Octavian’s war with Marcus Antonius

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Octavian’s war against Marcus Antonius is an example where a power struggle had a tremendous impact on the Classical Civilizations.  After Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE, his step-son, Octavian called for his inheritance.  He formed an alliance with Marcus Antonius, who was Caesar’s good friend and a popular politician.  They also allied themselves with Marcus Lepidus, who was another politician.  Together, they formed the Second Triumvirate, and decided to avenge Caesar’s death by leading an army against Caesar’s murders, who were Brutus and the other conspirators.  The two armies fought at the Battle at Phillippi, resulting in the Triumvirate’s victory, and Brutus’ suicide.  After that, the members of the Triumvirate began to turn against each other.  Lepidus was eventually exiled, and only Octavian and Marcus Antonius remained.

Marcus went to Egypt where he began to share power with its queen, Cleopatra.  He even left his own wife, who was Octavian’s sister, for Cleopatra who had three children with him.  It was Antonius’ goal to give some of Rome’s territory to his children and possibly lead a revolution with his Egyptian power against Octavian.  As Octavian is gaining more and more power, he does not want to share his power with Antonius and therefore wants to find a way to legitimately declare war upon him.  Through illegal means, Octavian finds and opens Antonius’ will to find that he was planning on giving some of Rome’s territory to his children.  The senate approved of Octavian’s declaration of war against Egypt.

A conflict was inevitable and the two armies met in a naval battle called the Battle at Actium.  Octavian won the battle and destroyed both Cleopatra’s fleet and Antonius’ fleet.  The couple escaped, where both killed themselves.  This power struggle changed the course of history because Octavian became the unchallenged ruler of Rome.  He changed his name to Augustus, and founded the Roman Empire, making him the very first Roman Emperor.  The Empire would last for hundreds of years, as it grew to conquer parts of the Middle East, Britain, and the many other areas.  Roman culture would eventually seep into the other cultures, and unite all of the regions under one ruler.  Without Octavian’s victory over Antonius, none of these Roman accomplishments would have ever existed.