The Gauls were one of Rome’s oldest and most bitter enemies. They had sacked Rome
and throughout the centuries fought alongside the Republic’s most dangerous adversaries,
including Pyrrhus and Hannibal. By the end of the 2nd century BC Southern Gaul was largely
subdued, however, there was still tension in Northern Gaul, particularly along the Rhine.
These tensions would ultimately climax in the Gallic Wars: the conflict that would shape
the future of Western Europe for centuries to come, giving rise to the Holy Roman Empire
and modern-day France, the conflict that would forever etch the name Gaius Julius Caesar
in the annals of history.
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Rome had been rocked by almost half a century of Civil Wars and the Republic was in decline.
Both Marius and Sulla had marched on Rome, highlighting the ineffectiveness of the system
for maintaining a large Empire and the fact that the legionaries were more loyal to their
generals than to the state. Following this chaotic period, three men had established
an unofficial alliance to effectively control the Republic. This was the First Triumvirate
consisting of the famous general Pompey the Great, the richest man in Rome Crassus, and
Julius Caesar. Caesar had been consul the year before, in
59 BC, but his political campaigning had left him in debt and made him many enemies in Rome;
he needed to make money fast and gain enough military success to keep his political adversaries
at bay. When the time came for distributing provinces for Caesar to govern as proconsul,
he was able to use his political allies to secure Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum and Transalpine
Gaul for an unprecedented 5 years. This put Caesar in control of four veteran Legions,
the VII, VIII, IX and X, all of whom had fought with Caesar before in Hispania and were loyal
to him. They had a total of roughly 22,000 Legionaries plus auxiliaries. Caesar now had
the men he needed; all he needed was an excuse for war.
Fortunately for Caesar, a Celtic tribe, the Helvetii, was planning a migration into Gaul
in 58 BC. Their leader, Orgetorix, had formed a confederation with a number of neighbouring
tribes, the Tulingi, Latobrigi, Rauraci and Boii, and they now numbered 368,000 men, women
and children. Orgetorix had even convinced them all to burn their homes in order to leave
no option of failure. However, soon he was accused of being a tyrant, was forced to commit
suicide. Command passed to Divico. Divico was determined
to stick to the plan and began amassing supplies in order to start pouring into Gaul. To do
this they would have to either pass through the land of the Roman ally Aedui, and the
province of Transalpine Gaul, or take the longer route through the mountain passes in
the North. The Romans had built up a healthy fear of
migrating tribes following the Cimbrian War in 113-101 BC and so Caesar, hearing of this,
was only too willing to come to the rescue of the Aedui. He took the only available legion
in the area and force marched them up to Geneva, destroying the bridge on the Rhone that provided
access into Transalpine Gaul. The Helvetii appealed to Caesar asking for
military access through Roman lands and promising they would not attack. Caesar played for time,
pretending to consider this offer for almost 15 days. Using this time, his legion was able
to construct a fortified embankment almost 5 metres high stretching 20 miles along the
river bank. With the legion manning the embankment and now in a stronger position, Caesar denied
the Helvetii access and refused to allow them to cross. Some of the Helvetii ignored this
and attempted to cross nonetheless in small boats but were prevented from doing so by
the legionaries throwing javelins and shooting arrows into them.
With the southern route thus blocked, the Helvetii decided to take the longer northern
route through the mountains into Gaul. Leaving his top lieutenant, Labienus [la’bi’aenus],
in command, Caesar returned to Italy to levy a further two legions and to pull the other
3 veteran legions out of their winter quarters in Aquileia, bringing his total to approximately
33,000 legionaries plus auxiliaries. Despite Labienus being in a position to easily
block the mountain pass, the Helvetii managed to push into Gallic territories and began
ravaging the land. The Gauls pleaded with Caesar to intervene and chase the Helvetii
out and Caesar, yet again, was only too willing to help, marching his legions into the Gallic
territories. The decision of Labienus to not hold the Helvetii in the mountains was likely
an order received from Caesar; the Celts were now in open terrain, which better suited the
Roman legions, and their pillaging of Gaul gave Caesar an excuse to intervene.
