Trace the origin,development and conclusion of the conspiracy leading to the asssasination of Julius Caesar.

(This question is from Julius Caesar for class X ICSE schools in India.This question has been asked by a reader of this blog)

Trace the origin,development and conclusion of the conspiracy leading to the assassination of Julius Caesar.

The origin of the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar had its genesis in the differing opinion of the people of Rome. One section of the people were happy with Julius Caesar becoming the King with absolute authority. However, another section of Romans were of the opinion that, as King, Julius Caesar would become a despot and would be tyrannical. This section did not want Julius Caesar to become the king of Rome. The plot to kill Julius Caesar was the brain-child of Caius Cassius.He thought that Caesar had no special qualities that would make him a good king. Not only that, he thought that he and other citizens of Rome would be treated as slaves if Julius Caesar became king. Cassius wanted Rome to have a Republican type of government - where the government was elected by the people.

Cassius conspires to kill Julius Caesar in order to get prevent the tyranny of Julius Caesar.However, he knew that he needed to have the backing of Brutus, if he was to succeed in this mission. He invokes the patriotic spirit of Brutus by reminding him that his ancestor Junius Brutus would never have allowed any man to be king of Rome. Cassius also drafts Casca,Cinna and Decius in the group of conspirators.

Together, the conspirator lure out Caesar to the Capitol, in spite of Calphurnia's protests, on that fateful date of the 15th Of March. Here,Casca stabs Julius Caesar and executes the conspiracy.

The killing of Julius Caesar should have, under normal circumstances, ended the conspiracy. However, events took a different turn. The reason for this was Brutus did agree to kill Mark Anthony along with Julius Caesar.Later, he made the second crucial mistake of letting Mark Anthony address the gathering of Romans. Here, the skillful Mark Anthony turned the people against the conspirators. From being the hunters, Brutus and his co-conspirators become the hunted. They flee Rome and take refuge in Sardis. However, the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavius Caesar hunt them down.

The armies meet in Phillipi. Due to a series of miscalculation on part of the part of Brutus and due to his not taking the advice of Cassius, both Cassius and Brutus meet their end in Phillipi.The death of Cassius and Brutus signals the end of the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar.

The conspiracy ends with the death of Julius Caesar and his conspirators.