Octavius - Octavian

-44 BC- Julius Caesar is dead!
   -The conspirators believed that killing Caesar would restore the Republic to working order, but they were wrong.
      -First mistake: they had no plan for what to do after this.
      -Second mistake: they focused too much on Caesar, allowing for Marc Antony to escape the palace.
      -Third mistake: they didn't anticipate how the common people would react- the working and middle class loved him!
-Once things quieted down, Marc Antony returned to the Senate and resumed his role as consul.
   -Caesar's will was recovered, but to Antony's surprise Caesar had left him nothing!  75% of all of his wealth was left to his nephew, Gaius Octavius.  Additionally, his will indicated that he was posthumously adopting Octavius as his sole heir!
      -Caesar's troops now faced a tough choice- would they side with Marc Antony or Octavius?
-Octavius was the son of a man with the same name, a "novus homo" ("new man") and rising star.
   -His mother, Atia, is portrayed as a scheming, Cersei Lannister-style hot/overbearing matriarch in the HBO tv drama "Rome".
   -Octavius' father died, and his mother then married a politician named Lucius Marcius Philippus.  However, his early years were spent mostly under the care of his grandmother, Julia.
      -He was a fragile and sickly child.
      -Best friend as a child was Marcus Agrippa, who would grow up to be a badass soldier, athlete, general, and key figure in Octavian consolidating power to become sole ruler of the empire.
-Octavius seemingly always wanted to go with Caesar and travel with the legions, but he kept on getting "sick", whether real or not, and developed a reputation as a weakling.
   -He did finally make it to Hispania one time, but only after the battle had already been fought between Caesar and Pompey's sons.
      -Got to spend a lot of time with Caesar during this trip (until Marc Antony kicked him out of the tent while they were in Gaul).
         -Fun side-note: it was during this trip that Caesar decided to leave his inheritance to Octavius; if Octavius was dead or otherwise unable to receive the inheritance then it was to go to Brutus!
-Caesar had also planned for Octavius to go to Appalonia in Greece to learn oratory from the Greek masters and soldiering from the Macedonian legions.  Then, Octavian would accompany Caesar on his invasion of Parthia and learn the art of war. 
   -When Caesar was assassinated, Octavius was in Greece.
      -Octavius now faced a choice- stay in Greece and lay low, OR lead the five legions in Greece back to Rome and avenge his uncle.
         -Instead, he decided to march back to Rome, but with a small army for protection.
            -He stopped in Brundisium to visit the legions who had been stationed there in preparation for the invasion of Parthia.
               -While he was there he found that the legions were still definitely on Caesar's side, having been whipped into a frenzy by Marc Antony's funeral oratory.  Therefore, Octavian was hailed as a glorious new leader!
-Back in Rome, Octavian reminded everyone that Caesar had always put the people first, and showed them that he had planned on giving over most of his property to the Roman common folk (this was most likely a lie, of course).  He also used Caesar's bloodstained toga to remind everyone of the brutal nature of the attack. 
   -Violent mobs then turned on the senators, raiding their homes, and ultimately forcing them to flee the city.
      -Atia, Octavius' mom, begged Octavius not to accept the terms of Caesar's will.  She feared that if he did this took on the role of Caesar's adopted son and heir, he, too, would be assassinated. 
         -Of course, Octavius rejected this advice, and took on the new name of "Gaius Julius Caesar" to reflect this, and his old named "Octavius" was changed to "Octavianus" to reflect that he had been adopted out of his biological family.
            -So, before adoption, he's Octavius.  After adoption, he's Octavian (why not Octavianus?  Not sure).  After he wins the civil war with Marc Antony, he takes the name "Augustus".  However, hiis friends always called him Gaius, but he was also known as Julius Caesar, too.  Very confusing!
-At this point, Marc Antony began working with the Senate to establish some sort of truce between the Caesar supporters and the anti-Caesar "liberators", but the masses who supported Caesar didn't want a truce, they wanted revenge!
   -Octavian began to capitalize on this outrage by becoming a champion of the Caesar supporters, and quickly became a rival of Marc Antony.
      -Marc Antony had a choice- either join with Octavian as a radical and seek revenge for Caesar's assassination, OR try to work out a deal and play nice with the Senate.
         -Antony wisely decided to join Octavian's side, but the rivalry just continued as Antony resorted to backstabbing and making demeaning remarks to disrespect Octavian.  He even denied Octavian's inheritance money and stalled his adoption proceedings in order to limit Octavian's power.
-Antony, with the support of the masses, forced the liberators into exile, and also appointed himself as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, even though this would cut short the governorship of the dude who was currently governor there already (Decimus Brutus).
   -Decimus Brutus also had an army and wasn't likely to give up his governorship easily without a fight, but Antony knew that he could do this since Decimus Brutus was one of the liberators and Antony's army would gladly fight against Brutus' army.
      -Antony then summoned five legions from Macedonia to Brundissium. 
-Meanwhile, the liberators began to fight back against Antony and Octavian!
   -Cicero used his amazing oratory skill to denounce Antony and have the Senate declare him an enemy of the state.
      -Surprisingly, he didn't seem to attack Octavian really, seeing him as more reasonable (and perhaps smarter) than the violent, temperamental Antony.
         -His orations were successful in turning popular opinion against Antony.  However, this backfired on Cicero, as a few months later Antony used his power to have Cicero assassinated. 
-A few months later in November 44 BC, Antony received word that two of those five Macedonian legions had switched their allegiance to Octavian instead of Antony.  Octavian's time in Greece had allowed him to spend time and gain popularity with the Macedonian legions. 
   -Antony knew his time was running out.  He quickly gathered up the three legions who remained loyal to him and headed to Cisalpine Gaul.  He was also confident that all of the troops stationed outside of Italy in Western Europe would flock to his support since many of the military commanders were personal friends of his.