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Gallic Wars: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Caesar's eight-year conquest of Gaul, described in his own words, ended at Alesia with a million dead and Rome's frontier on the Rhine.

Fought
58 BC to 50 BC
Duration
8 years
Dates
58 to 50 BC
Deaths
Plutarch claimed a million Gauls killed and a million enslaved; modern estimates are lower but still enormous
Rome
Julius Caesar; up to 12 legions with Gallic cavalry
Gauls
Helvetii, Belgae, Nervii, Veneti, Eburones (Ambiorix), Arverni (Vercingetorix) and others; Germans under Ariovistus
Result
Roman conquest of Gaul

The Gallic Wars (58-50 BC) were Julius Caesar's campaigns as proconsul against the tribes of Gaul, Germany and Britain, recounted in his Commentaries. He stopped the Helvetii migration and drove Ariovistus's Germans back over the Rhine (58), crushed the Belgae (57), the Veneti (56), bridged the Rhine and landed twice in Britain (55-54), and suppressed revolts by Ambiorix. Vercingetorix united the Gauls in 52; after defeat at Gergovia Caesar besieged him at Alesia with double siege lines and starved the town while defeating a relief army of a quarter of a million. Gaul became a Roman province; Caesar's victory, army and wealth made his civil war possible.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Gallic Wars. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

400 BC200 BC02004006008001000Gallic Wars (58 BC to 50 BC)Open: Roman-Greek warsRoman-Greek wars (214 BC to 148 BC)Open: Roman-Germanic warsRoman-Germanic wars (113 BC to 476)Open: Social War (91-87 BC)Social War (91-87 BC) (91 BC to 87 BC)Open: Roman EmpireRoman Empire (27 BC to 476)Open: Roman conquest of BritainRoman conquest of Britain (43 to 84)Open: Francia (Frankish kingdoms)Francia (Frankish kingdoms) (481 to 843)

Forces at Alesia, 52 BC (Caesar's figures)

Caesar's numbers for the Gauls are almost certainly inflated.

062.5125187.5250Roman legions: 5050Roman legionsVercingetorix in Alesia: 8080Vercingetorix in AlesiaGallic relief army: 250250Gallic relief armythousands

Timeline of the Gallic Wars

  1. 58 BC
    Bibracte; Ariovistus defeated
  2. 57 BC
    SambreThe Nervii destroyed.
  3. 56 BC
    Veneti defeated at sea
  4. 55 BC
    Rhine bridge; first landing in Britain
  5. 54 BC
    Second British expedition; Ambiorix's revolt
  6. 52 BC
    Avaricum; Gergovia; Alesia
  7. 51 BC
    Uxellodunum; hands of the defenders cut off
  8. 50 BC
    Gaul pacified

58-56: Helvetii, Ariovistus, Belgae

Caesar took up his command in 58 BC as the Helvetii tried to migrate through Gaul; he defeated them at Bibracte and sent the survivors home. He then defeated the German king Ariovistus in Alsace. In 57 the Belgic tribes of the north resisted; the Nervii nearly overran Caesar's camp on the Sambre before being annihilated. In 56 the Veneti of Brittany were beaten in a naval battle and their elders executed.

55-53: Rhine, Britain and revolt

Caesar massacred two German tribes, the Usipetes and Tencteri, at their crossing (Cato demanded he be handed to them for the crime), built a bridge across the Rhine in ten days for a show of force, and landed in Britain in 55 and again in 54 with five legions, defeating Cassivellaunus but gaining nothing lasting. In winter 54-53 Ambiorix of the Eburones destroyed a legion and a half under Sabinus and Cotta; Caesar hunted the Eburones to extinction.

52: Vercingetorix and Alesia

While Rome was in turmoil, the Arvernian noble Vercingetorix united most of Gaul in a rising and used scorched earth. Caesar took Avaricum and massacred its 40,000 people but was repulsed at Gergovia; the Aedui defected. Vercingetorix withdrew into Alesia; Caesar built 18 km of inner and 21 km of outer fortifications, and when a Gallic relief army of perhaps 250,000 attacked, he held both lines. Vercingetorix surrendered, was displayed in Caesar's triumph in 46 and strangled. Mopping up ended in 50 BC; Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49.

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8 surprising things about the Gallic Wars

  1. Caesar's Commentaries are written in the third person and were partly propaganda for the Roman public.
  2. Alesia's siege works were found by Napoleon III's excavations at Alise-Sainte-Reine and confirmed by modern archaeology.
  3. Caesar's Rhine bridge, built in ten days, was dismantled after 18 days when he returned.
  4. The Gallic Wars made Caesar the richest man in Rome from slaves and loot, and left him with a loyal veteran army.
  5. Vercingetorix was kept alive for six years to walk in Caesar's triumph, then executed in the Tullianum.
  6. Cato proposed handing Caesar over to the Germans for massacring the Usipetes and Tencteri during a truce.
  7. The Gallic Wars are the first Latin text most students read; 'Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres'.
  8. Asterix, the Gaulish comic hero, is set in 50 BC in the one village Caesar failed to conquer.

Sources

  • Gallic Wars Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • Gallic Wars Wikipedia
  • Gallic Wars World History Encyclopedia
  • Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus (2006) Yale University Press

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