political ideologies which many people shifted toward and from, regardless of class in society.

The concept of appealing to the people for support, rather than seeking approval from the Roman Senate or the other Patricians, would work well for Caesar later in life.

Gaius Julius Caesar was Roman statesman, general, and notable author of Latin Prose. Caesar was extremely talented in many ways which is very unusual. He was a military colossus, compelling writer, original thinker, magnetic orator, dynamic reformer and magnanimous politician.

He was also narcissistic, manipulative, egotistical, sexual predatory, shockingly savage in war even by Roman standards, and monomaniacal obsessed with acquiring absolute power for himself. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history.

Thanks to William Shakespeare, «Beware the ides of March» means that people always remember March 15.

In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus and Pompey formed a political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative ruling class within the Roman Senate.

Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel and Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.

These achievement granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome.

Caesar refuse the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with a legion, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman Italy under arms. Civil war resulted, and Caesar`s victory in the war put him in an unrivaled position of power and influence.

After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms, including the creation of the Julian Calendar. He centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed «dictator in perpetuity», giving him additional authority.

But underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators.

A new civil war broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesar`s adoped heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began.

Rome finally became an empire at the end of the 1^st century BC, under Augustus and his authoritarian successors. The Roman Empire had its centre in the Mediterranean, controlling all the countries on its shores; the northern border was marked by the Rhine and Danube rivers.

The Empire reached its maximum expansion, controlling approximately 5,900,000 km2 of land surface, including Britain, Romania and parts of Mesopotamia, Pax Romana, a period of peace, civilisation and an efficient centralised government in the subject territories ended in the 3^rd century, when a series of civil wars undermined Rome`s economic and social strength.

The Roman Empire had been repeatedly attacked by invading armies from Northern Europe and in 476, Rome finally fell.

British historian Edward Gibbon argued in «The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire» (1776) that the Romans had become decadent, they had lost civic virtue.

Glen W. Bowersock has remarked, «we have been obsessed with the fall: it has been valued as an archetype for every perceived decline, and, hence, as a symbol for our own fears.» It remains one of the greatest historical questions, and has a tradition rich in scholarly interest.

Over time many theories have been proposed on why the Empire fell, or whether indeed it fell at all.

I love The United States, but what I love is the Republic. Not the Empire. Some empires are planned, some are not, and empires created on purpose, such as Napoleonic France and Nazi Germany, have rarely lasted.

After World War II (1945), The United States became an empire. All Empire`s are a part of an evolution.

What`s the next step?

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