Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was a Roman general and politician who lived from 100 BCE to 44 BCE. He became the most powerful leader in the Roman Republic and helped change Rome from a republic into an empire. His name has been used as a word for "ruler" ever since. The German word "Kaiser" and the Russian word "Tsar" both come from "Caesar."

Caesar was born into an old but not very rich Roman family. As a young man, he was smart, ambitious, and a strong public speaker. He climbed through Roman politics step by step. He held several important jobs, including the role of consul, which was the highest office in the Republic.

In 58 BCE, Caesar took command of Roman armies in a region called Gaul. Gaul covered much of what is now France and Belgium. Over about eight years, his soldiers fought dozens of battles and brought all of Gaul under Roman rule. Caesar wrote his own account of these wars. Students of Latin still read his book today.

His success worried other Roman leaders. The Senate ordered him to give up his army and return to Rome alone. Instead, in 49 BCE, Caesar marched his soldiers across a small river called the Rubicon and into Italy. Crossing the Rubicon with an army was against Roman law. The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is still used to mean a choice you cannot take back.

Civil war followed. Caesar defeated his rivals across Italy, Greece, Egypt, and North Africa. In Egypt, he met Queen Cleopatra and helped her win her own throne. By 45 BCE, he had won the war. The Senate named him "dictator for life," which gave him power no Roman had ever held before.

Caesar made big changes quickly. He gave land to poor soldiers, forgave many debts, and offered Roman citizenship to people in faraway provinces. He also fixed the Roman calendar. The new "Julian calendar" had 365 days and a leap day every four years. Most of the world used a version of it for the next 1,600 years.

Many senators feared that Caesar wanted to be a king, and Romans hated kings. On March 15, 44 BCE, a date called the Ides of March, a group of senators surrounded him inside the Senate house and stabbed him to death. One of the killers was Brutus, a man Caesar had treated like a son.

His death did not save the Republic. After more years of war, Caesar's adopted son Augustus became the first Roman emperor. The Republic was gone for good.