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Today, we are getting into the life and the astonishing legacy of one of history's absolute giants. None other than Julius Caesar. Even 2,000 years after his death, Julius Caesar still stands as the ultimate icon of raw ambition and power. His very name became the word for emperor, whether it's Kaiser, Czar. And his legacy is echoed across continents for centuries. And why is that? Because Caesar had something rarer than battlefield brilliance or political cunning. He had the audacity to see that Rome's proud republic was crumbling and the vision to replace it with something that would outlast him for centuries. He didn't just take territories, he took time itself. Through his conquests and reforms and ruthless determination, he crossed the line from a man to a God. In a world where rulers come and go like waves, Caesar remains that rare reminder that some people don't just write history, they become it. So join me as we dive into the life of Julius Caesar and sit back, relax, and welcome to History Camp. What's up, people? And welcome back to History Camp. My name is Mark Gagnon, and thank you for joining me in my tent, where every single week, we explore the most interesting, fascinating, controversial stories from around the world throughout all history, throughout all time. That's right. The craziest people from history, the craziest events, all of that and more gets discussed right here in this very tent. As always, I'm joined by my dear friend Christos. What's up, dude? What's going on? So we are going to talk about this man, Julius Caesar. You probably heard the name Etu Brutus. He got stabbed in the back. But we would be remiss to think that Caesar's legacy ended there, that that's the only thing you know him for. Well, get ready. Think again. I mean, he's been written about by scholars, Shakespeare himself. I mean, everyone from across time wants to know about the man and the myth. So where do we start? How about Rome? About a century before the birth of Jesus. And it is the heart of the greatest empire that the world had ever known up until that point. And yet it was rotting from within. I mean, corruption is rampant. Politicians are basically, like, buying their way into office. Soldiers are pledging loyalty not to Rome, but to, like, to whatever rich guy is able to, you know, give them some money. And this is now creating this atmosphere where people are pissed. And then into this chaos steps a young man named Julius Caesar. He's ambitious, he's charismatic, and maybe above all, he's dangerous. And he is about to rewrite Rome's entire destiny. Now There is so much internal decay in Rome that it almost created a vacuum for someone like Caesar to rise. The system was kind of begging for like a strong man in a way, right? Almost waiting for someone powerful enough to reshape it and maybe someone ruthless enough to actually have the balls to do it. So we will begin basically by discussing this story of how one man's relentless hunger for power shattered this 500-year-old republic and forged an empire with an actual emperor whose legacy would endure for the next thousand. It's this crazy saga of military triumphs and political movering, maneuvering and even treachery from some of your closest friends. And an all consuming addiction to power that in the end cost Caesar his life. Now, Julius, this guy, he wasn't born poor, but he wasn't really rolling in gold either, right? His family liked to boast that they were descended from none other than the goddess Venus herself. Kind of a bold claim, right? But by the time Caesar was 18, that divine bloodline almost didn't matter because he nearly died before his story even, even began. From a young age, this man, known more formally as Gaius Julius Caesar, had a taste for risk. At just 16, he landed the role of Flamen Dilus. This is Rome's High Priest of Jupiter. And it was one of the most prestigious jobs in the city. And this is the kind of appointment that could potentially even set up a man for life. But there was just one catch. The position came with suffocating rules. He couldn't leave Rome, he couldn't look at a corpse, and he couldn't touch iron. So for a boy with a lot of big ambitions, this was not really a title so much as it was like golden handcuffs, right? And then came Sulla, this ruthless dictator with a taste for political bloodletting. Imagine, like Stalin, but like with swords in ancient Rome now, Sulla kept proscriptions. This is basically like a public kill list of people he wanted to eradicate from history. And when your name went up, your life expectancy could be measured in just a few hours. Now, Caesar's name made the list. Why? Because his family had ties to Sulla's sworn enemies. That was enough. Overnight, this guy Sulla basically stripped him of his priesthood and his inheritance and even his wife's dowry. And in a single stroke, this young priest became this penniless fugitive. Now, most teenagers in this position would have fled into the shadows or left Rome and gone to some nearby town and laid low, but not Caesar. He walked straight up to solo supporters. These like hardened, tough men who Made a living by killing people and he talked his way out of execution. No bribes. I mean, he had no money, no weapons. He had none. Just pure charm and razor sharp persuasion. And in the end, Sulla relented, but not without a warning to his allies. He says, well, watch out for that boy. There are many Mariuses in him. Now, Marius, of course, was Sulla's greatest enemy. And Sulla, it turns out, was dead right to be worried. Now, this brush with death and, you know, sort of political persecution branded a lesson deep into Caesar's mind. In the Rome of his day, rules are less valuable than relationships. And if you know the right people and you're willing to be bold enough, you can get out of any situation. Now, if you've ever wanted a snapshot of Caesar's personality, it is this story. In his 20s, Caesar was sailing to Greece to study public speaking, right? This is respectable, scholarly, sort of rich kid kind of stuff. But then, pirates, yes, like actual pirates. And they captured his ship and demanded 20 talents of silver. Talent, again, is just like a measure of silver. And they wanted that for his ransom. Now that's roughly a million dollars in today's money. Caesar's reaction? He laughed at him in their faces. 