Caesar, Gaius Julius

Caesar, Gaius Julius (100 or 102-44 BC), Roman general and statesman.

Julius Caesar was a nobleman. He became a statesman as a young man and in 65 BC was put in charge of buildings and games in Rome. He did the job well and the people liked him.

As time went by he was given more and more important jobs. There was much plotting among Roman statesmen, and in 60 BC Caesar made a plot with Gnaeus Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus. These three became the most powerful men in Rome and Caesar was made chief magistrate. Then he went to govern the province of Gaul (France).

At the head of the Roman armies, he conquered tribe after tribe, and drove German invaders back across the River Rhine. Caesar's wars in Gaul lasted nearly ten years, and he wrote a famous book about them, De Bello Gallico (The Gallic Wars). Boys and girls learning Latin still read this book today.

In 55 and 54 BC he invaded Britain. Back in Rome, Crassus died, and Pompey became jealous of Caesar's success.

In 49 BC Caesar was on his way home. Pompey persuaded the Roman Senate to send a message telling him to disband his army, but he marched on to Rome. Pompey was not ready to meet him and fled.

Caesar was made dictator of Rome. In the next five years he made himself master of the Roman Empire. He defeated Pompey in Greece and other rivals in Spain, Turkey and Africa. Afterwards he was offered the crown. He turned it down, but he had all the powers of a king.

Caesar made many changes to help the Roman people. He introduced a new calendar very much like the one we still use. He gave retired soldiers the chance to be farmers. He made new rules about giving food to poor people.

Caesar planned many more changes but he did not live to complete them. Some people (including friends of his) thought he really intended to become king, and they did not want him to. So on 15 March, 44 BC they stopped him as he was entering the Senate building and stabbed him to death.

William Shakespeare wrote a famous play about Julius Caesar and so did Bernard Shaw.

See Paul Johnson Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle