David Campbell - Roman Legionary vs Gallic Warrior: 58–52 BC (Combat)

Dedication

To Stewart and Stephanie, trapped across the sea.

Julius Caesars war against the Gauls (5850 BC ) saw the devastation of independent Gallic culture and the acquisition by the Roman Republic of a significant and lucrative region, its last major territorial expansion until the accession of Augustus in 27 BC . Despite Gauls subsumption into the Roman world, the series of campaigns that had broken Gaul were not driven so much by actual Roman policy as they were by the personal ambitions of Caesar. Even by the standards of the late Roman Republic he seems to have been unusually driven by a desire for status and glory that would outshine all his rivals entirely acceptable pursuits for a Roman aristocrat, but ends that could only be achieved by remarkably aggressive means. One of the more commonly accepted routes to fame and fortune was an appointment as a proconsul in effect a year-long governorship of a Roman province. Caesar, having secured for himself the proconsulship of Gallia Cisalpina and Illyricum for a highly unusual five years, was ready to take full advantage of his new role. A proconsul would need at least a nominal reason to move beyond the borders of his province, but in Caesars case the fractious and unstable nature of the relationships between Gallic tribes (both those allied with and hostile to Rome) could be relied on to provide an inciting incident. In March 58 BC , a westward migration by the Helvetii provoked conflict with the Aedui, the latter a tribe allied to Rome. The nature of the relationships between the Romans and their allies in Gallia Transalpina and southern Gaul was not such that the tribes could necessarily rely on Roman military intervention if they were threatened, but it did entitle them to plead their case with a reasonable expectation of at least diplomatic assistance.

Caesar, with his control of Illyricum and with three legions at his command, originally may well have envisaged a campaign along the Danubius (Danube), using his eastern province as a base from which to strike into Dacia, but fate intervened Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, proconsul in Gallia Transalpina, died before even being able to take up his new post. Caesars political connections buttressed by enormous bribes ensured that the newly vacant provincial seat was added to his roster, as was another legion, making for a powerful regional army. With a rich and populous unconquered land now on his doorstep and four experienced legions at his command, Caesars eye turned away from the east and moved north to Gaul. The opportunity presented by the migration of the Helvetii, mere weeks after Caesar took up his proconsulships, was not to be missed. Hemmed in by mountains and poor opportunites for raiding and war, the tribe wished to move towards the Atlantic coast, initially trying to cut through part of Gallia Transalpina, but Caesar had refused them passage. The Helvetii were forced to move deeper into central Gaul, their new path causing the Aedui to plead for Roman help. This was an invitation that Caesar expected and which he took up with vigour, crossing into Gaul and marching on the Helvetians, bringing them to battle at Bibracte in the summer of 58 BC . For an ambitious and talented politician who quickly proved himself to be a capable and strategically adept general, the success against the Helvetii would prove to be only the beginning.

A pair of legionaries from the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus in Rome. In his biography of Caesar, Plutarch recounts the reason for his armys loyalty to him: Such spirit and ambition Caesar himself created and cultivated in his men, in the first place, because he showed, by his unsparing bestowal of rewards and honours, that he was not amassing wealth from his wars for his own luxury or for any life of ease, but that he treasured it up carefully as a common prize for deeds of valour, and had no greater share in the wealth than he offered to the deserving among his soldiers; and in the second place, by willingly undergoing every danger and refusing no toil. Now, at his love of danger his men were not astonished, knowing his ambition; but that he should undergo toils beyond his bodys apparent powers of endurance amazed them (Plutarch, Life of Caesar 17.1). (Jastrow/Wikimedia/Public Domain)

A fragment of a Roman marble sarcophagus dating from c . AD 160180 and showing the head and torso of a Gallic warrior. As might be expected in a tribal society, the bulk of Gallic men were not professional soldiers; that was a role retained by the lords and their entourages. Nevertheless, the warrior ethos that permeated Gallic society meant that simple farmers and craftsmen would also know how to carry a spear, sword and shield, and be expected to use them. ( metmuseum.org /Wikimedia/ CC0 1.0 )