When Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 B.C., he was one of the most powerful men in the world. His overwhelming ambition had made him a military tribune, praetor, consul, dictator, and in the eyes of many, a god. Only one title eluded him: king. This revealing portrait of Caesar avoids the myths a...
wrote Villehardouin. “They were already preparing for battle, when the news began to come in from the city…” The Crusaders, who had retired dispirited and exhausted the night before, now learned to their astonishment that the Emperor Alexius had fled. It is not difficult to imagine how much this ...
Like all empires it was founded on the ruins of others but, unlike those that had preceded it, instead of remaining confined within the territorial limits of the Near East the Persian Empire was still expanding. From 547 B.C. onwards it continued to do so for some seventy years. Its first real ch...
Sending ahead ambassadors to explain that his intentions were peaceful, he arranged to meet the local chieftains at Ruscino (Castel-Roussillon). Here he succeeded in convincing them that his war was with Rome, and that his army was marching against the enemies of their race and to aid their cousi...
Alternatively, if he intended to make sure of his new territory, he should have retained the Sultan’s ships and janissaries. But this may not have been possible, for Suleiman was engaged in his war with Persia (one of the few strategic mistakes in his reign), and could not afford to leave so many...
There must have been those in Rome who, knowing the situation, felt confident that Caesar would never dare to move—at least until he had been reinforced from Gaul, by which time Pompey would have more than adequate forces to deal with him. But Pompey had seen no active service since 62; he was no...
Two of his squires rashly suggested to him that the King did not mean to take Ceuta at all. Taking his silence for assent and blind to his rising anger, they went so far as to say that King John was only looking for some way of saving his face, and that he cared little if he lost a few men in the...