The murder of Caesar - 44Bc

The Battle of Pharsalia made Caesar lord of Rome. He then had to deal with Africa which was in revolt. A short campaign ended in the victory being announced in the Senate as Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). He returned to Rome and took supreme command; the Repub­lic was at an end. Now the head of the army controlled the empire.

Unlike Marius and Sulla, Caesar pro­claimed a general pardon for all his former opponents, not one was put to death. He; then instituted a number of popular reforms, but some jealous men who wished to restore the Republic waited for him in the Forum and stabbed him to death.

A Second Triumvirate was formed consisting of Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), Lepidus and Octavius, Caesar’s heir.

His conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world to the North Sea, and he also conducted the first Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC. The collapse of the triumvirate, however, led to a stand-off with Pompey and the Senate. Leading his legions across the Rubicon, Caesar began a civil war in 49 BC from which he became the master of the Roman world.