Caesar's Gallic Wars
Caesar's conquest of Gaul (58-50 BCE) transformed both the map of Europe and the Roman Republic. As proconsul with command of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum (later extended to Transalpine Gaul), Caesar spent nine years in almost continuous campaigning, defeating the Helvetii, the Germanic king Ariovistus, the Belgic tribes, the Veneti, the Nervii, and finally the great confederate revolt led by Vercingetorix in 52 BCE. His two expeditions to Britain (55 and 54 BCE), while not resulting in permanent occupation, demonstrated Roman power beyond the known world. Caesar's own account, the Gallic Wars (Bellum Gallicum), remains one of the finest pieces of military memoir in any language. The campaign gave Caesar a hardened veteran army personally loyal to him, enormous wealth from the sale of captives (estimated at one million Gauls enslaved), and the experience that would make him the dominant military commander of the civil war era.
- Category: Military
