User:Daanschr/ Historical maps/ Second Triumvirate



Liberators' civil war

The Second Triumvirate was established by Mark Antony, Octavian and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 43 BC, with the intention to divide the Roman Empire amongst each other and to avenge the murder on Julius Caesar. The Rhine Delta became part of the territory of Mark Antony as governor of Gaul. Macedonia, Asia and Syria were in control of two conspirators against Julius Caesar, Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. Sicily was controlled by another conspirator, Sextus Pompey. Cassius and Brutus were defeated in Macedonia in 42 BC. The Triumvirate reshuffled possessions. Mark Antony got the east of the Roman Empire and Gaul became part of the domain of Octavian.

In the winter of 41 BC-40 BC, Octavian had to deal with the Perusine War against family members of Mark Antony.



Forces of Antony invaded Italy to attack Octavian in 40 BC. Both Antony and Octavian were not present when their armies encountered each other in Brundisium. The local centurions decided not to fight to prevent civil war. In the meanwhile, the Parthian Empire (former ally of Cassius and Brutus) invaded the Roman Empire and conquered Syria and Anatolia. Sextus Pompey conquered Sardinia from the Triumvirate. Both Antony and Octavian tried to ally with Sextus Pompey.



The Pact of Misenum was signed between Sextus Pompey and the Triumvirate in 39 BC. Sextus Pompey gained Corsica and Achaea. Octavian had to sign this treaty to ensure the grain import to Rome, but he was already preparing for war.

Mark Antony counterattacked the Parthians in the same year, reconquering Syria and parts of Anatolia. His general Ventidius defeated the Parthian generals Quintus Labienus and Pacorus.



In 39 BC-38 BC, governor Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa of Transalpine Gaul (for triumvir Octavian) defeated some Germanic Chatti across the river Rhine and resettled part of them in the Rhine Delta. This was the latest date of the start of the Roman Empire in my place.

War against Sextus Pompey erupted again in 38 BC. In that year he lost Corsica and Sardinia to the Triumvirate. In 36 BC he lost the war in Sicily and had to flee.

Parthian general Pacorus was killed in another unsuccesful invasion of Syria in 38 BC. Afterwards, Mark Antony ensured the loyalty of the Roman vassal states in 37 BC and 36 BC, Judea, Galatia and Cappadocia got new vassal kings. An invasion of the Parthian Empire in 36 BC turned into a disaster. The war ended in a return to the old borders.