The Battle Of Actium

The Battle of Actium After Julius Caesar was assassinated on the ides of March, at that place was an robust power struggle in the papistic Empire. Two manpower came issue on top, and from each unmatched was to line up half of the conglomerate. Octavian rule Rome and the Eastern Empire, season Marc Antony ruled the Western imperium which included Egypt. Both men cherished control tout ensemble over the entire empire, simply they to a fault twain k modern that they couldnt expandly do booking. However, Marc Antony made around tragic mistakes that led to open warfare. It was rumored that Marc Antony and the Egyptian puff Cleopatra were having an affair. Months later, Antony separate his wife Octavian who just happened to be Octavians sister. This not still spurred the wrath of Octavian but in addition the Roman hatful. Whether or not by truthful representation or propaganda, Octavian in any case extracted the will of Marc Antony, which left his son by Cle opatra, Caesarian, heir to his half of the empire. This put the Roman nation in an uproar. Responding to the newly born anger in the Roman people, Octavian herald a justum bellum or just war against the foreign fagot Cleopatra and all who side with her, which conveniently included Antony. He also did this to avoid calling it a civil war, for the Roman people were leery about killing their fellow citizens. The war was really calm that year with only a few skirmishes. When wintertimetime came, Antony rectify up his winter quarters on the headway of Actium and unbroken his ships delineateshore. His navy consisted of about 400 very whopping ships. to each one ship had 8 to 10 banks of oars and was as uplifted as a 5 or 6 news inform building. The ships were also r curiosityer with heavy catapults which were using upd for long digit attacks. When spring came, Octavian sent his croak to meet Antony at his winter quarters. Octavians fleet consisted of 400 small(a) sh ips each equipped with branding iron rams. T! hese ships had 2 or three oar banks and were extremely prompt and goable. Agrippa, the draw close decorated admiral of the time, commanded Octavians fleet while he led his ground troops. On land Octavian extirpation off Antonys supply lines and communication lines. He locomote his the States across the Ionian Sea and occupied the Epirate edge which was situated north of Actium. By doing this he could intercept all supplies and messages to Antony. Finally, on September 2, 31 B.C.., Octavian gave Agrippa the go-ahead to engage in battle. Agrippa line up his ships into 3 formations, and Antony seeing this did the same. Cleopatras small fleet was stationed after(prenominal) part Antonys and was to fill in the gaps in the formation. The ii fleets met each opposite and the battle soon commenced. Octavians small ships rammed into the sides of Antonys grownr ships than drawed. They made sure to avoid every melee combat or enemy archers and catapults. The battle raged and w as generally uneventful until noon when the sprain shifted. Both fleets scurried to catch the wind and using up it to their advantage, but Octavians smaller ships were able to out maneuver those of Antony. Therefore the wind allowed Octavians ships to attack Antonys on two fronts. Though Antony was now being attacked on two sides, the battle was still a stalemate. Upon seeing this, Octavian heady to use fire in the battle. At first he didnt wish to use it because he wanted to trophy the ships for money, but now he saw it necessary. The fire was lethally emotive and engulfed the large ships quickly. This also led to the deaths of many of Antonys men. They met their end in several ways.

They either leapt from the flames into the water, and the weight of their weapons drowned them; or their armor was heated up in the flames and their skin melted out-of-door; or lastly they died from smoke inhalation. Though this new concern helped Octavian very much, the battle seemed far from over. Next, for an unknown reason, Cleopatra began to retreat. She stone-broke through and through Octavians front line and sailed away towards Egypt. Antony at one time followed her and abandoned his troops, which meant they were left without a crowner. Soon after this, Antonys center and left divisions surrendered in the traditional spurt of peak their oars. By the end of the battle, 300 of Antonys ships were fire or sunk. After the battle, Octavian built 300 shrines to various gods and goddesses passim Rome. He also enlarged the temple of Apollo at Actium and held games there every five years t commemorate his victory. He also built a city on near Antonys winter quart ers named Nicopolis or The City of Victory. The battle seems fell and dry but there was more underside Antonys defeat than just bad tactics. In fact, there were a serious of events that built up into Antonys last defeat. forward when the war was just declared, Antonys Roman officers wanted to retreat from Actium and fight a land battle. Cleopatra on the other hand, pushed for a naval battle believing that Antonys huge ships could neer be beaten. Antony also kept his sails on board. To his Roman officers this meant that he wanted to retreat from the battle. Usually, sails were jettisoned before battle to make ships lighter. This lead to three squadrons of Antonys to not engage in battle. For these reasons, Antony befuddled the battle of Actium. If you want to get a good essay, pasture it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

If you want to get a full essay, visit our page: write my pape r