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By spring of the year 49 B.C.E., Julius Caesar, with Italy under his control, faced the possibility of fighting a war on multiple fronts. Presently, Pompey was busy assembling an army in Greece, which meant that he had to leave his legions in Spain to fend for themselves. These 7 Spanish legions posed an immediate threat to Caesar. After sending 3 of his legions to North Africa via Sicily, and one to Sardinia, Caesar departed Italy with 3 legions.
He would rendez-vous with 6 more legions from Gaul once he got to Spain. As Caesar and his legions travelled to Spain, one of the major cities along the way, named Massilia, declared neutrality and refused to aid Caesar's legions until this whole civil war thing was sorted out. Pretty soon it became clear that Domitius Ahenobarbus, the guy that Caesar had pardoned for unsuccessfully blocking his approach to Rome, was leading the defense of the city. Domitius Ahenobarbus couldn't have planned this better if he'd tried. A long, drawn out siege could take months. Caesar didn't have time for that.
He had to wrap things up in Spain before Pompey had a chance to raise an army in Greece. The clock was ticking. At the same time, Caesar didn't want to just ignore a rebel city. As we know, the situation in Gaul remained precarious. Success breeds success, and if he let this situation fester, things could easily spiral into another Gallic uprising. He didn't have time for that either. Caesar decided to take a risk. He would leave these three legions behind, and proceed to Spain alone. Instead of facing Pompey's 7 Spanish legions with 9 of his own, he would face them with 6.
As Caesar and his bodyguards made their way towards Spain, his 6 legions from Gaul successfully occupied all of the important passes through the Pyrenees mountains. With Caesar still weeks away, they began to inch their way into Spain. Before too long, they encountered the Pompeian army. They were sitting on a fantastic defensive position. The Pompeians were encamped high up on a ridge. The town of Ilerda just behind them controlled access to the only bridge across the river. There were also mountains to the south. If the Caesarians crossed the river, they would be stuck in between a hill, a river, and some mountains.
Resupply across the river would be extremely difficult, and with bottlenecks in every direction, escape would be nearly impossible. If Caesar decided to attack, would be attacking uphill. If he decided to wait, the Pompeians could cut his supply lines. If he decided to retreat, the Pompeians could stop him at any of the bottlenecks. It wasn't all good news for the Pompeians though. Of the 7 legions in Spain, only 5 had been able to get there in time. The other two legions were dealing with stuff hundreds of kilometers away. So, the Caesarian legions outnumbered the Pompeian legions 6 to 5, but bear in mind that most of the Caesarian legions were at half strength, which meant that in the end,
the Pompeians probably had a slight numerical advantage. When Caesar's legions arrived, the legate in charge ordered two new bridges built, and within a few days the entire group had crossed the river into that terrible position between the hill, the river, and the mountains. This was exactly what the Pompeians wanted them to do, so they just sat back and watched. The Caesarians decided to settle in and wait. This would strain their supply lines, and both sides knew this. The Caesarians sent foraging parties far and wide to reduce the strain, and the Pompeians sent patrols to challenge them.
Then, something weird happened. One day, when the Caesarians were foraging on the other side of the river, one of the bridges just collapsed. With the Caesarians unexpectedly cut off, the Pompeians responded quickly by sending all of their cavalry across their bridge. This was a total disaster. The stranded Caesarians didn't stand a chance against that many Pompeians. Back at the Caesarian camp, they hatched a pretty risky plan to save their stranded units. A small detatchment of infantry was sent out on its own, marching 6 kilometers north at a breakneck pace, and crossing the second bridge.
On the other side of the river, they caught sight of the stranded Caesarians making a last stand. The infantry were protecting the cavalry in a defensive square, with their javelins pointing outward like spears. The Pompeian cavalry were charging over and over again, but each time the Caesarian infantry held their ground. When the exhausted Caesarian reinforcements showed up, the Pompeian cavalry turned and fled. In the end, neither side suffered very many casualties, but because of the Caesarian infantry, total disaster was averted.
The next day the Caesarians got to work repairing the collapsed bridge, and it was at that moment when Caesar decided to show up. He could immediatley see that with the Pompeians up on that ridge, and the Caesarians operating under time constraints, the current situation was kinda unwinnable. This should serve as a reminder that apart from Labienus, Caesar's subordinates had never been particularly skilled, militarily.
Caesar would need to shake things up, quickly. He ordered half a legion to stay behind and protect the bridges, and then repositioned the rest of his men uncomfortably close to the Pompeians, right at the foot of the hill, as if he was begging them to attack. Both sides deployed for battle, but the Pompeians didn't take the bait. If Caesar wanted a fight, he would have to attack uphill. As the sun began to set, Caesar decided that he wasn't going to give up this little toe hold half way up the hill. His first two lines remained ready to fight, while the third line pulled back and began to dig a giant defensive trench.