20 talents, are you kidding me? Again? He's Italian. I'm. I'm worth at least 50. I mean, that's what he's like, hey, are you talking about, right? And he's insulted that they're actually undervaluing him. And he demands that they actually raise the price. So there he is, right? Prisoner of the pirates for more than a month. But Caesar, he didn't cry about it. You know, he wasn't complaining. He acted like a guest of honor. He was joking with him, he's telling stories. He would join in on their games. When he wanted a nap, he would actually shush them. He'd go, fine, guys, I'm trying to sleep. And all the while, with a straight face, he told them that he would come back, he would hunt them down and he would crucify every last one of them. And they laughed at him. The pirates were like, the hell is this kid? And surely, you know, this guy must be joking, right? He wasn't. Basically. His companions are able to put up the ransom money and he's freed immediately. And what does he do? He goes and secures some ships from local authorities. He hunts down the same pirates, he captures them all. And what does he do? Julius Caesar, man of his word. Every single one was crucified, though in a gesture of, like, mercy. He ordered that their throats were slit first so that they would die quicker. That is Julius Caesar. If there's any story that can summarize who this guy was, he's charming, just remarkably confident and relentless when it comes to keeping a promise. But Caesar's ambitions were far too big for, you know, just pirate hunting. Soon, his eyes turned towards the most dangerous game of all. And that's politics. Climbing the ladder of Roman politics isn't easy, but Caesar made it look pretty effortless. I mean, he had a gift for making people like him. He remembered names, not just of important men, but of their wives, their children, their, you know, the servants in their house. He remembered details that made them feel seen. He threw parties, he paid his debts promptly, and basically just left everyone feeling a little indebted to him in return, right? If you met Julius Caesar, the chances are you'd want to help Julius Caesar. What's up, people? Let's take a break really quick because I want to talk to the fellas. Let me ask you something. Are you stuck? Do you feel like you're struggling with work or relationships or maybe your marriage or just feeling like you're not like the, the dude you want to be? You ever. You just, you know, thinking to yourself, like, man, I should be farther along right now. I just get caught in these cycles where I just kind of lose self control. Well, here's the thing that nobody likes to admit. It is possible that porn might be part of the problem. Now. Yes, I know I said the P word. Now look, I don't want to be overly moralistic here, okay? But if you're someone that struggles with pornography and, you know, research has shown that regular porn users actually leaves men feeling more anxious and less connected and ironically, less satisfied. 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Thousands of men and their families are already seeing some change because the men, their lives are a little bit less stuck. So if you're feeling stuck, check out Relay. Don't wait another month to be the man that you want to be today. And you can break the cycle with Relay. So go ahead and use the code Gagnon. G A G N O N for a seven day free trial. If you feel like this thing has just got a grip on you that you're not able to, to let go, that is joinrelay j o I n relay r e l a y app slash camp and use the code GAGNON for a 7 day free trial. Don't put it off. Be the man you're supposed to be today. Today. Now let's get back to the show. He goes on to get a law degree. Yeah, he becomes a lawyer. And as a young lawyer, he starts making headlines, really just prosecuting corrupt governors for, you know, stealing from the provinces and he's winning cases and he's earning a reputation for being a just man who values integrity, but also notices something unsettling. These governors weren't punished for being corrupt. They were punished for not sharing their corruption with the right people in Rome. His time then as a junior military officer, reveals even more truth. Roman commanders didn't get rich through what they were paid or through honor. They did it by stripping conquered lands bear and basically ransacking the people that they were conquering and taking treasure and slaves and women, basically anything else of value, and brought it back to Rome. And the grand speeches about Roman virtue and these civilized missions to, you know, change the people from the surrounding nations to be more Roman. It's all fake. It's bullshit, right? They're just going to ransack them and make themselves rich. So for most young aristocrats, these were open secrets. But Caesar didn't just notice them, he studied them. He was mapping out the real blueprint of how power worked in Rome. Not the one that's, you know, the pretty one carved in marble that all the regular common folks see, but the actual one, the actual way that power works through bribes and stealing and favors and political maneuvering. So for all his, you know, charm and, you know, his ways that he was able to, you know, get people to like him. Caesar had a major roadblock. Money, or rather the not having money. He was broke, right? And in Roman politics, money isn't just nice to have and makes things easier. It's the lifeblood of power. Roman politics is expensive, and if you wanted to win elections, you had to spend like crazy. You had to sponsor massive public games, like, you know, like you can imagine. Like, you know, like a gladiatorial game or some type of, you know, chariot race. And you basically had to bribe the right voters and the right people that had influence. And you had to loan fortunes to other politicians that then they would owe you later. And Caesar spent like no tomorrow. He basically mortgaged his entire future. He racked up a ton of debt, and he was reckless with money. But interestingly, he was shrewd with marriage. So when his first wife died young, he made a surprising move. He marries Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sulla. Remember Sulla? This is the dictator who basically tried to have him killed, but he was able to get his way out of it. And this is a