Gaius Julius Caesar was a very effective commander, even though he was most know for being extraordinarily lucky as well. Other before him like Sulla fully leaned into this as well as the latter adopted the surname Felix. Either way it didn’t hold the stigma that it does today. The fact that Caesar was to be awarded a triumph for his command in Spain before his being elected consul would show that he had a knack for war and strategy.

His magnum opus is somewhere between Alesia and pharsallus. Let’s start with his Gallic war though. His taking command during the Gallic wars was something extraordinary. He was know for taking the lead effectively. I believe this is best put after Caesar landed in Britain. This quote is from caesars own hand but after establishing a beachhead in Britain he had a standard bearer rush into battle while everyone else was reluctant by saying “ leap, fellow soldiers, unless you wish to betray your eagle to the enemy. I, for my part, will perform my duty to the republic and to my GENERAL”. Even after leaving Britain in a somewhat failed(personal opinion. This landing was amazing for propaganda) invasion, his troops were blown off course deep into hostile territory. He personally assured those men were escorted back to camp. He understood that wars are fought with men. And men will fight for a friend and commander rather then a demagogue. Another aspect of war is creativity and ingenuity. In 53 BCE he had commanded a bridge to be built across the Rhine. After 10 days and construction was complete he ordered the sack of a few German villages, and the bridge to be burnt. Thus far we have established that Caesar lead effectively, he gained the respect of his soldiers, and he was creative. All this came to a head in Alesia. In 52 BCE Caesar came to a head with the Gallic king Vercingetorix. After being repelled once by Caesar vercingetorix and his men found themselves held up in Alesia. 80.000 soldiers were stationed inside the city. Caesar decided to siege the city with an ten mile wall to starve out the army. While being built though there were Calvary skirmishes from both sides. During one of these(potentially, either that or through cover of darkness) the Gauls were able to break through Germanic Calvary to ask for assistance from neighboring tribes around Gaul. Word came back eventually that an army was coming for Caesar. So using his creativity he had contracted an outer wall be built, this time the wall covered a little less than thirteen miles. After a few days of intense fighting between the 80,000 inside Alesia and the 60,000(perhaps. For some reason I can’t find a reference to this but I’m going off memory. My apologies if this is wrong) outside caesars fortifications were holding. His men fought hard. One of these being Marc Antony. A very loyal soldier who helped repel an attack by taking initiative to redistribute troops. A few others were Brutus, Trebonius, and decimus Brutus. The most important part for Julius was after being besieged on both sides to the point of collapse, Caesar listened to lebienus and lead a Calvary charge across the outer wall, scattering the Gauls outside. Leading this charge his men were strengthened and turned the tides of battle. All the Gauls who made their way in the inner wall were cut down without mercy. His men, his strength, and his creativity had won him the battle and the war. Since that was long I’ll be brief with pharsalus. Lining up against Pompey Magnus Caesar realized that since the pompeians has superior Calvary they would rely on this to attempt to flank him. Julius used this to his advantage by having a hidden regiment of spearmen behind his own far inferior Calvary. After feigning retreat under orders the spearmen were instructed not to throw their spears but to jab at the pompeian Calvary. This worked effectively and the superior cavalry flead into the mountains. Without a cavalry the right side flanked the pompeians, cut them down and stormed even to pompey’s camp, much to the generals surprise. This was a decisive battle in the civil war and turned the tides in caesars favor. One thing to remember is Caesar was important way before the play named after him. His name is synonymous with power. All the way down to the Later years of the western empire Caesar was a title used by the emperors. Czar and Kaiser respectively are translations of the name Caesar.