y. Crassus then provoked a war with the Parthian empire; he was defeated and killed at Carrhae in 53 BC. The death of Crassus removed any obligations between Pompey and Caesar, since Julia died in 54 BC.Pompey was made sole consul in 52 BC; his first objective was to rid himself of the younger rival Caesar. Pompeys way of doing this was relieving Caesar of his command in Gaul. The senate ordered Caesar to resign his army or become a public enemy. Caesar refused and decided to attack Pompey, thus beginning the civil war.At the beginning of the war Caesar had eight legions in Gaul, while Pompey had ten and most too far away to be of any help. Although in fighting forces actual and potential Caesar was inferior to Pompey, morally he was vastly superior to him. His conquests of Gaul had granted him much prestige; his singleness of command enabled him to come to rapid and unquestioned decisions, and the devotion of his men instilled him with complete confidence in their loyalty. Caesars main strategy to win the war was to convince the people, the property owners, and the capitalists, that his cause was the more desirable one, and he had to convert his enemys legions into a profitable recruiting ground. Pompey fled to Brundisium because his troops in Italy were not prepared for war. They met at the port, where the greater part of the Pompeian army had already sailed. Pompey and twenty cohorts were still in port. Before this point Caesar had many times offered peace talks, but all were denied. This could have been a tactical ploy to gain the peoples backing, or he simply could have wanted the conflict to end. On March 18th 48 BC, Caesar entered Brundisium and Italy was considered his. Caesar then constructed a fleet, he had none to speak of prior to this point, and took Spain and the key port of Massalia. In Rome Caesar became dictator until he was elected consul for 48 BC. It was in the beginning of this year that he landed at Greece and smas...
