On March 15, 43 BC, Caesar was assassinated in the Chamber of the Senate. His bones were cold, and an ambitious young man stepped on his footprints and returned to Rome from the East (then Greece, Asia Minor). This young man was Gaius Octavian (63–14 BC).
First, Octavian's prestige in Rome grew, causing uneasiness among the ruler Antony
Octavian was Caesar's nephew and had served as a cavalry captain. Caesar accepted him as a righteous son in his will and made him his heir. When Caesar was killed, he was training in the city of Pollonia on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. This period of military camp life not only exercised Octavian's perseverance and hard-working spirit, but also cultivated his military talents and strengthened the relationship between him and Caesar's generals. Thus, when he returned to Rome, many soldiers, civilians, and freed slaves poured in from all directions, seeing him as his hope.
Octavian also used Caesar's prestige and vast legacy, as well as the support of wealthy relatives, to recruit talent and expand his strength. At the time, Octavian was only 19 years old, but he was a man of great courage and was good at using various wrists to achieve his ambitions. As a result, his prestige in Rome grew.
Octavian's appearance caused uneasiness among the ruler Antony. Antony was a close comrade-in-arms and general of Caesar, who accompanied Caesar throughout Greece and Italy, and was deeply appreciated and valued by Caesar. After Caesar's death, he succeeded him as Consul of Rome, holding military and political power. In order to realize his political ambitions, on the one hand, he expelled the murderers of The retreat, Brutus, Lloydio and others; on the other hand, under the pretext of restoring Roman order, he bloodily suppressed the civilian rebellion and executed all the slaves who participated in the rebellion. He thought that through these cruel means, he could stabilize the political situation in Rome and achieve his political goal of monopolizing power. Unexpectedly, Octavian returned to Rome from the east. His appearance, especially his boldness and prestige, made Antony restless day and night, fearing that Octavian would become his competitor.
Second, the open struggle between Antony and Octavian gave the Senate an opportunity
In order to fight Octavian, Antony refused to give his righteous father's inheritance (Caesar's will give a part of the inheritance to Octavian), opposed Octavian's election as a conservator, and used various means to threaten Octavian with death.
Of course, Octavian would not give up. He used Caesar's influence to win over the masses and incite the people's dissatisfaction with Antony. As a result, many people defected from Antony and turned to Octavian.
The open struggle between Antony and Octavian gave the Senate an opportunity. Cicero was the head of the Senate. The eloquent and opportunistic orator, although worried about Octavian, was even more frightened by Antony's strength. In June 44 BC, Antony, despite the opposition of the Senate, manipulated the National Assembly to forcibly pass a resolution appointing him as governor of Gaul after he had stepped down as consul.
The governor of Gaul appointed by Caesar during his lifetime, De Kimus? Brutus refused to give up Gaul, and Antony sent troops to surround him at Mutina. The Senate was greatly annoyed, and immediately declared Antony an enemy of the people, and decided to send troops to attack. However, at that time, there were no troops available. Thus, on the one hand, the Senate decided to give the eastern provinces from the Adriatic Sea to the Two Rivers valley to Brutu, Cassillo, and others, where they would recruit troops and raise funds to prepare for the future struggle against Antony; on the other hand, the Senate granted Octavian the power to send troops to Mutina.
Third, the development of the situation made it impossible for Antony and Octavian to continue to oppose each other
Octavian, out of strategic necessity, decided to make a plan and temporarily compromise with the conservative forces of the Senate. He used the power and money given to him by the Senate to recruit soldiers to expand his strength.
In April 43 BC, the Senate and Octavian sent troops together. Near Mutina, a fierce battle was fought with Antony. Antony was defeated and forced to retreat to Pau gallolu (in present-day southern France and northern Italy). However, as soon as the war in Mutina ended, the Senate stripped Octavian of his military command and did not hold a triumphal ceremony for him. Octavian's several requests for the post of consul were rejected by the Senate. All this provoked Octavian's dissatisfaction with the Senate. So he led 8 legions of troops to the city of Rome, and the Senate gave in and elected him consul.
However, the development of the situation made it impossible for Antony and Octavian to continue to oppose each other. On the one hand, Antony and Octavian's men were mostly Caesar's veterans, unwilling to kill each other, but willing to unite to avenge Caesar. They mediated several times and urged reconciliation between Octavian and Antony. On the other hand, the cabal that killed Caesar had gathered the strength of 20 legions in the eastern provinces, and the conservative forces of the Senate nobility secretly sent emissaries to contact them. Facts have shown that if they do not unite, they are in danger of being broken by their political opponents.
In October 43 BC, Octavian and Antony reconciled, formed an alliance, and met with the governor of Gaul, Rebida, near Bologna in northern Italy, and reached an agreement to establish a "three-headed politics" and govern together. This is the so-called "last three-headed alliance" in history.
