Category Ancient World\’s Commanders

               Germanicus was a popular imperial Roman general. He stifled a rebellion in the west on the death of Augustus in AD 14. Though urged to take imperial power, he deferred to Tiberius. In the East, he came into conflict with Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, governor of Syria. His death may have been due to poisoning ordered by Piso, though Tiberius was also suspected. He was immensely popular among the citizens of Rome. 

           Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman statesman and soldier. He became governor of Britain, and conquered large areas of Northern England, Scotland and Wales. Agricola began his career as a military tribune. Later, he commanded a Roman legion in Britain, and in 78 AD, he was made governor of Britain.

            Agricola was successful in establishing Roman authority in North Wales. He then moved to Scotland, where he consolidated Roman military control and masterminded the building of a string of forts across the country from west to east. He confronted the Caledonian tribes under Calgacus at the Battle of Mons Graupius in 84 AD.

            Agricola was a successful soldier, and a political leader in Britain. Agricola died peacefully at his estate in Italy. Did you know that Agricola was the first Roman to realize that Britain was an island? 

         Vercingetorix was a Gallic leader. In fact, he was the best known, and most, able leader of the Gallic opposition to Caesar during the Gallic War of 58-51 BC. Vercingetorix became the leader of the great revolt against the Romans in 52 BC.

          Julius Caesar, upon hearing of the revolt, rushed to put it down. Vercingetorix adopted the policy of retreating to heavy, natural fortifications, and burning Gallic towns to keep the Roman soldiers from living off the land. Caesar and his chief lieutenant Labienus lost minor engagements, but when Vercingetorix shut himself up in Alesia and summoned all his Gallic allies to attack the besieging Romans, the true brilliance of Caesar appeared. He defeated the Gallic relieving force, and took the fortress. Vercingetorix was captured, and put to death.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Arminius was a German leader who lived in the 1st century. He had lived in Rome for sometime, and understood Rome’s military strategy. When the Romans invaded German territory, Arminius, along with the leaders of the other German tribes, used this knowledge to defeat the Romans at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.

           The first German leader of whom we have any record is Ariovistus, who was reigning in 58 BC, the year Julius Caesar entered Gaul. Ariovistus was the leader of a Germanic tribe, the Suebi, and he was constantly fighting with the Gauls, whom he defeated. The Romans considered him a ‘king and friend of the Senate’, but things changed when Gaul’s leaders asked Caesar for protection against King Ariovistus. The Gauls claimed he had brought in 120,000 Germans to settle on their lands, and had also taken hostages.

                 Caesar agreed to speak with Ariovistus but Ariovistus, refused this request. Caesar’s response was to tell him not to bring Germans into Gaul, and to restore hostages taken. However, Ariovistus, who had enjoyed military successes as impressive as Caesar’s, saw no reason to obey. Finally, Caesar attacked him at the Battle of Vosges in 58 BC. The Germans responded with vigour, but Roman tactics soon led to panic among them. As they fled, Caesar led the pursuit. Ariovistus managed to escape, but died not long afterwards. 

              Mark Antony was a Roman statesman and general. After Caesar defeated Pompey, Antony became Caesar’s second in command, and Caesar appointed him as Consul of Rome. On Caesar’s death, Antony joined with Caesar’s nephew Octavian to defeat the conspirators who had murdered Caesar. Later however, Octavian became his enemy when Antony married Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Octavian sent a fleet that destroyed the navy of Antony and Cleopatra, and Antony committed suicide. 

           Augustus Caesar’s real name was Gaius Octavius .He was the grand nephew of Julius Caesar. In his will, Caesar had adopted Octavius and made him his heir, so Octavius changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar. Octavian was a shrewd, brilliant, and astute politician. Upon his grand uncle’s assassination in 44 BC, Octavius went to Rome. There, on August 19th, at the age of 19, Octavius was elected Consul.

            In November, Octavius, Mark Antony, and Aemilius Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate and forced the Senate to grant all three of them consular power for five years. Later, Antony left for Egypt, where he married the Queen Cleopatra, even though he was still married to Octavius’s sister in Rome. This outraged Octavius. He had already seized power from Lepidus, and he now defeated Antony and Cleopatra in a sea battle.             

            The world over which Rome presided was now in chaos. To meet this challenge, Octavian strengthened the military. From 31-23 BC, Octavian had himself elected Consul. In 27 BC, the Senate gave him the title of Augustus. From then on, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus – also known as the Emperor Augustus – ruled Rome until his death in 14 AD.

            In 60 BC, a young and ambitious general by the name of Julius Caesar stepped into political life. He had been very successful on the battlefield, and had greatly expanded Rome’s borders, bringing parts of Gaul and Britain under the control of Rome. He conquered enemies in Spain and Germany, and passed onto Greece. Caesar marched into Egypt also, where he notched up another victory.

             However, these victories made the Roman Senate fear that Caesar would use his army to over throw the republican government. In an attempt to protect this from happening, the Senate ordered Julius Caesar to return to Rome, but to leave his armies north of the Rubicon River.

             Caesar refused to do as he had been ordered. By crossing the Rubicon with his armies, he committed treason against the Senate, and in effect, declared civil war. Caesar eventually defeated opposing forces, and by 45 BC, had taken over control of the entire Roman Empire. Sadly, Caesar’s rule in Rome would be brief. The following year, in 44 BC, he was murdered by members of the Senate.

        Gnaeus Pompey was one of the key figures in the Roman revolution at the end of the period known as the Roman Republic. He rose to prominence serving Sulla in the first major Roman civil war, defeating the forces of Marius in Africa. Pompey quickly learned the political power of an army behind him. He led the Roman army against the rebels in Spain, and returned to Rome in triumph.

          In addition to his early successes, brutal though they are said to have been, Pompey was responsible for subduing the rebellious Spartacus and his army of slaves. This earned him the enmity of Crassus, who had already put down the main force of the slave revolt that had terrorized Italy. Pompey was awarded the task of ridding the pirates from the Mediterranean. He conquered Mithridates, King of Pontus, Tigranes, King of Armenia, and Antiochus, King of Syria, and went on to capture Jerusalem.

            Returning to Rome, Pompey formed a coalition with Julius Caesar and Crassus, called the First Triumvirate. Later on, however, Pompey led his forces in a civil war against Caesar. Pompey’s forces were defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Pompey himself sought the safety of Egypt, where he was murdered by order of the pharaoh’s ministers. 

           Spartacus was a Roman slave and gladiator, and leader of a famous slave revolt. He was sold into slavery, and trained at the gladiatorial school in Capua, north of Naples. He escaped in 73 BC, and took refuge on nearby Mount Vesuvius, where large numbers of other escaped slaves joined him. Leading his army of runaway slaves, which has been estimated to have reached 100,000 men, Spartacus defeated a series of Roman attacks using tactics which would now be called guerrilla warfare.

           In 72 BC, Spartacus and his army marched north towards Gaul. They fought off a series of attacks from Roman forces, but then turned south. The Roman politician and general Marcus Licinius Crassus led an army south, and in the battle that followed, Spartacus is believed to have been killed. Around 6,000 of his followers, who escaped, were hunted down and crucified. Thousands of others were killed by the army of the Roman general Pompey. Though his attempt to win freedom failed, Spartacus’s struggle has been an inspiration to revolutionaries, politicians, and writers to this day.