Sulla was able to retire from political life and died on his country estate.
It was after he died, when Julius Caesar felt safe to return to Rome.
He wasn’t rich, Sulla having confiscated his inheritance, and lived in a working class neighborhood that was a notorious red-light district.
Needing to earn money, Caesar turned to the courts.
He was a successful lawyer and his speaking was very highly praised, though he was noted for his high-pitched voice.
And no surprise, He particularly liked prosecuting corrupt government officials.
He was back in military and political life soon and elected a military tribune and then quaestor – a travelling auditor – in 69 BC. He was then was sent to Spain as a governor.
In Spain, Caesar is reported to have seen a statue of Alexander the Great.
He was disappointed to note that he was now the same age as Alexander had been when he was master of the known world.
In 63 BC he was elected to the top religious position in Rome, Pontifex Maximus (he had been a priest as a boy) and two years later he was governor of a large part of Spain where his military talent shone through as he defeated two local tribes.
Popularity and political office were expensive in Rome,Caesar was forced to leave Spain before his term of office ended, opening him to private prosecution for his debts.
So, Caesar sought out rich friends to back his ambitions.
As a result of his debt Caesar turned to the richest man in Rome (and possibly in history by some accounts), Marcus Licinius Crassus.
Crassus helped him out and they were soon to be allies.
In 65 BC he spent a fortune he didn’t have on gladiators.
Caesar knew that popularity could be bought. Already deeply in debt, he staged a massive gladiator show, apparently to honor his father, who had died 20 years previously.
Only new Senate laws on gladiator numbers limited the display to 320 pairs of fighters.
Caesar was the first to use gladiators as such public, crowd-pleasing spectacles.
Debt might be one of the most important drivers of Caesar’s career.
His conquests in Gaul were partly financially motivated.
Generals and governors could make large sums from tribute payments and plunder.
One of his first acts as dictator was to pass debt reform laws that eventually wiped clean around a quarter of all debts, though, bribery brought him to power.
Caesar’s first taste of real power came as part of the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus.
Pompey was another popular military leader and Crassus the money man.
Caesar’s successful election to the consulship was one of the dirtiest Rome had seen and Crassus must have paid Caesar’s bribes.
Rome was already expanding into Gaul by the time Caesar went north.
Parts of northern Italy were Gallic. Caesar was governor of first Cisalpine Gaul, or Gaul on ‘our’ side of the Alps, and soon after of Transalpine Gaul, the Roman’s Gallic territory just over the Alps.
Trade and political links made allies of some of Gaul’s tribes, though Gauls had threatened Rome in the past.
In 109 BC, when Caesar’s powerful uncle Gaius Marius had won lasting fame and the title ‘Third Founder of Rome’ by stopping a tribal invasion of Italy.
Inter-tribal conflicts could mean trouble.
A powerful tribal leader, Ariovistus of the Germanic Suebi tribe, won battles with rival tribes in 63 BC and could become the ruler of all of Gaul.
If other tribes were displaced, they might head south again.Caesar’s first battles were with the Helvetii.Germanic tribes were pushing them out of their home territory and their path to new lands in the West lay across Roman territory.
Caesar was able to stop them at the Rhone and move more troops north. He finally defeated them in the Battle of Bibracte in 50 BC, returning them to their homeland and other Gallic tribes demanded protection from Rome
Ariovistus’ Suebi tribe were still moving into Gaul and at a conference other Gallic leaders warned that without protection they would have to move – threatening Italy.
Caesar issued warnings to Ariovistus, a previous Roman ally and showed his military genius in his battles with Ariovistus
A long preamble of negotiations finally led to pitched battle with the Suebi near Vesontio (now Besançon).
Caesar’s largely untested legions, led by political appointments, proved strong enough and a 120,000-strong Suebi army was wiped out.
Ariovistus returned to Germany for good.
Next to challenge Rome were the Belgae, occupants of modern Belgium.
They attacked Roman allies.
The most warlike of the Belgian tribes, the Nervii, nearly defeated Caesar’s armies.
Caesar later wrote that ‘the Belgae are the bravest’ of the Gauls.
In 56 BC Caesar then went west to conquer Armorica, as Brittany was then called.
In 55 BC , he crossed the Rhine into Germany and made his first expedition to Britannia.
His enemies complained that Caesar was more interested in building personal power and territory than his mission to conquer Gaul.
Vercingetorix was the Gauls’ greatest leader.
Regular rebellions became particularly troublesome when the Arverni chieftain united the Gallic tribes and turned to guerrilla tactics.
Caesar built two lines of forts around the Gallic stronghold and defeated two larger armies. The wars were all but ended when Vercingetorix rode out to throw his arms at Caesar’s feet.
Vercingetorix was taken to Rome and later strangled.
The Siege of Alesia in 52 BC was Caesar’s final victory.
