Big Caesars and Little Caesars

There is a comforting illusion shared by historians and political commentators from Fukuyama back to Macaulay, Mill and Marx, that history progresses in a straight line. A line that is always developing in a positive direction towards liberal democracy or socialism, despite the odd hiccup. In reality, every democracy, however sophisticated or stable, has been attacked or actually destroyed by a would-be Caesar, from Ancient Greece to the present day. Marx was wrong. This Caesarism is not an absurd throwback, it is an ever-present danger. There are Big Caesars who set out to achieve total social control and Little Caesars who merely want to run an agreeable kleptocracy without opposition. Many examples of these two categories are explored by Ferdinand Mount in his insightful new book: from Julius Caesar and Oliver Cromwell through Napoleon and Bolivar, to Mussolini, Salazar, De Gaulle, Bolsonaro, Orban and Trump. The saga of Boris Johnson and Brexit frequently recurs in this narrative and is covered in some depth as a vivid, if Lilliputian instance of the same phenomenon. The final part of this book describes how and why Caesars often fail, from the Gunpowder Plot to Trump's march on the Capitol. The book ends with an outline of several paths that can lead back to constitutional government.