History · 2
Which Roman general crossed the Rubicon river with his army in 49 BCE, triggering a civil war that ultimately ended the Roman Republic?
Answer
Julius Caesar
In January 49 BCE, Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon — the boundary river between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy — in direct defiance of the Roman Senate, which had ordered him to disband his forces. This act of treason ignited a civil war against Pompey and the Senate, and set in motion the chain of events that ended the Roman Republic and led to the rise of the Roman Empire.
💡 Did you know?
Crossing the Rubicon was so momentous that the phrase 'crossing the Rubicon' became a permanent idiom meaning to pass a point of no return — still in everyday use over 2,000 years later.
Other options people guess
- Pompey the Great
- Mark Antony
- Marcus Licinius Crassus
Topics
- ancient-rome
- julius-caesar
- roman-republic
- civil-war
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