Assassination of Julius Caesar
The murder that ended the Roman Republic and birthed the Empire — proving that killing a tyrant doesn't kill tyranny.
Explore this event on the interactive timeline →On the Ides of March, a group of senators stabbed Caesar to death on the Senate floor. Rather than restoring the Republic, the assassination triggered civil wars that ultimately produced the Roman Empire under Augustus.
Perspective
The lesson of Caesar's assassination is one history keeps teaching and we keep ignoring: the conditions that create a strongman survive the strongman. Kill Caesar and you get Augustus. Remove one populist autocrat and the structural problems that created him remain.