What event marks the decisive shift in power after Caesar's assassination?

• A. Caesar's formal coronation
• B. The Battle of Philippi
• C. The assassination of Brutus
• D. The exile of Antony

Answer: (B)

The turning point comes with the battle at Philippi. After Caesar’s assassination, Rome falls into competing power struggles, but the clash in 42 BCE between Antony and Octavian on one side and Brutus and Cassius on the other ends the immediate resistance led by Caesar’s conspirators. Their defeat—Brutus dying in the aftermath—clears the way for Antony and Octavian to consolidate power and set the stage for the Second Triumvirate, shifting Rome away from the republican faction and toward a single ruling authority under Caesar’s supporters. The other options don’t fit: there was no formal coronation, Brutus dies at Philippi, and Antony’s exile does not occur in this context.