Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman whose military conquests and political power ultimately made him dictator of Rome. His military campaigns across Gaul (modern France) made him famous and wealthy, and his rise to sole power helped end the Roman Republic. He also reformed the calendar into the Julian calendar, the ancestor of the one most of the world still uses today, and the month of July is named after him. He was assassinated by a group of senators, but the empire that followed him would shape Europe for centuries.