Julius Caesar, Power-Hungry Villain Or Kind-Hearted Hero?

Great Julius Caesar, Power-Hungry Villain or Kind-Hearted Hero?

The republic was in crisis, and its citizens needed a strong, organized, devoted leader that would reform and bring it back to its former strength and glory. Rome was in a dysfunctional period of its history with rebellions on every street corner and power-hungry politicians killing off their competitors so they could become supreme leader of the then most powerful governmental system in the world. The commoners, or Plebeians, needed a political figure that they could trust, and they needed that politician to give them just the slightest hint of hope to aid them to strive to rebound the falling republic. That is where the well-known Roman leader comes in, and his name was Julius

Caesar. Caesar was the hero the Republic direly need; he expanded the republic’s boundaries, adding Egypt and Great Britain to Roman control. He was supported by most of the Plebeian class, military, and the military leaders, and he aided to the rebuilding of the republic after the numerous riots fought over power. He also is responsible for starting the movement that led to the complete rebound made by Rome, even though it was very much against the odds. Does that sound like a self-righteous leader that only cared about his own welfare? He wanted to make Rome the best it could be and fought until his unfortunate death by members of the Senate; those who were supposed to be helping him reconstruct the Roman Republic.
It is very difficult to be a strong and influential leader without the support of the people, the military, and especially its leaders.

Julius Caesar had that and more. He had the support of the Plebeian class because he worked with the people of Rome and wanted to see real change. Unlike many corrupt politicians during that time period that just wanted to benefit from their positions, Caesar wanted Rome to become stronger and better. During Caesar’s March on Rome, returning from Gaul, his army remained loyal to him rather than the city and government of Rome. They must have believed in and trusted him to make the best decisions for them. Why would they abandon their republic if they did not have a good reason? Shortly after he succeeded with his march on Rome to defeat his triumvirate member, Pompey, he was named Dictator for Life by the Senate. However, many of the Senate members did not want him to have that title because they were afraid he would become powerful enough to overthrow the Senate and become ultimate, supreme ruler. The Roman Senate was forced to bestow that honor upon him because of the political pressure from the Plebeian and slave classes. The common people put their support behind him because he planned to rebuild the republic from the bottom up, which would result in more money pouring in for the poor people. Not being liked by the Senate during that time, however, proved not to be beneficial, and the great leader was murdered by its members. The day of

his funeral, angry mobs raided and destroyed the homes of the conspirators that had a role in the killing of Caesar because they were so mad over his death. Obviously, Julius Caesar was a great leader, or those huge groups of people would not have been that emotional and distraught over his death.
Much of Caesar’s popularity, along with the regulations to help the poor, came from his ambitions to expand and strengthen the republic.

During the time he was a military commander, he expanded Rome’s territories to include Egypt, Numidia, and Gaul. He was sent to Gaul to establish a colony. Within a short amount of time because of his battle strategy, Gaul was under the control of the Roman government. Caesar, on one of his other major conquests, and Cleopatra took the Egyptian throne from King Ptolemy XIII in 47 BC (Wikipedia, “Battle of the Nile”). Caesar placed Cleopatra as Queen of the Nile, and the rising power of Egypt was added to the Roman Empire. Capturing and making an ally of Egypt was a smart move, and it strengthened the Empire with trade opportunities and goodwill from the foreign land. A few invasions of Great Britain during the Gallic Wars were ordered and carried out by Caesar. Unfortunately, Rome was not able to capture Great Britain until nearly one hundred years after Caesar’s death (History Today, “Julius Caesar’s First Landing in Britain”). Anyone can clearly see that Julius Caesar, to the best of his abilities, tried to expand the Rome’s territories during and after it was a republic. He was a patriotic man that would use whatever it took to win a battle or war, but he wanted to expand the Roman Empire and make it even more powerful than it already

was.
Some say that Caesar sought glory only for glory’s sake during his time in power; however, if he was only seeking glory during his rule, why would he create public programs to help the poor and the everyday people of Rome? He renovated business districts in the heart of Rome (Study.com, Reforms of Julius Caesar), which increased revenue and trade. It was helpful to everyone but especially to the small-business owners that needed the extra boost in business after the repercussions of the falling of the republic. Another public issue that he took on was hunger and starvation. In his efforts to improve the almost epidemic conditions, he established a grain regulation program that assured everyone sufficient food in which to survive (Study.com, Reforms of Julius Caesar). On top of that, he also began a land redistribution program for the poor farmers (Study.com, Reforms of Julius Caesar). He gave land back to the farmers to increase the agricultural goods produced. Along with it being a publicity stunt, it also helped rebuild the economical system that had deteriorated because of the race for power and falling of the republic. One of Rome’s weaker points was sea travel, so what did Caesar do- he created a reform for that too! He ordered for construction projects of boats be commenced to improve sea travel (Study.com, Reforms of Julius Caesar), and in turn, expand their area of trading and expedited movement of soldiers. Some of Julius Caesar’s other programs on his agenda lowered the Roman governmental debt low enough that Rome’s citizens did not even have to pay taxes for a short period of time (Study.com, Reforms of Julius Caesar). His plan to get Rome back on track was to reconstruct the bones of the empire, or the infrastructure, and these programs he put together all aided that cause significantly.
Julius Caesar was a very ambitious leader that aided greatly to the growth and reconstruction of Rome during its transition from a republic to an empire. He expanded Rome’s borders to include Egypt and Gaul. Because of his leadership and strategy, he was very popular among the military and commoners. Credit was given to him for many reforms that assisted the poor people of Rome. Additionally, those reforms rebuilt the infrastructure of the economical system of trade, commerce, and revenue. Even though Julius Caesar had some problems, he was overall a great leader that helped Rome get back on its feet. Just like anyone, he was not perfect, but we need to ask ourselves, would we have done half as good a job leading that republic with the situations with which he was dealt? If that answer is no, then how could we judge him for a few wrong, split-second decisions that he made?