This would serve as the foundation for a new Caesarian camp. The Caesarians continued like this all night. The Pompeians were oblivious. The next day, continuing on absolutely no sleep, the third Caesarian line dug another set of trenches extending away from the hill. When the Caesarians started putting up walls, the Pompeians finally figured out what they were doing. They sent skirmishers forward to disrupt the construction, but it was much too late for that. The Caesarians easily pushed them back, and by the following day, the Caesarians had completed the construction of their fortified camp, right there on the hill.
Both armies found it quite stressful sleeping with the enemy so close at hand, and that was the whole point. Now that the temperature was turned up, maybe the Pompeians would make a foolish mistake. The next day, Caesar lead half of his legions out of the new camp. marched around the Pompeian position, and up a tiny hill between the Pompeians and the town of Ilerda. This was an extremely bold move. The Pompeians scrambled, and were able to beat the Caesarians to the top of the hill. Now, the Caesarians were attacking uphill, which was exactly what they had been trying to avoid this whole time.
As the two armies clashed, both sides sent for reinforcements. Throughout the day, the fighting escalated and intensified, with neither side making any progress. There were heavy casualties. When it was all done, the Caesarians had lost 700 men, and the Pompeians had lost only 200. More importantly, the Caesarians had failed to capture the hill. Clearly, this was had been massive miscalculation on Caesar's part.
He tried to put a good spin on it, but there's no denying he had sent his men into a meat grinder. One possible explanation for Caesar's failure here is that he was used to fighting Gauls, and Gauls usually got tired after a couple hours of fighting. Roman legions knew how to pace themselves and fight all day. Plus, these Pompeian legions in particular had cut their teeth campaigning against the Spanish hill tribes. Caesar had underestimated his enemy. Fortunately for Caesar, he had some Gallic reinforcements and supply wagons coming his way. In light of his recent defeat, he was going to need them. But now, Caesar's luck decided to run out.
It began to rain relentlessly for days on end. Hostilities ground to a halt, and the Gallic reinforcements were forced to stop and find shelter. And the bad luck didn't stop there. As the days went by, the river swelled, until eventually it washed away both of the Caesarian bridges. Now, the only way across the river was the bridge at Ilerda, which was under Pompeian control. Whenever the Caesarian reinforcements arrived, they would be sitting ducks for the Pompeian cavalry. Caesar immediately sent out repair crews, but the water was too high, and most of the building materials had washed away.
Nothing could be done. Without resupply, his legions would run out of food in a matter of days. He cut rations down to basically nothing, and began racking his brain to fix this mess. In time, he thought of something. Under the cover of darkness, he sent one of his legions a full day's march up the river. By sunrise, they hid themselves behind a hill, and began constructing a new, secret bridge. A short time later, the bridge was finished, and the Gallic reinforcements arrived. Before the Pompeians could react, the legion crossed the bridge and escourted them back across the river, and all the way back to the Caesarian camp.
With a full legion protecting the Gauls, the Pompeians didn't see an opportunity to attack. Crisis averted. Caesar's legions were reinforced and resupplied. Now, Caesar had a cavalry advantage, and he began to use this advantage to really turn the screw on the Pompeians. The Caesarians successfully intercepted a bunch of the Pompeian foraging parties, and now the Pompeians were forced to cut rations. Caesar's hand had undeniably been strengthened. Some nearby towns could see the writing on the wall, and decided to openly declare for the Caesarians, promising to supply them with food going forward.
With this development, the Pompeians unexpectedly had to deal with much tougher supply lines. After some deliberation, they decided to play it safe, and pull back into friendlier territory. This was a smart thing to do, by the way. The Pompeians had time on their side, so why not pull back and prolong this thing for as long as possible? That night, the Pompeians crossed their bridge, and began the process of withdrawing to the mountains in the south. Caesar was alerted to their movement, and had his cavalry swim across the river to harass them and slow them down. When the sun rose, the Pompeians were way off in the distance, fighting a rearguard action against Caesar's cavalry.
The Caesarians used some engineering wizardry to lower the water levels so that they could wade across the river on foot. This took all day, and frankly it would have been faster to cross at one of the bridges to the north, but I guess they were afraid of losing sight of the Pompeians. By the time the crossing was complete, the sun was setting, and each army encamped for the night. The next day, each army sent patrols south, to find viable passes through the mountains.
Each side found what they were looking for. Whichever army occupied those passes would be able to hold them indefinitely against the enemy. The Caesarians set out before dawn, marching away at an odd angle. The Pompeians were like, "what are they doing?", and thought that maybe they were withdrawing. Abruptly, the Caesarians turned, and made a mad dash for the mountains. The Pompeians immediately realized what was happening, and turned to do the same.
It was now a race to see which side could reach the mountains first. Caesar sent his Gallic cavalry to attack the Pompeians and slow them down. It worked. The Caesarians just barely made it to the mountains first. The Pompeian escape was cut off. Over the next several days, each side built fortifications, and sent expeditions to the river to secure access to drinking water. And then, far from the prying eyes of their commanding officers, the two sides began to talk to each other. People started by asking after family members serving in the other army, and the conversations grew from there.