Antony and Octavian sent troops to Greece
In the autumn of 42 BC, Antony and Octavian sent troops to Greece. In October, the vanguard reached the city of Philippi in Thrace, originally known as Dadus, but was later conquered by philippy, the Greek king of Macedonia, and renamed Philippi. Philippi is located on the northern shore of the Aegean Sea, about 20 kilometers from the sea, on a hill. To the east of the city there is a mountain gorge called the Sapia Gorge, which is an important road from Europe to Asia (and also a necessary place for East-West exchanges), the situation is very dangerous, and it has always been a place where soldiers and families must fight. Anthony's advance team camped here.
When Brutus and Cassio heard of Antony's march into the Balkans, they hurriedly led their army out of Asia Minor and into Thrace, marching toward Philippi. Since the Sassa Mountain Gorge had been occupied by the enemy and could not be passed, they were led by a local guide through a rugged mountain road to Reach Philippi. To the north of Philippi there are two hills, one in the south and one in the north, and the two mountains are only two kilometers apart. Between the two mountains is the waterway that leads to Asia. Shannan is a swamp that stretches all the way to the seaside.
Brutu, Kasillo saw that the two mountains were dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and set up camp here. Brutus was stationed at the North Hill, while Kassijo defended the South Mountain. Antony and Octavian saw that the enemy had taken advantage of the terrain and had to camp west of the two mountains. In this way, the three military camps formed a full momentum.
V. The Battle of Philippi
At that time, judging from the strength of the two sides, they were roughly equal. Antony and Octavian had 19 legions of infantry and 20,000 cavalry, and Brutus and Kasillo also had 19 legions of infantry and 13,000 cavalry. In addition, in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness, the two armies are also roughly the same.
Originally, Antony and Octavian intended to make a quick decision and end the war as soon as possible. Because, after Caesar's death, the Senate had appointed Pompey the Younger (former son of Pompey, belonging to the conservatives of the old nobility) as commander of the navy, commanding a large navy that controlled the western Mediterranean. Admirals from Brutus and Lloyd also led hundreds of warships to blockade the Balkan Peninsula, cutting off Antony Octavian's sea transport lines, making it difficult for them to obtain food and reinforcements from their own countries.
Brutus and Cassio also saw through this weakness of the enemy, and they learned the lessons of pompey's defeat and adopted a new strategy: procrastination, avoiding frontal combat, depleting the enemy with hunger, and winning the battle when the enemy was exhausted. Therefore, despite repeated challenges by the enemy, even scolding in front of the battalion, Brutu and Cassio remained stationary. In this way, there was no fighting between the two sides for many days.
One day, Antony had a plan and decided to build an embankment in the reed field that was more than one person high to intercept the enemy's grain route from the sea to the camp, and could send troops through this embankment to go around the rear of the enemy and surprise the enemy. In order to realize this plan, he adopted the tactic of suspect soldiers. Every day, he lined up the army in a battle formation, and put up all the flags in the battalion, and from a distance, the flags were unfurled, and the people shouted and shouted as if they were going out on a march. But in the dark, he quietly sent a force to build embankments in the reed fields, using dirt and reeds. The work was carried out so cleverly and covertly that for many days the enemy did not find it.
Unexpectedly, the causeway was discovered by Cassijo on the 10th day. He immediately took countermeasures, sending troops to build a long north-south wall between his camp and the sea, cutting Antony's army into two pieces. When Antony saw this, he was furious and ordered the armies on both sides of the long wall to attack Casillo, forcing the enemy to retreat one after another. At the same time, Antony led the entire army to rush up in the face of enemy showers of rain and quickly occupied the Casillo camp. Cassio was defeated, 8,000 men were killed, and he himself fled back to Philippi. When he ascended the city and looked away, he saw that the dust outside the city was flying, the sky was covered, and his military camp had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Unaware that by this time Blue had defeated Octavian and occupied Octavian's camp, he despaired and ordered his spear bearers to stab him to death.
After the defeat of Cassijo, Antony and Octavian worked together against Brutus. Brutus decided to stick to the established procrastination strategy, allowing the enemy to shout insults and insults, but only to close the camp. A few days later, the soldiers of Brutus could not bear this insult and demanded to go to war. Brutus, out of desperation, was forced to fight. Antony and Octavian were already waiting outside the barracks, and as soon as they saw the enemy leaving the camp, they immediately led their troops to charge and kill. Brutus was defeated, the way back to the camp was cut off, and finally he led 4 legions to flee to a hill, hoping that the whole army would fight again. However, the soldiers had no intention of fighting again, and demanded peace one after another.
In the face of this situation, Brutus was overwhelmed with thoughts, saying: "If you want reconciliation, I am useless to my motherland". Feeling that the tide was gone, he committed suicide in despair. His army surrendered to Antony and Octavian, and the Battle of Philippi ended.
After the war, Erxiong divided the sphere of influence, with Antony ruling the East and Octavian gaining control of the West. However, Octavian's strength and position had grown considerably, which was naturally a great threat to Antony. In order to fight each other, they often fought openly and secretly, and finally they met each other as soldiers. In 31 BC, the two sides fought a final decisive battle on the west coast of Greece, and Antony committed suicide in defeat. From then on, Octavian monopolized the military and political power of Rome, established a military dictatorship, and finally collapsed the Roman Republic.