How does caesar defeated pompey

Pompey believed that Caesar would have to concentrate his scattered troops in Gaul before he could move south toward Rome. By that time, Pompey would have recruited and trained additional forces and brought his veterans home from Spain.

But Caesar was not about to let that happen. Ariminum fell first without a struggle. Caesar began moving south, capturing three more towns, while Mark Antony , leading five cohorts, captured Arretium on the Via Cassia, opening a second route south to Rome. Other northern Italian towns fell to the populares, who soon fielded some 20, hardened veterans. Throughout his Italian campaign, Caesar took pains to ensure that his troops left the townspeople and their property unharmed.

He wanted no reports of atrocities jeopardizing his popular support. Caesar moved through the peninsula with little opposition, pardoning his opponents after capturing them.

Leaving a detachment in Brundisium now Brindisi , he took six legions to Spain. In late July, the Pompeians attempted a surprise evacuation to positions south of the Ebro River. Caesar took no reprisals and forced no one to take an oath of allegiance to him. Caesar was right to be concerned. Pompey assembled his troops into nine legions, and could count on two additional legions from Syria, led by Metellus Scipio.

Furthermore, the winter storms were beginning to blow through the Adriatic Sea, making any crossing difficult and dangerous. His gamble was rewarded as he safely landed his troops near Apollonia. As Caesar moved up the Greek coast, he captured Apollonia and Oricum, but Pompey arrived at Dyrrachium a few hours ahead of Caesar and threw up fortifications that held back the populists and created a standoff.

The Beasts Before Pompey In the first few months of 48, neither commander wished to give battle. Four legions and some cavalry under Mark Antony made a very lucky crossing from Italy, destroying several patrician ships in the process. Wisely avoiding a two-front battle, Pompey withdrew north to Aspargium, allowing the two populist armies to unite. In response, Pompey threw up his own fortifications. Both commanders knew that the decisive effort had to take place there.

On July 9, Caesar vainly tried to take Dyrrachium at the north end of his lines. Caesar returned and counterattacked with an additional 13 cohorts, retaking much of his original siege works. For once, Caesar was unable to control his men, who panicked and fled the field. By the time the fighting stopped, he had lost nearly 1, troops and 32 unit standards. At that critical point, however, Pompey merely contented himself with pursuing a handful of fugitives.

In the wake of this defeat, Caesar realized it was a mistake to besiege superior forces so close to their supply base, and withdrew to Apollonia. Pompey followed in belated pursuit. Pompey held a council of war to discuss his options. Succumbing to pressure from his self-serving retinue of senators, knights and politicians, Pompey reluctantly agreed to the third option.

This example was more than enough to convince other Thessalian towns to cooperate, and Caesar was soon able to resupply his troops. There, Caesar commanded nearly 30, infantry and some 1, Gallic and German cavalry, plus 2, light infantry and auxiliaries. For several days, both armies arrayed for battle each morning, but did little except skirmish with the cavalry units.

Pompey kept his forces lined up on the slopes of Mount Dogantzes, hoping that Caesar would be foolish enough to advance uphill. Even Caesar would not tempt fate that much. By August 8, however, he was ready to move his troops east to find a better food supply. He informed his officers that he intended to anchor his right flank on the Enipeus River and station virtually all his cavalry forces on the far left. A very small part of that army survives. Most of it has perished—the autumn epidemics killed many in Italy, and others have deserted or been left behind.

Surmising that Pompey had been pressured into fighting, Caesar canceled the withdrawal and hung his purple tunic from his tent, the sign of imminent battle. When his troops were lined up, Caesar recounted to them how he and his men had spent 10 hard years together subduing tribes in Gaul, Germany and Britain, while their enemies tried to disband them without a triumph or reward.

Remember how you swore to each other in my presence that you would never leave the field except as conquerors. Scipio commanded the center with his two Syrian legions and additional troops from Africa. On his extreme left, Pompey stationed virtually all his cavalry with supporting archers and slingers under Labienus, and took his command post behind Domitius on the left wing. The infantry was deployed in traditional Roman fashion of three lines, each 10 men deep, with seven cohorts of Thracian troops left behind to guard the camp.

For we fight for freedom and for country, backed by the constitution, our glorious reputation, and so many men of senatorial and equestrian rank, against one man who would pirate supreme power. Caesar ordered his third, most experienced echelon not to engage the enemy until commanded, in effect holding it as a tactical reserve.

Caesar realized that Pompey intended to launch a heavy cavalry attack on his right and roll up his lines from the right and rear. Therefore he stripped six full cohorts—some 3, men—from his third rank and placed them at an angle behind his cavalry to counter the threat. The battle was by no means over, however. Pompey hoped that King Ptolemy, his former client, would assist him, but the Egyptian king feared offending the victorious Caesar.

On September 28, Pompey was invited to leave his ships and come ashore at Pelusium. As he prepared to step onto Egyptian soil, he was treacherously struck down and killed by an officer of Ptolemy. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! On September 28, , the cargo ship Venta Maersk docks in St. Petersburg, Russia, more than a month after departing from Vladivostok on the other side of the country. The successful traversal of the Russian Arctic was a landmark moment for the international shipping industry, On September 28, , six years after he led the Cuban Revolution and four years after the failed U.

With Cuban forces no longer blocking civilians from William was the illegitimate son On September 28, , people die in one of the worst maritime disasters of the century when the Estonia, a large car-and-passenger ferry, sinks in the Baltic Sea.

The German-built ship was traveling on an overnight cruise from Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, to Sir Alexander Fleming was a young bacteriologist when an accidental discovery led to one of the great developments of modern medicine on September 28, Having left a plate of staphylococcus bacteria uncovered, Fleming noticed that a mold that had fallen on the culture had Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.

He becomes the first player since to hit. Cabrillo was not the first to search for a water passage across the North American continent, and On September 28, , a Liberty Loan parade in Philadelphia prompts a huge outbreak of Spanish flu in the city. By the time the pandemic ended, an estimated 20 million to 50 million people were dead worldwide. Influenza is a highly contagious virus that attacks the respiratory