Outbreak of the Roman Civil War

Gaius Julius Caesar spent nine years campaigning in Gaul. His victories on the battlefield brought him fame, wealth, and strong support from the common people of Rome, but they also earned him many enemies among the Roman aristocracy. His term as proconsul was set to end on March 1st, 49 BC. After that, he was expected to disband his legions and return to Rome as a private citizen. At the time, the Senate was dominated by the Optimates, a conservative faction opposed to Caesar, who was aligned with the Populares. The Optimates made it clear that once Caesar gave up his proconsular authority and returned to Rome, they would put him on trial for the numerous instances of overstepping his powers during his time in office. Even Caesar's former ally and son-in-law, Pompey the Great, had sided with the Optimates. Caesar tried to reach a compromise with the Senate and Pompey, requesting a six-month extension of his proconsular term. This would allow him to return to Rome still holding legal authority and to run for consul. Holding office as consul or proconsul would shield him from prosecution. The Senate once again demanded that Caesar disband his army and relinquish his authority. That's when Caesar decided to act. At the start of 49 BC, he was in winter quarters in Ravenna, accompanied by only the Thirteenth Legion. The rest of his forces were wintering in Gaul, on the far side of the Alps. To conceal his intentions, Caesar sent his troops ahead while he stayed behind in Ravenna and hosted a lavish banquet. But as soon as night fell and the guests had left, he quietly slipped away and followed his legion. He caught up with the Thirteenth near the Rubicon River, the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy. This was the decisive moment. To cross the river meant that there was no turning back. If he set foot on Italian soil with an army, it would mean civil war. We know about these events thanks to the historian Suetonius. He tells us that Caesar stood with his troops, hesitating, weighing all of the possible consequences. At that moment, a strange boy appeared nearby and began to play a flute. The music drew a crowd of Caesar's legionaries, among them the Tubicenes, the legion's trumpeters. Suddenly, the boy grabbed a trumpet from one of them, sounded the call to arms, and swam across to the opposite bank. Caesar took it as an omen and cried out, Forward, forward, where the signs of the gods and the injustice of our enemies call us. The die is cast. On the far bank of the Rubicon, Caesar gathered his soldiers and urged them to remain loyal to him. He promised generous rewards and even said that he would give up his personal jewelry if needed to pay them for their devotion. As he spoke, he pointed to the ring on his finger. The crowd around him was large and most of the legionaries couldn't hear him clearly. When he pointed to the ring, many assumed he was promising them equestrian rings, a symbol of Roman knighthood, believing he was vowing to elevate each of them to the aristocratic equestrian order after victory. Caesar understood perfectly that for his bold plan to succeed, courage, surprise, and speed were more important than sheer numbers. He immediately led the legion on a forced march to Ariminium and seized the city, which was completely unprepared for defense. No one even tried to stop him from entering. Right after, he sent five cohorts under the command of Mark Antony to Auretium and one cohort each to Pisarum, Phanom, and Ancona. All of these cities were also taken without any resistance. Soon after, Caesar received word that the people of Aguvium were ready to support him, but the city's praetor, Quintus Minucius Thermus, was stationed there with five cohorts and was planning to defend it. Caesar ordered two cohorts from Ariminium and one from Pisarum, led by Tribune Gaius Scribonius Curio, to march on Aguvium. When Thermus learned that Caesar's troops were approaching, he ordered his men to abandon the city and retreat, but the soldiers refused to follow him and returned to Aguvium instead. Curio's forces entered the city without facing any resistance. The local population supported Caesar, so there was no need to leave troops behind to hold the captured cities. He summoned all cohorts of the 13th legion and marched toward Auxumium. Three cohorts under Attius Varus were stationed there, and Varus was actively recruiting new soldiers. When the people of Auxumium learned that Caesar was approaching with an army, they sent out a delegation to Varus, declaring that they could not bear to see the gates closed to such a renowned commander, and warned him of the danger he was bringing upon himself. Realizing that without the support of the locals, he couldn't defend the city, Varus began to retreat. However, he was intercepted by the vanguard of Caesar's army. Even though Varus had three times as many men, his inexperienced troops were no match for the battle-hardened veterans of the 13th legion. Some of his soldiers scattered, and the rest surrendered to Caesar. When the rest of Caesar's arrived, he easily took Auxumium and thanked its citizens for their loyalty. When news of these events reached Rome, panic swept the city. The consuls Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus and Gaius Claudius Marcellus, along with most magistrates, fled to Capua. There were rumors that Caesar might appear in Rome at any moment, and that his cavalry scouts were already near the city. The commander-in-chief of the republican forces, Pompey the Great, had been caught off guard. Spooked by the reports, he withdrew to southern Italy, where legions loyal to him were stationed. There was a clear contrast between Caesar's and Pompey's approaches. Pompey declared that anyone who didn't stand in defense of the republic would be treated as an enemy. Caesar, on the other hand, proclaimed that anyone who didn't take up arms against him would be considered a friend. From Auxumium, Caesar marched toward Asculum. On the way, he was joined by the 12th legion, which had come down from Gaul. At the time, Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther was in Asculum with ten cohorts. Upon hearing that Caesar was approaching, he tried to withdraw his forces, but some of his legionaries refused to follow him. On the road, with the remnants of his army, he encountered Lucius Vibulius Rufus, an