Eli5: Why was it world-changing that Caesar crossed the Rubicon?
In: 1397
Well first off, it’s a face off between some of the most powerful people (proportionally) of all time. Pompey vs Caesar truly was the showdown of the millennium. Two epically powerful and legendary heroes, fighting for the future of civilization. That sounds like fantasy book fluff, but it really isn’t. It actually happened.
Because by crossing the Rubicon, Caesar basically changed the course of western civilization, and the impacts of doing so are pretty much responsible for where we are today. It’s basically a massive lynchpin in history in that it decided how borders were drawn ever since.
So, Caesar was a big, big political player in Rome and had maneuverered his way into a governorship of the province of Gaul. During his 10 year stint in Gaul, Caesar had essentially built up a massive army, loyal to *him* personally. Using his loyalties, his vast, vast wealth, and influence, he engineered what was essentially a military coup. He took arguably the greatest civilization born out of Europe at the time, and decided things weren’t working. He saw himself as the person who could fix the Republic’s problems.
The problem was, that the most of Rome, did not agree. The people in charge saw this as a threat to their authority. The ruling elite where truly the most powerful families proportionally in history. Owning up to 99.9% of the wealth of Rome. To give you an idea, these people adjusted for inflation are far richer than the richest billionaires today, yet the average Roman citizen was far poorer than the poorest of people today, anywhere in the world. That’s how unequal Rome was, and how powerful these ruling classes were (to give you a rough idea). Anyway, these ruling classes didn’t have much time to react, so the rushed defence was that if Caesar was to cross the Rubicon into Italia proper, that would be the end of either Caesar, or the end of the Roman Republic.
Caesar’s victory meant that it was the latter. Caesar invaded, destroyed the Roman Republic and built the Roman Empire in it’s place, with Caesar as the sole Dictator and went to work reforming Rome.
1. He implemented land reforms, added social and political measures in order to stabilize the state and improve the standard of living for the lower classes.
2. He started (and mostly personally funded) vast infrastructure projects, such as roads, public buildings, cities, all to turn Rome into a machine that generated wealth for the elite, into one that more fairly compensated normal people
3. He wiped as much of the old guard away as he could. Even reinventing the Calendar, so as to distinguish his rulership over his predecessors.
4. He bought the loyalty of senators that previously defied him. Basically buying Rome’s political class for personal use.
5. He implemented a professional Roman army, with the sole goal of expanding the empire as far as possible. And basically bring it to it’s most illustrious and expansive point.
Don’t get it twisted, Caesar was no altruist. He did what was necessary to secure power, and sometimes that happened to align with the needs of the people. But hey, the results speak for themselves.
All the “glory of Rome”, European kings taking the title “Czar” and “Kaisar”, European kingdoms deigning authority and legitimacy through Roman inheritance, and wanting to reconnect with these glory days of Empire are all because Caesar chose to cross the Rubicon.
Basically, much of European history can all be traced back to that point. It’s a true lynchpin of History.
Latest Answers