The classic work of the famous historian Nikolai Alexandrovich Mashkin is devoted to the study of the problems of the principle as a political form and its ideology, the genesis of the principle and its social essence. After an introductory chapter concerning the emergence of Roman Caesarism, the author gives a systematic account of the history of the civil wars that began in the wake of Caesar's death, focusing on those social relations that were not sufficiently covered in the scientific literature.