Doug Wilder

American Revolution Podcast explores the events of the American Revolution, from beginning to end. It publishes weekly. Be sure to check out the related blog for access to pictures, maps, and links to more useful information on each week's episode. https://blog.amrevpodcast.com

It is rare to find a single battle that is truly decisive in shaping the course of subsequent history, but occasionally, a battle becomes pivotal in retrospect, defining and shaping what comes after it. The Battle of Zama, which pitted the army of the Roman Republic against the forces of Carthage on the plains of North Africa, was one such battle, and it featured two of history’s greatest generals on opposing sides.

Julius Caesar wrote his exciting Commentaries during some of the most grueling campaigns ever undertaken by a Roman army. The Gallic Wars and The Civil Wars constitute the greatest series of military dispatches ever written. As literature, they are representative of the finest expressions of Latin prose in its "golden" age, a benchmark of elegant style and masculine brevity imitated by young schoolboys for centuries.

During Julius Caesar’s reign over Rome, he fought and led in a number of large battles across the continent, seeking to expand the empire and unite the continent into one large dominion. For nine years, his conquests took place against Germanic and Celtic people who opposed the Roman Empire. These battles were hard-fought and memorable, and Caesar took great effort to share the stories with the world by writing The Gallic Wars.