Julius Caeser

“I would rather be first in a village than second in Rome.” The man who said this was clearly very ambitious, because he refused to be second. He preferred to be above everyone else in an inferior place than to have someone else above him in a great city like Rome. This determination led to him becoming a famous ancient Roman military commander, dictator, general, statesman and author. Back in ancient Roman times, he had nearly as much power as any king. This man’s name was Julius Caesar. He was a great leader because he was very strategic, ambitious and an inspiring speaker, his accomplishments provided security for the Roman Empire for over five hundred years.
Julius Caesar was extremely ambitious and driven. He sought glory and power and he had many skills which helped him to achieve this. The ancient Roman author Suetonius described him “as a most skillful swordsman and horseman” His soldiers respected him; he fought alongside them and shared their dangers. His main ability, however, was his skill for being an orator. He motivated and rallied his armies to follow him into battle. His communication skills were well known as demonstrated by a Roman author of the time, Cicero, when he said, “Do you know any man who can speak better than Caesar?”   Whilst Julius Caesar greatly expanded the Roman Empire, his methods were at times reprehensible, involving adultery, causing the death of countless people through war and execution and ordering people’s hand to be cut off. For one individual, he was the source of a lot of pain and suffering. Modern author Matyszak summed up the shortcomings of Caesar’s reign when we wrote, "History has been kinder to Caesar than he deserves. Caesar replaced an elected constitutional government - however imperfect - with military dictatorship. Over a million Gauls died to further his ambitions, and another million were enslaved." (2008)
Another reason that Julius Caesar is known as a great leader is because he is known to have never lost...