It's hardcore history. If I asked you to get a piece of paper and something to write with. And to make a numerical list of all the things that you would be willing to die for, how long is your list and what's on it, and this is kind of an exercise, and you run into these things elsewhere, I'm sure I sort of clarify your life and priorities exercise. Another one, I've heard is go write your own obituary now and you can see how that might help. You get a sense of oh gee. This is what I'd like to be someday and here's how far I am from that now and so to help you figure out how you're doing so. What would you be willing to die for question? Is a priority question? Helps you sort of figure out? What are the most important things to me?

and if you think about it like that, I mean I think we probably all have pretty similar things, at least at the top of the list. When we meet wouldn't loved ones, be on that list right near the top, I would be willing to die for my wife and children or parents. I have to believe that's pretty common in any era in history, And then likely something on that list near the top would be possessions of one kind or another land comes to mind right off the top of my head on his farms been in my family for three generations. I would give my life for it the number of con that were land ownership based since time immemorial, is uncountable, isn't it pretty common other kinds of possession? You might think of this like money how long down on your list, though, does it go before you get to things that are a little harder to get your hands on tangibly.

I mean we're something like freedom on your list and it's funny, because if you go and look all throughout human history, there are slogans like New Hampshire State Motto which is live, free or die when you go and you look at like revolute Harry Franzen, and all these other movements throughout history and and some form of give me liberty or give me death live free or die, is on I mean people willing to give their own lives based on the Then a an unfree life isn't worth living, so willing to die for a concept but a concept. That means everything when you talk about your day to day life, and we should point out that freedom has always meant different things to different people and has been different. Things in different eras Two big definitions you run into is the obvious one. Freedom is my right to personal control and autonomy and sovereignty The other one, though, is a political sort of freedom

says as long as no outside people or power or state or entities controlling my people, then we're free. We may live in a dictatorship, but it's our dictatorship. That kind of thing the freedom involves freedom from outside. Can roll. We change the M parameters of our little question, though, here for a minute: what, if, instead of giving your own life and and what you would be willing, to die. For the new list is what would you be willing to lose everything for and buy everything? I certainly mean your life, that's a given, but the lives of all your loved ones, one way or another either through outright death or having them sold into a life of slavery, your little kids sold into a life of slavery and all your possessions

taken in all your stuff stolen in your community devastated in your culture. Mortale Woon did that's pretty much everything. Isn't it what are worth that some of the greatest human tragedies both on a personal and on a society wide level? Three, history. I have happened when some of the things on the list that you'd be willing to die for become the cost of preserving other things on your list that you be willing to die for. Can you see this all the time in the 20th century? Look at

many people in order to protect their societies, freedom sent their own children off to die in a war, so this is part of the human condition, but unless you've lived through near genocidal conditions, most of us haven't had to deal with the kind of threat that people throughout history have had to deal with to everything that general, a coin. New Hampshire state Motto, live free or die was a revolutionary war general, for example. He wrote that phrase decades after the war and in total freedom and safety. Now I have no doubt he would have been willing to give his life in the service of what was a brand new country during the revolutionary war, but he could also take some.

Comfort in the idea that he wasn't going to have to give much more than that. I mean the British were not going to come into the country and after they hanged him execute his teenage sons and rape is. Safe in his children and send them off to slavery, burned down his house destroyed his town and stamp out his church. They were going to do that. That's a different kind of risk! Isn't it that's genocide and people still deal with that, even as I'm speaking right now, somewhere in the world now, obviously, genocides come in many different shades and colors and variations an circumstances mean take the Jews and the gypsies in the second.

Award during the Holocaust. That's an example where the people who are being victimized had absolutely no choice and no options. No one said to them: either do this or we're going to kill you all A choice was never offered. Sometimes, though it is choice, a is you do this choice b. Is we committed genocide or a near genocide or an absolute crime against humanity by modern day standards? Again you I mean for most of human history. That's the choice that cities have when enemy armies show about side, their walls, so under before the siege weapons, start being used and you can maybe go free, Maybe carry some of your personal possession. With you, maybe not, but the deal is, is that as soon as the scene starts in most

these cases they could do whatever they wanted to you. Sometimes they might still let you go sometimes they might have a negotiation three weeks from now and say: ok, you want stop and now will make a deal, but often times the deal was implicit. I mean when we says that this? Isn't this the standard understanding throughout most of pre gun Counter history and even into gunpowder era, history that if. You don't surrender when called upon in the city goes under siege that you could have an absolute genocide at least on citywide level afterwards, and everyone understand that that's just how it goes. They weren't doing that to civilizational equals much by the 18th century, which, of course the British would have considered the

unless you five minutes ago, had been your subjects of the same king as the British, but when you were dealing, for example, with savages or barbarians, those are obviously slur terms. All bets were off in the history of the laws of war, there's a term for that latin term. Bellum Romanum, which basically means war the way Romans did it total war? The legal definition I got from one place said that Bellum Romanum is all out war without restraint, as the Romans practiced it against groups, they considered to be barbarians, and, let's understand, if the british crown. In one thousand, seven hundred and seventy five we're dealing with native Americans might have been a very friend situation, all of a sudden, you can treat them the way

Rome treated barbarians, often times with what we would call today, genocide, but often times With choices, unlike the Jews and the gypsies in the second world wars, Holocaust often times voice, was surrender and accept subjugation without rebellion and live, or do any of those other things and see everyone either killed or sold into slavery. What passes for city in your culture destroyed, and maybe your culture itself taken apart piece by piece, there's something very strange, may be about me, but I see a certain romance doomed sort of romance the same sort of thing you see with the native American. Sometimes will you watch this story? That is a calamity

and you let x the behavior of the human beings in it, make a tear roll down your cheek and then touch something deep in your soul, those who are willing to say yes, we know that you'll kill all of us or destroy our civilization. If we don't subject get ourselves to you, but we're going to take the chance here and try to live free or die, and I'm not the only one that sees the obvious entertainment value or the compelling nature of the extreme situation. A choice like that they'll put you and beans into because it's a Hollywood J. Isn't it the storytelling trope, they would say maybe in academic circles a recurring theme I mean it would be very easy to tell the story in turned into Braveheart. We will try very hard not to do that, but it's an old theme and it's easy to become sort of in new worried to it over time. Sort of numb

the other problem is these situations that we're talking about the reality of them is actually so intense and so extreme that any portray discussion of them can't help, but somehow minimize our trivialize or hype in a different way for entertainment value, but the people were actually going through. I always try to think to myself imagine if that list that we mentioned a minute ago that genocide list edge. Only one of those things was going to happen to me in my cushy life here, where I am in no danger of say having my culture wiped out, can't even imagine what that would mean make blue jeans illegal.

No more iphones and they start destroying the christian religion. I mean I'm not quite sure in the modern sense, in the United States, where I live. How that even I mean you can't even get your mind around it, maybe in some weird emotionally voyeuristic way. That's what makes it kind of intriguing. As I've always said, you watch people deal with something you can't imagine dealing with your cell The story that I would like to use to highlight that has a very familiar ring. Because we've seen this movie historically speaking before over and over again broadly speaking, It's the story of a european power using its

a logical and civilization advantages to dominate, take over and colonize the land of a tribal people, less sophisticated, politically speaking, tribal people and to destroy brought and so their culture is part of doing so. Obviously, over the last five hundred or so years, we've seen this movie play out in the Americas, with your in colonization and conquest, we saw it layout and uh okay to same thing. The difference here is that the people, the tribal people on the receiving end of european conquest and colonization are themselves european, and this didn't happen couple hundred years ago this happened more than two thousand years ago, and the reason that I wanted to talk

This story, as opposed to any of the others with similar themes, is because this is one of the times where you look at the odds. And you say: there's a halfway decent chance here of the people. On the receiving end of the year. Indian colonization to fight back and win the native Americans, for example, never had a chance, never a chance ever If, for no other reason and there's a lot of other ones, just the disease alone, if you're about to have a civilization, civilizational conflict, between the new world and the old world You don't want to lose me The I mean, I saw an estimate that said ninety eight percent. I think that's got to be high, but, let's just say, eighty five percent of the entire population of the hemisphere to disease right off the bat. There are a bunch of experts who have. You know, try

to explain what the situation must have been like in these tribes in the center of the Americas. You know there were still untouched by european contact but the diseases is managed to find them, and we're just shell, shocked. Traumatized remnants at the time Europeans got to the interior of the Americans. 'cause. These tribes had basically been it out by disease, it's like a magic that imagine the Bubonic plague in Europe, but, worse from the middle ages, I've seen numbers that say that in the in say, one thousand eight hundred they were estimating what the tribal population of North America was now not. North America that constituted the United States in that area. Back then, because that was just a sliver compared to today, but but the native population throughout in from the Pacific, Atlantic in what is now the United States, some estimates are as low as six hundred thousand people. That's a pretty unfair fight right there! Isn't it not just that As we all know, that's not six

thousand people all small into one state right next to the thirteen colonies when the United States becomes a state right. It's not like the US has to deal one hundred thousand natives next door. They are spread out in small groups. You know the width and breadth of the territory able to be Doff divided and conquered one by one over time, which is what happened. I mean it still blows my mind to realize you know how small the number of native american warriors there are fighting against the document of manifest destiny at anytime and how well. They did based how small they were. Do you know if you get one thousand five hundred north american native american warriors in one, at one time. That's a sizable force. The highest estimates? I've ever seen for the largest native american force of warriors ever assembled is between four and five thousand.

