The Dawson Ledger
Event

Caesar's Civil War (49-45 BCE)

Civil war between Caesar and the Senate/Pompeian forces ending the Republican order; main Roman-civil-war case in this patch.

Greco-Roman

Event Details

  • Date: 10 January 49 BCE-17 March 45 BCE
  • Type: civil-war
  • Civilizations: greco-roman

Description

Civil war between Caesar and the Senate/Pompeian forces ending the Republican order; main Roman-civil-war case in this patch. Other civil wars (Sulla, Triumviral, Actium) remain open items.

Quantitative facts and their sourcing

  • Dates from the crossing of the Rubicon (10 Jan 49 BCE) to Munda (17 Mar 45 BCE); outcome: Caesarian victory (Wikipedia infobox). Early-49 force: 10 Caesarian vs 15 Pompeian legions (Wikipedia, stub).
  • War-level casualties not asserted. For Pharsalus see Battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE) (primary figures from Caesar).
  • PRIMARY-SOURCE figures (Pharsalus only, already read for Battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE)): Caesar, Civil War 3.99: Caesarian loss about 200 rankers and 30 centurions; about 15,000 Pompeians fallen and more than 24,000 surrendered. Partisan source. War-level totals still not asserted.

Confidence

medium (dates/outcome). Numbers marked "Wikipedia-compiled (stub)" come from a secondary aggregator and must be upgraded to page-level scholarly citations before any Official use.

Citations

  • syme1939-roman-revolution [formal] Ronald Syme (1939). The Roman Revolution. Oxford University Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12967008W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
  • gruen1974-last-generation [formal] Erich S. Gruen (1974). The Last Generation of the Roman Republic. University of California Press. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2724295W. Verified 2026-10-11 (Open Library record found; edition exists, page-level not checked).
  • wp-caesars-civil-war [STUB (secondary aggregator)] Wikipedia contributors (2026). Caesar's civil war (Wikipedia; secondary aggregator, stub-grade). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar's_civil_war. Verified 2026-10-11 (resolves).

Review status

SOFT draft. Not Official. Needs editor review of CAD tags (estimated) and page-level citation upgrade.

About this entry

A draft entry preserved from civilization.study. Evidence grade: medium. 3 of 4 listed sources are fully documented; the rest are names only. Method and sources

Conflict card

This card is generated from Civitas's war record and carries the same evidence badge as every other conflict card.

How to read the evidence badges
Primary text read
Civitas read the ancient or primary text for at least one figure on this card. Other figures may still be Wikipedia-compiled and are labelled.
Generic placeholder: a split line for a civil conflict. Not an image of this event.
civil war · 10 January 49 BCE-17 March 45 BCE

Caesar's Civil War (49-45 BCE)

Civil war between Caesar and the Senate/Pompeian forces ending the Republican order; main Roman-civil-war case in this patch.

Evidence: Primary text read Draft estimate

What the record says

  • Unverified (Wikipedia-compiled) Dates from the crossing of the Rubicon (10 Jan 49 BCE) to Munda (17 Mar 45 BCE); outcome: Caesarian victory (Wikipedia infobox). Early-49 force: 10 Caesarian vs 15 Pompeian legions (Wikipedia, stub).
  • Note War-level casualties not asserted. For Pharsalus see event-battle-pharsalus-48bce (primary figures from Caesar).
  • Primary text PRIMARY-SOURCE figures (Pharsalus only, already read for event-battle-pharsalus-48bce): Caesar, Civil War 3.99: Caesarian loss about 200 rankers and 30 centurions; about 15,000 Pompeians fallen and more than 24,000 surrendered. Partisan source. War-level totals still not asserted.

Confidence. medium (dates/outcome).

Where it sits

Sources and evidence

No page-level citation is claimed for any source. Figures marked unverified come from a Wikipedia aggregator and are not for Official use.

Link to this conflict

Art: Patterns of Civilization chronicle art, made with AI: illustrations, not historical evidence. Entries are drafts preserved from civilization.study. Method and sources.