brilliant act of political judo, right? But then Pompeia gets swept into a scandal, and Caesar is just ruthless, right? He didn't care if she's guilty or innocent. He basically just says, caesar's wife must be above suspicion, and he divorces her on the spot. Again, for Caesar, it's all about appearance, this whole ride or die bullshit. He doesn't believe it. He goes, look, if you're wrapped up in something, I'm not standing by you. You're out. Bring him on. And he brings in the next one in his next match, which is a woman named Calpurnia, and she is the daughter of a powerful senator. Again, it's not about love. It's transactional. It's all about the alliance and consolidating power within the elite. And in Caesar's Rome, marriage was just another weapon in the arsenal of ambition. Still, even strategic marriages can't solve his debt problem. Right? Caesar needed a lot of money. And even more than money, he needs a big play, like, an actual power play. An alliance that is unbreakable. And this is where we get Pompey the Great, Rome's most celebrated general. This is a man who crushed enemies from Spain to the Middle east and cleared the Mediterranean of pirates. And Marcus Licinius Crassus, arguably the richest man alive. This was a tycoon who built his fortune through property and slave trading and lending money at, you know, insane interest rates. These two men were rivals, okay? They didn't trust each other. But Caesar, with his ability to kind of, you know, schmooze and, you know, say the right things, brokered a secret Alliance. Pompey would get land grants for his veterans. Crassus would get laws favoring his business empire. And Caesar, he'd get their backing to win the consulship. This is the highest elected office in Rome. To seal the deal, Caesar married off his own daughter Julia to Pompey, this famous general. And despite their vast age difference, he agreed to the marriage. Now, the three men then formed what history calls the first triumvirate. But in reality, it was less of like a formal alliance and more just kind of like a private cartel. Right. Basically, three men that started dividing up the Roman world for their own gain. Right. You can see how this works. You have the military general that's respected by the people. You have Julius Caesar, maybe the greatest politician the world had ever seen, that's able to say the right things and make people feel good. And then obviously, you have Crassus, the rich, wealthy tycoon that has all the money, and the three of them are able to come together and basically formed like an Illuminati, you know. So when Caesar finally reaches this consulship, he's officially the consul. He didn't just bend the rules, he basically just tosses them all aside. His co consul, this stiff traditionalist named Bibulus, tried to block Caesar's legislation with the usual Senate procedures. Caesar's answer, just street politics. One day in the Forum, the place, you know, where all the politicians and the people sort of gather, his supporters dumped an actual basket of garbage over Bibulus's head and chased him out. Humiliated, Bibulus largely withdrew from public life for the rest of the year and kind of just issued written proclamations that largely went ignored. And before long, Rome was joking that the year should be remembered not as the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus, but as the consulship of Julius and Caesar. Everyone knew who was really in charge and who was actually running the show. So now, freed from any type of opposition or sharing of power, Caesar passed a flurry of popular reforms, redistributing land to ordinary citizens and creating jobs and even, you know, more formal land reforms about who can get land. And he even forgave some debts and gave citizenship to select communities. And these are real solutions to real problems. But the way he did it was just as revolutionary as the laws themselves. Instead of actually going through the Senate, Caesar bypassed it entirely and took his proposals straight to the popular assembly. And it was perfectly legal under Roman law. It was just not done. It was seen as improper or, you know, not politically savvy. For nearly four centuries, The Senate had been the gatekeeper of power. And you know, it was all these politicians gathering collectively to then decide things. And Caesar basically kicked down the gate. The old guard, the aristocracy was pissed, but what could they do? Caesar had the people in his corner. Pompey's battle hardened veterans and the troops were basically behind him. And Crassus had, you know, this fortune fueling machine and all the wealth that he needed. And now with his year as consul ending, Caesar was about to acquire something that would make him far more dangerous than any law or alliance could ever. His own army loyal to not just Rome, but personally loyal to Caesar. Now when Caesar wrapped up his term as consul, he landed what seemed to be like a comfortable next step, right, the governor of Gaul. Now this was a vast region that covers like France and Belgium and parts of Germany and Switzerland. And on paper it was the perfect gig, right, because as the senator or the governor of Gaul, you can collect taxes and you settle some disputes and you know, maybe there's like a skirmish or like a little rebellion you got to stop, but you're also able to quietly use the profits to chip away at his mountain of debt that he had to get into in order to become consul in the first place. But Caesar didn't do anything quietly. Instead he turned Gaul into the stage for the most amazing military campaign Rome had ever seen. So for the next eight years, he was in constant motion, fighting and marching and building and conquering until he controlled a territory larger than modern day France. And Caesar didn't just attack tribes randomly. He had a gift for turning defense and offense. And it became, it started really with the Helvetii. Now the Helveti was basically a migrating tribe. They tried to cross Roman lands and Caesar crossed the crushed them thoroughly that he could claim he was staying in Gaul to protect other tribes from these similar threats. Those tribes in turn asked for help against their enemies, which conveniently meant conquering more territory. You see what's happening? Each victory justifies the next. So he's able to go in, he finds his tribe, crushes