The little bighorn. A lot of people think that's the biggest battle that the largest numbers ever seen, or just under five thousand five thousand, when the Spanish. Conquistadors found the aztec empire. The Aztecs. Could raise 10s of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of warriors. Now. Obviously there is a different state, organizational system which plays into the story, but at the same time it's also first contact basically in the disease, had not had time to take hold and then fast forward. A couple hundred years and all of a sudden, you go from hundreds of thousands of warriors maybe two one hundred being a sizable force and Look how long it took the US to deal with that and to be fair It wasn't like. The United States had a hundred thousand people against one thousand five hundred natives. The forces of the European Power just fighting in the new world were very small, also in one thousand five hundred you

forces fighting these native american tribes, half of which might be local militia. That was not uncommon, either even the big wars like the American Revolution, the numbers are smaller than you would think. I mean again. Twenty five thousand would be a ton in the american Revolution. So. You wonder how the US, or before the british and french explorers would have fared if they were, exploring the Interior say of North America, and they came upon some people that had not been impacted by the disease. These I mean what, if the Aztec Empire, instead of being in the middle of Mexico, was on the, inside of the Mississippi to be running to buy the Europeans at some point or better. Yet, let's make it an interesting combat. Let's put ancient All on the western side of the Mississippi, you know what gall is right gall is, with the Romans called an area about the size of Texas in the ancient world that can

used well most of Northwestern Europe Modern Day France, a lot of Belgium Western Strip in Germany, some a Switzerland in during one part of this period, northern ITALY, even estimates of the population range from three to seven million people and the kind of armies that they could put in the field. Well, let's just say I'd. Imagine they're pretty close to the kind of numbers that the Aztecs probably could put in the field and r a forty or fifty thousand Golic peoples, over ten thousand of which might be mounted was not unusual imagine imagine those armies that are to brushing aside one thousand five hundred and eighty, maybe on a really bad day. Two thousand five hundred and eight is having to chill with forty or fifty thousand of them instead. Now I have no doubt given the technology

advantages and, more more importantly, the the state organizational advantages of a place like the early United States or for them, the British and the French. I have no doubt they would conquer this lad, Version of gall at some point, but I wonder if they could conquer it as quickly as Caesar did in the real thing two thousand years before and if they couldn't. What does that say? Well, rather than attributed to me failings are shortcomings of the european or american forces in North America. Maybe it says how incredibly awesome Julius Caesar was. But awesome doesn't mean good and up until relatively recently, what he did in goal was celebrated,

and in fact, going back a hundred or two hundred years in the area where the great power especially the great powers of Europe, are celebrating the idea of doing exactly what Julius Caesar in the Romans were doing to the tribal peoples north of them in their own era, they tended to the Caesar as the good guy. The story I want to talk about today is narrated by Julius Caesar, it's a little like he bring the star wars saga as told by Darth Vader, And it is designed to have the audience cheer when the plucky little republics are crushed and a hundred years ago, lot of people did The beginning to my recent translation of Caesars, or commentaries from his command In the Carolyn Hammond Trans,

nation feels the need at the beginning of the work, to explain why yet another translation of Caesar's account of his well. I had one professor in school in the 80s, who called it a Celtic Hall tossed why a new translation was needed in Hammond points out, because the view of the audience are different than they used to be. She writes quote. A new translation of the Garlic war does call for some explanation, not least because a number of versions are already available yet Each generation needs its own translation of any classic text. The culture and more rays of the translator zone. Time are bound to leave their mark. Besides subject matter of the Golik WAR is potentially distasteful, even immoral for the modern reader, the I have to increase territorial holdings high civilian as well as military casualties, for dominance of economic motives for organized aggression. All

These belong to an accepted norm of international activity in the ancient world and hence need careful interest. Shin, an explanation as well as to date. Translation end quote of which is basically saying is that once upon a time this was written, an audience who was expected to cheer what was going on. Nowadays, we look at things sort of differently and can't help, but this, then, in the process of achieving these glorious and almost GIMP miscible military victories. Sure Caesar is killing. Reportedly, a million of the inhabitants of Gaul. And in slaving another million as Celtic expert Ark, I'll just bury Cunliffe says if you

the loan numbers of the entire population of Gaul, that means Caesar killed one slash three of the population and enslaved. Another third is that genocide in the Americas. The disease did most of the damage in terms of the overall death rate in goal in the 50S BCE Caesar did. Even as I say that I can here's sort of in the back of my head, the screaming objections of the ancient roman lawyers from the grave of the way that I'm framing This whole thing, comparing roman efforts against the help, people's north of them to the Holocaust in the Second World war, would be an insult to roman honor. Although there were some who complained about it, Cato, I think none the less. They would say that to suggest

that doing, what Caesar did to the Gauls is the same as what happened the Jews and the gypsies in the Jehovah's witnesses and the gay folks and all the other people persecuted in the Holocaust, roman catholic priests, polish folks. Those are like lambs innocent, led to the slaughter, but Caesar did he did to a people that were like lion dangerous lions lions that had attacked before an might do so again, if you are forced as a state or a people or what have you to commit genocide in order to protect yourself is that sort, get out of jail free card in any sort of

genocidal court situation. I mean in a judgment call, would you say: well, listen, you know they had to do it. Anybody would have done it at the same time. Of course, what Caesar was suggesting and we'll get to that in a minute was that they needed a preemptive war, because these lions could attack at any time. So it gets murky quickly, but there's no denying that these celtic people Tools all over Europe were dangerous. They are vile kings a thousand years before there are vikings, and I don't mean in the in the pirate. Like sense, I mean in the European Barbarian stereotype sense vikings are like version three point, four or something, because that the Celts are the alpha version of the European northern european barbarian type. They exhibit all the typical traits.

They get crazy and battle, supposedly in a fight with enormous amounts of like ferocity, the g, Strabo, said that they are warm add. The ancient sources also point out that the Celts are headhunters, which is always a little bit unnerving Ancient peoples are always more comfortable with head shopping. Then we are in the modern world, but in the settled societies when it was done, it was sort of, there was no. Enjoy it. They didn't revel in it. They didn't take pride in it. It wasn't something you showed off to visitors, but in the celtic world, according to the ancient sources that were not celtic, this was something that was done I don't need says, he's visiting celtic homes and they want to bring out the heads of slain enemies. You know that they've kept in a chest soaked in cedar oil. So everything stays nice and pristine and you can still recognize the features. And they have found by the way the

key aladji has shown that there are these, for example, pillars that think they find with little cubby holes skulls still in some of them by the way in little hangers to to a fix the skull to the back of these things, I mean this may be a religious thing, but to the settled people cutting the heads off people, keeping them in and adorning your temples and whatnot with heads that that's just freaky and was even then by the way posted on as he would get used to it after awhile, but never quite got comfortable with people treating him heads the way some people treat. You know the antlers of that deer, they shot last fall up on the wall mounted with a name tag underneath it talk to it sometimes always give that great story about how you killed this dude. I should also point out that, besides the release, significance of the heads Caesar says that the the Gauls believed in the theory of reincarnation sort of. Maybe you could call it was similar to what am I

Philosophical group in Greece always believed that the Gauls kind of believe that when you die in this world, you're just born into the other one and then when you die in the other, when you're just born back into this one. I think I understood that correctly see. He says that this is part of the reason why they're so fearless in battle because being worried about having your existence snuffed out. You just you know in oblivion: to be born in the next world, just to avoid confusion by the way, because it can be very confusing. The terms golf and Celt are used by the ancient sources in a way where it's impossible, not to get everything confused. Archaeologist. John Collins has a whole rundown of the various ways interpret this the most common ways away. We're going to do it. We're going to assume that when we say Celt we mean celtic people across the width and breadth of areas that have celtic language

culture. If we say galls, we specifically mean the Celts in you know: ancient Gaul, modern Day, France, Etcetera, etc. They are like all these northwestern european barbarian types white. They are strong how long they are tall, especially to all the people's writing in the Mediterranean. They always looked all they might have only been like six feet if we could go back in a time machine, but if that's fine, six inches taller than your average Mediterranean type, it still like fighting giants in battle. Isn't it and that's what made fighting these celtic peoples Scary too, it's not just their enormous numbers according to the ancient authors, but listen if you in a a first century army, and I tell you listen going to battle going to find another 21st century army and old. By the way everyone in that army is six inches taller than all of us. You might think to yourself dang that doesn't sound so good. I don't like the sound of that at the timing. You know you realize seven foot,

