April 6, 46 BC · Africa (Tunisia) Theater
April 6, 46 BC
After Pharsalus the surviving Pompeian leadership regrouped in the Roman province of Africa, where they had the support of King Juba I of Numidia and a significant army including war elephants — a weapon Caesar's veterans had not faced since Thapsus's namesake battle in the First Punic War. Caesar crossed to Africa with only 3,000 men to start with, suffered early reverses, and had to be resupplied before he could fight. Near the town of Thapsus, Caesar maneuvered Scipio's army into an indefensible position. When the battle began, Caesar's veterans acted without orders — the trumpets on his right wing sounded and the soldiers simply charged before Caesar could stop them. Caesar later said he had not given the order but the outcome was never in doubt: the Numidian elephants panicked under fire and fled back through their own lines, and the Pompeian infantry was broken and pursued without mercy. Scipio and Afranius were killed trying to escape; Cato the Younger, commanding at nearby Utica, refused either to fight or to accept Caesar's now-predictable pardon, and stabbed himself.
Commanders