them and says, hey, I'm here to protect everyone. And then everyone's like, oh, well, we need protection. What about these guys? And he goes over there and gets these guys, gets these guys, and he's doing it all at the behest of the people in Gaul. Now Caesar was just piling up land and with land, some loot and the most loyal army Rome had ever seen. And this loyalty wasn't an accident. Caesar fought alongside his men. He shared their Danger. He remembered their names. All the things that made him a great politician also made him a great military strategist. And he also made sure that all of his men also grew rich from the plunder. More than that, he respected them, right? And he delivered victory after victory, so everyone was happy. And over time, his legions stopped primarily fighting for Rome and the Senate and started fighting fiercely and devoutly for him. And beyond loyalty, he was also just brilliant with, you know, military strategy. Caesar wasn't just winning battles, he was like rewriting what military strategy was. He engineered a fully functional bridge across the Rhine river in just 10 days. I mean, a feat that typically would have taken months. He invented new siege tactics to capture supposedly unconquerable cities. I mean, rivers, mountains. Going through terrain that most people think were just impossible. Caesar found a way. And by the time his campaigns were over, Caesar wasn't just the governor of Gaul, he was the most feared and celebrated commander in the Roman world. And back in Rome, that kind of power made him just as many enemies as it did admirers. The Gallic wars reached their boiling point with the rise of one man. And his name is tough, but to my understanding, it is Vercingenaryx. And this guy was this, you know, young, fearless, shrewd kind of leader. And he did something that no one else had managed in years. He united most of Gaul against Rome. And Caesar couldn't have asked for a better enemy because this guy wasn't reckless. You see, Vercingetorix was clever. He refused to fight Caesar in open battle, knowing that the Roman legions would crush them. So instead he struck at the supply lines and he burned crops to try to starve out the Romans. And he used these fast, sort of brutal, like modern day, almost guerrilla style warfare tactics to raid the, you know, you know, Caesar's troops and basically just keep them off balance. And for a while it was working. But then their final confrontation came at a hilltop fortress called Alessia. Vercingenorix pulled his army aside, betting that Caesar couldn't possibly storm a fortified city on high ground. But Caesar's answer was equal parts crazy, but also genius. First, he built a wall completely encircling Alesia to starve the defenders out. Then he built a second wall facing the opposite direction, surrounding his own army. And why did he do this? Because he knew this massive sort of Gallic relief force was on the way. He intended to fight two battles at once against the enemy inside the city, and then the enemy coming from the outside. Now, when the relief army finally arrived, estimated like 60,000 troops. Caesar's legions found themselves trapped between two fires. Now, what followed was a masterclass in discipline and tactics. The Romans held the inner wall against desperate assaults from this guy Varsingenix, while repelling wave after wave of attacks from the outside. And against all odds, Caesar's men didn't break. The relief force collapsed, and Vercingenrex recognized that the situation was hopeless and basically just surrendered to save his people from imminent slaughter. With that, the last major resistance in Gaul crumbled. Caesar would later immortalize these events in his own writings. The Gallic Wars. This ancient military memoir just basically encapsulating like the pinnacle of like these great military tactics done in this time. It's written in the third person. Like Caesar did this, Caesar did that. And it turned him into, you know, instead of like a figure, like, almost like just like a legend. Like it wasn't like a man bragging about victories and more, just like this mythic conqueror that was able to do, you know, the unthinkable. But now that Gaul was his, Rome was actually slipping away from his grasp. And the Senate was beginning to fear that Caesar's next campaign might be aimed at them. Now, while Caesar was finishing his conquest of Gaul, trouble flared in the east. You see, King Pharnaces II of Pontius, the son of Rome's old nemesis Mithradides, saw his chance. With Rome distracted, he tried to claw back his father's lost territories. Now, Caesar's response was just pure Caesar, right? He didn't hesitate. There's no drawn out campaign or strategy. Da, da, da. He just marched his, his troops just like legions of thousands of men hundreds and thousands of miles from Gaul to Asia Minor, basically crushed Pharnaces at a battle known as Zela and ended the war in five days. His report to the Senate came in just three words. You probably heard of them. Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered. I mean, bars, dude. Imagine that you just conquer Gaul and all of a sudden you hear that there's a dude trying to get some land back in the east. You're like, all right, let's walk over that way, smack this dude in the face, and then tell the good old folks back in Rome, hey, I showed up, saw what I needed to do, and I conquered this. It's like the perfect Caesar sound bite, right? It is, you know, the, the message is basically what they did. It's swift, it's decisive, and it's just, just swagged out, right? But it's Also deliberate propaganda. It's designed to stun Rome's enemies and just remind its people that Caesar is, I mean, pardon my Italian here, unfuck withable, right? His victories aren't just. It's not just a little military conquest. It's legend, you know? So by the time Caesar's, you know, Gallic campaigns ended, he had become something that Rome had never seen before, maybe ever in history. A man with money and soldiers and popularity to dominate the state completely. Eight years of plunder made him really rich. He was able to pay off his debts and had a little extra, you know, to hold on to. His legions were now veterans who adored him and, you know, got rich from doing these conquests with him. They didn't have allegiance to Rome. They were like, you know, Rome is cool. We're