Name: The Roman Empire. Or Republic. Or...Which Was It?: Crash Course World History #10
Uploaded: 2013-05-02T09:30:06.000Z
Duration: 12 min 26 s
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Hi, I’m John Green; this is crash course: world history and today we’re going to learn

Adverbs of degree

about the Roman Empire, which of course began when two totally nonfictional twins, Romulus

and Remus, who’d been raised by wolves, founded a city on seven hills.

Mr Green, Mr Green, what, what does SPQR stand for?

It means shut piehole quickly, rapscallion. No, it means Senatus Populusque Romanus, one

So today we’re going to do some old school Great Man History and focus on Julius Caesar

while trying to answer a question: When, if ever, is it OK to stab someone 23 times?

Shakespeare answers that question by saying that Roman senators killed Caesar because

he was going to destroy the Roman republic, but even if that’s true, we still have to

answer whether: a. The Roman Republic was worth preserving,

and b. whether Caesar actually destroyed it.

One of the things that made the Roman republic endure, both in reality and in imagination

was its balance. According to the Greek historian Polybius,

"THE THREE kinds of government, monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, were all found

united in Rome. And … it was no easy thing to determine with assurance, whether the entire

state was an aristocracy, a democracy, or a monarchy.”

At the heart of this blended system was the Senate, a body of legislators chosen from

(Rome was divided into two broad classes: the Patricians – the small group of aristocratic

families and the Plebeians, basically everybody else. The Senators were drawn from the Patricians.)

The Senate was a sort of a mixture of legislature and giant advisory council. Their main job

Each year the Senate would choose from among its ranks 2 co-Consuls to serve as sort of

There needed to be two so they could check each other’s ambition, and also so that

one could, you know, take care of Rome domestically, while the other was off fighting wars, and

There were two additional checks on power: First, the one-year term. I mean, how much

trouble could you really do in a year, right?

Unless you’re the CEO of Netflix, I mean he destroyed that company in like two weeks.

And secondly, once a senator had served as consul, he was forbidden to serve as consul

again for at least 10 years. Although that went a little bit like you say you’re only

going to eat one Chipotle burrito per week, and then there are a few exceptions, and then

all of a sudden you’re there every day, and YES, I know guacamole is more, JUST GIVE

But right, we were talking about the Romans. The Romans also had a position of dictator,

a person who would who’d take over in the event the Republic was in imminent danger.

The paradigm for this selfless Roman ruler was Cincinnatus, a general who came out of

comfortable retirement at his plantation, took command an army, defeated whatever enemy

he was battling, and then laid down his command and returned to his farm, safe in the knowledge

that one day the second largest city in Ohio would be named for him.

If that model of leadership sounds familiar to Americans by the way, it’s because George

Washington was heavily influenced by Cincinnatus when he invented the idea of a two term presidency.

So along comes Caesar. Gaius Ju- Gay-us? No it’s Gaius, I know from Battlestar Galactica.

Gaius Julius Caesar was born around 100 BCE to one of Rome’s leading families.

His birth was somewhat miraculous, requiring a surgical procedure that we know as Caesarian

Coming as he did from the senatorial class, it was natural that Caesar would serve in

both the army and the Senate, which he did. He rose through the ranks,

and after some top-notch generalling, and a gig as the governor of Spain, he decided

In order to win, Caesar needed financial help, which he got from Crassus, one of Rome’s

richest men. Crassus ran a private fire company whose business model was essentially, “hey,

I notice your house is on fire. Give me some money and I’ll help you out with that.”

Caesar succeeded in becoming consul in 59 BC and thereafter sought to dominate Roman

politics by allying himself with Crassus and also with Rome’s other most powerful man,

You’ll no doubt remember Pompey from his fascination with Alexander the Great.

Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar were the so-called first triumvirate, and the alliance worked

Not so well for the other two. Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

After a year as consul that included getting the senate to pass laws largely because of

Caesar landed the governorship of Gaul, at least the southern part of Gaul that Rome

controlled. He quickly conquered the rest of Gaul and his four loyal armies—or legions,

as the Romans called them—became his source of power.

Caesar continued his conquests, invading Britain and waging another successful war against

While he was away, Crassus died in battle with the Parthians and Pompey, who had become

Caesar’s rival and enemy, was elected Consul.

Pompey and the Senate decided to try to strip Caesar of his command and recall him to Rome.

If he returned to Rome without an army, Caesar would have been prosecuted for corrupt consuling

and also probably exceeding his authority as governor,

so instead he returned with the 13th Legion. He crossed the Rubicon River,

famously saying, “the die is cast” or possibly, “Let the die be cast.”

Basically, Caesar was invading his own hometown. Pompey was in charge of Rome’s army but

and by 48 BCE Caesar was in total command of all of Rome’s holdings, having been named

Caesar set out to Egypt to track down Pompey only to learn that he’d already been assassinated

Egypt had its own civil war at the time, between the Pharaoh and his sister/wife Cleopatra.

Ptolemy was trying to curry favor with Caesar by killing his enemy, but Caesar was mad in

that the-only-person-who-gets-to-tease-my-little-brother-is-me kind of way, except with murder instead of

So Caesar sided with—and skoodilypooped with—Cleopatra.

Thank you, Thought Bubble. Cleopatra went on to become tBut before all that, Caesar

made his way back from Egypt to Rome, stopping off to defeat a few kings in the east, and

he last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt and bet on Marc “I am the Wrong Horse” Antony instead

of Emperor “There Is a Baby Attached to My Leg” Augustus.

But before all that, Caesar made his way back from Egypt to Rome, stopping off to defeat