THE First Triumvirate
A brief History
History Calls the Alliance the First Triumvirate ...
The Roman senate calls it
THE THREE HEADED BEAST
The Trio used each other's resources to fulfill one another's ambitions.
and they were
ambitious
Might
Money
Politics
They bribed and bullied the senate into compliance.
Then throwing garbage on him.
(this actually happened)
Bibulus hid in his house for the rest of the year allowing Caesar to rule alone.
After Caesar's consulship, the trio split up across the map.
Caesar starts the Gallic wars and becomes one of histories greatest conquerors.
Pompey plays politics, is consul for a year with Crassus, and becomes governor of Spain.
Crassus... Crassus wants his own military glory and goes off to fight the Parthians.
It doesn't end well.
Crassus was killed, and his head was served on a plate as a gift to the Parthian king.
Also, a captured Roman
Crassus look-a-like was paraded around in women's clothing.
53 BCE: Crassus is dead from stupidity.
A year before that, Julia (Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife) died. Her death severed familial ties.
The Senate takes advantage of the duo's failing connection and starts pulling them apart.
* cremations were customary until 400ce
The Senate pressured Pompey to have Caesar held accountable for his actions as consul, and force Caesar to disband his army.
But Caesar was off gaining the favor of the Roman people
He wasn't up for handing over diplomatic immunity.
and getting rich off the spoils of war.
49 BCE: War is apparent.
I have lots of money and fame. You're jelly and will have me arrested as soon as I disband my army.
If you don't disband your army, you are a traitor and deserve to be arrested.
370 Senators supported the proposal. 22 did not. Those 22 urged Pompey to move against Caesar.
50 BCE: Caesar proposes that he and Pompey disband armies at the same time, as a truce for peace.
The Rubicon River was a small waterway that separates Gaul and Italy. All generals had to disband their armies before crossing it. Disobeying this law was an act of war.
Caesar refued to
disband his army.
Pompey pushed by the 22 senators began a personal mission against Caesar to defend the Republic.
The die
is cast
Caesar knew that crossin the Rubicon would start a war.
It was the point of no return.
This is where the idiom "crossing the Rubicon" originates.
Thus began Caesar's Civil war.
Overestimating the size of Caesar's army, Pompey and a bunch of senators fled Rome.
Roman citizens supported Caesar regarding him as a hero.
Pompey Retreated
to Brundisium.
Leaving Caesar to triumphantly
march into Rome.
Caesar pursued Pompey to the south, eventually defeating him at the Battle of Pharsalus.
Caesar commanded 30,000 infantry,
1,000 cavalry, and
2,000 auxiliary
Pompey Commanded
40,000 infantry
and 3,000 Cavalry.
Pompey lost 15,000
men and had
24,000 captured.
Pompey fled to Egypt where he was executed by the Egyptian King Ptolemy XII
When Caesar returned to Rome he was made dictator for life.
We all know how that ended.
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sources
Plutarch, et al. Fall of the Roman Republic. Penguin, 2005.
Fagan, Garret. "The History of Ancient Rome." The Great Courses.
Julius Caesar Crosses the Rubicon, 49 BC, Eyewitness to History
Dent, Bryan. "Roman-Persian Wars: Battle of Carrhae." HistoryNet, Military History June 2005.
Wasson, Donald L. "First Triumvirate." Ancient History Encyclopedia, 20 Mar. 2016.