PART VII: THE HAIRY MAN GOES TO WAR (1)
"As a matter-of-fact, Vercy, those bird hats your men wear are the most idiotic things I've ever seen." The Gallic king Vercingetorix surrenders to Julius Caesar following the Siege of Alesia, 52 B.C.
Caesar traverses Gaul in an age before Eurorail. So, Julie C!
You've just completed one of the most contentious consulships in Roman history, checkmated your wealthy enemies in the Senate, and left a virtual criminal in Rome to maintain your policies with the threat of mob violence, terror and bloodshed! What do you do next?
"I'm going to Gallic-land!"
And that's precisely what he did in 58 B.C., setting off from Rome to take command of the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul. Caesar was in a precarious position politically. He was deep in debt from his political campaigns, and had made hundreds of powerful foes in Rome who were sharpening their knives. He had secured a provincial governorship (and immunity for prosecution) for an unprecedented five years, but would be at the mercy of his enemies the very moment it ended. Caesar had to use his time wisely if he was going to escape scot-free. But what could he possibly do to effect this?
You've just completed one of the most contentious consulships in Roman history, checkmated your wealthy enemies in the Senate, and left a virtual criminal in Rome to maintain your policies with the threat of mob violence, terror and bloodshed! What do you do next?
"I'm going to Gallic-land!"
And that's precisely what he did in 58 B.C., setting off from Rome to take command of the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul. Caesar was in a precarious position politically. He was deep in debt from his political campaigns, and had made hundreds of powerful foes in Rome who were sharpening their knives. He had secured a provincial governorship (and immunity for prosecution) for an unprecedented five years, but would be at the mercy of his enemies the very moment it ended. Caesar had to use his time wisely if he was going to escape scot-free. But what could he possibly do to effect this?
"These waifs and invalids aren't threatening my army on MY watch!" Caesar attacks the Helvetii. 1. Create a national emergency. Transalpine Gaul sat just south of Gaul proper, home of the fierce warrior people who had infamously sacked Rome three hundred years earlier (See Part II). As a result, Rome hated and feared the Gallic people beyond almost all others. At the moment Caesar became governor, a tribe of Gauls, the Helvetii, were planning a migration from the Gallic interior to the coast that would pass through Roman territory. The chieftains of the tribe promised the Romans it would be a peaceful migration, but Caesar deliberately stalled the negotiations to buy time to mobilize his legions and fortify the province. Caesar claimed that the kings of the Helvetii and another tribe, the Sequani, were colluding to use the migration as a pretext to conquer the rest of Gaul. The Helvetii did attack the Aedui, a Roman ally, who called to Caesar for help. He sent three legions to attack the Helvetii, warriors and non-combatant families both, as they were crossing a river. Following a slaughter, Caesar sent his legions after the portion of the tribe that had gotten away, launching a war that would last for seven years and drag in the entire Gallic nation. This war was considered an illegal act by many in the Senate, but it thrilled the hearts of the average Roman citizen, who saw Caesar as defending Roman national interests against a mortal enemy.
"They can take my pants, but they can't take our freedom!" The Ludovisi Gaul statue group of a chieftain and his wife committing suicide to avoid capture 2. Kill a LOT of people, and take their wealth.
Gaul was actually not the barbaric nation of stereotype, but was organized and civilized on relative par with Rome, down to cities, technology, trade and agriculture. However, it was divided along tribal lines, which made unity against a common threat difficult. Caesar recognized this, and used the Roman alliance with the Aedui as an excuse to cudgel tribe after tribe that presented a threat to them, certain that others would not come to their aid. He swathed his way back and forth across Gaul this way, conquering tribe after tribe and even warring against nations and kings that were friends to the Roman Senate. The historian Plutarch estimated that 2 million Gauls were killed or enslaved, numbers that today would rank Caesar as one of the bloodiest war criminals in history. Caesar's senatorial rivals concurred, although not out of any real concern for the Gauls, but fear of how bloody popular it was making him with the plebs! It goes without saying that the wealth Caesar raked in from his conquests and proscriptions was utterly staggering, and more than eliminated his debts from his consulship.
