January–March 49 BC · Italy Theater
January–March 49 BC
Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon with a single legion on January 10, 49 BC was met with near-total collapse of Pompeian resistance in Italy. Pompey and the Senate had expected Caesar to negotiate — he had been making war for eight years in Gaul and his troops were veterans while many Pompeian garrison soldiers were raw recruits. Town after town in northern Italy opened its gates to Caesar without a fight. Marcus Crassus, commanding a garrison force at Corfinium, was abandoned by his own soldiers before Caesar arrived and had to surrender the entire force — whom Caesar pardoned and incorporated into his own army. Pompey retreated southward to Brundisium (modern Brindisi), where Caesar caught him and attempted to blockade the harbor with an enormous mole. But Pompey's engineers held off long enough for his army and most of the Senate to embark for Greece. Within 60 days of the Rubicon crossing, Caesar controlled all of Italy without a major battle.
Commanders