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What were the consequences of Caesar's assassination

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==Immediate Aftermath of the Assassination==
The death of Caesar was a great shock to many. Those who had killed him, styled themselves the Liberators and they expected that the people of Rome would rally to them and support their actions and that this would save the Republic. However, most of the population remained wary and neutral, while many people and especially the political gangs, who controlled large areas of the city, were angered by the killing of Caesar. In the days after the assassination there was an eerie calm in the city. Mark Anthony became the de-facto leader of the Caesarean party in the city, even though he had fallen out of favour in recent years with his former general<ref> Osgood, Josiah. Caesar's Legacy: Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire (New York: Cambridge University Press (USA), 2006), p. 113</ref>. He arranged a political compromise that allowed the killers of Caesar to go unpunished and for those who had been appointed by the dead man to remain in office. This was able to maintain some semblance of order in the city. The lower class became increasingly incensed when they learned more about the death of Caesar and Anthony threatened to unleash them against the senators<ref> Plutarch, Life of Anthony, xxiv</ref>. The reading of the will of Caesar came as a surprise, he made his grand-nephew his son and heir. This shocked Mark Anthony who was not even mentioned by Caesar in his will. Octavian returned from Greece and as Caesar’s heir he became one of the most powerful influential men in Rome. This only added to the confusion in Rome. The Senate supported Octavian, who distrusted Mark Anthony and he was forced to flee the city. He assembled an army of five legions but was defeated by Octavian and the forces of the Senate at the Battle of Mutina in Northern Italy (43 B.C.). The two consuls for that year were also killed during the battle. Antony was forced to retreat, and his cause seemed lost, but he was fortunate. The Senate tried to take his army away from Octavian and give it to one of the assassins of Caesar<ref> Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, xxiv</ref>. This persuaded Octavian to enter an alliance with Anthony and Lepidus. This was the so-called Second Triumvirate and it divided the legions and provinces among the three allies. The aim of the alliance agreement was to avenge the assassination of Caesar. They soon occupied Rome and launched a campaign of terror in the city, summarily killing their enemies. However, their rule was opposed by the ''Optimates '' and the assassins of Caesar and this led to another civil war<ref>Galinsky, Karl. Augustan Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998), p. 89</ref>.
[[File: Ass of caesar three.jpg|200px|thumb|left| A cameo of Mark Anthony]]
 
==The Civil War==
Those who were involved in the assassination of Caesar under the command of Cassius and Brutus controlled much of the Easter portion of the Empire. Antony and Octavian sailed with an army to confront their enemies and the two armies confronted each other at Phillipa in modern Macedonia or Northern Greece. Here the two armies clashed and over two battles the followers of Caesar prevailed. The battles had been close fought and it was the personal bravery of Mark Anthony and the general Agrippa that ensured victory for the Second Triumvirate. The liberators and their Optimates allies all died in the battle or its aftermath<ref> Suetonius, Lives of the Caesar, vii</ref>. Brutus and Cassius committed suicide in the aftermath of the defeat. The defeat at Philippi was a decisive one and it effectively ended the Optimates as a military force. While there were to be more civil conflicts the Senatorial elite were no longer active participants. Successive defeats and a series of proscriptions had decimated the old Republican elite and they were no longer able to influence events in Rome. Those who wanted to preserve the old ideas of the Republic no longer had the means or perhaps the will to prevent the concentration of power in the lands of one or two men<ref> Osgood, p 227</ref>. The assassination of Caesar was motivated by a desire to restore the old Republican system and especially the influence of the Senate. In fact, the civil war that ensued in the aftermath of the death of Caesar was to result in the side-lining of the Senate and those who believed in the ideals of the Republic.

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