Julius Caesar Archives

Marcus Licinius Crassus sought glory on the battlefield by following in the footsteps of his idol, Alexander III. It all came crashing down at Carrhae (in modern-day Turkey) at the hands of the Parthian Empire in 53 BCE.

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Marcus Crassus, Alexander and the Battle of Carrhae

By Glenn Barnett

Alexander of Macedon, called “the Great,” died in June of 323 BCE having conquered the mightiest empire yet seen on earth. Read more

Romans end their march of the day by building a fortified camp surrounded by a ditch. No camp was ever overwhelmed in the Gallic or Civil Wars.

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Roman Marching Camps: An Essential Element in Rome’s Empire-Building

By Arnold Blumberg

From the late 3rd century bc to the 3rd century ad, Roman troops on campaign built a defended camp at their resting place each night. Read more

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Germanic Tribe Run Amok: Caesar vs. Ariovistus

by Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

East of the Rhine the horizon melted away in an unbroken emerald sea upon which, or so the legends told, giants piled up ranges of rugged hills. Read more

Roman legionaries clamber out of galleys and wade toward the battle on the English shore.

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Julius Caesar’s Expedition to Brittania

By Ludwig Dyck

By the summer of 55 bc, 45-year-old Roman proconsul Gaius Julius Caesar was a veteran military campaigner. For the past three years, under his lead, the tramp of hobnailed sandals had resounded across the countryside of Gaul, the westernmost province of the Roman empire. Read more

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Mark Antony’s Roman Navy: Clash at Actium & the Ionian Sea

By Joesph Horodyski

Julius Caesar’s assassination on the ides of March, 44 bc left Rome without a clear and decisive leader. Read more

Battle of Cerro Gordo by an unknown artist. New Orleans Picayune publisher George Kendall accompanied American troops during the fighting in Mexico.

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The Pen & the Sword: A Brief History of War Correspondents

By Roy Morris Jr.

Men have been reporting their wars almost as long as they have fighting them. The first prehistoric cave drawings depicted hunters bringing down wild animals, and spoken accounts of battles, large and small, formed the starting point for the oral tradition of history. Read more

Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his army fight their way into Rome in 82 bc. Sulla’s victory made him a virtual dictator, and he extracted a bloody revenge on his opponents.

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Bloodbath at the Colline Gate

By Barry Porter

By the winter of 82 bc, the Roman civil war had been raging off and on for six years. Read more

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The Praetorian Guard

By Arnold Blumberg

Its name has become synonymous with intrigue, conspiracy, betrayal, and assassination. It was responsible for the overthrow, abandonment, or murder of 15 out of the first 48 emperors who governed Rome between 27 bc and ad 305. Read more

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Teutonic Fury

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

As part of tribal obligations to appease Rome, Segimer, the powerful Cherusci chief, surrendered his sons Arminius and Flavus to the Roman emperor Augustus. Read more

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Drusus the Elder: Hero of Rome

By P. Lindsay Powell

On a sultry summer night in 9 BC, 29-year-old commander of Augustus Caesar ’s army in Germania bolted upright in his cot, dripping with sweat. Read more

A modern illustration shows Roman legionnaires on the march. The front ranks typically charged into battle, stopping to hurl their pilum before closing with the enemy using their gladius. In the melee, they used their scutum to knock their opponents off balance.

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Roman Armageddon at Pharsalus

By William E. Welsh

The snow-capped peaks of the Ceraunian Mountains stared down on the sturdy barks hunting for a suitable place to land on the coast of Epirus on January 5, 48 bc. Read more

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The National Pigeon Service: Our Fine Feathered Friends

By Flint Whitlock

Not long ago, I came across an article about the remains of a carrier pigeon that had been discovered lodged in the chimney of a 17th-century home in the village of Bletchingley, Surrey, some 18 miles due south of London. Read more

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What Makes Great Commanders Great?

By Richard A. Gabriel

Of the thousands of commanders who have served in history’s armies, why is it that only a few are remembered as great leaders of men in battle? Read more

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The History of War Elephants: From Ancient India to Vietnam

By David Ison

Imagine a time when human knowledge of elephants was not widespread. Just think how threatening these large animals would be coming over a hillside or out of a mist during battle. Read more

"The Legend of Sargon (The Goddess Ishtar Appears to Sargon, the Gardener's Lad)" By the contempoarary artist, Edwin J. Prittie"

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Sargon the Great and the World’s First Professional Army

by Brian Geeslin

In about 2340 BC, the king of the ancient city of Kish, Ur-Zababa, was ousted from his throne by one of his courtiers who went by the name of Sargon, who would later be known as King Sargon the Great. Read more

Romans under Prefect Lucius Eggius storm a German rampart consisting of a waist-high palisade of stakes interlaced with twigs and branches that ran along the top of an embankment.

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How Arminius Deceived the Holy Roman Empire

By William E. Welsh

With their proclivity for feats of engineering, the Romans methodically advanced their frontiers. The glory-seeking Roman generals saw a wide river, mountain chain, or expansive swath of desert as a challenge. Read more

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Julius Caesar vs Pompey: A Civil War of Subterfuge

By Douglas Sterling

Unlike Pompey, much of Julius Caesar’s military successes in the late Roman Republic stemmed not only from his ability as a leader of men and from tactical prowess on the battlefield, but also from his understanding of the importance of military intelligence. Read more

This high-relief sculpture carved on a sarcophagus of the 2nd century ably depicts the confusion and havoc of battle between Romans and Celtic warriors.

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The Gallic Wars: To Northern Gaul

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

The gray skies of winter still shrouded the town of Vesontio on the Dubis River. To the south, when not obscured by mist and rain, rose the Jura Mountains, and beyond that the lofty peaks of the Alps and the nearest Roman Province, Gallia Cisalpina. Read more

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Who is Julius Caesar? Facts vs Myth

by Brooke C. Stoddard

Few men’s names resonate after two thousand years, for it is a very long stretch of time. Read more

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