Answer:The Roman Imperial period followed the period of the Republic. As is true of the Imperial period, civil wars were one of the factors contributing to the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar was the last real leader of the Republic and is counted the first of the Caesars in Suetonius' biographies of the first 12 emperors, but his adoptive son Augustus (Augustus was actually a title given Octavian, but here I will refer to him as [Caesar] Augustus because that is the name by which most people know him), the second in Suetonius' series, is counted as the first of the emperors of Rome. Caesar did not mean "emperor" at this time. Between Caesar and Augustus, ruling as the first emperor, was a period of strife during which the pre-imperial Augustus fought the combined forces of his co-leader, Mark Antony, and Antony's ally, the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII. When Augustus won, he added Egypt—known as Rome's breadbasket—to the territory of the Roman Empire. Thus Augustus brought an excellent source of food to the people who counted.
