Julius Caesar's Rise to Power and Dictatorship

In the time of outrage and uncertainty a general took the republics in Europe and changed the course of the future of Rome. His name was Julius Caesar. Caesar made his name by easily conquering the Gauls and adding more riches for Rome. They were in desperate need of a change in their government and saw Caesar as an opportunity to make the change they’ve been needing. Caesar used this popularity to take Rome for himself. This turn of events showed to be the downfall of the Roman republic. Julius Caesar was a huge part of why the Republic collapsed and turned into the empire he created. Julius Caesar had an advantage in part of his popularity and influence over the people. This influence helped gained his support in his capture of Rome. Julius Caesar single-handedly ended the republic by giving himself too much power and in a sense creating a monarchy. This started the empire era of Rome.

Julius Caesar had a tremendous rise to power which went alongside his boldness on the battlefield. Julius Caesar using the strength of his army set on to gain new territory for an already unstable republic. These territories (also known a Gaul) proved to be a successful moral victory for Caesar in further increasing the wealth of Rome and popularity from his people. Also his great success in the conquest of Gaul made him enormously popular with the Roman citizens. The citizens were extremely pleased to hear that Caesar had gained many victories in his expansion and by doing so gained land for farming and new cities and materials for trading and building. Most importantly he made new trade routes that made Rome more prosperous. This helped him gain the support of the people and giving him the upper hand over the republic. What also made him more popular was the citizens struggle against Rome’s corrupted government and problems they created for them. The citizens wanted change badly and saw how Caesar was gaining success and a shine of light in a time of darkness. Before Caesar rose to power the common people and the government only resolved problems and conflicts in violent ways. This made people very eager to find a new leader so they all looked to Caesar. This gave Caesar the power and the acceptance of the citizens to take the government himself without any problems. All of this led up to Caesar fighting Pompey and his small army to take Rome. But on the other hand, Caesar is not the only reason why the republic fell. As said before the republic was already in a bad state when Caesar took throne. The Republic was destined to be doomed it was just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. the turmoil sparked slave uprisings at home and revolts among Rome's allies. All of this on top of Caesars control of Rome ended the republic. This bad state shows that Caesar was just in the right situation to help it collapse. Even without him Rome would’ve fell on its own.

After Julius Caesar kicked Pompey out of power he forced the senate to make him permanent dictator. Which led to him being the absolute ruler of Rome, and ending the Republic. By Caesar having to much power and in a sense having his own “empire” where he was the emperor led a path for his later successors becoming corrupt and very power hungry. Witch overall led to the total fall of Rome. Later in the Roman Empire the military was less loyalty based and only fought with their commanders for the throne. Eventually the loyalty to the Republic which was once so greatly practiced and believed even the average citizen has forgotten about. There was no more patriotism, which was a direct result of power hungry Emperors in the footsteps of Caesar that only focused on mass expansion. People started to believe Caesar had way too much power and was going to try to become a king witch Romans so greatly hated. This really scared people in the government. Julius Caesar expanded the senate and added friends and supports on it. So many other Patricians, nobles and senators feared they may lose their influence and their voice. Many of them regarded to Caesar as a tyrant. Due to Caesars great rise in power a mob of angry senators most likely led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Cassius Longinus, and Decimus Brutus marched into the senate chamber andstabbed Caesar to death. After the Assassination of Ceaser the senate didn’t know what to do and now there was a massive void in the government. Rome was thrown into turmoil and chaos which ultimately lead to a civil war and the absolute fall of the Roman Republic. While Caesar was not the best dictator he really did help people. He got the poor new jobs, he started colonies where people without land could own land and he increased pay for soldiers. So for all the bad he did his reforms really helped many people and soldiers that had lost land of people who just couldn’t afford it.

Overall Caesar used this popularity and Rome’s desperate need of new new leader as an opportunity to take Rome for himself. This turn of events showed to be the downfall of the Roman republic. Julius Caesar was a massive part on why the Republic collapsed. Julius Caesar had an upper hand in that he had popularity and influence over the people. Julius Caesar ended the republic by giving himself way too much power in an already unstable Republic. An in a sense creating an empire without the title. He rose to power after his rise in popularity because of his great conquest through Gaul. The Romans were already looking for a better leader so they turned to Caesar. Then again the Roman Republic was in bad shape, and when Caesar was in control it collapsed. while all the blame cannot be put on him most of it can. He led the path for future emperors and was very power hungry. To me this relates to the Revolutionary war, in the sense that the Romans saw the republic was not working in their favor and needed to change it, like how the Americans saw that England wasn’t working for their benefit and decided to get a new ruler and change it as well.