Gaul was actually not the barbaric nation of stereotype, but was organized and civilized on relative par with Rome, down to cities, technology, trade and agriculture. However, it was divided along tribal lines, which made unity against a common threat difficult. Caesar recognized this, and used the Roman alliance with the Aedui as an excuse to cudgel tribe after tribe that presented a threat to them, certain that others would not come to their aid. He swathed his way back and forth across Gaul this way, conquering tribe after tribe and even warring against nations and kings that were friends to the Roman Senate. The historian Plutarch estimated that 2 million Gauls were killed or enslaved, numbers that today would rank Caesar as one of the bloodiest war criminals in history. Caesar's senatorial rivals concurred, although not out of any real concern for the Gauls, but fear of how bloody popular it was making him with the plebs! It goes without saying that the wealth Caesar raked in from his conquests and proscriptions was utterly staggering, and more than eliminated his debts from his consulship.
"Okay, could one of you Britons PLEASE explain what a 'Chunnel' is and why we didn't know about this before?" 3. Stunts. Lots of 'em. The wackier the better.
It can be argued that Caesar may very well have been operating in the interests of national security by attacking the Gauls (at least at first). However, several of the side campaigns he engaged in were little more than showboating for the crowd. He led a raid into Germany, literal terra incognita to the Romans, to punish the Suebi and other German tribes for interfering in Gaul, and built the first bridges across the Rhine. His campaigns led him to the shores of Europe, where he subdued the seafaring Veneti tribe in a protracted sea campaign. But his biggest daredevil coup was leaving the Continent entirely to invade the shadowy island of Britain in 55 and 54 B.C. To the Romans, Caesar might as well have launched an invasion of Mars. Never mind that it was very nearly a debacle and held no strategic importance whatsoever; it was exotic, and daring, and pushed Caesar's reputation to heights that threatened to eclipse Pompey the Great.
It can be argued that Caesar may very well have been operating in the interests of national security by attacking the Gauls (at least at first). However, several of the side campaigns he engaged in were little more than showboating for the crowd. He led a raid into Germany, literal terra incognita to the Romans, to punish the Suebi and other German tribes for interfering in Gaul, and built the first bridges across the Rhine. His campaigns led him to the shores of Europe, where he subdued the seafaring Veneti tribe in a protracted sea campaign. But his biggest daredevil coup was leaving the Continent entirely to invade the shadowy island of Britain in 55 and 54 B.C. To the Romans, Caesar might as well have launched an invasion of Mars. Never mind that it was very nearly a debacle and held no strategic importance whatsoever; it was exotic, and daring, and pushed Caesar's reputation to heights that threatened to eclipse Pompey the Great.
How many licks would it take to get to the center of Caesar's Alesia fortifications? The Gauls would never know. 4. Gamble like a madman.
"Go big or go home" might have been Caesar's motto; he was a man who delighted in pushing the envelope, and it very nearly cost him his life on a number of occasions. In 57 B.C., his army was taken by surprise during a battle against the Belgae by the Nervii tribe, one of the fiercest warrior nations in Gaul. A massive force of them inflicted horrendous casualties on the Romans, killing most of Caesar's officers and threatening to envelop and annihilate them. It took Caesar picking up a shield and personally rallying the legions to give them the will to hold out until reinforcements arrived, whereupon they eventually repulsed and wiped out the Nervii force.
However, Caesar's ballsiest move in the Gallic Wars was during the siege of Alesia. The Gallic tribes, faced with utter defeat, finally united in a confederation under the chief Vercingetorix to repulse the Romans. Vercingetorix initially brought the fight to Rome in a big way, laying siege to Roman legions at Avaricum and actually defeating the Romans at Gergovia. However, Vercingetorix ultimately settled on a defensive strategy, fortifing and holding the strategic town of Alesia against the Romans and counting on reinforcements to break any attempted siege. Caesar did lay siege to Alesia, encircling it with a wooden wall. However, he also built a second wall around his own army to defend against a gigantic Gallic relief force. Outnumbered two-to-one and attacked from both sides, Caesar's army repulsed every assault, holding out even when the outer defenses were breached. In spite of the overwhelming odds of defeat, the Romans succeeded in breaking Vercingetorix's army, and effectively ending the war in Gaul. This launched Caesar's fame into the stratosphere and gave him a reputation of invincibility in battle.
