Historians recognize today that Gaul constitutes a “common political space” even if the basic cells of the Gallic organization are the tribe and the clan. Gaul is therefore declined in the singular and in the plural: Julius Caesar describes the great diversity of the Gallic peoples in a work which presents his conquest of Gaul at the head of the Roman legions, from 58 to 51 BC.
The Commentaries on the Gallic Wars were written by Julius Caesarat thefall of the year 52 BC, at the time when he had just beaten Vercingetorix ; he wishes to make known the circumstances of his prestigious conquest to Roman public opinion, before his candidacy for a second consulship. The writing of The Gallic Wars is above all the act of a victorious military leader, who tells the facts for his own benefit in order to neutralize his political enemies. Caesar writes his Comments drawing on the reports he sent to the Senate after each campaign.
Caesar and the three Gauls
When the military conquest began in 58 BC, Gaul presents a territory composed of many tribes and extends over a large part of present-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and northern Italy. Depending on the region, the Gauls do not share the same customs or the same language: faced with this territorial and social heterogeneity, Caesar speaks of the “Gallic war”. In his Commentshe begins his story by describing Gaul as follows: “The whole of Gaul is divided into three parts: one is inhabited by the Belgians, the other by the Aquitaine, the third by the people who, in his language, is called Celtic, and, in ours, Gaulish. All these peoples differ between them by the language, the habits, the laws”.
The army of conquest
It is estimated that Caesar was able to have an army of about 100,000 men (legionnaires and auxiliaries). The legionnaires are professionals: heavy infantry formed by intensive training, they are divided into legions of 5,000 men, themselves divided into cohorts, maniples and centuries. These legionnaires often descend from Gauls formerly established in northern Italy or “Cisalpine Gaul”. The legionnaires are assisted by auxiliaries (the society) who complete the troops of horsemen, slingers and archers; these auxiliaries come from all over the Roman Empire but especially from Gaul.
A majority of soldiers are detached to perform “service” tasks: artillery, engineering, intelligence, logistics… Caesar attaches great importance to intelligence: in the territory of Gaul, scouts always precede the marching army; the general-in-chief knew how to surround himself with local notables and had travelers and prisoners questioned. If necessary, Julius Caesar transforms his legionnaires into men of genius: construction bridges, camps with defensive ditches… He attaches particular importance to logistics because an army on the move has multiple needs for equipment, water and food. In effect, the Romans pay for their supplies in friendly territory and plunder in enemy territory. Caesar is a past master in the art of siege, like that of Alesia in 52 BC. The Roman army knew how to organize all types of combat: battle in an urban environment, in the mountains or at night, counter-guerrilla warfare and naval warfare.
Gallic warriors
The Celts and the Gauls share common values, beliefs and traditions; their proximity is proven by linguistic similarities. Yet it is their political division and their lack of strategy that will become their worst enemy against the Roman army. Yet the effectiveness of the Gauls in combat is known before Caesar: the Celts provided mercenaries appreciated by the Carthaginian and to the Greeks. The Belgians who live between the Rhine and the Seine-Marne axis, are considered by Caesar as the most combative. The Gauls have a good framework provided by their aristocracy but they do not have the military culture of the Roman officers.
The Gauls base their military force on the infantry but their equipment is lighter than that of the Roman legionaries: no cuirass but a shield, a spear and a two-edged sword. The cavalry recruited from the aristocracy plays an essential role within the army. The Vénètes of Morbihan built a navy which would pose a problem for the Romans when they faced them in 56 BC: the spurs of the Roman galleys passed under the hulls of their flat-bottomed ships and the height of the sides prevented boarding. In the field of fortifications, the Gauls invented the “murus gallicus” (wall Gallic) who was admired by Caesar and of which one can see a reconstruction on the site of Bibracte (Mont Beuvray, in Burgundy).
The Gallic Wars
It can be divided into five phases: in 58 BC, Caesar seeks the pretext to undertake a long war and attacks the Helvetii then the Germans of Ariovista. In 57 and 56 BC, he attacked the Belgians, considered the most dangerous, then attacked the peoples of the Ocean (Vénètes, Aquitaine, Morins and Ménapiens). From 55 to 53, he led expeditions intended as much for his communication as for military efficiency: he went twice to the island of Brittany (Britain current) and in Germany. He represses the revolts of the Treveri and Eburones: faced with the guerrillas of these peoples, he sets up an effective counter-guerrilla.
The fourth phase begins in 52: a vast revolt breaks out and the majority of the Gallic peoples place themselves under the command of Vercingetorix. This leader imposes a war of logistics, according to the strategy of scorched earth. The Gallic army is massed on the eastern slope of the Massif Central, Caesar is forced to retreat: he would have lost the war if Vercingetorix had not changed his method, locking himself in Alésia and counting on an army of ” rescue”. The Gallic war ends in 51: some diehard tribes still oppose Caesar and shut themselves up in Uxellodunum (Puy d’Issolud, in Vayrac in the Lot), this will be their last failure.
The consequences of the Gallic Wars are dramatic: the number of dead is estimated at between 400,000 and one million, and the number of defeated soldiers reduced to slavery at between 200,000 and 500,000 people. Roman civilization will be superimposed on Celtic traditions: the conquest of Gaul by Caesar allows us today to speak a Latin language, our law derives from Roman law. We also owe him the architecture of our cities and our landscapes.
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