Chapter 431 Battle of Pharsalus

Faced with the rebellion, the Roman legion commander was a little panicked, but because of the previous experience (the legion led by Cotta abandoned the camp and retreated, and was finally annihilated during the last Gallic tribe rebellion; while the legion led by Cicero's brother Quintus held the camp and was finally rescued by Caesar), he did not choose to lead his army to retreat back to the province of West France, but gathered his troops, defended the camp, and waited for reinforcements.

The troops of the tribes in northern Gaul surrounded the Roman camp, but they lacked unified command and fought on their own. The Roman camp not only had sufficient supplies, but also had complete and strong defense facilities. The Gauls failed to capture it after several strong attacks, but suffered considerable casualties in the counterattack of the Roman soldiers.

Just when they were at a loss, Vercingetorix arrived with a large army.

With his prestige, Vercingetorix became the undisputed commander-in-chief of the entire Gallic army. So after repeatedly exploring the defense of the Roman camp, he discussed with the leaders of the tribes many times and formulated a new plan to attack the camp.

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Caesar led his army to retreat from the east coast of the Adriatic Sea to the heart of Greece.

As it was summer, most of the wheat fields were ripe, and the hungry soldiers could harvest on the spot, saving the trouble of collecting grain.

During the march, the previously dispersed troops also joined the main force one after another, and Caesar's troops were replenished.

But as the news of his defeat in Dyrrachium spread, some towns in Greece felt that it was a mistake to help such a Roman general who was likely to lose the war.

So when they arrived at Gomphi, the city's chief executive not only closed the city gates, but also publicly declared: Caesar's army is not allowed to enter! He also ordered them to leave immediately!

Caesar was furious and immediately led his army to attack the city and quickly occupied the city.

With his connivance, the soldiers not only looted the city, but also killed, raped and plundered at will, and the city's chief executive was forced to commit suicide.

This was the first time since the outbreak of the civil war that Caesar allowed his soldiers to ravage the civilians of the occupied city, showing his ruthless side to the people of the Roman province, but greatly boosting the morale of the army that had experienced the defeat at Dyrrachium.

Other Greek towns, fearing the same miserable fate as Gomphi, welcomed the arrival of Caesar's army.

This greatly improved the food supply of Caesar's army and the health of the soldiers, making Caesar more confident to fight a decisive battle with Pompey to completely end the civil war in Rome.

However, Pompey's army followed behind but always avoided direct battle with him.

Caesar did not expect Pompey to be so cautious after winning a victory. He understood that Pompey was adopting the Fabian strategy (during the Second Punic War, the Roman army commander Fabius faced the Hannibal army, which had won many battles, and used the tactics of avoiding battle but following closely, which greatly limited the power of Hannibal's army and played an important role in the final victory over Carthage) to try to drag himself down.

Caesar was not panicking, as he had received news that Pompey's father-in-law, the newly appointed governor of Syria, Metellus, was leading his army into Macedonia to support Pompey.

He immediately led his army to meet the enemy and forced Pompey to fight him.

Pompey understood Caesar's intentions and continued to implement his previously formulated strategy, following Caesar's army slowly and trying to drag down the enemy.

However, he was in some trouble now. Although he left Cato in Dyrrachium and commanded the garrison there to avoid him from making decisions, a large number of conservative senators in his army did not reduce their criticism of him.

They accused Pompey of deliberately delaying the war in order to maintain his lofty status, and even called him "Agamemnon".

Even Cicero, who loved Pompey very much, publicly declared that this civil war was actually a struggle between Pompey and Caesar for supreme power.

The more suspicious the senators became, the greater the pressure on Pompey.

The armies of both sides entered the Thessaly region one after another. With Caesar's deliberate indulgence, Pompey successfully joined forces with his father-in-law Metellus, and the strength of his troops increased again.

This greatly encouraged the conservative senators. Coupled with the victory of the previous Battle of Dyrrachium, they believed that victory was just around the corner, and even began to consider keeping a rich spoils for themselves. Some people sent their men to Rome to buy a mansion near the square that belonged to Caesar's party, while important conservative senators such as Domitius, Metellus, and Lanturus had been arguing over who should succeed Caesar as the high priest.

The atmosphere of victory was everywhere in the military camp, which even affected Pompey as the commander. At the same time, the senators were also urging him to eliminate Caesar as soon as possible so as to share the fruits of victory after the war.

Pompey finally decided to fight Caesar head-on, but the remaining rationality still made him want to choose a suitable opportunity.

In the next few days, the two sides continued to maneuver and transfer at close range according to the conventional combat methods at that time. At the same time, Caesar led his army out of the camp several times and lined up to challenge Pompey, but Pompey always refused to fight.