Word reached Caesar that the Helvetii were currently attempting a crossing at the Arar
River. They had been crossing in four large groups using many rafts and boats, but due
to the size of the horde and their lack of organisation, the crossing had already taken
them days and one group was still yet to cross. Caesar took 3 of his legions and swiftly marched
to the river. Quickly forming his legions into battle formation,
Caesar fell upon the Celts waiting to cross. Caught unaware, unprepared, and encumbered
by their baggage, the Helvetii did not even have enough time to form a proper battle line.
The fighting was over quickly, with the whole stranded group being killed or fleeing into
the nearby woods whilst the other three groups could do nothing but watch helplessly from
the other side of the river. The main Helvetii force began to move on and, not wanting to
lose the initiative, Caesar quickly built a bridge across the river and moved all of
his six legions across. The crossing that had taken the Celts 20 days had taken the
Romans just 1. Caesar began tailing the Helvetii, waiting
for the right time to strike. There were a few minor cavalry skirmishes, but nothing
decisive. Caesar did once manage to find a battlefield that was advantageous and even
had Labienus in position behind the enemy, however, due to poor communication from his
scouts, Caesar was forced to pull back from the battlefield. This caused a delay in Caesar’s
plan and he was being to run low on rations. He decided to head to the nearby town of Bibracte
to resupply his army before continuing the pursuit. As he began to march off however,
Divico gave chase, harassing the rear of the Roman army.
Caesar sent his cavalry and light infantry to fight a delaying action in order to buy
time to deploy his main force on a nearby hill. The four veteran legions formed three
lines at the front with the two newly levied Legions, along with the auxiliaries, positioned
further up the hill. These men were not tested in battle and so were not expected to do any
of the fighting, instead they were to guard the baggage and were spread thin across the
hill to seemingly increase the size of Caesar’s army. The Helvetii, numbering somewhere between
60,000-90,000 warriors, had successfully fought off the Roman cavalry and light infantry,
forcing them to retreat. They now formed their infantry into a tightly packed shield wall
and advanced on the Romans. The front two lines of legionaries opened
the battle with a volley of javelins. These hampered the Helvetii by becoming stuck in
their shields, forcing them to drop them and to break into a looser formation. With the
shield wall in disarray, the Roman front lines charged into melee. The fighting was intense
and tough but the Romans’ discipline and experience gave them the edge. Slowly, they
began to get the upper hand, with the Helvetii being forced back to a nearby mountain. However,
as the Romans pressed up the mountain, a portion of the Helvetii allies composed of Boii and
Tulingi, roughly 15,000 warriors, entered the battle. These men had been acting as a
rear-guard, protecting the camp, and now they fell on the Roman flank, threatening to encircle
them. The Helvetii, bolstered by the arrival of
their allies, began pushing back with renewed vigour. With the two front lines of legionaries
already engaging the Helvetii on the mountain, Caesar committed his final line of veterans,
which had been acting as a reserve. After hours of hard fighting, the Helvetii on the
mountain were eventually broken and forced from the battle. However, the Boii and Tulingi
fell back to the camp to make a last stand. Using their baggage wagons they formed a makeshift
rampart and continued the fight, hurling missiles down into the Roman ranks. This is where the
fighting was the most difficult as the Boii were famed warriors and fought desperately.
Finally, after fighting long into the night, the third line was able to break into the
camp, ending the battle. The battle had lasted almost 12 hours. Caesar
had lost perhaps 5,000 men, whilst the Helvetii had lost around 40,000 to 60,000. Of the 368,000
people who began the migration, only 130,000 were now left. Caesar, with no cavalry left
to speak off, was not able to give chase immediately and gave his men three days in order to recover
from the battle before starting the pursuit. The Helvetii, seeing the Romans chasing them
once more, surrendered completely and were forced to return to their homeland and made
a vassal of Rome, acting as a buffer between Roman and Germanic lands.
Caesar had achieved his aim of gaining a swift military victory and, for now, he would be
able to hold off his political enemies in Rome. Furthermore, the Romans had now shown
themselves to be a powerful force in the Gallic theatre. After his victory, Caesar rested
in Bibracte for a short time before moving on. Rumour had already reached him of a Germanic
tribe that had crossed the Rhine and was terrorising Gaul.
The Gallic Wars were just starting and in our future videos we will talk more about
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