People or whatever they are go down from bullets and shell fire and bombs just like shorter people do so. It's not that big of a deal, but in the agent world. When you say you're going to find an army people that is, on average, five inches taller and proportionately, stronger to all the rest of us when you're doing that in a hand to hand sense, it can make a huge difference. The celtic people were scared when they had scared Rome before and All the modern historians point out that this was somehow a scar that ran through the roman psyche so that, even after the Celts really weren't that dangerous to the Romans anymore, they still the memory of light. Attacks a long time ago and never quite got over them. You know look, roman history, there are a couple of famous dates. One of them is

for ten eighty, ten ad right, the famous fall of Rome to the germanic barbarians, lot of people like to make that the exclamation point at the end of the western roman empire, always debatable of coal But the reason it's such a big deal is basically wrong with been on a huge winning streak to Joe Dimaggio, hitting streak of ancient runs since that Rome hadn't been sacked by a foreign conqueror in almost one thousand years right. That's a pretty big deal in the ancient world. The last time, though, that they were sacked. It was these celtic people that did it the Romans never forgot it. When there's a famous phrase that sort of yes sums up the whole period and I've always wondered if the ancient author writing, when the roman empire was around chicken everybody's but didn't have sly reason for putting it in there pointing out that in if the Celts

that back then, we can live by those same rules. The line was five ictis or why weakness The translation usually used, is woe to the vanquished, because what happened to the Romans famously as a day for rafter, remembered as an inauspicious day in Rome, July, 18th first celtic army that the room had ever encountered supposedly in their history, bore down on the city itself and we're coming at speed to a completely unprepared to meet them. There are a bunch. Different ancient historians who written an account of what happened here. Livvie course the most famous most romantic and goes into the most detail about this sting battle? Where

you know I love ancient battles and- and you try to recreate what happened- it's kind of impossible. I mean people do their best, but the physics of the whole thing, or just not understood and ideas and let's go in and out of fashion as to what really happened, but there are elements of shoe vanity on an individual level. Things like fear and intimidation and very hard to quantify. Hides of human beings that are part of when you take those. Collectively, right collectively right, what is fear do when you magnify it into a whole group bill as opposed to one individual. This is the parts of human history that make history hard to turn into any kind of hard science, because how do you define things like that. How do you say one side in the battle was more scared. Then another side in the battle and that that's what made the difference One side was tougher and that's what made the difference, because clearly

agent writers- and, let's be honest, historians, writing even a fifty hundred years ago, no problem saying this, but when you need Evidence to prove it, there are certain parts of humanity infused into history that you just can't quantify. I mean logical way. If you want to follow the sources anyway, especially Livy, to view this battle, that's to happen when the Romans in the celtic armies clash, supposedly to say that the Romans were terrified and that The three hundred plus years later it actually seeps through in a can you imagine that you could walk to one of them that they listen as afraid as you are it'll, be it'll, be recorded in people, one thousand years from now we'll know how scared you are of this alien people coming down from the north and the keyword too so you add the fact that these are obviously big people

the entire look and feel of them has an alien quality. That just is scary and understand. Barbarians are always scary to settled societies, not Gary, sometimes a little sexy. You can see styles that catch on like in Rome the start wearing those tight german pants at the barbarians. Where mean there's, there's a certain element to then that's a little Clint Eastwood at times, but you know I like to think that there's a bar in scale ten one being most barbaric, ten being one step away from being a Roman with a mustache. You know. And so it depends on where you are the really cool barbarians walking around Roman in leather jackets. You know they're more like a nine or a ten on the scale to they get drunk. They get hurt somebody, but otherwise they're pretty well behaved you take a one or two and put him in there and they're going to be like a bull in a China shop and that in three hundred and ninety or three hundred and eighty seven BCE is what the woman's fashion, on the opposite side of the battlefield and by the time they get there

according to levy the battlefields already swarming with these people, so you don't even have time to get your lines all straight and everything all figured out. Okay, let's brace ourselves! You are essentially having an encounter bottle with with a celtic army heading Toro, and it's about eleven miles away from the city. In all fairness, it's, not the roman empire or even the Roman. The Julius Caesar error that we normally think of those terrible bad that are absolutely frightful, this is a militia army, and at this Well, it's also about half of it is just the city, as citizen sort of raising you have your militia farmers, who do all your fighting for you anyway, and then you have townsfolk in other people, but an emergency and it happened so quickly. There was no time, and so they Is this army hastily, Roman. It's time is merely a city in ITALY, probably the predominant city, but they just had a long conflict an arch enemy, Etruscans city.

They had just recently defeated and it was only like ten miles from the city of Rome, so you could see the small scale they're operating on in this era. This early roman army of of militia and sort of a citizen. Contingent as well meet this are of huge tall extreme, scary barbarians, and we are told it takes little time before they are fleeing in abject terror. Livy seems to say pretty openly that he thinks the commander of the Romans at this battle was incompetent. He makes the celtic commander out to be pretty darn good. No one knows how many people died at this bottle that will be called the battle of the Ilia or the battle of the elite.

And no one knows how many people fought there either in. There are all kinds of different estimates. The low ones are probably right because in this time period I know it's hard to imagine this. But Rome true city state. Probably Only controls thirty miles around the city somewhere in that area I mean. So. This is a really small scale, very early version of Rome. They probably didn't have too many soldiers to defend them. The problem is, is Berg This is how many of those soldiers there were they. Aren't there anymore after that battle, which means Rome is totally undefended and a panic sets in in the city were told People stream out of it in the religious The facts are evacuated in these terrible choices we are told, are made. You know this reminds you of the list of what you would be prepared to die for you're told by residents in the city where the fighting men are going to be separated from the

list mouths, including women and young people and old people. You know to be the ones who defy the Centre citadel of the city, I mean it's the story of impending doom. My favorite of Livi may maybe in its entirety, though, is what happens when the the Gauls, the celtic people, the army, the first are that the Romans supposedly had encountered of these alien norther shows up outside the gates of Rome and they're, open the city seems both deserted and simply left. Locked in unguarded and Livy paints a picture of a scene. That's like something out of the twelve light zone you have, these may be superstitious. Natives, like I said, they're often portrayed very similarly to how you would see the native Americans are african tribesmen have somehow

extremely superstitious, and both savage and skittish and unpredictable and childlike like mean it's these interesting stereotypes, but here's the story that Livvie painted involves the great old men of Rome from another time the ancient ones who are still around with with law beards, as he says, after the fashion of their day, They are neither useless mouths now able to fight in the citadel, so they decide. Livy says that they're going to set an example by simply sack revising their lives in the hopes that that somehow helps things with the gods or whatnot. He says they, these jet rules from the past who celebrated triumphs a long time ago, and these senators and August people who are now the elders and society put on their most elaborate, decorated, robes of higher office went their homes in the posh section of Rome and sat in there

shares of high office, their ivory chairs. And we did like silence statues for death to find them. Here's how Livy describes helps coming into the city of Rome and it's like a ghost town with the gates open and they don't know to do and they freak out a little bit and then an incident happens, that's wild. The touch is off the forest fire of garlic impetuosity. This the way from the Aubrey Breed to translation. Here's what Livvie writes quote. A night having passed without action. The goal found their lust for fighting. Much abated at no time had they met with any serious resistance, and there was no need now to take the city by assault when for they entered on the following day. It was coolly and calmly enough. The call in gate was open and name, made their way to the forum. Looking curiosity at the temples and at the citadel, the only place to an impression of a city at war, they

after reasonably strong guard in case of attack from the fortified heights and then dispersed in search of plunder. Running the streets, empty crowds, then broke into the first houses. They came to. Others went farther afield, zooming supposedly that buildings more remote from the forum would offer richer prizes, but there, a very silence and solitude, made the money, easy separate as they were from their companions and suggested the pasta of a trap. So they Returned keeping close together to the neighborhood of the Forum Here they found the humbler houses, locked and barred, but the man, as of the nobility open former. They were ready to break into, but it was a long time before they could bring themselves to enter the latter, something akin to all held them back at what met their gaze. Those figures seated in the open yards the robes and decorations August beyond reckoning the majesty

