Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was born in July 100 BC and died in March 44 BC. He was known for being a politician and general of the late Roman republic, who greatly extended the Roman empire before seizing power and making himself dictator of Rome, he was a statesman, Consul and author. He is deemed one of the greatest military commanders in the history of the world.

At the age of seventeen Caesar married Cornelia, the daughter of a powerful politician in Rome.
He joined the Roman Army in 81 BC and became the first Roman General to invade Britain when he built the bridge across Rhine.Caesar also became the first living man to appear on a Roman coin. Even the month of the year that he was born, Quintilis, was renamed July in his honour.
Caesar was made a consul in 59 BC and in 58 BC he went to Gaul (France) where he served as governor. He was prosperous in this position and conquered more land for the Roman Empire. Caesar's soldiers were extremely loyal to him at a military level yet by some he was seen as a man only working to expand his power, this made him unpopular among many important politicians in Rome. Some senior army generals, such as Pompey, were questioning Caesar's intentions. At the end of his term as consul, Caesar became commander of the Roman Army.

Caesar was confident that in the long term, his well-organised forces would be able to defeat the Gauls that controlled central and northern Europe. First he defeated the Helvetii, he followed this with victories over the Gauls that lived in northern Europe and after reaching the English Channel in 55 BC Caesar decided to invade Britain. To make sure everybody knew about his military victories, Caesar wrote a book about his campaigns and had it published in Rome. The Senate became concerned about his growing popularity and after his military victories they appointed another famous Roman soldier Pompey, to take control of the country, to prevent Caesar from gaining power and passed a motion insisting that Caesar should retire from office.

In 49 BC, after his invasions, Caesar returned to Italy, the Senate ordered Caesar to hand over his army to their control, due the the Republic's laws. Disregarding the authority Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon River and advanced to confront his enemies in Rome. In the consequential civil war Caesar defeated the republican forces. Pompey, their leader, fled to Egypt where he was assassinated and for the next 3 years Caesar picked off his enemies one by one whether they were in North Africa, the Middle East or Europe.

Caesar followed Pompey into Egypt and became romantically involved with the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, who was 21 and he 52, he had been married three times before.Caesar and Cleopatra seemed to have become lovers shortly after meeting and Caesar remained in Egypt with her nine months.On 23 June 47 BC