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timelines:42_bc_imperium_aeternum

Imperium Aeternum - Chronology : 42 BC

Caesar completes his Commentarii de Bello Thracia in which he grossly exaggerates the magnitude of the Roman victory at Larissa. He does this largely to increase his popularity and support among the Roman people just as he did years ago during his wars in Gaul. Cleopatra begins reading his commentaries to the Senate and to large crowds of people in Rome. Her reading of the commentaries and her speeches of Caesar’s greatness not only increase Caesar’s popularity, but also her own. The Roman people begin seeing Cleopatra as an adopted Roman rather than a foreign queen as in years past.

Cicero and Octavian begin working on the second part of the Lex Legis Magnus, which will deal primarily with the provinces and their governments. In preparation, the Senate passes the lex Senatus, a law stating that each province will have a local Senate based on the one in Rome. This law will later be incorporated into the Lex Legis Magnus.

In March Scipio's army lands in Britain and begins moving north. Within three weeks he fights 3 major battles with unorganized natives and marches all the way to Caledonia within two months. He is proving to be an excellent military commander, actually much better than Caesar himself. Scipio tries to foster cooperation from the native population by offering able-bodied men riches if they join the Roman army and by not destroying local villages. He also buys a couple of thousand mercenaries to help fight the tough Caledonians. Scipio advances north and fights a major battle, the Battle of Vuvidenum against the Caledonians which sees 28,000 Roman soldiers versus 18,000 natives. The Romans narrowly win even with 10,000 more troops. After this battle however, the Romans basically control all of Britain and Caledonia. Scipio's army begins to build roads and other internal improvements and a provincial capital for Britain, Londinium. The small Roman encampment built during Scipio’s campaign in Caledonia, Campus Caledonia will eventually become Caledonum, the provincial capital of Caledonia.

Also in March, Caesar marches almost unopposed through Pannonia and Dalmatia and conquers everything along the Danube river, but does not cross into Dacian lands yet. The Dacian king, Comosicus, begins calling up an army to counter Caesar's moves in Dalmatia but he still feels relatively safe behind the Danube where he believes the Romans won't be able to cross without major trouble. As a result the Dacians only call up 25,000 men and don't really prepare for a major battle. Comosicus also sends an ambassador, Duritista, to conclude a peace treaty with the Romans in late October. Initially, Caesar seems receptive to Duritista’s offer, but actually, according to the Roman historian, Livy (who is traveling with the army), Caesar is stalling for time so as to keep the Dacian king complacent until he can figure out a plan for crossing the Danube. Caesar begins to build forts and other fortifications along the Danube to protect the border while scouting for a suitable place for a bridge…


timelines/42_bc_imperium_aeternum.txt · Last modified: 2019/03/29 15:14 by 127.0.0.1

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