breast in those grave calm eyes like the majesty of gods, they might have statues in some holy place and for awhile all like warrior stood in tranced, then impulse, one of them, touched the butt, period of a certain markets papirius, it was law long, as was the fashion of those days and the Romans, welcome on the head with his ivory staff, is the beginning of our inflamed into anger and killed him, and the others were butchered where they sat from that No mercy was shown, houses were ransacked and the shells set on fire end quote or not that happen. That's a pretty cool and interesting scene in a romantic and super roman patriot, like Livy, probably saw it that way too. Now who knows what sources he was working from as store goes on. Basically, the Gauls,

sack Rome set fire to a bunch of it and start this siege 'cause. They can't take the fortified citadel in the middle. The ancient sources differ on what happens next, but the famous story is that, a siege develops. The both sides want to call the c job. They come to an agreement. A thousand pounds of gold right at the Romans will pay a thousand pounds of gold, galls will leave and as they're weighing the gold out one of the Romans famously complains that the weights have doctor in width and the Gauls are falsifying the weights to their advantage and the king of this tribe walks up to the scale which is big heavy sword, throws it on the golf side of the scale and says whoa The vanquished meaning What are you going to do if the weights are loaded in our favor? You lost pay up. Now I was reading a fantastic

book on early Rome called war in society in early Rome, Jeremy Armstrong and he flow an idea that a lot of others have floated to the idea that basically it's this conquering and sacking of the city of Rome. Thousand years almost before the next time that they will do it. That will at the Rome we all know. What's that line from the Batman Series, where the says to him. You made me it's same thing. We said with this woe to the vanquished line that Livni throws in right. It's almost like the Romans hundreds of years later saying: hey, you set the rules so by the loaded, the vanquish, this isn't genocide, what we're doing in Cal gland when Julius Caesar conquers all these tribes. This is, playing by the rules that you set up when you first conquered us, you made me and Armstrong points out that

actual sacking of Rome may not have been too terrable, because the archaeological evidence doesn't seem to support some. You know tearable the Jinian solution, type burning to the ground or anything, but for the Romans that probably wasn't the problem. It was probably a lot more or a lot of the writers who write about the Romans quite a bit, point out that they have this inability to accept defeat and humiliation, and whereas most people probably would write something on move along with their lives, the Romans faster and on things and remember old. It's an wounds and psychological seeds for that, if not planted may have been heavily watered as a the roman experience after losing supposedly this first celtic army they ever fought at the battle of the Iliad and the seeing their city sacked by them. By the way I should point out, because I think it's cool.

The old idea that this is a tribe of celtic it has shown to sack. Rome is Chad, buy a lot of historians and there's people on both sides. Who suggest that the evidence shows that this I've been a group of hired mercenaries. Instead, that had been hired by a ruler. On the modern day, island of Sicily, to fight with him. And that Rome was just on the way and what the heck will. Second, pick up a couple of extra bucks to eat on the way you know doing it. So this idea that we have here is a tribe may be wrong, and it's kind. Important, because when Caesar's conquering Gaul hundreds of years later, they'll be talking about yeah the tribe over there. Those are the ones that sacked our country three high, one hundred and forty years ago. Hum those Romans have long memories, unfortunately not just for the Celts, but for everyone

and it's worth pointing out that you know in three hundred and ninety win. This battle happens to the celtic peoples of Europe are very powerful and they're all over the and who they are, is a great question once at time when it was easy to classify these things in ways that sounded easy to understand, but now seem totally ridiculous. They were a race which were a race like Anglo Saxons were race right in all these, you divide the world into the different racial groups in each of the yellow people, and these are the black people and these uh I mean a hundred years ago. You open a history book and that's how they do it as complexities mounted and that whole way of looking at things went out of fashion fifty years ago, forty years ago, the Celts are an ethnic group or a people. That's how I grew up reading Kelly Michael Grant, to like everyone else, sort of insinuated most of the time that these celtic people were probably all related by blood those people that sacked Rome in three hundred and ninety BCE are the ancestors of the people in Ireland. You know

five hundred years later or today, nowadays, that's a pretty tough argue to make given the way it seen amongst most experts- and I don't mean to speak for them because there I mean this celtic study stuff is fascinatingly debatable and passion with which the experts go added is fun to watch from the sidelines, but it means to be really careful, and there are a lot of people out there, who are very about their view of who Kelty is and who is not a celt and of the way unless we mentioned earlier, puts it because it gets me out of kinds of trouble to say it the way he said it. He said is a person who believes him herself to be celtic. I thought of a t shirt, I should market. I'm going to make it green, of course, and I'm going to say, k take. It's not a nationality, it's a way of life, but the point

it is the same, the modern view of of a lot of the experts on this and their archaeologist linguist historians- I mean they all kind of look at this and differ. Is that what we're looking at here is a culture shared culture and similar language, maybe Blue Jeans rock and roll and beer drinking? I mean it's something spread sort of in pre. To a bunch of different peoples, the foundation of which might have been in place since the last ice age? If you think about it and then over I'm succeeding waves of olan immigrants in in Mary and all that adds layers of spice to the original, but when they dna test today, it's hard to find lots of people who have been there since lots of dna strands that have been there for a very long time much earlier than the celtic era in history. In fact, maybe you could look at the entire celtic period. In ancient history, in Europe as a fashion era right, it's the era of Bell bottoms in

I mean this is an era where a certain culture dominated. If you go three, years before, it's not there and after C it's mortally wounded. Truthfully, even if Caesar is the one you could say, mortally wounds the celtic culture. The Romans had been like kryptonite to this culture for a couple hundred years before Caesar. If you look at a map of where celtic culture dominates, time. That story happened. We just told you the sack of Rome in three hundred and ninety BCE and where it is after Caesar does with Caesar does it's some kind of terrible ethnic cleansing. I mean the celtic cultures all the way from Portugal on one side. Well, I was going the to the to the Balkans, but truthfully there was a tribe or a group of try that went all the way into modern day: Turkey. They were called the Galatians and your their famous, because a couple

three years after they settle down and go from a one or to on the Dan Carlin tribal scale to nine, or ten in Saint Paul, will be writing his famous letter to the Galatians. They have found Celtic Cultural remains up as far north as, like Poland, all around the hungarian planes, Southern Germany, modern Austria, all the way into northern ITALY, which is a real celtic country for awhile and then, of course, all of modern day France and whether or not the british Isles in Ireland should fall into this anybody's? Guess lot of people argue And, let's remember before you send me an angry letter. Account is a who believes him or herself to be celtic right. That's my get out of jail free card. I love the way no dear Doris, though Diadora Siculus describes the Celts and by the way, most of these let's come from the same guy, supposedly the eyewitness accounts of a person who

expert in many different subjects. One of the great figures of the ancient world whose writings have not come down to us, a guy named posted but I don't have his exact work, what we have is whatever he wrote down and put it into the local libraries everybody else used. So we have his eyewitness accounts as told through a bunch of other different people, for example Diadora Siculus, who says of these celtic people describing an ancient cultures and the National Geographic today would certainly be cataloging. All the time see that you posted in his is the National geographic explorer of his day, and through do you door, sick, list, we here supposedly with posted, any saw when he visited Celts. The doors writes quote. The goals are tall of body with pulling mussels in white of skin and their hair is blonde, and not only naturally so, but they also make it their practice. Artificial means to increase. Distinguishing color, which nature is giving it

They are always washing their hair in lime, water and they pull it back from the forehead to the top of the head. Back to the nape of the neck with the result their appearance is like that of satyrs and pans. Since the treat their hair makes it so heavy in course that rivers in no respect from the main of horses, some of them shave their beard, but others let it grow a little. And the noble shave their cheeks, but they let the must grow until it covers the mouth. End quote: if you haven't looked at the wonderful art, the programming art that includes this called the dying. Gaul go, take a look at it. 'cause, it's beautiful, but it Discreet sort of maybe a stereo type, but maybe not the classic. Look of these people. The warriors anyway, as just described by do you Doris they look like punk rockers, first of all, with the Cut and you have to imagine the blue blonde hair that he just described there 'cause that's what the lime water would have done to it. Bleached it like bleach blonde hair and, if you've ever had like I have before,

bleach blonde hair gets all horse mane like after a while. So this the artist sitting there with my wounds and its side and remember: it's statue stone color, so you have no colors, but you can see the blood dripping down and he's holding his wounds in the broken. I think it's broken sword by his side. He's also got a mustache, though that's not very punk at the time, but but the punk hair cut the Mustang and the build is interesting because you know it's the between the modern weightlifting muscles today and the life natural muscles, but he's killer, but also sort of seen you in long, and there was Actually, the ancient sources say that, at least in the period we're talking about the a lot of these celtic tribes rules and they would find warriors if your belly Dover, your belt line, so they were required, sorted to be in shape. Supposedly this guy is heroically nude, as it's called and it's hard to right 'cause. The Romans like portraying barbarians as heroically new, but they sometimes like portraying themselves heroically nude it's hard to figure out what

