3000 B.C. – 500 A.D.
The naval battle off Tauris Island in the Adriatic Sea was fought between Caesarean and Pompeiian forces after the Great Roman Civil War. The opposing fleets clashed at such close quarters that melee combat essentially decided the battle.
With eyes like a hawk, the Roman eagle that was Julius Caesar foresaw Pompey’s battleplans in the way he arrayed his troops for battle. This foresight granted him a fighting chance against the superiorly positioned and outnumbering enemy.
Caesar found success in the first year of the Civil War, but the second year proved to be a true challenge. After all, he was not in Gaul anymore. He was going up against one of Rome’s greatest heroes who had been collecting and training an army while Caesar was out fighting in foreign lands.
Julius Caesar spent the year of 49 B.C hunting down the men who opposed his coming to Rome with an active-duty army. The chase led him out to Hispania (modern: Spain) where he would learn how differently war was conducted outside of Gaul, how much more challenging it was to fight against fellow Roman generals who were as well trained and educated as him, and yet, how truly gifted he was indeed at adapting to new enemies and commanding a military dynamically.
After Julius Caesar’s time in Gaul was up, he wanted to return home and cash in on his new cache back in Rome, but the Roman Senate led by Pompei was less excited than the Roman citizenry to see Caesar return in all his military glory, so they issued an ultimatum: disband your army or else…
Julius Caesar led his 60,000 Roman soldiers to siege one of the capital strongholds of Gaul. Approximately 300,000 Gauls then descended on him. Whether it was destiny or military genius, Julius Caesar cemented Rome’s road to empire and lived to tell the tale in his book, “Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War.”
Riding high on successive victories, the Romans besiege the next major stronghold of the rebels in Gaul, but it is set high on a plateau with only one narrow road up it and would be a height no Roman eagle would fly above, for now.
With the tables turned, the Gallic rebellion finds itself starting out on the defensive as Julius Caesar marches straight onto the rebel stronghold.
Having just put down a revolt in Belgae (modern: Belgium), Julius Caesar was faced with no time to rest as a major rebellion brewing in the heart of Gaul threatened to undo his six years of conquest.
Conquering a land is not as simple as winning battles. Julius Caesar had to park his troops in various hostile neighborhoods and deal with repeated uprisings until the natives there could be beaten into submission and resolve to accept Roman yoke because resisting it would be too fatal.
tldr History 