Julius Caesar made his mark not only on the Roman world, but on many succeeding generations and cultures. As a general, he did do some amazing things (i.e., contributed significantly to the expansion of the Roman empire). Whether he was truly a military genius or was just to stubborn to give up (witness the seige of Alesia, where essentially he managed to defeat the Gauls even though in effect he was surrounded on two sides) is debatable. But, stubboirn he was, and charismatic as well. Sure, he had a great fighting machine, but it needed a great leader to maximize its value. Incidentally, in case you didn't realize it, the German word Kaiser is a corruption of the Latin Caesar, as is the Russian Tsar or Czar.