convention what's real and this may have had religious overtones or other things going on. Nonetheless, some historical evidence to back up heroically nude concept. But there are multiple incidents that talk about celtic warriors, especially select groups of celtic warriors ripping off all their clothes and fighting Salute Lee Nude, except for a gold torque around the neck, which is just like a giant arm litter Click or something I guess you would describe it so he's got no clothes on he's got the punk haircut he's got the mustache. He looks about six foot five about two hundred pounds of raw muscle, and you know naked with the talk around his neck. I'm sorry visually. It's striking and cool and, if not naked, then you get those wonderful, celtic fashions right. Supposedly the striped clothing, the checked clothing, what we would call today, the plaid clothing. They are wonderfully colorful, interesting,

cool people. Add to that the women see the celtic women once again we get absolutely shafted by the fact that these Celts did not leave historical written record that we could get their views on things and historians at this scrap and try to find any little piece that might help to understand their personality better in their own words, as opposed to hearing from people who are often despise them, certainly belittled them, but I mean they thought, for example, in the Mediterranean, the celtic women were beautiful, but I guess you could say maybe the way that you describe them today, as their attitudes were that they were also woody and somewhat ferocious memory. I think sometimes in the descriptions. It reminds me of the old stereotype and it's an no now the housewife in the hen it has been in the house with was kind of burly and had a rolling pin in her hand and smacked the husband upside the head, sometimes with it, among some of the people out there that are sort of the the people that

The think of the couch is sort of a new age kind of thing. There there's a view out there that women equal to men in these societies and bury conflict among others, so that that's a misperception because they're only more free than women. In the Mediterranean are, for example, greek and roman women by comparison, so maybe a bit uppity by greek and roman standards, but as kind of points out. The husband still has the power of life and death over his wife, the law. In most of these places allows the wife to be tortured to find out how a husband died, so not exactly equal rights, but maybe a bit uppity by Mediterranean standards. I will say that the ancient sources talk about these women is every bit as tall and strong and athletic is the man the talk about a society where there's more sexual freedom, and these women have more freedom to be what the Greeks and Romans would consider to be promiscuous. Certainly, there are famous

women warriors, maybe the most famous ever the warrior queen Boudicca from the british times and remember These stories may not be true, but they're playing to an audience and their stereotypes. Zero. If I told you this story about a particular, woman, and you heard it- and you said something like yep. That sounds like what these celtic women are like. Be careful, don't marry a celt and there you go. I mean it's a stereotype. One wonders how much of that is true, but that's the image and by the way, you think of a fiery irish redhead. Today, in the stereo types I mean when I grew up, this is Maureen O'Hara in the quiet man just give. Or a bow and arrow in an axe or a maybe rolling, pin and stay out of her way. She could probably kick the hell out of you. One of my favorite stories about celtic women is the one. Out Chea Mara or Amaras, probably closer to the right way to pronounce it.

She was a noble woman not a queen or anything, but a noblewoman of a galation tribe. An when Try was conquered by the Roman, she became a prisoner and here's the way dear Doris tells the story of Kiamara and her husband or gone and I mean the end message is clear right. First of all, the audience would listen to this and go yep. That sounds like a celtic woman to Maine. The second one is. Are not to be trifled with. Obviously, d rights, this by the way, the old father translation Quote: Keel Mara, the wife of or tire gone was captured, with the other galatian women, when the Romans under going to have conquered the Asiatic Galatians. Century responsible for her, took advantage of his soldierly power and raped her. This man was an ignorant beast who loved both pleasure and money, but in the end, his law, money, one out

with a large ransom having been agreed apon. He led her to a certain river across agents of her own people, the glacier crossed over and gave him the money, but after they so Kiyomura signaled them to strike down the centurion as he was making a friendly farewell one of our country obeyed and cut off his head. She took the head wrapped it in cloak and went home when she turn to her husband. She threw the head down at his feet, What kind on was amazed and said, my wife. It is important to deal honorably yes, she said, but it is more important that only one man who slept with me should remain alive. End quote: dang those celtic woman are fierce. The sack of Rome by the celtic peoples is three hundred more than three hundred years before the time period that this story is about to

place in a lot has changed. Many of the Celtic in other parts of Europe have been pacified, might be the way Caesar would put it not under roman control. Their ability to break out and cause destruction. We my communities curtailed, because if you look at the history of the Celts right after that battle of the Ilia where Rome is sacked, that's sort of there Debut on the historical stage, I like the way Hg Wells put it. He says that the Northern people came down into the light of history for the first time with the Celts, Peter Berresford Ellis puts it this way. Which is the Celts, were the first european people north of the Alps, to merge into recorded history, okay, but that emergency comes at the the armies and those armies. Broke into various parts of Europe and caused wide scale problems for centuries in,

two hundred and seventy five. They went down there smashed into Greece and caused all kinds of problems, the Romans invite them over and over and over again in various places, winning most losing some. There would be a big battle that crush celtic power in a whole region called the battle of telephone into twenty five b, twenty five BCE, and that one Miss accounts say that the problem for the Celts was that they got trapped, Tween, two roman armies coming from different directions and the highlight battle. If you like, these sorts of things, is the Celtic Supposedly, if you believe the ancient sources turning back to back, so they could face both he's attacking them at the same time, ferociously falling weekly almost wiped out.

Then when Hannibal and his carthaginians happen, and all these great wars for survival, you know the ancient version of world war, two breaks out, those of course being the world famous Punic wars, of which there were three the LT peoples for the most part, but not exclusively- that are anywhere near by side with Hannibal and look at it as a good way to get back at those Romans which just may them seem more dangerous, treacherous and unreliable to the Romans. After Hannah invasion of ITALY is beaten back. You get a hundred years of roman conflict with various celtic peoples. They will play the lead role. Not necessarily the only one in eliminating Galatian freedom. In Asia Minor in that area in the Balkans. Also, although the Glen had made a lot of enemies and the Romans had plenty of help, most famously from one of the kings. Fighting

Galatians where he invited the entire galatian leadership supposedly anyway. This is the story writes the Galatian leadership to dinner and then massacres the mall while they're eating that's a good way to devastate the command and control of your enemies. The celtic peoples of northern ITALY or defeated and absorbed by the Romans and that area. Become so roman so quickly, they'll start calling that toga wearing gall. The Romans will be forced, basically, that's how they would look at it to conquer a nice chunk of the south of France from the celtic peoples. There. Because it controls access road access to Spain and they have to get to Spain now, because, after the second Punic war, there left there with a lot of really ferocious tribes of several different cultures by the way summer. Celtic, but some

some are supposedly a mix, and what do you get when you cross a Celt with an iberian account to Berian or a celtiberian? Nonetheless, the Romans will get involved in a war there that one might compare to a two hundred year, long, Vietnam, war gorilla fighting a tree. The d, sale, massacres and the disillusionment of some in Rome, to this ongoing commitment that they had signed up for that was just draining them in about the year one hundred and fifteen BCE, which is about fifteen years before Julius Caesar's birth. Some try, disappear from the north. Seemingly out of nowhere. There Origins are not understood even today by the way, but there

numbers are reportedly outrageously large. Once again, we could filter out all of the exaggerations that have happened at the time and since and still come to. What we must suspect is a larger than normal numbers. Since it's one of the main things that's pointed out continually, are ms persist on whether or not these people should be called germanic or celtic or a mix of the two, because a lot of times where different early european cultures come together. There's like a cultural estuary between them with a mix we already talked about killed. Americans are killed to beery ins. You could have killed the Germans, Caldo Thracians Berry College's one of those people who keeps trying to point out two things:

about talking about celtic people one they are different, all over the place, celtic peoples existing in. What's now you know the modern day area around the Adriatic, or not necessarily going to be very much like the ones near modern Day, Portugal, except that they're all kind of Celtic with local variations and also the time is a in this idea that barbarians, so called barbarians are stuck in neutral in terms of civilization, all or political organizational development wrong too they're all in different spots on the scale, an all evolving and changing at different speeds, some of it, based on how close you are to more sophisticated civilizations, in this case, these people that come down about one hundred and fifteen BC.

