How to Win a Civil War: The Case of Caesar (Gaius Iulius Caesar): Part-4

Caesar takes over the city of Rome

Caesar decided that he had to devote all his attention and strength to the battle. Pompeus must have been so intimidated by Caesar's fierce attacks that he put his troops on ships and sailed away from Brundisium, where he was at the time. One reason for this was that the people of the city were tired of Pompeus' insults and the cruelty of his soldiers and supported Caesar. As a matter of fact, the people of the city immediately informed Caesar about Pompeus' departure. Upon receiving the news, Caesar sent his soldiers to the city. The soldiers raided and captured two ships that had not yet left the harbor. 

Caesar considered boarding the ships and following Pompeus, but he did not have enough ships as Pompeus had taken them all. He therefore decided to head for Spain. He assigned part of his troops to capture Sicily and then move on to Africa, while he sent a legion to Sardinia to capture the island. Sicily was easily captured, as Pompeus' troop commanders had fled. After these successes, Caesar gathered his troops and entered Rome. The capital was now under his control. He summoned the Senate and told them about the injustices done to him, Pompeus' mistakes and his failure to respond to all their peace efforts. He encouraged them to govern the state with him. 

It was discussed to send an envoy to Pompeus for a meeting, but no envoy could be found. Because Pompeus had said in the Senate that he would equate those who remained in the city after he left Rome with those in Caesar's camp. Caesar then left Rome and went to Gaul. The cities and barbarian tribes in the region showed their support for Caesar. But when one of Pompeus' generals arrived, the Massilians took him and his soldiers into the city. Caesar then besieged the city. In the meantime, he had many ships built. So the city was also besieged from the sea.

Battles in Spain

By this time most of Spain was under the control of Pompeus' troops. Before starting the campaign, Caesar borrowed money from the local rulers and distributed it to his soldiers. Thus, he secured their loyalty. Then he fortified his camp. However, Pompeus' troops in Spain did not fight regular battles in the classical Roman style, but practiced a mobile and flexible style of warfare similar to that of barbarian tribes. This began to strain Caesar's army, which was used to regular battles.

On the other hand, it rained heavily enough to be considered a natural disaster. Pompeus' troops were not affected as they were in populated areas, but Caesar faced supply and shelter problems. Seeing this, Pompeus' troops began to make night raids, but these were not successful due to the efforts of the Gallic tribal cavalry supporting Caesar. The Gallic tribes also ensured that Caesar's army did not starve by providing livestock.

As these developments reached Rome with exaggerated reports that Caesar was in dire straits, some people left the city to join Pompeus. Caesar, however, took the initiative and began to prevent Pompeus' troops from gathering grass for their animals and supplies with night raids. Meanwhile, Caesar's small fleet of ships defeated Pompeus' fleet in a battle off the coast of Spain. 

In response, a large number of tribes and settlements, some of which supported Pompeus' army, sent envoys and pledged their allegiance to Caesar. This facilitated the supply of supplies. Thanks to the support of the tribes, Caesar was also superior in cavalry. Thus, with fast marches and agile maneuvers, he pushed Pompeus' troops to the limit. Demoralized soldiers began to meet Caesar's troops without their commanders' knowledge. Many small unit commanders and tribal leaders surrendered to Caesar. As Caesar treated them with kindness, their participation increased even more.  But Petreius, one of the commanders of Pompeus' troops, took drastic measures to control the situation and had those who met Caesar's soldiers killed.

However, he decided to withdraw his troops due to difficulties in supplying food and water. During the withdrawal, Caesar constantly harassed the rearguard with his cavalry. By this tactic, he was trying to weaken the enemy through a battle of attrition rather than attacking the main body of the enemy. As a result, the commanders of Pompeus' army became desperate and approached Caesar. When Caesar promised that no one would be harmed provided the army was demobilized immediately, Pompeus' troops disbanded. Following this, the troops in southern Spain also came under Caesar's command. Thus, after Gaul and Italy, Spain also fell to Caesar.

