Julius Caesar Timeline

Julius Caesar is born

100 BCE

Julius Caesar was born in July of 100 BC into a prestigious Julian clan, named "gens Julia". His father was Gaius Julius Caesar, and mother was Aurelia.

Julius Caesar becomes a quaestor

68 BCE

A quaestor is the lowest rank of the "Cursus Honorum", the course of honours. Their main role is to manage financial and administrative duties

Caesar becomes an aedile in furthur Spain

65 BCE

Caesar became an aedile, performed administrative duties, which were one of the tasks of aediles inAancient Rome, as well as maintaining "aedes", houses, the root of the word aedile.

Caesar becomes a praetor

62 BCE

Caesar gets elected a praetor, which is one rank below a consul in the Cursus Honorum, the Course of Honours. Praetors often are judges, but when consuls were absent, they could have been in charge of whole governments.

Caesar becomes a propraetor in Further Spain

61 BCE

Caesar became a propraetor, which is a position given to a praetor who has served 1 year in Rome, and has extended their term by 1 year, to govern a province of Ancient Rome. When given the role of propraetor, he commanded and army, and won many triumphs in Spain. This proved his talent at being a general.

Caesar is elected a consul

59 BCE

Although he was faced with skeptism from the optimates, the aristocrats, Caesar was voted consul, the highest order in the Course of Honours. Caesar was only able to overcome this deep opposition by forming an alliance with his friend Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey. This was known as the First Triumvirate. This strong alliance helped him get elected for consul.

Caesar become proconsul

58 BCE

As a proconsul (a consul whose term was extended, even though they were not effectively in office as a result of prorogatio, "extension of a term in office), he was given the province of Cisalpine Gaul and the Illyricum region for 5 years, because of the newly introduced law, Lex Vatinia. The Gallic war started in 58BC, and although Caesar's term ended in 54BC, his term was extended for another 5 years, in which he was able to finish the Gallic war.

The Battle of Vosges

58 BCE

Ariovistus, the king of Suebi, or in Caesar's words, rex Germani, "king of Germany". Ariovistus first was allied with a Gallic tribe known as the Sequani, to help defeat another tribe that was allied with Rome, the Aedui. After defeating the Aedui, he stayed and actually demanded land from both the Sequani and the Aedui. These tyrannical actions attracted Caesar, and Caesar defeated Ariovistus, and claimed both the land of the Aedui and the Sequani.

The Battle of Bribricate

58 BCE

The Helvetii Tribe began a mass migration into Gaul. Here Caesar planned to intercept the migration, and he did so with great success. This Battle essentially marked the beginning of the Gaulic Campaign.

The Gallic Wars

Period: 58 BCE to 50 BCE

Caesar was elected consul in 59BC, and as a result of his political campaigns, he was deeply in debt, and had made a lot of enemies within Rome. This drove him out of Rome, to solve these problems. And so, he began the Gallic campaign.

The Battle of Sabis

57 BCE

Julius Caesar fought Belgic Tribes who all allied to fight against the Romans. After this victory, there was a rise of a new Belgic coalition that was against the rule of Caesar, which included the Nervii. This Battle that Caesar won. At the end of 57BC, Caesar managed to conquer all of Northern Gaul.

The Battle of Morbihan

56 BCE

The Veneti tribe, who were seafaring people of North-Western France, or Britanny, commonly supported other tribes that were against the Caesar rule. Once, they had taken a few of Caesar's envoys hostage, and this pushed Caesar to build and send a naval fleet to oppose the Veneti tribe. To do this, Caesar had to cross the Rhine river, which put him in new territory, and further expanding his influence.

Caesar invades Britain for the first time

55 BCE

Julius Caesar invaded Britain for the first time. He only brought 2 legiones "legions" and thus only achieved to land on the coast of Kent in South-East Britain.

Caesar invades Britain the second time

54 BCE

By now, Caesar was prepared to invade Britain once again. However, this time, he prepared to do it with 500 naves "ships", 5 legiones "legions" and 2000 equites "cavalry". This time, he reached Middlesex, which is now regional London in the South-East of Britain. Here he defeated a few British tribes, however did set up any permanent settlement. Instead he took some hostages, and demanded the British to give him a payment of goods and money.

Death of Julia

54 BCE

Caesar's daughter, the wife of his political ally, Pompey, passed away. This shook Caesar and the relationship he had with Pompey, which is widely considered the beginning of Caesar's downfall.

Ambriorix's revolt

54 BCE

There was an revolt in the Gaul region led by the Eburones tribe, which wiped out a Roman legion. Caesar was forced to return to Greece, where he defeated the Eburones tribe.

Caesar fights Germanic Tribes again

53 BCE

The Germanic tribes were beginning to get more and more rebellious under Caesar's rule, and so he determined to cross the Rhine again to invade these Germanic tribes once again.

Marcus Crassus dies

53 BCE

The death of Marcus Crassus in battle, completely disbands the First Triumvirate.

The Battle of Alesia

52 BCE

Caesar was staying in Cisalpine Gaul, which is modern day Northern-Italy, and in Transalpine Gaul, which is further north, in modern day Southern-France, Vercingetorix, "Gallorum fortissimus" the strongest Gaul was uniting the area to revolt against Caesar. After a long battle, Caesar was able to defeat an army 3 times larger than his, that had trapped him in his own walls. This proved his place as one of the greatest generals in history.

Eradication of remaining revolting Gallic tribes

51 BCE

Finally, Caesar went and besieged the remaining revolting Gallic tribes. Now, Gaul was finally under Roman control, and thus Caesar starting building settlements.

End of Caesar's proconsulship

50 BCE

Caesar's time as proconsul was up, and it was agreed that Caesar, would let go of their command over their individual armies, and their role of governor. However, Pompey, who is now Caesar's enemy, was offered a deal to have full control of all the troops in Italy, after he was to give up their command as governor. Caesar, although his proconsulship had ended, he was not willing to give up control of his army.

Caesar invades Rome

49 BCE

Caesar decided to approach Rome, with the whole of his army, in preparation for civil war. This began Caesar's civil war. This civil war was fought in Europe, Asia and Africa. Caesar first crossed the Rubicon River. This marked the beginning of the civil war. Rome was completely unprepared for the invasion, and thus Caesar was able to drive them out of Italy with ease. Then Caesar appointed himself dictator for the first time, but only for elections. He stepped down to consul, after 11 days.

Caesar's Civil War

Period: 49 BCE to 45 BCE