We are always sort of portrayed as a one on the Dan Carlin tribal scale. I mean the most barbarian of the barbarian types and there's hundreds of thousands of them. Now, if you think about this as a national security problem with the Romans is interesting, because even today, if good, somehow sneak, let's just play with two hundred thousand as around number two hundred thousand hostile people right the border of the United States so that when we wake up one morning there they are, or there there in a very short period of time, that would still a major crisis today, if that's how many people were talking about in this earlier era, I don't know how they fed them, but you could certainly see how you would have a situation on your hands with the first thing, you thought this is. Where did these people come from? The second thing you thought of is: what are we going to do about them and the third thing you thought is how do we prevent this from happening again if we

no watch to the north of us right. We, we conquered everything next to us, that we had a buffer zone and then these people from the north we didn't even know about coming and smash right through our buffer zone and threaten Rome itself, but in the years one hundred and fifteen, and about one hundred BCE these teutons, And Cimbri and related trial, is there called Stride, roman army, after Roman Army. I think the final grand total something like four roman armies. They scared kind of everybody they March around seemingly going where they want to go and doing what they want to do rating here and there into roman territory out of roman territory. Go to Spain for a couple of years head on back to ITALY, fine, in desperation. The Romans you put this guy in command

he had just finished mopping guerrilla warfare problems. In what's now N Africa famous person in the entire roman story named Caius, Marius, Guys Marius. Maria's, by the way, is the uncle by marriage of Julius these are he's a major player in the final stages of the death throes of the Roman Republic, begin to accelerate and pick up speed with his appearance on the scene. One of the is Marius famously does before he fights these people that have already destroyed for roman armies. Is change the roman army. One of benchmarks in roman military history, something called the Marian reforms now to be fair I've seen some writings out there and some thinking that the guy gets way too credit for this, for what he did, because what he did, these people would say was simply codify and formally institutionalize. Practice is the Romans had been doing on an ad. Hot bases

operationally for decades. Phil Needs as they came anyway, they could, and now Marius was basically saying. Oh, you know those we're doing to fill those needs. Let's Make that how we do it. Nonetheless, I I'd say most people still give guys Marius a ton of credit for taking the Roman, the late roman Republican Army and, let's be honest and call it what it is. And in the Roman, the first Roman Imperial Army, because it has imperial problems and trying to deal with imperial problems with the republican Army has been killing it now for some time and damaging society to in spin off ways. Marius opens up the legions to everybody. It's no longer based on how much land you own a farm, your wealth, anything like that, and these people don't go home. They're professionals, it's a permanent army,

now, what this does is completely change the institutional memory of the forces- and this is something most people don't think about, but I mean the thing you lose the most when you send Citizen Army back home because the war is over, is so much of what you learned and the co and that you gained from training together I mean how much math. Does your kid forget over the school summer right now magnify that times? One thousand I mean by keeping, an army together, all the time building, B reince as units. Drilling continually and not stopping you are building, capability and institutional memory, so that five years from now your cohort is going to be that much better. These roman armies are a huge leap forward in terms of affectedness what they could do on the fee and how much they outclassed the competition.

He then took this new model army out and proceeded to butcher over the course of a couple years. Both those tribes and their subsidiary friends that they brought with them. The butchery is supposed to be intense. After all, if you have these massive numbers of people which made these people, so particularly dangerous to begin with what happens to all of them. If you don't kill them, Bellum Romanum right war. The way the Romans, did it against people, they consider to be barbarian. I read one story that said that some of the survivors of one of these battles were more than one hundred thousand were supposed to have been left dead on the battlefield. They ran to a nearby celtic tribe for sanctuary and the Romans pursued him and told the Celts to turn him over and when the Celts turned him over. They butchered him on the spot. I one of these battles, supposedly the peace

as for some of the people that were left over where that three hundred of their merry wives had to be sold to the Romans as slavery and in a famous story, the wives reportedly strangled each other or to avoid that fate. Now at the time the Caius Marius is destroying these germanic or celtic, or celtic germanic tribes, people Caesars being born. That's the time, same here so that by the time Caesar is an adult sure man, trying to argue about what you do about this problem. We have with barbarian north of us he's able, as are many other generals and politicians to make use of this deep seated fear, the Romans have about a potential invasion from the north, goes all the way back to the sack of Rome in three hundred and ninety. Here's the way history, Nick Fields, planes. What the memory of the Cambrian the two tone invasion: the generation before meant

somebody trying to exploit fears in the Rome of the 50S BCE, he writes, quote The vivid memory of the near disaster remained, however, and served as a frightening reminder to Rome that a new northern barbarian threat could suddenly emerge at anytime. Barbarian migrations were the stuff of roman Nightmares and Caesar made good use of it by playing up the quote and quote: germanic menace in his writings. More to the point he writes, he also had aww it to revive fears of the Gauls the day from the sack of Rome in three hundred and ninety BCE and advert I see them as a race without civilization, who were now above burning alive their prisoners of war and quote so in effect, the near disaster against these tribes peoples that sprung on. The Romans unexpectedly was too deep in

Wyden and reopen a scar that, maybe you could say, had been A piece of the roman cycle call reality since at least three hundred and ninety BCE, and you know, early roman writers kind of said, there's a belief that home sort of Concord empire in self defense, I think it was Livy who are he threw version of that line out there conquering the world in self defense, but is restrains pointed out, I read one that had a great line. He pointed out that look, Rome is for secure borders and security problem is, is that every time they conquer a new unstable region and pacify it? Thinking that okay now we're safe over there? They in Certainly create a new frontier never the kingdom they just conquered you know whatever their neighbor was- is now roams neighbor and it's another unstable frontier. So they keep getting sucked farther from the center, as they continue

try to make sure that they're safe, not sure I buy that there's a whole lot of wealth and money and all kinds of other things involved. Here that explain things least, as well as the idea that we're just trying to be safe. But if I were a super roman patriot like Livvie, maybe that's how I defend the conquest of the world myself we just trying to be safe. Anybody do it, but truthfully the biggest threat to Rome, in the fifties: when Caesar is a mature man, in his role in the decline and fall of the roman republic. The biggest danger to Rome is no outside force. It's inside it's tearing itself apart and reaching the point in a story that is well known and impacts. This story only obliquely. But if you believe Caesar and by the way, there's some confirmation from Cicero and some other places, Rome is not the only place

reaching the political boiling point with stability looming. Apparently golf, in terrible shape that way as well. In six thousand three hundred and sixty two or sixty one BCE, a member of one of the more powerful influential, tribes, a tribe which, by the way, is a friend of the roman people. That's their diplomatic designations of the kind of like allies shows up to inform the Roman Senate about something that's been going on deeply in the heartland of his territory. Because the Romans don't always know they know what's going on in nearby call, but sometimes you get to the Barbarian Heartland and they find when people tell them and that's what this guy is there to do, his name is devic Ishac. Then he is. We are told about the closest thing never going to find in a historical situation to kill

our Thurs Merlin, we are told that to vacation. This is a true it and that he can see the future. Now a little side note here, the druids are one of the wonderfully famous a very compelling sides of the whole celtic culture. It's connected to the religious side and they have been called all sorts of things generally thought of to be the priest Of the celtic religion, but so many other titles, and positions are mentioned. On the good side, the admirable side, the civilized side, you'll hear them called teachers. Suppose we were not allowed to write down drew

dick knowledge, and so it was twenty years of study for an acolyte to become a druid, they're are little like philosophers to in as a matter of fact, Cicero. I think he calls him. A philosopher philosophy, though, is something is often attributed to them. This is celtic philosophy. They are also call judges and that, for example, if you have a merge trial or something going on. You will take it to a druid for adjudication most of them. Archaeologists and people like that that I've read seem to think it's a pretty good bet that the druids are sort of the intellectual class of gall. If you will they study things like astronomy, herb they may be. The oral traditionalists and historians of their people, I've heard them called natural scientists before and the

magic that they're supposed to use if, if indeed magic it is, is sort of nature magic. If you will they're like Gandalf or Dumbledore, but it's all nature magic, Caesar and Cicero. Do mention. Druids seem to have quite a lot of respect for them. There is, of course, also the more lurid side of where it's more akin to shaman a medicine man and maybe even which doctors, when you get to that stage,. They are supposedly the kind of people that, if not conducting it, are supposed to be there. For legal reasons. The humans price is that the counts are supposed to participate in or at once did unclear whether or not by Caesars time they still do much of that, although Caesars the one that mentions wicker man himself you've heard of that one haven't you the one where they build giant hollow, see through wicker figure,

imagine something like twenty feet: thirty feet tall wicker, but with holes so you could see inside the they fill it with people. Caesar says they prefer criminals and convicts, but they're, not picky. If they run out of those and then maybe throw in some other live animals, and some hay and other combustibles then, like the whole thing on fire and supposedly the druids have to be around to witness that now the thing you'll hear blamed on the druids or the class right below them is a certain divination, where you stab somebody and then you the convulsions as they're dying in that explain what's going on the thing about the ancient world. Is that the Romans can sit there and scoff at these barbarians, superstitions and all that kind of stuff, as these so called superior culture. Looking down on the childlike superstitious, natives, but then at this time make sure to point out that listen. If you ever need a flock of birds, as for what

