Complex sentence: Soult, like Murat, coveted the Spanish throne after that of Portugal, thus anticipating the treason of 1813 and the defection of 1814; many persons hoped for "an accident" which might resemble the tragic ends of Alexander the Great and of Julius Caesar.
Split into simpler sentences: Soult, like Murat, coveted the Spanish throne after that of Portugal, thus anticipating the treason of 1813 and the defection of 1814. Many persons hoped for "an accident", which might resemble the deaths of Alexander the Great and of Julius Caesar.