Political developments in the late Republic
-legacy of Sulla
-Pompey: significance of military and political career
-significance of the consulship of Pompey and Crassus in 70BC
-role and significance of Cicero
-First Triumvirate: aims, roles and responsibilities of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus
-activities and breakdown of the First Triumvirate
-political crises: role of the Senate; use of the army for politcal purposes; urban violence
-role of optimates, poulares
-Caesar and Pompey: political competition and responsibility for outbreak of the Civil War 49-45BC
-significance of Caesar's dictatorship
-legacy of Sulla
-Pompey: significance of military and political career
-significance of the consulship of Pompey and Crassus in 70BC
-role and significance of Cicero
-First Triumvirate: aims, roles and responsibilities of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus
-activities and breakdown of the First Triumvirate
-political crises: role of the Senate; use of the army for politcal purposes; urban violence
-role of optimates, poulares
-Caesar and Pompey: political competition and responsibility for outbreak of the Civil War 49-45BC
-significance of Caesar's dictatorship
Wars and Expansion
-Pompey's extraordinary commands and the Eastern Settlement
-Caesar's military activities in Gaul, Germany and Britain
-significance of the Mithridatic and Parthian wars
-Pompey's extraordinary commands and the Eastern Settlement
-Caesar's military activities in Gaul, Germany and Britain
-significance of the Mithridatic and Parthian wars
Fall of the Republic
-impact of Caesar's assassination
-format, activities and breakdown of the Second Triumvirate
-rivalry and Civil War between Mark Antony and Octavian: role of Cleopatra VII; Battle of Actium
-impact of Caesar's assassination
-format, activities and breakdown of the Second Triumvirate
-rivalry and Civil War between Mark Antony and Octavian: role of Cleopatra VII; Battle of Actium
The story of the fall of the republic
The middle years of the first century BC were marked by violence in the city, and fighting between gangs supporting rival politicians and political programmes.
The two protagonists were Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ('Pompey the Great', as he was called, after Alexander the Great) and Julius Caesar. Originally allies, they became bitter enemies. Both had conquered vast tracts of territory: Pompey in what is now Turkey, Caesar in France.
Caesar promoted radical policies in the spirit of Tiberius Gracchus; Pompey had the support of the traditionalists.
Historians in both the ancient and modern world have devoted enormous energy to tracking the precise stages by which these two men came head-to-head in civil war. For much of this period we can actually follow the daily course of events thanks to the surviving letters of a contemporary politician, Marcus Tullius Cicero.
But the fact is that, given the power each had accrued and their entrenched opposition, war between them was almost inevitable. It broke out in 49 BC. By the end of 48 BC, Pompey was dead (beheaded as he tried to land in Egypt) and Caesar was left - to all intents and purposes - as the first emperor of Rome.
But not in name. Using the old title of 'dictator', he notoriously received the kind of honours that were usually reserved for the gods. He also embarked on another programme of reform including such radical measures as the cancellation of debts and the settlement of landless veteran soldiers.
He did not, however, have long to effect change (perhaps his most lasting innovation was his reform of the calendar and the introduction of the system of 'leap years' that we still use today). For in 44 BC he too was murdered by a posse of senators, in the name of 'liberty'.
Not much 'liberty' was to follow. Instead there was another decade of civil war as Caesar's supporters first of all battled it out with his assassins, and when they had been finished off, fought among themselves.
There was no other major player left when in 31 BC Octavian (Caesar's nephew and adopted son) defeated Antony at a naval battle near Actium in northern Greece.
The slides on this site are designed to present the narrative history as a story, to engage you in the motives, events and outcomes. As a result they often lack the detail of your class work. They are designed to supplement your work in class and help you put the story of the Fall of the Republic together. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do.
The two protagonists were Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ('Pompey the Great', as he was called, after Alexander the Great) and Julius Caesar. Originally allies, they became bitter enemies. Both had conquered vast tracts of territory: Pompey in what is now Turkey, Caesar in France.
Caesar promoted radical policies in the spirit of Tiberius Gracchus; Pompey had the support of the traditionalists.
Historians in both the ancient and modern world have devoted enormous energy to tracking the precise stages by which these two men came head-to-head in civil war. For much of this period we can actually follow the daily course of events thanks to the surviving letters of a contemporary politician, Marcus Tullius Cicero.
But the fact is that, given the power each had accrued and their entrenched opposition, war between them was almost inevitable. It broke out in 49 BC. By the end of 48 BC, Pompey was dead (beheaded as he tried to land in Egypt) and Caesar was left - to all intents and purposes - as the first emperor of Rome.
But not in name. Using the old title of 'dictator', he notoriously received the kind of honours that were usually reserved for the gods. He also embarked on another programme of reform including such radical measures as the cancellation of debts and the settlement of landless veteran soldiers.
He did not, however, have long to effect change (perhaps his most lasting innovation was his reform of the calendar and the introduction of the system of 'leap years' that we still use today). For in 44 BC he too was murdered by a posse of senators, in the name of 'liberty'.
Not much 'liberty' was to follow. Instead there was another decade of civil war as Caesar's supporters first of all battled it out with his assassins, and when they had been finished off, fought among themselves.
There was no other major player left when in 31 BC Octavian (Caesar's nephew and adopted son) defeated Antony at a naval battle near Actium in northern Greece.
The slides on this site are designed to present the narrative history as a story, to engage you in the motives, events and outcomes. As a result they often lack the detail of your class work. They are designed to supplement your work in class and help you put the story of the Fall of the Republic together. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do.
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This document contains all of the past paper questions for this topic. It is most important that you practice a range of essays from this document. When preparing your study notes you need to be able to categorise them into topics (syllabus dot points), memorise the information, memorise a variety of sources and quotes from both primary sources and modern historians and then apply them to a variety of questions - and use this information to form arguments and conclusions. This WEBSITE gives some examples of what you could include in essays for each of the syllabus dot points. It's a very useful tool for preparation and revision.
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All coin information on this site has been adapted from the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies: The Coinage of Julius Caesar