Roman, but we really like Caesar because Caesar got our back. He fights with us, he makes us win, and he gets us all paid. So his reputation rivaled that of the mythical founders of the Republic, and that should be terrifying to your political enemies. I mean, at this point, he's unstoppable, right? They see him as this existential threat to the Republic and to their own power. They knew that he couldn't just be allowed to come back into Roman politics with that type of army and that type of prestige. So now was the time to stop him. The Senate was led by hardliners like Cato the Younger, who demanded Caesar return to Rome as a citizen, basically saying, hey, relinquish your command and I want you to face trial for your controversial actions during your consulship. In Roman politics, that's a death sentence. Without office, he'd have no immunity, he'd have no army, he'd have no protection from political rivals that wanted to assassinate him or just destroy his career. So Caesar offered a deal. Let him run for consul again while keeping command of his army just long enough to ensure a peaceful handover of power. Other generals had been given similar arrangements, right? He's basically saying, look, I don't trust you guys. I can't come into this situation without thinking you guys are going to kill me. So let me just come in with my army and all the people that love me and let's just do this, you know, calmly and like adults, right? And his enemies just refused. This wasn't about legality. It was just fear. They knew that once Caesar stepped back into Rome with his popularity and wealth and his soldiers, the old order wouldn't survive. Meanwhile, Pompey, once Caesar's ally, was now moving into the Opposite direction. You see Crassus, the wealthy guy, he died, and, you know, this kind of upset the balance of this first triumvirate of these, you know, three men that kind of ruled. But tragedy struck closer to home. Julia, Caesar's beloved daughter and Pompey's wife, died in childbirth. Her death basically severed the personal bond that had kept this alliance intact. Now, Pompey sided with the Senate. He was Rome's defender of the public right. He was a great military leader and, you know, basically granted emergency powers to counter this growing threat of Caesar. The message was clear. Return without your army and be destroyed, or keep your army and be declared an enemy of the state. Choice is yours. Okay, so between political suicide and war, what do you think Caesar chooses? That's exactly right. And now there's a small, shallow river in northern Italy. It's called the Rubicon. You've probably heard of it, right? It's not a particularly large river. You know, geographically, it's not that impressive, but symbolically, it is one of the most important rivers in existence. It marks the legal boundary between Caesar's province of Gaul and Italy itself. In Roman law, it's a line you never cross with an army. Doing so is the point of no return. Right? If you come across the Rubicon with your army, I don't care who you are, you are declaring war on Rome and the Roman people. And what does Caesar do? On a cold January day in 49 BC, Caesar reaches that river with a single legion, the 13th Legion. And he halts on the bank, and the men are waiting there. And he knows exactly what crossing this river would mean. This is civil war, right? I mean, this guy is a part of the. The political infrastructure of Rome, and now he's coming into it hostilely with his own army that is loyal to him. This is civil war and the collapse of Rome's political order and death for everyone, either his own or his enemies. Who knows? Now, Suetonius, a historian, tells us that Caesar stood in silence for a moment, wrestling with the weight of his choice, before finally murmuring the words that would echo for 2000 years. Alia Iacta est. The die is cast. Then he spurred his horse into the water. The Rubicon wasn't just a river that day. It was this moment that Caesar stopped being a politician or, you know, just a consulate, or, you know, a guy that, you know, was, you know, coming up with rules. He became a revolutionary with destiny in his hands, either Rome's or his own, or maybe both. And on paper, Caesar's gamble It just looked crazy. He has around 20,000 men. Pompey has more troops, more money, and the full backing of the Roman Senate. But Caesar understands that numbers alone won't decide the war. Wars often are decided through many more things, right? Psychology and speed and surprise and propaganda. So from the start, his campaign was a masterclass in political warfare. Wherever he marches, he behaves not as like a conqueror, but as a liberator. His soldiers pay for supplies. Civilians are protected. Captured enemies are released unharmed. This Clementia, you know the term clemency, this mercy, shocks Rome, where civil wars, you know, historically have been brutal and bloody and vengeful. Caesar's coming in almost looking like, you know, just like, hey, this guy's trying to help us. Meanwhile, Pompey makes a critical error, this misstep that would define the entire conflict. Instead of defending Rome, Pompey and the Senate panic and they abandon the city. They go south, intending to regroup and, you know, raise their forces maybe in the south or the east, and let's just figure out what's going on. So to the public, it looked less like strategy, more like panic. And this move by the Senate allows Caesar just a walk in a room. And when Caesar enters the city, he does it respectfully, observing every religious and legal formality, and he presents himself not as this usurper or a dictator that's trying to kill everyone, but as a lawful defender of the republic. And the optics are perfect. Caesar moves with insane speed. While Pompey is regrouping in Greece, Caesar swiftly marches into Spain and defeats Pompey's legions there, reportedly joking that he was going to, quote, fight an army without a general before fighting a general without an army once again bars from our boy Julius. The final showdown came at Pharsalus in Central Greece in 48 BC. Pompey's army outnumbers Caesar's, but Caesar's veterans are quicker and they're sharper and they're smarter and they're more disciplined and they're more loyal. They believe in Caesar more than any of Pompey's men believe in him. And in the heat of battle, Caesar springs a surprise, concealing