Assassination of Julius Caesar
Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March, triggering civil war.
On March 15, 44 BCE, Gaius Julius Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate in the Theatre of Pompey by a group of senators who called themselves the Liberatores. Led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, the conspirators feared Caesar's growing power and his potential to end the Roman Republic. Ironically, the assassination led to a series of civil wars that ultimately ended the Republic and gave rise to the Roman Empire under Caesar's adopted heir, Octavian.
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