Page 29 - History of War - Issue 05-14

While his popularity among the people w CAESAR
was at an all-time high, the opposition THE FASCIST?
to Caesar in the Senate was growing daily. IN 1937,
Moreover, his alliance with the Godfathers ORSON WELLES
was over. Crassus was dead – killed BROUGHT THE
while leading his armies to Rome’s worst PLAY JULIUS
ever defeat, against the Parthians at the CAESAR TO THE
Battle of Carrhae in modern-day Turkey. BROADWAY
Pompey the Great, meanwhile, had grown STAGE. WELLES
distrustful of his former ally, calling for DRESSED HIS
CAST IN OUTFITS
Caesar to be relieved of his command SIMILAR TO
and demanding that he return to Rome to THOSE USED
face questions about war crimes. IN FASCIST
Caesar the gambler refused. Instead, ITALY AND NAZI
he led his army across the Rubicon and GERMANY,
marched on Rome. “The die is cast,” he AND APPEARED
noted as he did so. TO DRAW
Civil war engulfed the Mediterranean SIMILARITIES
for the next four years. With its legions BETWEEN
CAESAR AND
scattered across its Empire, Rome’s MUSSOLINI.
military leader Pompey was forced to
The Senate bestowed

every available honour
upon Caesar, including
the title of “dictator

for life” – not that Caesar leads his Mary Evans
Caesar was satisfied forces across the
Rubicon River in 49BC

abandon the city and flee to Greece to The Battle of Thapsus, as it was known, this but, with the people behind him,
regroup. Caesar took Rome without so was one of the briefest in history; it lasted how could they possibly stop him?
much as a skirmish, and claimed it as only a few hours and resulted in around He decided to test public opinion.
his own. After first dealing with hostile 30,000 casualties. Caesar’s military The Lupercalia was a festival held
legions deployed in Spain, he followed brilliance would never be tested again. every year in Ancient Rome, partly in
Pompey to Greece for a final showdown honour of Lupa, the she-wolf, which,
at Pharsalus, a hundred miles north Spontaneous gesture according to Roman myth, had suckled
of Athens. Here, in 48BC, Caesar Caesar returned to Rome in triumph. the infant orphans Romulus and Remus,
outsmarted the older General and Now aged 54, he became the Republic’s the founders of the city. Romulus had,
annihilated his army. Rome’s great hero absolute ruler and promised the people of course, gone on to become Rome’s
escaped to Egypt with Caesar in pursuit, a positive new era characterised by first King, and the fact that the festival
but there was no sanctuary waiting for peace and stability. The Senate bestowed had the city’s monarchical origins at
him there, and he was assassinated by every available honour upon him, including its heart is doubtless what prompted
the Pharaoh’s henchmen almost as soon the title of “dictator for life” – not that Caesar’s next move.
as he stepped off the boat. With Pompey Caesar was satisfied. After a speech to a wildly enthusiastic
dead, defeating the rest of his forces The boy from the Subura wanted the crowd during the Lupercalia of 44BC,
proved little more than a formality for one thing that Rome forbade. He wanted Caesar had Mark Antony, his loyal
Caesar. The last confrontation came in to be King and to kill off the Republic. Lieutenant, come onto the rostrum
46BC in what we now know as Tunisia. The Senate, he knew, would never allow where he was standing, to offer him a
crown – the ultimate symbol of kingship.
It appeared to be a spontaneous gesture
Caesar is offered the but was, in fact, a PR stunt. When
crown by Mark Antony Caesar took the crown, however, the
but refuses it, knowing crowd fell silent. So Caesar handed it
that public opinion
is against the idea back to Mark Antony – and the crowd
cheered. When Mark Antony offered
him the crown a second time, the crowd
booed. Caesar, seeking to salvage the
situation, refused it a second time,
to rapturous applause. The crowd saw
this as a demonstration of Caesar’s
loyalty to Republican values. His enemies,
however, recognised it for what it was.
Caesar’s opponents knew that he had
to be stopped, but how? Assassination,
they decreed, was the only option.
A core group in the Senate, many of them
veterans of Pompey’s armies, began to
conspire. They codenamed their group
The Liberators, and began to see it as
Mary Evans their destiny to rid Rome of this upstart

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