envoy sent by Pompey. Rufus took command of Spinther's troops and gathered all of the cohorts he could find in the surrounding area, assembling a force of 13 cohorts. With them, he made a forced march to Corfinium to join Lucius Domitius Ahenobatus, who had already gathered 20 cohorts. Together, Rufus now commanded more than three full legions. While the Pompeian forces were still gathering, Caesar captured Asculum and marched on Corfinium. As his troops approached the city, they found five of Domitius's cohorts dismantling a bridge over the river, trying to slow the enemy's advance. Caesar's vanguard easily drove them off and seized the bridge, allowing his main force to cross and set up camp near the city walls. Domitius sent a messenger to Pompey, urgently requesting reinforcements, and began preparing the city for a siege while trying to rally the morale of his men. Around this time, Caesar received word that the citizens of Sulmo, a town near Corfinium, wanted to defect to his side, but were being held back by Senator Quintus and Atticus Pelignus, who held the city with a garrison of seven cohorts. Caesar dispatched Mark Antony with five cohorts from the 13th legion to Sulmo. As soon as Antony approached, the gates were thrown open, and the townspeople, along with their soldiers, welcomed him with cheers. Vespalo managed to escape while Pelignus was captured, but when returned to camp with him, Caesar released him after a brief conversation. Three days later, reinforcements arrived, the 8th legion, 22 cohorts of new recruits, and around 300 Gallic cavalrymen from Noricum. With these, Caesar now had over five legions under his command. He began a formal siege of Corfinium, constructing trenches and ramparts to cut off supplies. Before the fortifications were even complete, the messenger Demetius had sent to Pompey returned with bad news. No reinforcements were coming. Instead, Demetius was ordered to abandon the city and join Pompey in southern Italy. To preserve the army's morale, Demetius concealed the contents of the letter. At a military council, he falsely claimed that Pompey would soon arrive with the main army and urged everyone to prepare for a determined defense. But he knew the truth. He began showing up less and less at meetings, which alarmed both his officers and the rank-and-file soldiers. Suspicion grew that Demetius was planning to abandon them and flee. He was arrested and placed under guard. No one in the besieged city was eager to fight against Caesar's larger and more experienced army. After another officer's meeting, Demetius's commanders decided to surrender the city and sent envoys to Caesar with their offer. Caesar didn't just want to take the city. He wanted to bring Demetius's troops under his own command. The envoys from Corfinium arrived late in the evening, but Caesar chose to wait until morning to act. He worried that by entering the city at night, it might lead to looting, damaging his reputation, and alienating the locals. Only at dawn did Caesar enter Corfinium. Demetius's soldiers swore allegiance to him. In just seven days, Caesar had taken the city without a fight and expanded his army to eight legions. He sent Demetius's cohorts to Sicily and set out with the rest of his forces toward Apulia to intercept Pompey. When Pompey learned of Corfinium's fall, he left Luceria and moved to Canucium, then to Brundisium, concentrating his forces there. His army consisted mostly of new recruits. Caesar approached Brundisium and learned that Pompey, along with the consuls and Roman magistrates, had already sailed to Dyrrhachium with the bulk of his forces. Pompey himself, however, remained in the city with two legions, having lacked enough ships to evacuate the entire army in one crossing. Caesar decided to prevent Pompey from escaping by blocking the harbor of Brundisium. To do this, he began constructing a dam at the narrowest point of the harbor mouth, where the water was also relatively shallow. But as the work progressed into deeper water, the dam was gradually eroded by waves and wouldn't hold. Caesar then ordered the channel to be blocked using ferries anchored to the seabed with four anchors each. These ferries were covered with earth, surrounded by palisades, and fitted with two-story towers for archers and slingers, defensive positions to repel any attempt by Pompey's ships to break through. Pompey didn't wait for Caesar to finish the blockade. Using cargo ships anchored in the harbor, he outfitted them with three-story towers, manned by archers and slingers, and sent them out to disrupt the construction. Each day, Caesar's legionaries added new ferries to the barrier, while Pompey's ships tried to destroy them. When more than half the dam was complete, Pompey's fleet returned to Brundisium. His warships broke through the unfinished barrier with ease and sailed into the harbor. Pompey ordered the city gates barricaded and trenches dug in the streets to slow Caesar's advance and give his troops time to board the ships. Only small groups of veteran soldiers were left on the walls, with a few streets left open as escape routes. Once preparations were complete, Pompey gave the order for his troops to retreat to the harbor and begin boarding the ships. The citizens of Brundisium, most of whom supported Caesar, began signaling to him from the walls that the Pompeians were evacuating. Caesar's troops entered the city and, with help from the locals who guided them around the blocked-off streets, managed to reach the harbor quickly. There, they intercepted two of Pompey's ships that had become stuck near the dam. But the bulk of Pompey's forces managed to escape Italy. Caesar didn't have enough ships to pursue them, giving Pompey time to regroup and prepare for the next stage of war. Caesar, meanwhile, headed to Rome to solidify his political power, secure the homefront, and give his army a much-needed rest. After that, he set out for Spain, where seven legions loyal to Pompey were stationed. If you've made it this far in the video, I just want to say thank you so much for watching. If you want more of this content, we put it out once a week, so make sure you hit subscribe and like the video as well. Let us know in the comments below if there's a certain topic or aspect that you want us to touch on regarding some of the civil war going on in Rome at this time. Again, thanks so much. See you next time.