History of France

It may fairly be argued that the eight years from 58 BC to 51 BC were the most decisive in the history of France, and indeed of Western civilization. In the course of those eight years, Julius Caesar conquered most of Gaul, a region corresponding roughly to modern France, plus much of present-day Belgium and Switzerland. In the process, he transformed what had been essentially a Mediterranean empire and civilization into one that extended into the heart of continental Western Europe.

The following discussion will be devoted to the strategic and tactical dimensions of Caesar's conquest of Gaul, with the central theme being the ways in which Caesar's methods employed established Roman methods in new ways to solve problems that were new to Roman experience. The exceptional nature of Caesar's conquest in Roman history will first be outlined, followed by a brief sketch of the relationship of Caesar's political strategy in Gaul to that previously employed by the Roman Republic. More extensive treatment will then be given to the Roman method of warfare and the employment of those methods by Caesar, with special attention to the difference between the military problems solved by Caesar to those for which the legions had originally been designed.

Julius Caesar did not set out to conquer Gaul. He was there in the first place due to the vagaries of Roman domestic politics, and throughout his campaigns he had one eye on Rome--his account of the Gallic War was indeed largely

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Once formed, the century could be turned to face the immediate threat with a word or two of command, or the equivalent signal given by trumpet. Even without time to deploy the legion as a whole into regular fighting formation, Roman troops could thus at once assume sufficient order to give them considerable power of resistance against attack. We may imagine individual centuries forming up, a hundred or two yards apart. If the enemy swarmed in headlong attack against one century, surrounding it, they would in the process expose their own flanks or rear to supporting attack by another century formed up nearby. If on the other hand the enemy took time to deploy into a single massed phalanx, the Romans would in turn be allowed sufficient time to form their centuries into a regular legionary front; moreover, this process could be carried out more rapidly by organized centuries operating as a unit. Finally, the morale factor must be taken into account. A soldier exposed to sudden surprise attack while on the march is at great risk of panic, but once formed in ranks with his comrades--even if the formation is a single century, not yet co-ordinated into a larger battle order--that same soldier finds himself in familiar tactical

Category: History - H