WI Julius Caesar Was Crushed at Battle of Ruspina?

Depends.

If Caesar is killed or captured and executed his natural successor to the leadership of the Populares is Antony, but he isn't Caesar so some of those that had joined the Populares later would leave them, the Populares would also probably fall into some confusion and the usual murder/exile of some members of the leadership.This would give the Optimates some breathing room and from Africa they could use it as a base to recover Hispania or the Eastern provinces.

If Caesar is defeated but manages to escape, then the Optimates just won a couple of months a year at most as he was too popular among his legions and the Roman mob.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
If Caesar is defeated but manages to escape, then the Optimates just won a couple of months a year at most as he was too popular among his legions and the Roman mob.

But Caesar's popularity depended on his victories. If he loses a battle and a campaign, we can imagine that the loyalties of many of the Populares would have become questionable.
 
But Caesar's popularity depended on his victories. If he loses a battle and a campaign, we can imagine that the loyalties of many of the Populares would have become questionable.

He was a manipulator. There's a speech he made before the African campaign when the legions mutinied and he convinced them that he didn't needed them and called them "civilians" instead of the usual "comrades" to point out that they were no longer soldiers to him. Unsurprisingly they begged him to go with him. He would play the same card but this time he would say it to the rest of his army.

If he's defeated Cicero and his gang may think of going back to the Optimates but given that Caesar was on the top of his popularity during those years, playing the "Savior of the Republic" and the "Protector of the Plebes" cards, they would have to leave Rome in fear of their plotting ending being discovered.

Actually the Populares may actually blame them for the defeat and just give them to the Roman Mob to keep Caesar blameless for the defeat.
 
Frankly some sort if Caesar was going to come along sooner or later, the Republic had so many structural faults, chief among them the aristocrats' obstinate refusal to reform the system in favor of the plebs.
 
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