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McKenna Johnson
History 1100
April 2, 2014
The Gallic War
The Gallic War were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul Julius
Caesar against several Gallic tribes. The military campaign series were written from 58 BC to
50 BC and the culminated in the decisive Battle of Alesia in 52 BC. The campaigns were written
in Gaul, Germania, and Britannia. It was made to be a source document about military and
Roman history.
The intended audience for the Gallic War was to be an aid for future historians. The
Commentarii de Bello Gallico was Caesar’s firsthand account of the Gallic Wars and was written
as a third person narrative and was split into eight separate books. Julius Caesar wrote seven of
the books, and the eighth book was written and added by: Aulus Hirtius. Commentarii de Bello
Gallico is one of the best surviving examples of unadorned Latin prose and has consequently
been a subject of intense study for Latinists. It is one of the classic prose sources traditionally
used as a standard teaching text in the modern Latin education.
In the Commentarrii de Bello Gallico, Caesar describes the battles and the intrigues that took
place in the nine years that he spent fighting local armies in Gaul that opposed Roman
domination.
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The victories in Gaul won by the Caesar had increased the alarm and hostility of his
enemies at Rome and this cause suspicion and doubt to spread among the plebeians. He had
chiefly relied on help from the plebeians for carrying out his designs, but when many were
evidentially taking sides with the Gauls and Germanics, it had come time for Caesar to act on
public opinion. After this happened, he made it so the major aim of the books were to gain the
Roman’s suffrages.
Rome’s war against the Gallic tribes caused a complete Roman victory in the expansion
over the whole of Gaul; this made it so Caesar could become the sole ruler of the Roman
Republic. Caesar makes it seem that the invasion was a preemptive and defensive action, but the
historians think that it was just so Caesar could pay off his massive debts. After the results of
financial burdens of his consulships, Caesar had acquired significant debt. This resulted in
Caesar’s ambition to conquer and plunder territories to get him out of the debt.
It has come to show that Gaul might have not been his initial target, and it is very likely
that he was planning a campaign against the kingdom of Dacia, which is located in the Balkans.
Gaul was civilized and wealthy and most contact with Roman merchants, and some of those that
were governed by Republics, had enjoyed stable political alliances with Rome in the past.
The beginning of the war and the campaign against the Helvetii was around 61 BC. They
[Helvetii] were well on their way to planning and provisioning a mass migration under the
leadership of Orgetorix. Caesar mentions several times in separate passages that the reason for
their migration was for either harassment by the Germanic tribes, or not being able to in turn raid
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for plunder themselves due to the situations in hilly and mountainous territory. All the while,
Romans were also gaining and taking political advantages and fomenting trade disputes.
The Helvetti planned and prepared themselves for two whole years and emissaries were
sent out to various Gallic tribes assuring them safe passages and alliances. All the while,
Orgetorix had also succeeded in making a personal alliance with the Sequani chieftain and the
Aedui chieftain through marital arrangements and host exchange of family members. They
secretly planned on becoming kings of their respective tribes, and to master the whole of Gaul.
The Helvetti had crossed the territories of Sequani and were busy pillaging the lands of
Aedui, Ambarri, and Allobroges, and the tribes were unable to oppose to them, as the Roman
allies had called to Caesar for help. Caesar had obliged and surprised the Helvetti as they were
crossing the river Arar. Under Caesar’s command, surprised and defeated the Tigurine in the
Battle of Arar. After the battle was over, the Romans built a bridge over the Saône to pursue the
remaining Helvetti. While Caesar sent 4,000 Roman and allied Aedui cavalry to track the
Helvetii, the Romans remained in their pursuit until they ran into supply troubles. The Helvetti
suffered some casualties from only 500 of the cavalry. Accordingly, the Romans stopped their
pursuit and headed for the Aedui town of Bibracte. Then the tables were turned, and the Helvetii
began to pursue the Romans by harassing their rear guard. Caesar then chose a nearby hill to
offer battle and the Roman legions stood to face their enemies.
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