a fourth line of infantry behind his cavalry to blunt Pompey's horsemen. And this tactic works. His army collapses. The general Pompey flees without any of his men, leaving his soldiers to be cut down without him. And Caesar's gamble at the Rubicon has officially paid off. He is now the undisputed master of Rome. But there's one thing Pompey is Still alive. Now, Pompey is chased, and this chase basically finds its way to Egypt. Pompey, once Rome's greatest general, literally someone that was in an alliance with Julius Caesar, married to Julius Caesar's daughter, arrives seeking refuge with the young pharaoh, Ptolemy xiii. But this boy king, Ptolemy, eager to impress Caesar, makes a fatal miscalculation. He has Pompey murdered before Caesar even arrives. So when Caesar lands in Alexandria, Egyptian officials present him with their gift. They show him Pompey severed head. And instead of rewarding them, Caesar reportedly breaks down in tears. Was it a genuine sorrow for this old ally, a family member that became a rival, that then got murdered? Or is it a masterful performance to basically cement his image as this sort of reluctant, kind of clement, merciful victor? Right. No one really knows, and it's disputed even to this day, but what matters is that it works. Rome hears this story and they see Caesar as someone for, you know, honor and, you know, as someone with, with compassion. And as a result, the public loves him even more. But Egypt's politics quickly pull in. Julius Caesar, you see, a civil war is starting to brew in Egypt against this young Ptolemy and his older sister Cleopatra for the throne. And Caesar takes her side. And soon this alliance is personal, for lack of a better word. They have an affair, they have this romance, and it scandalizes Roman's upper classes. But strategically, it's brilliant. You see, Egypt is the richest kingdom in the Mediterranean. I mean, the amount of food that they create, the grain that they're actually growing, is vital to feeding Rome's population. And basically, by securing Cleopatra's throne, if you will, Caesar secures Egypt's wealth and with it, his own invincibility. And from their relationship comes a son. His name is Caesarean. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, is this like C section, like Caesarean section, Sort of. Not really. It's probably just from the same root word, which in Latin means to cut. And this is probably where this comes from. Now, Caesar never formally names him as heir, but in the court of public opinion, this connection between Rome's ruler and Egypt's queen becomes a political lightning rod. So now Pompey is dead, Egypt is secured, Cleopatra smashed. Other pockets of resistance are now mopped up. Caesar finally returns to Rome and he's not just this victorious general. He is the unchallenged master of the Mediterranean world. Yet he now faces a problem that no legion can solve for him. How do you govern an empire that is too vast for its crumbling republican system? Like it's just so broad and there's so many people like, how do you even bureaucratically, how do you make all of this work? This Roman Empire is so vast. Like is it really possible to have a sustainable republic? His answer is to concentrate power into his own hands while keeping this facade of tradition. Right. I mean, it's a interesting idea. He takes the title of dictator, a legitimate Roman office which is used typically in emergency situations, but he keeps it far beyond the six month emergency limit. In his hands, the role becomes something entirely new. He had himself appointed dictator repeatedly for 10 years. And then finally dictator perpetuo, which is, you know, perpetual dictator, the dictator for life, coming from this root word to declare it is a declarative sort of authoritarian position. I am the one that has all of the power, it's consolidated into me. And he uses his powers to push through major reforms. I mean, he fixes notoriously chaotic Roman calendars with the Julian calendar, a system so accurate that we still use a version of it to this very day. He launches massive building projects and gives jobs to thousands. He extends Roman citizenship to people in Gaul and Spain, turning conquered enemies into full on Roman citizens. But with power comes a lot of problems. Caesar starts accepting honors that look alarmingly like kingship. And again, you got to understand, Romans at this time are republic and they don't want a king. They've already left the, you know, monarchical Rome behind them. But now he has a golden chair in the Senate and statues among the gods and you know, art of Caesar starting to resemble like the actual gods that they worship. And now he's wearing this triumphal robe whenever he pleases. And to people who had driven out their last king five centuries earlier, this feels like the ghost of monarchy coming back. But this is not going to be monarchy. This is going to be something completely different and more crazy. He disbands his personal bodyguards. I mean, Caesar throughout this entire military campaign has personal protection people that are protecting him because obviously, you know, he's in war. And either out of confidence or acceptance that no guards can truly protect him, he disbands them. And his health also in this time, starts to falter. It's said that he has epileptic seizures that are becoming more and more frequent. And he's starting to grow superstitious, reading omens and consulting with, you know, clairvoyance and fortune tellers. And perhaps most dangerous of all, he forgave men who had fought bitterly against him in civil war, men like Brutus and Cassius, and even welcomed them back into The Senate, right. It sounds noble, it's almost godlike. But the men that he forgave have long memories. And they may smile in the Senate, but in their hearts, they're pissed. The core figures were two respected senators, Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius, meeting in sort of whispery sort of conversations, kind of on the fringes. And Brutus was no ordinary Paul politician. He descended from a man, Lucas Junius Brutus, or Lucius Junius Brutus, who five centuries earlier helped overthrow Rome's last king, Tarnichius Superbus. Now, just picture that, okay? This guy Brutus is literally the descendant of Lucius Junius Brutus, who overthrew the king. Now that legacy is weighing on him, and