"Go big or go home" might have been Caesar's motto; he was a man who delighted in pushing the envelope, and it very nearly cost him his life on a number of occasions. In 57 B.C., his army was taken by surprise during a battle against the Belgae by the Nervii tribe, one of the fiercest warrior nations in Gaul. A massive force of them inflicted horrendous casualties on the Romans, killing most of Caesar's officers and threatening to envelop and annihilate them. It took Caesar picking up a shield and personally rallying the legions to give them the will to hold out until reinforcements arrived, whereupon they eventually repulsed and wiped out the Nervii force.
However, Caesar's ballsiest move in the Gallic Wars was during the siege of Alesia. The Gallic tribes, faced with utter defeat, finally united in a confederation under the chief Vercingetorix to repulse the Romans. Vercingetorix initially brought the fight to Rome in a big way, laying siege to Roman legions at Avaricum and actually defeating the Romans at Gergovia. However, Vercingetorix ultimately settled on a defensive strategy, fortifing and holding the strategic town of Alesia against the Romans and counting on reinforcements to break any attempted siege. Caesar did lay siege to Alesia, encircling it with a wooden wall. However, he also built a second wall around his own army to defend against a gigantic Gallic relief force. Outnumbered two-to-one and attacked from both sides, Caesar's army repulsed every assault, holding out even when the outer defenses were breached. In spite of the overwhelming odds of defeat, the Romans succeeded in breaking Vercingetorix's army, and effectively ending the war in Gaul. This launched Caesar's fame into the stratosphere and gave him a reputation of invincibility in battle.
"The real test of its greatness is how many positive reviews I can gin up on Amazon..." Caesar writes his history. 5. Own the message.
Caesar owed a significant amount of his success to the fact that he was a better communicator than most of his rivals. His optimate enemies took pride in the fact that they were "superior" to the hoi polloi, and they dressed, spoke and behaved in the rarified manners that underscored this separation. Caesar understood that his power lay with the plebs, and he did not hesitate to speak directly to their level. As a result, he was able to convince them that, in his heart, he was "one of the people." This public relations genius extended to his messaging for the wars in Gaul. Caesar wrote his own historical account of the Gallic Wars (officially called "Commentaries" to avoid being taken to task for its many glaring historical mistakes and omissions) in the vernacular of the common people, with no rhetorical flights of fancy. Clean, straightforward and dynamic, Caesar's account remains one of the most readable and approachable Latin texts to this day. By controlling the message, Caesar was able to whitewash his defeats and his egregious crimes against Gallic civilians, once again hamstringing his critics and embellishing his image to near godlike proportions with the people.
Caesar owed a significant amount of his success to the fact that he was a better communicator than most of his rivals. His optimate enemies took pride in the fact that they were "superior" to the hoi polloi, and they dressed, spoke and behaved in the rarified manners that underscored this separation. Caesar understood that his power lay with the plebs, and he did not hesitate to speak directly to their level. As a result, he was able to convince them that, in his heart, he was "one of the people." This public relations genius extended to his messaging for the wars in Gaul. Caesar wrote his own historical account of the Gallic Wars (officially called "Commentaries" to avoid being taken to task for its many glaring historical mistakes and omissions) in the vernacular of the common people, with no rhetorical flights of fancy. Clean, straightforward and dynamic, Caesar's account remains one of the most readable and approachable Latin texts to this day. By controlling the message, Caesar was able to whitewash his defeats and his egregious crimes against Gallic civilians, once again hamstringing his critics and embellishing his image to near godlike proportions with the people.
"This is a really awesome scene, guys! It would look great as a die-cast replica! Get it? "Die-cast?" Still, all wars, good and bad, have to end sometime. Caesar had strung things out for as long as he could, working allies, dividing enemies and utilizing every loophole he could to avoid a return to private citizenship. But by 50 B.C., all of his tricks had run out. The Senate was frothing at the mouth to prosecute him, and demanded he relinquish control of his province and his legions and return to Rome, where he was sure to be branded an "enemy of the state" and likely executed. Yet the Caesar that returned to Rome was a far more powerful beast than the one that left, with the support of several battle-tested legions and the vast plebeian classes cheering him on. The master gambler had taken the house for its shirt, pants and suspenders, and was now in a position to strip it of the keys to the front door. We'll see just how hard a republic can fall in the next segment.
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