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Julius Caesar Was A Historical Figure Who Research Paper

Julius Caesar was a historical figure who has never failed to fascinate the people. He was a Roman army general and a politician as well. He put an end to the republican government in Rome and it was due to him that the reign of emperors began in Rome. Julius Caesar used the hardships and sufferings of the people of that time as a tool to develop his military as well as political power in Rome. Julius Caesar is considered as one of the most influential and powerful leaders in the world. His live as well as his death has been celebrated through rich literature and art. (Julius Caesar biography, 1-2) Julius Caesar confronted his first major political success in the year 63 B.C.E, when he was elected as the 'pontifex maximus', this was the chief religious office. It was an important political position and hence presented Julius with many opportunities. After that, in the year 62 B.C he was elected at the position of 'praetor'. He performed his responsibilities of praetor in Spain. Caesar grabbed the opportunities that were presented to him and started an aggressive campaign against the native tribes that were present in a Roman province which was located in the West of Europe. Some of the political opponents of Julius Caesar claimed that, Caesar was responsible for starting a war in Rome. (Julius Caesar biography, 1-2)

On the fifteenth of March, Caesar was being murdered in the Senate of Pompey by a group, which consisted of his old friends and associates. After the murder of Julius Caesar, Rome entered in to the thirteenth civil war. Julius Caesar is regarded as a man of great courage and bravery by some people, whereas, the others consider him as the founder of Roman Empire. As a whole, Julius Caesar was an over influential leader and a genius figure who has been equaled only by a few people in the history. (Julius Caesar biography, 1-2)

Julius Caesar's Birth and Childhood

In 100 BCE, Julius Caesar was born in the family of Aurelia and Gaius Julius Caesar, who was a praetor. His family was a noble and aristocratic one. His aunt, Julia, was the wife of Gaius Marius, who as an influential leader of a popular group. Though Caesar's family had noble roots but at the time of his birth his family was neither rich nor famous in Rome. (MacManus, 1-7) As the social war started in Italy in late 91, Caesar's uncle, Sextus Caesar, who was among the consuls, died while he was conducting campaigns and as a result of his death Caesar's father was left as the only living adult member of the family, which was an extended one in nature. And there is a great probability that Caesar's father provided for the children of his brothers and sisters and acted as their guardian. Julius Caesar was raised by his mother, Aurelia, who was very well-known for her wisdom and intelligence. She trained the boy not only through his childhood but also through his adolescence and manhood as well. (Billows, 33-34)

Most of the peoples have the pinion that, people who turned out to be great in their mature years are generally very serious in their young years as well. But this was not the case where Julius Caesar is concerned. Julius was a joyful and a happy person in his young years. He was a tall and a handsome boy and had the ability to socialize easily. And he was always able to fascinate people through his good manners. Even though, Caesar had a strong background and belonged to a family that had an influential standing in the society, and both of these assets had the ability to provide him with power and position, but Caesar, in his early years, was never interested in availing these advantages for himself. In his young years, Caesar was much more interested in fulfilling his personal pleasures rather than becoming a military officer or a politician. (Abbott, 12)

Caesar' Education

One of the most important issues in the life of a child is education but no specific details about the educational life of Julius Caesar are present in the vast literature. (Billows, 34). Julius Caesar had an ambition to be an orator. He studied Greek language and also read the works that were being compiled by the Greek authors. Apart from that Julius also attended the lectures on philosophy. Julius also had great interest in learning to write and speak fluently as the power of writing and speech gave a man great political advantage in those times. (Abbott, 12-13)

After the death of...

She was a very prominent figure in her house and died in the year 54 BC. After the death of his mother, when Julius Caesar emerged out of his home as an upper class Roman boy, he confronted a two part education. The formal education that Julius Caesar had gained consisted of his ability to read and write both Greek and Latin languages and the knowledge and information about the classic poets of Greece. In addition to that, Caesar was also taught a lot about the Greek philosophy and most importantly about the art of rhetoric. (Billows, 34)
Caesar's Betrothal

In 85 BCE Julius Caesar's father died. After the death of his father, Caesar was betrothed and was possibly going to be married to a young wealthy woman, named Cossutia. But Caesar's betrothal to Cossutia was broken after a few years and at the age of eighteen years he married a young woman named, Cornelia. Cornelia was the daughter of an important member of the Popular faction. Cornelia gave birth to the only legitimate child of Julius Caesar, his daughter Julia. (MacManus 1-7)

