Julius Caesar: Man, Soldier, and Tyrant

by J.F.C. Fuller

Since the Renaissance, Julius Caesar has been idolized as a superman. Classical sources, however, present a far less exalted being. As General Fuller writes, Caesar was "an unscrupulous demagogue whose one aim was power, and a general who could not only win brilliant victories but also commit dismal blunders. . . . It is reasonable to suspect that, at times, Caesar was not responsible for his actions, and toward the end of his life, not altogether sane." There is not doubt that Caesar was an extraordinary man." But Fuller points out that he was extraordinary for his reckless ambition, matchless daring, and ruthless tyranny, rather than for his skills as a military commander. Caesar continually had to extricate himself from results of mistakes of judgement. His unnecessary Alexandrian War, his close call at Thapsus, and his seemingly unpremeditated Gallic conquest are just a few of Fuller's many examples.And in telling Caesar's history, Fuller illuminates a century of Roman history as well. Aided by maps of Caesar's principal battles and diagrams of many of his weapons, Fuller brings to life Caesar's wars, his armies, his equipment, and his methods. Brilliant in design and impressive in scope, Julius Caesar clarifies how the military, political, and economic aspects of the Roman Republic worked together to produce a man whose name has come down to us as a synonym for absolute authority.

Genres: History, Biography, Military History, Military Fiction, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Roman History

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 1965

About the author

Major-General John Frederick Charles Fuller, CB, CBE, DSO was a British Army officer (1899–1933), military historian and strategist, notable as an early theorist of modern armoured warfare, including categorising principles of warfare.

Fuller was also an early disciple of English poet and magician Aleister Crowley and was very familiar with his, and other forms of, magick and mysticism.

Reviews

[Tim Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The life of Julius Caesar by the eminent British military historian, J.F.C. Fuller. A better subtitle would have been, man, SOLDIER, and tyrant. Because Fuller is a military historian, one would expect Caesar as a military captain to take center stage in this biography, but Fuller almost didn’t let Julius Caesar’s other lives on stage at all.

Oh, we know every detail about his military campaigns and far too much detail of his major battles (do we really need to know the order of battle and where each unit was located on the battlefield to understand Caesar as a military captain?), but unfortunately it’s at the cost of understanding what makes him tick as a man, what forces and events formed him, or informed his later personality, or turned him into the tyrant the subtitle claimed (Fuller never really seemed to view him that way).

There’s good reason for a book on Julius Caesar’s military campaigns and, of course, good reasons for biographies of the man who lived so long ago yet had a major impact on the world we still inhabit. Fuller should have written the former. It’s in his wheelhouse.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to know about the minutiae of Caesar's campaigns, this is probably a great resource. Fuller deals out praise and criticism with equal measure - and rather more of the latter than one might expect. There is a lot here about Caesar the general and politician, a lot less about Caesar the man - information regarding his personal life except where it intersects with political maneuvering and wars, is largely absent.

[David Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life and times of Julius Caesar. I found I didn't know much about him actually. I knew he conquered Gaul, but didn't know much about that campaign. I knew he had a war with Pompey but knew next to nothing about it. I didn't realize that Julius Caesar had a relationship with Cleopatra, I thought she was Mark Antony's honey-bunny not Julius Caesar's.

I also found it interesting how the Republic was essentially non-functional. Instead of the Senate making the decisions, they had just started appointing a series of individual dictators with Emperium to make decisions for them. Of course this went bad.

[PyranopterinMo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting contrarian view of Julius Caesar by a famous military theorist written late in his life. Basically using caesar's own writings he argues Caesar made some huge mistakes and was hardly a great general. Instead he was a politician writing about himself as a general to further a political career.

[Jerry Mrizek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not your usual biography of Caesar, Fuller apparently wasn't a fan club member. I think he goes too far in the opposite direction but it was strange to read about Caesar as human and capable of (many) mistakes.

[Jerry-Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good review of Caesar. But a lot is just copied from Caesar, not much in the way of insight.

[Naliza Fahro-Rozi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant in design and impressive in scope, Julius Caesar clarifies how the military, political, and economic aspects of the Roman Republic worked together to produce a man whose name has come down to us as a synonym for absolute authority.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated by a number of mid-century presumptions, and also hobbled a bit by dependence on translations, betraying a strange dissonance from the primary sources as times. Still, incisive and clear as to what Fuller wanted to argue.

[Patrick Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

In depth and somewhat boring, plus no mention of his salad.

[Mike Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book to get a look into the life of Julius Caesar.

Do you see him as a good or a bad person?

[Maynard Handley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure why the English version of this book is not yet on GoodReads.
I read the English version and it's, uh, OK?

The basic problem is that I wanted a rounded biography of Caesar, in particular one that placed him in context: was he in it for himself or did he have a genuine vision for how to improve the life of the poor? Perhaps I hoped for more than can be known and written up; who can know at this remove how anyone conceptualized politics, the state, and social welfare two thousand years ago?

Regardless, however, this book is very much less than what I hoped for, in that it is primarily a military history -- which battles Caesar fought against whom, and why and how each battle played out as it did. It may be superb in that role, I'm not qualified to say. But that's not a field that much interests me, and the part that does interest me was perhaps 10% of the book, swamped by the military details.

[Gabby · Rating 1 out of 5]

when i first found out we were going to be reading Julius Caesar , i was excited because I thought it was something like Romeo & Juliet and i always wanted to read Romeo and Juliet. When we began to read the story i instantly was unengaged because of the language mostly and because the book was just not my style. Trying to finish the book was so hard for me because i found myself thinking about other things is=nstead of the book while reading and then at the end taking a test just made it that much harder for me.

[Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me awhile to get into, but I found the writing style very clear and military analysis useful and helpful. I learned a lot about the Roman military and of course about Caesar and his life and campaigns in detail. Not the most thrilling read, but it was helpful for my research.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fulfills the reader with information on Caesar. It can be a bit repetitive at times, but balances academic and laymen very well

[Danne · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very dated book, full of wrongly drawn conclusions and an astonishingly lack of insight and understanding of Gaius Julius Caesar and the Roman world

[William Justus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fuller delivers a sober view of Caesar's military campaigns, covering the time period from the Pacification of Gaul to his assassination. There are many helpful maps that provide the geographical context of his campaigns as well as maps demonstrating the tactical breakdown of battles. Additionally, Fuller reviews the various exploits of the characters important in the period from Sulla to Cicero. Pompey receives a particularly in-depth analysis. One of the things that I enjoyed most about this book was that it abstained from the character worship so rampant in books about the great captains of antiquity. Fuller does not portray Caesar as a hero, or irresistible conqueror, but rather as a man prone to both great success and glaring error. Personally, I think Caesar was a far greater politician than general. The superiority of the Roman legion was the key to most of his victories, rather than tactical or strategic brilliance. Fuller emphasizes that Caesar had a firm grasp of the concept of strategic time, though sometimes his choice of speed over preparation worked against him. In summation, Fuller presents both the strengths and weaknesses of Caesar, leaving the ultimate question of his greatness up to the reader. Though I have fallen more into an anti-Caesarian camp, I still believe that I gained from having read this book.

[Khari]

Great book for research purposes... I would get bored reading it daily though