he's thinking about this. And he felt a personal duty to defend the Republic from this tyranny, from a person coming in, declaring themselves dict for life. And Cashus was this battle hardened commander and brought the kind of cold practical skill needed for a dangerous plot. I mean, it feels almost like prophetic. It feels like it's like too crazy to even be real, but it is. These guys are not necessarily, you know, crazy radicals. They saw themselves as patriots. In their mind, killing Caesar isn't murder. It is the last desperate defense of the Republic from becoming a monarchy or an empire with an emperor that is literally God. And they're not alone. By the time the plot is fully formed, over 60 senators are in on it. The breaking point comes with news of Caesar's next campaign. He plans to leave Rome for three years to conquer Parthia, avenge Crassus humiliating defeat, and return in even greater glory right to the conspirators. The meaning is clear. If Caesar leaves as the Republic's ruler, he'll return as a God king that can never be opposed to ever. But for all their planning, they make a mistake. They know how to kill Caesar, but they have no plan for it actually comes after. They seem to think that the Republic will just snap back into place and that everything will just go back to normal, as if the last decades of civil war and, you know, political chaos and his sweeping reforms never happened. And this takes us into the Ides of March, another term that you probably heard. This is March 15th of 44 BC, and it is a day that we remember simply as the Ides of March. The chosen stage for the assassination is loaded with crazy symbolism. Pompey's theater. The very place named after Caesar's once friend turned greatest rival, and where Pompey's statue will watch the killing. The morning is thick with omens. Calpurnia, Caesar's wife at the time, wakes up in terror from a dream of his murder and begs him not to go. Priests are performing sacrifices. They find strange signs. One reported saying that they killed an animal with no heart. And this is a dire warning, even by Roman standards. And somewhere in the jostling crowd on the way to the meeting, a man tries to hand Caesar a note revealing the entire conspiracy, but it never actually reaches Caesar himself. The warnings are ignored, and Caesar walks into the Senate without any bodyguard. And the conspirators close in under the pretext of presenting a petition. At the signal, Tillius Cimber grabs Caesar's toga, and then Casca strikes first. Caesar's reaction is pure defiance. He fights back with the only weapon that he had, his writing stylus, like his pen, but it's hopeless. Blades come from every direction. And then, through the chaos, he sees a familiar face. Brutus. And according to the legend, that's when he stops struggling. The phrase Etou Brute, whether actually spoken or not, has come to symbolize the crushing weight of betrayal. Caesar collapses at the base of Pompey's statue, stabbed 23 times. The blood pools at the feet of his fallen rival's likeness in front of the statue of Pompey. And the conspirators raise their daggers, shouting about liberty and the republicans. But the Senate chamber is already emptying. Terrified senators are fleeing. And in the streets outside of Rome, there is silence and uncertainty for what comes next. And the moment that Caesar falls, the conspirators think that they've saved the Republic. And they couldn't have been more wrong. Rome doesn't break in a celebration like they thought. It breaks into chaos. News of the murder spreads to every corner of Rome, but no one knows what's going to happen next. Are Caesar's allies next on the hit list? Is this the start of another civil war? Shops are slamming shut. People are leaving town. Doors are bolted. Families barricade themselves inside, and fear grips the entire city. The conspirators expected cheers and everyone to be stoked for him. But instead, they're now trapped in the Senate house, too afraid to step outside. To ordinary citizens, Caesar wasn't a tyrant. He was their champion. He was the good guy. He came in and fixed everything. He got people paid. He conquered more land. He brought grain in from Egypt. He was their champion. And killing him was an attack on the Roman people. Mark Antony, Caesar's trusted lieutenant, initially fled, fearing for his life. But he quickly recognized an opportunity. At Caesar's funeral, he delivers the Speech Shakespeare later made immortal, a masterclass. In Persuasion, he shows the crowd Caesar's will. It leaves his gardens to the people of Rome and the money for every single citizen. And then grief turns into rage. The assassins are not heroes, they're villains. I mean, look at Caesar. He's the nicest guy ever. He helped all of us and now these assassins took him away. And then comes the real twist. Caesar has named his 18 year old grand nephew Octavius as his heir and adopted son. The boy's young, inexperienced, no army. But he has something more dangerous. He has the same razor sharp political instincts and just an insane will to rule. So from here, rome plunges into 13 brutal years of civil war. Caesar's heirs against his killers and ambitious generals against each other. The republic Brutus and Cassius tried to save is gone forever. And in its place rises an empire. One that will rule for the next thousand years. So who was Julius Caesar, right? A ruthless tyrant who crushed Roman freedom and took away, you know, the general functionings of this republic. Or was he this visionary reformer who built a system strong enough to rule the Mediterranean and control all of these different people? And the truth is, he was both right. Like, sure, Julius Caesar shattered, you know, all of these old traditions and he bent the laws of the Republic. And, you know, he was changing the way that the politics, like the political structure actually worked in Rome. But also, the Republic was already rotting long before he came along. It was destroyed and overrun with corruption and wrecked with civil wars and overspending. And trying to govern an empire with the politics of a city state weren't really working. Caesar's genius was seeing that the old system couldn't survive, or at least he didn't want it to or didn't want to reform it. And he tried to replace it. And his reforms, like the Julian calendar and citizenship for