Julius Caesar’s Triumph in Gaul

By Adrian Goldsworthy | MHQ  | one comment  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

Caesar continued in the same vein in the following year, marching far away from his province to smash the Belgic tribes of northeastern Gaul. This followed another request for protection, in this case from a group allied to one of Rome’s existing allies. In time Caesar would take his legions throughout Gaul and beyond—in forays across the Rhine and over to Britain—defending Rome’s interests and those of her allies.

One of the main themes of Caesar’s famous War Commentaries was to show how each campaign was in the best interests of the republic. By Roman standards they probably were, even if Caesar interpreted his duty as governor far more robustly than governors normally did. The only known criticism of his actions involved an alleged—and probably real—breach of a truce in 55 b.c. One of his bitterest opponents raised that issue in the Senate, even suggesting that Caesar should be handed over to the Germans for punishment, but the motion was never in danger of winning majority support. The Commentaries were most likely published a book at a time, each one written and released in the winter months after each campaign, all depicting the author as a distinguished and loyal servant of the republic. Caesar portrayed his actions in the most favorable light, but had little scope for outright deception. We know that his officers were in regular correspondence with friends and relatives in Italy, so any major distortion of the facts would soon have been exposed.

Readers most often remember the Commentaries for their detailed descriptions of the operations of Caesar and his legions, accounts that must have been even more inspiring to contemporary Romans, reading of the heroism of nostri, or “our men.” Yet from the beginning they also make it clear that all of the Gallic campaigns were firmly embedded within a concerted diplomatic and political program directed at the tribal leaders.

Each year Caesar summoned all the chieftains to a general council, often more than once. There were also many personal meetings where he employed Roman citizens from the aristocracy of the Transalpine province as interpreters. Another source tells us that while traveling Caesar stayed in the houses of Gallic noblemen—gossip claimed that while there he also frequently seduced their wives and daughters.

Appeals from the leaders of the tribes provided Caesar with the pretext for most of his campaigns in Gaul. Allied tribes also helped to make his military operations possible, supplying troops (especially cavalry), intelligence, and most of all a great part of the food and fodder needed by Roman legions in the field.

After each victory Caesar took pains to create a viable political settlement, rewarding allied tribes. The Aedui in particular grew in power and influence. Caesar could be utterly ruthless in the pursuit of victory, but he clearly believed that it was more practical to be generous to defeated enemies after a campaign. For example, when he sent the surviving Helvetii back to their homeland, he arranged to provide them with food until they had reestablished their own farms and harvested their first crops. He even permitted the Boii, one of several groups that had joined the Helvetii migration, to settle in Gaul as a favor to the Aedui.

It was always the Roman way to turn defeated enemies into allies, and Caesar gives us one of the most detailed descriptions of how the process worked. After surrendering, the vanquished handed over hostages to him as a pledge of good faith. (No mention is ever made of their fate in cases where the tribe subsequently rebelled.) Caesar also expected the new allies to support future Roman operations with grain supplies and troops.

Caesar gave a few terrible examples of the price of resistance. He executed the council of elders of one tribe. In the main, however, he left the peoples defeated by his army to govern their own affairs in their traditional way, with little or no Roman interference.

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Tags: Ancient-Medieval, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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