War of Mutina
a civil war between the Roman Senate and Mark Antony

The War of Mutina (December 44 – April 43 BC; also called the Mutina war) was a civil war between the Roman Senate and Mark Antony in Northern Italy. It was the first civil war after the assassination of Julius Caesar. The main issue of the war was attempts by the Senate to resist Antony's forceful assumption of the strategically important provinces of Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul from their governors. The Senate, led by Cicero and the consuls (Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa), attempted to woo Julius Caesar's heir (today known in this period as Octavian, later the future emperor Augustus) to fight against Antony. Octavian, however, would pursue his own agenda.
The consuls, with Octavian, led troops into northern Italy against Antony and won two battles at Forum Gallorum and Mutina (14 and 21 April 43 BC). After the two consuls were mortally wounded at those battles, there emerged a political vacuum. Octavian – with the support of his men – demanded the consulship from the Senate and marched on Rome. After taking control of the city, Octavian and one of his kinsmen, Quintus Pedius, were irregularly elected consuls. They forced through legislation which had the effect of outlawing Julius Caesar's killers before starting negotiations with Antony.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “War of Mutina” is a civil war between the Roman Senate and Mark Antony. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Mutina, civil and between, not as a finished interpretation.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q741777.
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This entry incorporates text from “War of Mutina” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.