outsiders and work projects and debt relief and all of these different things tackled real problems that other politicians were just too corrupt to ever deal with. But then there's the dark side, right? Caesar believed he alone could fix Rome. And that certainly isolated him, turned him into the very kind of autocrat that the Republic was designed fundamentally to stop. The man who began as the champion of the people ended up surrounded by, you know, enemies in the Senate. And his life sort of proved the dangerous truth, right? Democratic institutions are fragile and they collapse quickly when someone decides the rules no longer apply to them. And this Republic had stood for 500 years. And one man with military brilliance and political savvy and a ton of ambition brought it down. I mean, his very name, like I said, is the title across cultures. Kaiser and Tsar all stem from this man, Julius Caesar. And his story is a warning etched into history about how the promise of strong leadership can inspire many and potentially destroy those who actually attain it. So this boy who barely escaped Sulla's purge became the man whose death sealed the Republic's fate. The general who conquered Gaul gave future emperors the tool to dominate the known world also was met by the very people he trusted killed. And that's the greatest irony of Caesar. He's one of history's most successful failures, in a way, right? He claimed to serve the Republic, but instead replaced it forever. And in the end, he got exactly what he wanted. Immortality, just not in the way that he ever imagined. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the life of Julius Caesar. I mean, truly a fascinating guy. I mean, holy, dude, he was clapping Cleopatra, he conquered Gaul, he came back, crossed the Rubicon, conquered Pompey, a friend that then became an enemy. I mean, the guy did it all. And what a fascinating tale. It's also an interesting idea, right? Like, what is best for the people. Is it what the people want? Is it what they think they want? Is it a good dictator that's kind? Or does that set an uneasy precedent? I mean, you think about America, right? I mean, we're a republic, right? People vote. We have governors and senators that, you know, look over us. Even if we had a great monarch that came in and everyone loved him, I wouldn't want a monarchy. So in a way, you will kind of almost side with Brutus, who kill this guy, to kind of create, you know, preserve the political order. But they didn't actually come up with a plan B. They kill him, but then they don't actually say, okay, we're going to reform the Senate, and this is how things are going to work. I think maybe the biggest lesson here is if you have a republic, you can't fall prey to corruption and manipulation, because that ultimately is what set the stage for the people to want someone like Julius Caesar. You know, like, by devaluing what the Republic even meant and by being so corrupt that the people's needs weren't met and that people were starving and that they were being overtaxed and that they were just being burdened by the government. Then they said, you know what? F the government, we'll take whatever else you got. And then you have a great king that comes along and just usurps the entire thing and then sends it into, you know, dictatorship for the next however many hundred years, I think that is the most important lesson, that if you are running Republic, you got to take care of the people. You can't lose sight of what the purpose of the Republic is, which is to help the people you are set to govern. And it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Crazos, what do you think? What do you think, Caesar? Better ruler or better salad? Oh, I would say better haircut. Oh, right. Shout out to all my Mexicans that are listening. No, I think he's probably better. Where does the Caesar salad come from? Can you. Can you find that out real quick? I think from what I remember, it's because Julie Caesar didn't like tomatoes. There's no way that's what it is. I refuse to believe that. Did you just make that up or even. No, I've heard that before. There's no way. Dude, I bet you it's from, like, Caesar's Casino or some. I. There's no way that that's actually what it is. We got anything? It was invented in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924 by Italian American restaurateur Cesar Gardini. It was invented by Cesar Gardini. I mean, see, the Mexicans are the real Caesars, you know what I mean? They got the Caesar haircut. Caesar salad. The Italians are the only ones with one Caesar, you know, Julius or whatever. Also, if anyone wants to learn more about this kind of stuff, we had an interview with Richard Teverson on the main channel. Yes, we'll link that in the Description. And also Dr. Manning, our good friend Dr. Joe Manning. We got a bunch of episodes on Hellenistic, sort of Roman, Greek history. And if you want to check those out, we will link them in the description below. Thank you guys so much for tuning into another episode of History Camp. Once again, this is my attempt to understand everything that's ever happened ever, to understand what's going to happen one day. So join me on the ride. Hit the subscribe button. And we will see you guys next week for another titillating episode on history. Thank you guys so much and I will see you in the future to talk about the past peace. Here is a bullet in a secret CIA facility. Doctors administered mysterious substances to unwitting Americans. Their goal, mind control. The year was 1973, and as agents frantically burned thousands of documents, Project MK Ultra's darkest secrets nearly vanished into smoke. Now step back to Friday the 13th, 1314. The Grand Master of history's most powerful military order kneels before the flames as the fire rises, Jacques de Molay, last leader of the Knights Templar, utters a curse so chilling that when both the French king and pope die within the year, whispers of dark prophecy spread across Europe. Now, these aren't crazy conspiracy theories or something you read in, you know, some fan fiction. These are real historical events you'll discover until Today in History, the newsletter that uncovers the strange, shocking and sublime moments that shape our world. Get your daily dose of mind bending history, scan the QR code or click the link below to join Today in History.