Battle of Pharsalus

Overview

The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus in Central Greece. Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the Roman Republic under the command of Pompey. Pompey had the backing of a majority of Roman senators and his army significantly outnumbered the veteran Caesarian legions.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive engagement of Caesar's Civil War, fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus in Central Greece. Caesar's forces, though significantly outnumbered — facing a Pompeian army of between 41,000 and 54,000 with only 23,000 men — inflicted casualties estimated between 30,000 and 39,000 on the Pompeian side while suffering only around 1,200 of their own. Pompey commanded not only the larger force but the backing of a majority of the Roman Senate, giving the Pompeian cause both military weight and institutional legitimacy. The scale of the disparity in casualties points to a collapse of Pompeian resistance rather than a close-run contest, and the battle effectively broke the organized Senatorial opposition to Caesar. With Pompey's army destroyed at Pharsalus, the political coalition that had mustered behind the Republican cause lost its principal military instrument, shifting the trajectory of the civil war decisively toward Caesar.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (9)