Political leadership is a hotly contested vocation where members of the community will actively create conflict with another as a means of establishing themselves as the ideal leader. This system of organization of the civilized society was ideally created for the sole purpose of creating order. However, this has not always been the case as various leaders will usually bring about war and violence that creates an unstable society. Alternatively, there are leaders who will actively seek to implement appropriate policies that ensure peace but it is those that oppose them that create havoc. The following paper will focus on the Julius Caesar and Yitzhak Rabin as some of the great leaders in civilized society who were both assassinated. The paper will compare their ascent to leadership, reforms made and the events that led to their assassination.
Leadership Summary
Julius Caesar is recognized as one of the greatest political leaders in history. This is particularly so as he took control of the late Roman Republic. He was able to progress in his political ambitions due to his family’s close connections with the Marian faction. He was seen as a leader whose sole desire was to serve the Roman Republic as he served as consul and later as governor of Roman Gaul where he went on to enlarge the Roman empire by adding all of modern Belgium and France (Biography Editors, 2016a). It is shortly after this that he went against the Republican army forcing their leader Pompey to flee to Egypt where he was assassinated. It was after this that Caesar established himself as master of Rome and a dictator with the power to do anything. Though it was widely known that dictatorship was temporary Caesar was able to take it up for life as after his assassination his nephew was elevated to become the first Emperor.
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On the other hand, Yitzhak Rabin was born in 1922 in Jerusalem and had the initial dream of becoming an agronomist. However, while in an agricultural school he was lured to join an underground Jewish commando unit during the Second World War. It was after this that he joined Israel’s military and by 1964 was appointed chief of staff of the army. He was a strategic leader as he was able to organize the Israel army to win the six-day war that led to conquering numerous Arab territories (Biography Editors, 2016b). He entered the local politics after serving as ambassador to the US by joining the Labor Party in 1973. However, after the present Prime Minister resigned after only a month he was charged with shaping the government becoming the youngest and first native born Prime Minister. He would endure a tough reign and was forced to resign after only three years in power in 1977 but he would later return to politics a stronger and more capable leader.
Political Reforms
The Roman Empire leader and dictator, Julius Caesar despite his late deterrence from Republican ways had been quite observant on the ways to change the political system. He identified the Roman Republic as dysfunctional and chaotic as the central government was powerless, the army was the sole means of achieving any goals and governor had absolute power over their provinces (Biography Editors, 2016a). This lack of control caused major corruption which he was determined to eliminate. The first was suppressing all armed resistance in the country followed by forming a central government and finally joining all the provinces together as one. The latter two were only possible through increasing his power and minimizing that of other institutions which he successfully did. One of his most important reforms was changing the calendar from one regulated by the moon to one regulated by the sun. He identified 365.25 days in a year including a leap day in February every fourth year (Biography Editors, 2016a). Though dictatorship was supposed to be temporary he changed that to indefinite in 48 BC.
Unlike Caesar, Rabin was not in power when he undertook the role of making significant changes in the political issues of Israel. He had returned to political leadership as a minister of defense in mid 1980s under the Labor-Likud coalition government. He was active in ensuring party leadership and would be restored as Prime Minister in 1992 when the Labor Party won the elections. It was after this that he set out to undertake the negotiations between Israel and PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) with the leader Yasser Arafat in 1993 (Biography Editors, 2016b). This was a means of ending conflict between the two groups as Israel would withdraw from occupied territories. In 1994, Rabin and the King of Jordan, Hussein bin Talal held secret negotiations on ways to put an end to wars between the countries. It was announced later that the two countries had signed a peace treaty putting an end to the wars between the nations. It was these reforms that led to him being honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1994.
Events Leading to Assassination
The assassination of Julius Caesar was a plot that included several of his senators that had identified his increasing power by the day. Just a month prior to his death, Caesar had established himself as dictator for life. In this case, he would be sole bearer of power in the Roman Empire. Many of these senators feared that would want to overthrow the senate thus resulting in a tyranny (Biography Editors, 2016a). The conspiracy plot was aimed at restoring the Roman Republic of which the individuals were unsuccessful after stabbing him to death in a location near the Theatre of Pompey.
The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was the pinnacle of the anti-violence rally that the Israeli Prime Minister advocated for all through the year. This was the Oslo peace process that attempted to put an end to the continued wars between Israelis and Palestinians. Despite his success in the military both right-and left-wing leaders identified his actions as forfeiting the occupied territories. Many identified the action as heresy with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu identifying his government as detached from Jewish tradition. It was after the end of a rally in support of the Oslo Accords that he was shot twice by radical activist Yigal Amir with the third shot missing Rabin and injuring his bodyguard (Biography Editors, 2016b). He was pronounced dead in Ichilov Hospital after excessive loss of blood and a punctured lung.
Conclusion
The above leaders were seen to have significant admiration of their country with the main aim of reducing havoc. However, in both cases, the leaders who were supposed to support them throughout their reign were seen to reject the claims made by the leaders. In an attempt to stop the two leaders from carrying on with the various political reforms of their respective countries, individuals were seen to plot their assassinations. These leaders were murdered in cold blood stopping the ideas and vision that they had for their countries.
References
Biography Editors (2016a) Julius Caesar Biography . The Biography.com Website. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/julius-caesar-9192504
Biography Editors (2016b) Yitzhak Rabin Biography . The Biography.com Website. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/yitzhak-rabin-37246#video-gallery