the movements of the flock of birds means and and how that foretells, the future, the culture the best of the business, at that we're, showing you know that one person superstitions another person's magic and vice versa. I remember getting a great piece of advice for my professors ones, and how to see the ancient world differently, because we were talking something he said what about the impact of magic, and it was long pauses, my brain trying to figure out the proper answer. To that. I said well, there's no such thing as magic, and he says I know that, and you know that The people in this story didn't know that, and they believed otherwise, and because they believe these things to be real and true, it impacts reality Act upon those beliefs, I think you may have called it the Tinker Bell. Fact or something, but the idea was similar that, because you believe in this, as reality, base your moves and how you behave on that and change, is real history. The this guy difficult, yes, was there

explain to the Romans that a terrible battle had occurred in the deep dark barbarian country there, admin, thousands upon thousands of these battles throughout history- don't you think these ones that happened were great d? Were an amazing things occur, but they happened in the deep darkness of pre three somewhere between tribal people. You don't know anything about him unless somehow they come to light. Well, there's this battle that you look up now that exist. That's real called the battle of Megiddo over got, but you know about it because this guy, this druid showed up to explain to the Romans that his people lost that battle. It was against one of their true, no celtic enemies and again we think of native american tribes, were they were just tribes that were long standing enemies of each other right, long, standing, Crow, and look code as a perfect example of Apache, In Comanche you mean it didn't matter what you did, they would lie with an outside power to go a. Them, rather than unite

historic enemies in this case it I have been a war that was over trade rights like who could charge tolls on this area of a river, and something really been all like that. But in this battle the celtic tribe fighting the druid who showed up in Rome's people brought outside help they had solicited. The assistance of some Germans were told. Certainly, some of these tribes that Caesar calls German although, let's be honest, the roman ethnographers are a little bit sloppy and sometimes they just add their all Celts, they're, all Celts, that they all look the same those barbarians. Nonetheless, this is the story right. There are Germans and they come in and tip the scales in favor of this other tribe leading to Devica Xas Tribe, getting decimated on the battlefield and if you believe him that no D massacred, so you lose basically your entire aristocratic

class in the stroke of a sword or a bunch of swords. This drone basically is pleading for help from his allies, the Romans and pointing out the entire areas destabilized, because these Germans, who came in to help this celtic tribe decided that they don't want to leave they like it and go they're going to stay and that's sing a domino effect as they become neighbors of all the celtic people around them all of a sudden call seems extremely destabilized and that could prove to be a very change your situation in Rome. It could also prove to be extremely profitable and a potential opportunity, in fact. A way of looking at this story and a lot of people do that this Julius Caesar's account of what's going on in golf, making it seem like a destabilized national security threat is something works out in his favor. If he's trying to build

case for why he should go in and fix it all and as far as theory, about why it's broken in the first place. Why are they having all this stabilization will seize, has a theory and even So it's impossible to prove one of those lenses that you can look at this whole thing through that's rather interesting, but it brings up other questions. I'd like to point out that the only reason I'm qualified to just this is because I don't have a reputation as a historian to protect every now and then being a historian works out in my favor. Doesn't it in this case? It allows me to examine. Is that used to be valid theories once upon a time until they required things like you know, support evidence for for valid, there's the a time time, history gets a listen. Caesar said this happened, and without something makes me think, he's a liar, I'm going to believe him. If you do that, here's how you explain the ins.

In goal. But remember this guy had a vested interest in convincing you gall needs his help, but the play. This story is told by Caesar and other earlier historians that the reason the Celts are having problems in that that whole area of gall, most of which is still outside of roman control, is having problems is because Lee, but surely due to the infusion of roman and greek and Mediterranean luxuries in culture and whatever these counts, are getting lack of a better word soft. Caesar by the way points to wine more than once, as The leading softening agent involved here and actually says that some tribes prohibit the import. Haitian of italian wine. For just that reason that is known to take the edge off the Celts were

Donald with the same reputation as drunkards that you often see associated with other tribal peoples. Native Americans, for example, had to live with that stereotype. For ever our friend. Do you door? Siculus said this about them this, by the way, the C H old, Father, Tion of the work quote: the goals are crazy. For wine and consume. Unwatered amazing amounts imported by merchants. There. Restrained consumption often leads them to fall into a drunken stupor or can too morose depression. Therefore, italian merchants. C. Gall is the land of opportunity for quick riches. These trade, Bring the wine by boat on the rivers and buy wagons through the plains in return,

make an amazing profit for they receive a slave in return for each jar of wine. They deliver end quote. When I was growing up. There was a widespread belief among native american groups themselves that the importation of alcohol had done damage to the traditional culture. It would not be surprising at all if that happened amongst the goals as well. And in the case of wine, specifically it's designed to take the edge off people drink it for that Reason: here's the problem: what if that edge, is required survive in a world that is basically doggy dog in geopolitical terms, if Only the strongest survive is what, if you have your people being impacted by your proximity to a luxury filled culture nearby,

Who is weakening you in a way that will eventually cause you to lose everything to somebody what, if you're, taking the edge off and the ferocious tribes. Next to you aren't in this case those tribes were called by the Romans, the Ghahremani often translated to Germans today, but whether or not they are related to modern day. Germans is just as contentious. A discussion is whether or not Celts are related to modern day peoples in the regions where they used to be, but these germans are portrayed as like, hyenas ready to pounce on any week. Animal in the geopolitical heard therefore portrayed as Roth they're. Tough, they nasty and they are interfering in the celtic world in a way that threat

if you believe Caesars accounts and, of course, his war. Commentaries are told from the point of view of Darth Vader, and this is his use for getting involved in this whole thing is that these german Destabilizing the whole region- and this is what this wood comes to Rome, to say and he's asking for help and in a couple of years Caesar comes to help and you want to that star wars, music, start playing the ominous kind, because Caesars going to stop the warfare in the region. But he's going to do it in a way that you could easily make a case should be called the celtic holocaust. Now the do you have any society? Getting soft is impossible to quantify. It falls into that category. We discussed earlier about the human qualities that historians have to steer clear of, because you can't make any sort of case there's no data, but a hundred

years ago the wonderful professorial military historian, HANS Delbruck had no problem, laying it out to you in a way treated this in a scientific, you couldn't say this today, but it sets up this in a fun idea. I want to throw out there as the fool of history one hundred years ago, actually back in one thousand nine hundred and eight, I think it was Delbrook wrote about question of civilization versus barbarism in terms of the military pros and cons, he said quote when modern peoples he means the people in his air. In one thousand nine hundred and eight come into conflict with barbarians the outcome. Determined from the start by the differences in weapons technology. In antiquity this relation, It was not so simple Here, we may wonder he writes in what manner the roman military system was really superior to that of the barbarians vis. A vis civilized

All barbarians have the advantage of having at their disposal the war like power of unbridled animal instincts of basic toughness, civilization, refines the human being, he writes, making him more sensitive, and in doing so, it decreases his military worth not only bodily strength, but also physical courage, these not, Shortcomings must be offset in some artificial way. Scharnhorst he writes was perhaps the first one date that the main service of the standing army consisted of making civilized people through discipline K. Bubble of holding their own against the less civilized? If a given group of Romans normally living as citizens are peasants had been put up against a group of barbarians of the same number I would have undoubtedly have been defeated. In fact, they probably would have taken flight without fighting it was only the formation of the close knit tactical body of the cohorts that equalized

situation and quote. It's an old idea right It's civilization allows, to compensate for what you lose. When you give up that whole warrior society thing. Now remember. The military tradeoff for losing this barbarian edge is supposed to be you know the ability to control troops. Officers and instead will drill an organization and the logistical ability to concentrate. You know food supplies and keep armies in the field, all those wonderful benefits. But what, if you get hit, you know when you've lost the barbarian edge part, but you haven't quite gained the benefits of civilization. Yet what if you get hit when you're in transition at the vulnerable point between the two kinds of approaches I mean, for example, have you ever heard beam see is when your ship is being to to the sea. It means a ship. Is

getting hit broadside with the waves and that's a really dangerous thing to have happen. You want to have your your nose point. Or your stern pointed? But you don't want to be sideways on onto big waves, but if you to turn around in the sea, then there will be that danger when first, second, your side on to the waves. I wonder if one could make a case that some of these celtic tribes in Gaul had been, contacted by the Romans enough to be semi civilized, which does hold their barbarian edge against there. Civilized neighbors without yet providing the benefits that the more centralized urbanized state, like systems have one of the Celts got calling to Bmc. And to be fair. This is not really my idea.

