In January 49 B.C., he led his legion across the shallow Rubicon River and entered Italy – a virtual declaration of war against the Roman Republic. Instead, Caesar marched from Gaul with the XIII Legion. The roots of this conflict reached back to 50 B.C., when the Roman Senate, feeling threatened by Caesar’s popularity with the Roman people in the wake of his Gallic conquests, ordered Caesar to disband his army in Gaul and return to Rome to face prosecution for several claimed offenses. At Pharsalus, however, Caesar’s soldiers confronted other disciplined Roman legionaries in a battle certain to decide the outcome of a brutal civil war. Under Caesar’s charismatic leadership, these war-hardened legionaries had often won battles while fighting greatly outnumbered by fierce Gallic warriors.
Pompey’s 50,000-man army greatly outnumbered Caesar’s 20,000 soldiers yet Caesar’s troops were seasoned veterans of the years-long, hard-fought campaigns that had conquered Gaul (modern-day France) and greatly expanded Roman-ruled territory.
Charismatic leadership and brilliant tactics gained Caesar an empire and made him ruler of Rome.įor several days, Julius Caesar had watched the army of his fellow Roman but bitter enemy Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) forming near Pharsalus in the central region of Roman-ruled Greece.