Caesar and the Gauls
Overview
Julius Caesar's military expeditions to Gaul in the first century B.C. marked a dramatic turning point in the history of continental Europe. After Caesar's successful intervention in the migration of the Helvetii people westward into Gaul, Rome quickly dominated all land between the Mediterranean and the English Channel, and the Atlantic and the Rhine. After Caesar's initial military victories, the process of Romanization instituted a more subtle series of cultural battles.
Julius Caesar campaigned through Gaul from 58 to 50 B.C. The best account of the Gallic War is Caesar's own Commentaries on the Gallic War, which provides a clear and detailed account of the campaign. The seven books that make up the Commentaries were probably written during the winters between tactical maneuvers. These installments were issued to a Roman public highly sympathetic to Caesar's campaign. While the Commentaries appear to be objective and nonbiased, they operated to promote Caesar's own political interests: conquering Rome through the conquest of Gaul. He de-emphasized Roman defeats and played on the Roman stereotype of the Gauls as untrustworthy savages in a text clearly intended to help consolidate his political power in Rome. However, despite the political objective of Commentaries, the text remains the most influential source for information on the cultural and tactical dimensions of the Gallic War.
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