Julius Caesar’s Triumph in Gaul

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

The two Gallic armies, unable to communicate directly, launched a series of heavy, if not quite coordinated, attacks on the Roman fortifications. All were repulsed, although in several cases this was by the narrowest of margins.

The culmination came in a day of massive assaults, the heaviest coming from the relief army against the camp that was the weakest position in the Roman lines. The camp was overshadowed by higher ground, as it would have taken too much effort for the Romans to include the heights within their lines. Two legions held the camp, but when the main attack was launched at noon these came under massive pressure.

Caesar sent Labienus to take charge, giving him six cohorts to bolster the garrison. Moving to a vantage point that gave him a better view of the areas under threat, Caesar sent reserves and senior officers to plug gaps in the line. The Gauls broke into the fort, but Labienus managed to hold them by forming a line inside, adding eight more cohorts to his existing forces.

Labienus’ men were barely holding their own, and Caesar decided to lead the last available reserves in person. He divided them, bringing some between the two Roman lines and sending a body of cavalry outside to hit the enemy in the rear. According to the Commentaries, his

The next day the Gauls admitted defeat. The great relief army dispersed to its homes, and Vercingetorix rode out to surrender. Caesar had won a remarkable victory, but he knew that the peace would only be lasting if he could put together a viable political settlement. From the first, his treatment of the tribes reflected this.

Vercingetorix could expect no mercy, for tradition dictated that an enemy leader be ritually strangled at the end of a Roman triumph. However, Caesar treated Vercingetorix’s own people—the Arverni—as well as the Aedui generously. He did not sell captives from these tribes into slavery like other prisoners, nor did he direct reprisals against any of their communities.

This was not true elsewhere. On December 31, 52 b.c., Caesar led the first of a series of punitive expeditions against other tribes involved in the rebellion. These lasted for much of the next year and culminated in the siege and capture of the town of Uxellodunum. The warriors who surrendered there had their hands cut off. They were then released, as visible reminders of the price of opposing Rome.

Caesar met open resistance with overwhelming force, but he spent much of his time in a concerted diplomatic effort. One of his staff officers, writing later of the years 51-50 b.c., stated that “Caesar had one main aim, keeping the tribes friendly, and giving them neither the opportunity nor cause for war….And so, by dealing with the tribes honorably, by granting rich bounties to the chieftains, and by not imposing burdens, he made their state of subjection tolerable, and easily kept the peace in a Gaul weary after so many military defeats.”

The ultimate aim was to create an acceptable peace, more attractive for the Gauls than to resort again to warfare. Caesar was strikingly successful. When the civil war began in January 49 b.c., he was able to take almost all of his army away from Gaul. The settlement he had created remained secure even after his murder five years later. We know of only one minor rebellion by an individual tribe during those years.

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Tags: Ancient-Medieval, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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