Great Commanders: Julius Caesar

The story of Julius Caesar’s military career is the story of the special relationship between a brilliant commander and an elite fighting force. The legions of the Late Republic were superb instruments of war. Recruited from the citizen farmers of Italy and the more Romanised provinces of the fast-growing empire, they were largely formed of volunteers, and increasingly of long-service veterans choosing a military career. Highly drilled, heavily armoured, and tightly disciplined, they had an exceptional esprit de corps. Their weapons system had been refined over three centuries of battle against Samnites, Greeks, Carthaginians, Gauls, and Celtiberians. It comprised three elements.