Caesar's election as dictator

After returning the money taken from the temples and appointing administrators everywhere, Caesar sailed westward in his ships. When he learned that the Senate had decided to elect a dictator to run the country and that he had been nominated, he headed for Rome. The only disaster Caesar had ever faced was the total annihilation of his troops, which had crossed into Africa after taking Sicily, by troops loyal to Pompeus and the army of a local king. But compared to Italy, the heartland of Rome, and the resource-rich Gaul and Spain surrounding it, Africa was of little importance in terms of dominating the country.

After arriving in Rome, Caesar oversaw the election of consuls as dictator. After the election, he left his post, gathered his army and set out to eliminate Pompeus once and for all. At that time, Greece, Anatolia, Syria and Africa were not under his control. He did not have enough ships, so he could not get all his soldiers on board. Meanwhile, Pompeus, having been away from conflict for a year, had organized a large army and a navy of many ships. He also collected large sums of money by coercing the people in the areas under his control. He stationed his ships on the coasts of what is now Greece, Albania and Croatia to prevent Caesar from coming by ship.

Battles in the Balkan Peninsula

Caesar set sail with his ships and managed to land his troops in southern Albania. Short of supplies, some settlements controlled by Pompeus' army sent word to Caesar for help. When Caesar approached, the people attacked Pompeus' soldiers and forced them to flee their towns. Caesar sent an envoy again and offered Pompeus peace. But instead of making peace, Pompeus preferred to take precautions to prevent Caesar, who had easily conquered the interior, from taking over the coastline. 

The indigenous Greeks continued to drive Pompeus' troops out of their cities and join Caesar, saying they would not fight him. This caused fear in Pompeus' army. All the Episcopalians left the army. As the weather turned cold, Caesar camped for the winter in southern Albania and waited for his troops to arrive from Italy. Pompeus' troops were preventing his soldiers from arriving by ship, and Caesar's army was preventing them from getting water and supplies from the interior. Caesar was the official of Rome at the time. Pompeus had no official title. That's why the locals almost everywhere swore allegiance to Caesar.

Caesar's army and Pompeus' army camped on either side of the Apsus River, facing each other for the winter. As the weather began to warm up, both armies mobilized. As Caesar began to clear the coastline, Pompeus called for help from his troops in western Anatolia. With the arrival of these troops, many battles took place between the two sides in Macedonia and Greece. 

Meanwhile, sea battles were also taking place and Pompeus was still dominant on the coasts. On land, Pompeus persistently avoided a pitched battle. Caesar then tried to seize the hills around Pompeus' camp and build fortresses, thus squeezing him into a narrow area with limited space for movement. Seeing this, Pompeus endeavored to keep his area of movement wide by capturing the surrounding hills before Caesar and building fortresses, but he could not avoid being besieged.

He then organized a breakthrough movement to break the siege. Caesar, whose army was smaller, was overwhelmed by the fighting and retreated. Another purpose of his withdrawal was to ensure that if Pompeus pursued him, he would face supply difficulties as he would be away from the Ionian Sea, which he controlled. Caesar completed his retreat and met up with the rest of his troops and camped in Thessaly. Pompeus lost the battle in Thessaly. 

Pompeus' death and the end of the civil war

Pompeus, with a small number of his men, fled first to Larissa, then to his ships on the coast and traveled by sea to Mesena. Pompeus' remaining troops surrendered. Caesar pardoned them and went to Larissa, taking these troops with him. Meanwhile, Caesar's navy attacked Mesena and burned many ships. 

Pompeus realized that he could not stay in Mesena either. He first went to Lesbos, then to Cilicia and Cyprus. After Cyprus, Pompeus was planning to go to Syria, but when he heard that Caesar was following him, he fled to Egypt. In Egypt, there was a civil war for the kingdom between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolomeaus. Ptolomeaus had seized power. 

The king welcomed Pompeus' arrival. However, Pompeus was killed by soldiers when he landed. Meanwhile, Caesar had arrived in Anatolia and when he learned that Pompeus had fled, he set sail for Egypt with a small number of ships. When he landed in Alexandria, he learned that Pompeus had been killed there. Thus the civil war ended and Caesar became the sole ruler of Rome.

Note

In the preparation of this article, we benefited from Caesar's Notes on the Civil War published by Doğubatı Publishing House, Montesquieu's The Rise and Fall of the Romans published by Köprü Publishing House, Caesar's Battle of Gallia published by Hourglass Publishing House and internet sources such as Wikipedia.