Later, the armies of both sides arrived at the flat and open Pharsalus Plain. Caesar once again lined up to challenge Pompey, but Pompey still refused.

Caesar had to withdraw his troops and prepare to find another opportunity to fight.

At this time, Pompey led his army out of the camp and began to line up on the plain.

Caesar did not want to miss this great opportunity, and immediately ordered the soldiers who had formed the marching formation to return and start the battle again. It can be said that before the battle, Caesar's soldiers had consumed some more energy.

At this time, the two warring parties:

Pompey had a total force of about 50,000 people. He divided his troops into three parts: left, center, and right wing. The right wing was close to the Aeneid River and was commanded by Lanturus; the center was the main force, commanded by Metellus; the left wing was commanded by Amityus; 6,400 cavalry were concentrated on the outermost side of the left wing, commanded by Labienus.

Pompey arranged his troops in the conventional three-row formation, but each battalion had a depth of ten rows, which was much deeper than usual, so that he could resist and contain the fierce attack of Caesar's elite troops for a long time.

He focused the key to victory on the huge cavalry on the outside of the left wing, because Pompey's advantage was that the number of cavalry far exceeded Caesar's. He wanted to make full use of this advantage and let the cavalry gallop across the open plain, first defeat the enemy cavalry, and then sweep the enemy formation.

Pompey's tactics were simple and clear, and Caesar, who was observing the enemy situation, knew it at a glance, so he began to deploy his troops in a targeted manner.

Caesar's total force was close to 30,000 (only 22,000 in the previous history), and he also divided the troops into three parts: left, center, and right. The left wing was close to the Aeneid River and led by Antony; the center was led by Calvinus; the right wing was nominally under the command of Sulla the Younger, but in fact Caesar had been sitting behind it.

Although it was also a traditional three-row formation, due to the smaller number of troops than the opponent, the depth of each brigade was only four to six rows. Cavalry was also deployed on the outside of the right wing, which seemed to be used to resist Pompey's cavalry. However, Caesar secretly deployed ten infantry battalions behind the right wing cavalry, standing in an oblique shape. Due to the cover of the cavalry in front and the smoke and dust when the formation was formed, Pompey's side did not discover Caesar's deployment.

Before the battle began, Caesar also specially reviewed the entire army. Many veterans and centurions said that they wanted to win for Caesar and fight this last battle!

After Caesar gave the order to advance, the soldiers with high morale advanced forward in an orderly manner with a steady pace, and only shouted and threw javelins after approaching the enemy.

As a result, they found that the enemy did not rush up to fight, but stood still.

So, Caesar's soldiers showed a terrifying high degree of discipline. They actually stopped and calmly readjusted the team in front of the formation before continuing to move forward. After reaching the right position, they threw the second javelin again, and then shouted to charge.

The fierce charge of Caesar's army caused chaos in the front of Pompeii's army, but Pompeii's army was large in number and had a particularly large depth, so they finally resisted the charge, causing the infantry of both sides to engage in fierce fighting.

Although Pompeii ordered his infantry to hold their positions, he let Labienus lead the cavalry to charge the enemy cavalry, which was outnumbered in number.

Caesar's cavalry quickly retreated, luring the enemy to pursue.

Pompeii's cavalry was large in number, but they came from many regions and lacked tacit cooperation with each other, and most of the commanders of each cavalry were enthusiastic but inexperienced young Roman nobles.

Labienus knew the shortcomings of this cavalry, so before the charge he issued an order requiring each cavalry team to control the speed of the horses as much as possible so as to maintain the formation.

At first, Pompeii's cavalry performed well, but after repelling the enemy's cavalry, they thought they were strong and complacent, and because they were busy chasing the enemy, the order was chaotic and crowded.

Labienus and his officers soon lost control of the troops.

Caesar seized the opportunity and ordered the ten battalions deployed in the rear to attack.

The soldiers held javelins and used them as spears to launch a fierce charge against the Pompeian cavalry, which slowed down due to excessive confusion.

The Pompeian cavalry was quickly defeated and fled to the rear in a mess.

The ten battalions of Caesar's infantry once again showed a high degree of discipline. They did not pursue too far, but quickly turned around and attacked the left wing of Pompeian infantry.

The left wing of Pompeian's army was flanked, and the morale of the army was shaken.

Caesar also put the reserve troops of the third line into the battle in time.

The Pompeian army was under great pressure, retreated step by step, the battle line gradually disintegrated, and finally collapsed...

After the war, Pompeian sat behind the cavalry, wanting to witness the defeat of Caesar's army with his own eyes. But he did not expect that his cavalry would be the first to collapse, and his heart sank to the bottom of the valley.