Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

The Battle of Pharsalus. It is 48 BC. Julius Ceaser has conquered Gual and made play to become the head of the Roman State. The political divisions in Rome are deep, however, and Ceaser has rivals. Pompey the Great is chief amoung them. Pompey, much like Ceaser, has made a name for himself by driving the vastly superior Roman legions against border states in the East. He has expanded the Empire, like Ceaser in Gaul, and has just as legitimate claim on power. Pompey is supported by his allies in the Roman Senate and by his conquered vassel states.

http://history.boisestate.edu/westci...alusbattle.jpg

The above picture is from here.

Keep in mind that this battle is fought between essentially equally matched forces, technologically speaking. Both sides are making use of the legion, which is the dominant heavy infantry war machine of it's day. Ceaser's troops are veterens of his campaigns in Gual. Pompey outnumbers Ceaser and employs Greek and Syrian troops to supplement his ranks.

Overall, the advantage is to Pompey. Pompey has about 40,000 men and Ceaser only has 22,000. In addition to numbers, Pompey has a vastly superior cavalry wing. The weakness in Pompey's forces, however, is that they are largely inexperienced. This will benefit Ceaser in several ways.

Pompey was actually camped on the side of a mountain called Dogantzes some miles from Pharsalus proper. Ceaser was actually positioned closer to the city several miles across a plain from Pompey.

This is where several key aspects of Ceaser's genious and experience come into play. Pompey had massed his forces with his right protected by a river and the superior cavalry forces protecting his left. To open battle, Ceaser knows that he must cross the plain in a charge, which, over several miles, will exhaust his men. Ceaser anticipates that Pompey will order his cavalry to flank him and try to crush his legions in a vice. To counter this, Ceaser makes a fourth battle line behind is cavalry on his right.

In the middle of the charge, Ceaser stops. This confuses Pompey's lines, who are all rowled up expecting to break an infantry charge. Instead Ceaser closes the field from here in a steady march. This causes Pompey to order his cavalry to attack Ceaser's right. The lines meet in the center and legion to legion are locked in a stalemate. Ceaser's lighter cavalry breaks and is routed, as anticipated. However, Ceasers fourth battle line attacks the cavalry at this point and Pompey's cavalry never makes the anticipated charge into Ceaser's flank. Unable to keep up a defensive action against a legion with their momentum broken, Pompey's cavalry retreats into the foothills to try and regroup.

At this point, the Ceaser's fourth line executes a left wheel into Pompey's rear and left flank. It's all over. Pompey's army is out maneuvered. Magnanomously, Ceaser orders his army to only kill the troops from Pompey's vassel lands and not their own coutrymen.

The Roman Senators in Pompey's camp are put to the sword. Ceaser takes command of Pompey's remaining Roman troops and gives them a pardon. Pompey's ally troops are slaughted. Pompey himself makes it to the sea and escapes to Eygpt.

Ceaser later hears Pompey is in Eygpt and pursues him there. In Eygpt, Ceaser meets Cleopatra and fights the first battle of the Nile. But, that is another story.

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

Nice post. I wish the HBO series Rome had done a complete recreation of this, but I'm guessing their budget didn't allow for it. They gave a basic explanation which wasn't as detailed as yours. Crazy to think how different history would be if Caesar or Pompey had made a couple of decisions differently. And yes, Caesar was a pimp.

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

Yes, this is another great post. I liked this a lot, as I've always been interested in the first 5 emperors, but I don't know that much about Julius Caesar. I've been only vaguely aware of the fact that Julius Caesar (NOT the first emperor of Rome as many believe, but founder of the Roman Empire for sure) fought Pompey in a civil war. This fills in some of the background of these two nicely.

thanks
db

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

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Yes, this is another great post...
thanks

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Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

This battle was another good choice Exsub! This whole story is great, with Carrhae and Crassus included.

Do you really think that Caesar's force was inferior?

His troops were just too battle hard, and they were totally dependent on Caesar and Caesar alone. They had just shattered Sextus's army, in such a convincing fashion it must have scared the pants off the green force of virgin soldiers waiting for Caesar in Macedonia. But then at the time Pompey was still considered Rome's greatest general by the people. But years of grinding warfare have a measured effect on soldiers, some of those men had been fighting since the first Gallic war.

Which do you consider to be the most dangerous spot for Rome's transition to a Julio-claudian empire Pharsalus or Actium?

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

[ QUOTE ]
This battle was another good choice Exsub! This whole story is great, with Carrhae and Crassus included.

Do you really think that Caesar's force was inferior?

His troops were just too battle hard, and they were totally dependent on Caesar and Caesar alone. They had just shattered Sextus's army, in such a convincing fashion it must have scared the pants off the green force of virgin soldiers waiting for Caesar in Macedonia. But then at the time Pompey was still considered Rome's greatest general by the people. But years of grinding warfare have a measured effect on soldiers, some of those men had been fighting since the first Gallic war.

Which do you consider to be the most dangerous spot for Rome's transition to a Julio-claudian empire Pharsalus or Actium?

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Are you taliking about Sextus Pompeius? There are so many characters in Roman history I get lost.

I'm a bit confused what battle you are refering to. The battle immediately proceeding Pharsalus was Dyrrhachium and Ceaser almost lost his ass.

I would still give the advantage to Pompey. A lesser general than Ceaser would have not been able to neutralize the cavalry, no matter how tough and battle hard their men.

I was, in fact, intending to do a separate post on Actium. I really consider Pharsalus more of a defining moment for the creation of the Ceasers. If Ceaser had lost, history might remember the Pompeys. Hail Pompey! I can hear it now.

Actium, if anything, is proof that Antony was a second rate general. Even though Cleopatra abandoned him, I think he had enough of a defensive position in the face of Octavians forces that he could have at least kept his army. As it was, he abandoned the field and left his forces in chaos to be destroyed. Got to go right now. I'll post more on this later.

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

Don't forget the added awesomeness of the fact that Pompey was married to Caesar's daughter.

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

Just in case you guys are ambitious, you can get Rome:Total War and there is a Pharsalus mod available. Refight it from either side, against the AI or someone else. It plays in real time, so you can see how fast these things really went.

Very addictive game, and about as close to realistic as you're going to get without raising your own army.

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

Ex,

Another enjoyable read. For future threads I'd like to see some breakdown of any of the famous battles of the Thirty Year War, maybe the battle of Lutzen. Gustav II Adolf was the coolest king ever.

Swede

Re: Pompey vs. Ceaser
 

If we're putting in requests, I'd love to see something more modern, even if it's the Civil War. Or battles most of us have heard of, but know nothing about (Battle of the Bulge? Outside of watching "Band of Brothers", I'm pretty clueless).

Or if you really want to stretch, give us a battle where the hugely out-numbered force won.