Game Groups > Historical conflict: Great Roman Civil War

This group includes all the games that have the player fight in the Great Roman Civil War (49-45 BC), also called Caesar's Civil War. It was fought by Julius Caesar on one side, and Gnaeus Pompeius, supported by the conservative faction in the Roman Senate, on the other side. Caesar emerged victorious from the war, which effectively put an end to the Roman Republic. Most titles in this group are strategy games. The games that only feature battles from the Gallic Wars (58-50 BC) should not be included in this group.

Background: In the first century BC, the cracks in the Roman republican system began to widen. The military reforms performed by Marius, which allowed recruitment of landless people, made the legions faithful to individual generals, in the detriment of the Republic. In the Senate itself, the wealthy factions began to accumulate an unprecedented level of power, marginalizing the poorer senators. Such a corrupt assembly faced dwindling support from the public, that's why there was little discontent when Caesar decided to cross the Rubicon.

The first signs of the Civil War appeared when the unofficial alliance between Caesar, Crassus and Pompeius, called the First Triumvirate, dissolved with Crassus' death in 52 BC. Pompeius became increasingly closer to the conservative faction in the Senate, and went as far as to accuse Caesar of treason in 50 BC. Caesar, a hero in the eyes of the people after his victories in the Gallic Wars, fearing prosecution by the Senate marched towards Rome without disbanding his legions, which in itself was an act of war.

The war was going in Caesar's favor from the very beginning, as Pompeius, who had a part of his forces stationed in Hispania, had to retreat first out of Italia to Epirus, and then, defeated, to Africa, where he was murdered. The war continued however until Caesar defeated an army lead by Pompeius' sons and his former lieutenant Titus Labienus at the Battle of Munda in 45 BC. Other important battles took place at Dyrrachium (48 BC), Pharsalus (48 BC), and Thapsus (46 BC).

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