Julius Caesar as A military Commander

Julius Caesar was a great military commander. During his career as a military commander, Caesar achieved a number of victories due to his courage, his strategies, the relationship that he shared with his men and the combined experience of his men and him. When Caesar launched the Gaulish campaign, he was awarded with great military success, this is because of the ability of Caesar to divide Gaul and conquer it along with his early victories over other tribes. The invasion of Britain and the control of Alesia are regarded as the greatest military achievements of Julius Caesar. These events added greatly to the military performance of Caesar and he was awarded with great prestige due to these events. (Ancient Hist.- Caesar HSC practice, 1-3)

In addition to that Caesar also defeated the Suebi tribe, which was a German tribe that was trying to defend the Gauls. The victory over the Suebi added ore to the prestige of Caesar as, the Suebi tribe was rumored to be consisting of more than 178,000 people. Caesar was able to defeat the Suebi tribe with the help of innovate war weapons. He used the similar strategy in many of the other battles as well. After defeating the Suebi tribe, Caesar defeated another German tribe which was reported to cross the Rhine. This chain of victories made Caesar a bit arrogant and it also affected Caesar's relationship with the Senate in the later period. (Ancient Hist.- Caesar HSC practice, 1-3)

The trend of the military achievements of Caesar continued in the civil war as well. And in this war he was awarded with the victory over the Pharsalus. In this war, by the use of innovative war and cavalry weapons, Caesar claimed victory over Pompey. The methods used by Caesar were, without any doubt, innovative but were very brutal in nature. In this battle Caesar ordered his men to use pipes that were similar to spears to attack the faces of the army of Pompey. This victory over Pompey was accompanied by Caesar's victory in the Battle of Munda which took place in Spain. (Smith, 1-2)

In his career as military man Caesar witnessed a number of achievements and victories. His invasion over Britain and victory over the Gauls brought him the prestige and wealth that only Pompey was able to match. This chain of victories had both positive and negative impacts on the political career of Julius Caesar. The series of Caesar's military achievements also continued in the civil war in which he was finally able to defeat his opponent Pompey. In the civil war the victory over Pharsalus and the victory in the battle of Munda made him a reformed conqueror and a legend, who is still being remembered as a great military commander and a brilliant strategist, by the people. (Smith, 1-2)

Caesar's Political Career

Caesar political career consisted of a number of important events. Some of these events are listed below;

First Triumvirate

In the year 59 BCE, Caesar won the elections and he was elected as consul, which can be defined as an official who has the responsibility to conquer foreign lands. As the senate wanted to deprive Caesar of all the opportunities of positive political growth, it designated him…

Sources used in this document:
Work Cited

Abbott, Jacob. History Of Julius Caesar. 1. 1. Medellin: Medellin Digital, 1904. Web. <http://www.medellindigital.gov.co/Mediateca/repositorio de recursos/Abbott, Jacob (1803-1879)/Abbott_Jacob-History Of Julius Caesar.pdf>.

Ancient Hist.- Caesar HSC practice. Sydney: University of Technology, 2012. 1-3. Web. .

Ancient Rome and Early Christianity, 500 B.C. -- A.D.500. Austin: Lake Travis Independent School District, 2005. Web. <http://www.ltisdschools.org/cms/lib/TX21000349/Centricity/Domain/287/Chapter6.pdf>. Billows, Richard. Julius Caesar: The Colossus of Rome. 1. 1. New York: Routledge, 2009. Web. <http://worldtracker.org/media/library/World History/Roman Empire/Richard A. Billows - Julius Caesar The Colossus of Rome.pdf>.

Julius Caesar biography. Rocklin: Rocklin High School, 2005. Web. .
"Julius Caesar General, Writer, Politician, Dictator-King?." Trans. Array Ancient Rome and Early Christianity. Mexico: McDougal Littell Inc., 2005. 43. <http://wdarcy.wikispaces.com/file/view/Chapter 6 section 2 Historymakers Julius Caesar.pdf>.
MacManus, Barbara. Julius Caesar: Historical Background. New York: The College of New Rochelle, 2001. 1-7. Web. 6 Jul. 2013. <http://www.angelfire.com/art/archictecture/legacy/caesar_background.pdf>.
Smith, Smith. Julius Caesar. New Brunswick: Rutgers University, 1-2. Web. 6 Jul. 2013. .
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