The Ides of March...

The day would seem as ordinary as any other. And perhaps not without reason. For no great event has taken place so far today. And yet, history has been witness to two of the most important events in the annals of mankind, events which occurred on this very day, the Ides of March.

44 BC. The Roman Republic is hobbling back to normalcy. Julius Caesar, the greatest general to have lived so far, had emerged victorious in a civil war that had threatened to bleed the Republic. The land was finally enjoying peace after troublesome years of strife and bloodshed. Caesar was being seen as just the leader that the Republic had needed, although he would associate with himself the title of Dictator for life, certainly not a republican nomenclature.
And then would be struck the blow of betrayal. When men whom Caesar had trusted stabbed him, purportedly to save the Republic from his machinations, from his designs to re-establish a monarchy with him at the helm. They feared him, because he was popular, because he was a powerful general, beloved by the military, a member of the aristocracy, but most of all, because he was ambitious.
And ironically, the blow to save the Republic would wound not just Caesar, but also the Republic the most. Caesar's death and the consequent civil wars, first between the forces of the assassins and those of Octavian and Mark Anthony, and then between Octavian and Anthony, would render the Republic redundant. Never again would the Senate emerge as powerful as it was during Caesar's lifetime. Octavian would become the first Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar. The Republic was dead, long live the Empire!

Nearer to our times, in 1917, another man abdicated from his throne, a king forced to renounce his kingship, because his majesty was no longer acknowledged by his people. He bore the name of Caesar; only in his tongue it was called Tsar. His abdication would cause civil war in Russia, war that would parallel the First World War, and eventually result in his and his family's assassination at the hands of Bolsheviks.

This abdication effectively sealed the fate of the Russian Empire, as the world had known it then, but heralded the dawn of a new force: Communism and the Soviet Republic. A force that would define the way we see our world for the remnant of the 20th century and beyond.

One man was killed to prevent a republic from becoming a monarchy, but in vain, for the process had already begun. Another abdicated to prevent a monarchy from becoming a republic, which again was something predestined. Two men, Gaius Julius Caesar and Tsar Nicholas II, separated by ages and yet the twain joined by a date in time. A date that would change their worlds. A date that would cause great violence and bloodshed. Not for nothing did the seer say, "Beware the Ides of March".