After several days of this, somebody finally figured out that everybody was just standing by the river chatting when they were supposed to be fighting. The Pompeians charged with their cavalry and most of the Caesarian soldiers fled back to their camp. Apparently a bunch of Caesarians failed to escape, and the Pompeians saved their lives by disguising them and hiding them in their camp until nightfall. Both sides were starting to discover that civil wars are awful! They didn't want to fight each other anymore. This was a serious problem for both armies, but Caesar decided to lean into it, to see if he could turn it to his advantage.
He sent word to the Pompeian soldiers, saying that they could come and go from his camp as they pleased, and if they felt like maybe sticking around and joining up with his army, nobody was going to stop them. The Pompeians realized that if they didn't leave now they were at risk of a mass desertion. They made a break for it, striking north. The Caesarians followed, harassing them with their cavalry the entire way. The Pompeians tried to head west back across the bridge to Ilerda, but the Caesarians blocked them.
Caesar had the cavalary advantage. They couldn't outrun him. They were trapped. Pompey's Spanish legions saw no other choice. They surrendered to Caesar. Caesar gave the ex-Pompeian soldiers permission to go home, and they were happy to do so. The two remaining legions in the Spanish hinterlands quickly surrendered as well. The Battle of Ilerda is really interesting. The only time the two armies actually clashed, the Pompeians won, and yet somehow, Caesar emerged victorious. As we saw, it had a lot to do with positioning, and logistics, and mind games.
It was a weird way to win a victory. And with that victory, Caesar was able to take control of Spain, and wipe Pompey's most experienced legions off the map. There was also some happy news from Transalpine Gaul. The Siege of Massilia was over, and the Caesarians had captured the city. However, in the confusion Domitius Ahenobarbus had managed to escape on a ship. This was the second time that he had thrown a wrench into Caesar's plans, and this time he was pretty successful.
He'd be back. After a rocky start to the Civil War, things were looking up for Caesar. Kinda. Gaul remained stable, Spain was now under his control, and things were fine in Italy. But those good vibes didn't last. As soon as Caesar consolidated power in Spain, a bunch of bad news arrived at once. Caesar's legate had successfully captured Sicily with 3 legions, and had continued on to North Africa as instructed. However, after some initial success, the legions were ambushed by Pompey's ally, the King Numidia, and defeated. Caesar's legate died fighting, and the majority of that army was captured and then executed.
Two full legions were lost. The bad news didn't stop there. Gaius Antonius, Marc Antony's brother, was in Illyricum commanding one and a half legions, with instructions to recapture some rebel towns and keep the Pompeians at arm's length. Gaius was pretty much immediately captured by the Pompeians, and his one and a half legions enthusiastically agreed to switch sides. For the Caesarians, the whole thing was a humiliating setback. The weather beginning to turn, so Caesar divided up his legions and made plans to return to Rome for the winter. But he was in for one more wave of bad news. When Caesar's 9th Legion arrived in Transalpine Gaul, they mutinied.
This was a shock to everybody. This legion had served under Caesar for a solid decade, and only a few months earlier had helped Caesar conquer Spain, with no issues. The thing is, their tour of duty was up. Caesar knew this, and had promised them a hefty bonus if they agreed to stay on until the end of the Civil War. They had reluctantly agreed to do so, but Caesar was low on funds again, and had failed to pay them. This was all compounded by the fact that they were not that keen on fighting their fellow Romans.
The 9th Legion was not unique. Most of Caesar's legions were pretty old, and approaching retirement. If the 9th Legion got away with this, others might follow suit. Caesar could potentially lose half of his legions overnight. He went to Transalpine Gaul, and personally spoke to the solders, saying "I want this war to end as quickly as possible, just like you!" He reminded them how his victories in Gaul had made them all rich, and accused them of abandoning him when he needed them most.
This guilt trip worked. Caesar then threatened to decimate the legion as punishment, which would mean the execution of every 10th soldier. The men begged him to reconsider, which he did. In the end, twelve of the ringleaders were executed, and the 9th Legion was returned to the fold. More importantly, no other legions mutinied. Labienus's defection had clearly created a gap that had not yet been filled.
Wherever Caesar was, he was capable of putting out fires, but wherever he wasn't, like North Africa, Illyricum, and Transalpine Gaul, things were falling apart. Caesar needed a new second in command. Marc Antony was extremely loyal, but he was an inexperienced commander, and was developing into an unsubtle and unpopular politician. He had overseen Italy competently enough in Caesar's absence, but it remained unclear how he would handle a true crisis.
He was no Labienus, that's for sure. With his victory in Spain, Caesar had momentum, but his conquests were beginning to fray at the edges, and it would only be a matter of time before his luck ran out. In the coming year, Caesar would have to land a knockout punch against Pompey.