Ideas, a knock off of the very one seizures proposing here too he's talking about the beam c idea in different terms. The problem is, is if you're trying to defend this from a historical view, point: how do you do it And there's no doubt at all that historians are a thousand percent right when they say that these are classic a themes in ancient literature that the audience expected absolutely correct, but does the I mean- that you can automatically rule out- all of them is what Caesar, says here so implausible and if so, does Caesar know it is he deliver He trying to lie to us, or is he misconstruing things because of his own biases from his own era. In any case the Lucy idea may not be quite originally mine, I'm just academic

safe enough 'cause. I don't have any credentials at all to be able to suggest that maybe there's more to it than is often acknowledge these days Caesar in his war, commentaries explains several times that certain tribes used to be more feared and more tough and now weren't, in other words, implying that there is movement on the softness versus toughness scale and what he doesn't really tell us, because maybe it's common knowledge is how advanced some These Golic tribes were including the one that this druid it Defic just came from. This is the way historian Adrian Goldsworthy, explain sort of the system in Gaul, which is hard to describe because it has so many different tribes and all these tribes are in different states of development. In fact, the most advanced of the maybe shouldn't be called tribes at all, but as gold explains what you column states or

tribes? Neither one of those words is a good translation for the Latin that Caesar uses. Here's the way Goldsworthy puts the situation after explains that golf is essentially organized in tribes, divided into clans, but you could call some of them. States quote the basic political unit. Was the clan and said these usually made up a tribe. He gives the latin word for both of them, but and then he says that neither english word is entirely appropriate and some scholars would prefer state to tribe, but no one has really come up with anything better. He then says quote the importance of the seems to have increased markedly in the century before Caesars arrival in Gaul and so scholars would like to see them as comparatively recent inventions. More probably, the chain political and economic climate in Gaul heads The given new importance to loose ties of kinship and ritual They were very long established, even oh- he writes

degree of unity between the clans of one tribe very considerably, and there were a number of cases during the garlic wars when individual clans acted independently king, appear in some tribes and perhaps also with the clan level, but not in others and the majority meaning the majority of these groups see have been governed by councils or sentence with Today, running of affairs being placed in the hands of elected magistrates romsos- ally, the Dewey, which is where this druid was from, had a Supreme magistrate called the burger Brett who held office for a single year. No man, It could be elected twice to this post look at any member of his family hold the office during his lifetime, thus venting any individual or group from monopolizing power. The similarity of this ideal to the Roman Republic system is striking and in many ways the tribes of Gaul resemble the city states of the Mediterranean world

earlier stage of development quote: that's a really good, concise way to explain that and there are books written about seizures book and more on this in a second 'cause. That's what we're going to follow and get into that describe his rationale for arguing about why we have to have this conflict against the Gauls now and why it has to be pre emptive as opposed to waiting until they all attack us, and he said because Caesar is making the argument that some These tribes are becoming more like us and we have to get a for they do because they're going to then combine, you know the war, like irrationality that they have now in their spirit with greater capability which, by the way, is a reason that some historians give for why the germanic peoples fast forward to the all of Rome will eventually be able to defeat the roman legions.

They will learn enough fighting the Romans overtime and develop, of a state like system that they could try be dangerous. Andrew M Rigsby in his book Caesar in Gaul and Rome. Warren words points out that Caesars argument in his book- is that we get the goals now before they do precisely that he says in Caesars work and as part of the propaganda, the people he calls go the people he calls German serve different purposes. Rigsby writes quote in the same way. The two northern groups are dangerous for complementary reasons in the the Germans. The problem is their fluidity of people who do not recognize boundaries, social or geographic cannot, trusted to stay in their own territory and to not make war on the Romans with the Gauls. The problem is not randomness, but more specific tendency to wage war, they are prone to fighting, both individually and collectively,

temerity makes them unable to check violent impulses even when that would be the course of action whatever the source of danger. The Romans will respond preemptively as chapter six Gus is he writes? This is an important source of just cation for military actions? Furthermore, the semi civilized galls provider kind of threat similarity to the Romans grows over the course of the work if they are not good now the threat will only increase. Hence the preemptive strike is required now, the characterization of both peoples. He writes Digital Mises, their conquest, the specific nature of the Gauls makes them particularly attractive candidates. End quote. And why would Caesar want to conquer them? Aaah? Yes, that gets us to some of the problems that motivate the. Story that push it. Along that add the booster rockets to the whole thing because let's be honest, what's the light,

Lee hood, that is, Rome, becomes more powerful, it doesn't absorb tribal areas to their north, that's like saying that you could expect somehow, via treaties. In good faith and everything else, the thirteen colonies to just stayed over where they were on the eastern seaboard and never advanced into the native Tory that's a what. If that you can hardly even plausibly play with right, I mean, what's the likelihood, will what's the likelihood that the Romans don't absorb these try after the north and conquer that territory, because the money that is available in land, and, let's not forget this 'cause, it's huge slaves is so tempting. And Caesar's need is so great at this time that is in able to imagine that that giant pot of gold, that is gall wouldn't be and by somebody in the attitude that these Romans had, and it's part of something we discussed in another program this insane then yet wonderfully merit based

system, we call your way to the top, like it's a mafia crime, family and only the strong survive and create by this time in roman history, A three headed monster: that's what the Romans called it. We know what is the first triumvirate today and essentially what it is is a conspiracy one of the great, conspiracies in all world history Caesar and the other two most powerful men in Rome and their allies. Is essentially against rest of the roman Government- and they are powerful and they control. So many people and one guys in this three headed monster is the richest man in Rome. He spread money everywhere, and that makes a huge difference that by this I'm period as long as these three men, Caesar, Pompey and Crassus, agree on something it's going to happen. All three men, want something so all three men each man getting what they want. What Caesar wants is a chance to conquer something. He is the least

grand at this time period of those three people, he doesn't have a whole lot of military conquest to his record or his name yet, and he owes so much money that one point we're told he's not even allowed to leave Rome. The creditors basically grab him and say so you're paying up or you're not going anywhere and crash. One of the members of the three headed monster the rich guy comes in and pays off the debt, so Caesar can go and do what he needs to do, which is fine, to get the money to pay off the debts and also to spread it around in Rome to make more friends. These politicians and that's what Caesar is there deadly politicians there? addition generals, but money around Rome, throwing games and all kinds of other things is how you get your name out there and it's a large. The reason why seizures in such great debt two ways of looking at the garlic situation at the time one. Is to say, there's all

Land and all those lays there for the taking the gall seemed vulnerable and the Germans are coming in and doing it and the being a somebody's going to get that it's going to be us. The other way of looking at it is that this idea of a german threat is part of a manufactured plot, a reason that provides Caesar with an excuse to go in there and scoop up all that wealth himself and to do so right for the glory in defense of Rome This brings us to the actual war commentaries, because we're going, have to rely on these and yet I'm not sure you could find if you had to be stuck with one main source, I'm not sure you could find a better one. It is one of the works of literature of all time and in military history, there's very few things like it, as historian. Michael Grant says about it quote,

It was the best account of warfare that had ever been written by a Roman and retain the supremacy for at least there for centuries, end quote: He also wrote that, because Caesar's. I mean Caesar was one of the great writers of all time, and so much of the of of his other qualities are overshadowed by his military, reputation, but the concise sort of pros that he used in everything may his work, a staple of you first year latin courses. All throughout the western civilized educational world, I mean Everybody- knew Caesars work once upon a time. Michael Grant also said quote Caesar's formidable intellect and lucid, concise, latin transfer. These ostensibly modest works into masterpieces. He's you inside knowledge carries extraordinary authority. End quote. It's very rare, to have

essentially the war dispatches of one great commanders of all time, I mean you have nothing like this from Alexander, the great, for example, or most of the other people in mean. Where is Khan's. One of the ones that you can have fun reading today, for example, is if you go read Second World WAR series as penned by Winston Churchill you get a similar sort of feel because, instead of having somebody tell you the story, their basic telling you the story from within the story and there's a lot of I said, and then he said to me, and then I mean it's a completely different way to view history, and you know it's completely biased. I mean Churchill even said. I know treat me kindly cuz, I should be writing that history it's doing too, and one of the parts that will are you at the most? If you never read it before, if first himself self. Ninety nine percent of the time in the third person sees with this, you should do that. It little strange. But if you understand

and I've read several books just on that book and it's fascinating the way they tear it apart and and look at all the angles, because Caesars playing three dimensional chess here with this work, is, writing it for a contemporary audience and for the future, the lid intricacies that you would have to actually not just speak Latin but archaic Latin and have a really good idea of contact. These experts will point out that, just based on the Play Caesars using the latin language she may have been writing there may have a political purpose to it. Because, instead of writing, maybe for the Arra stock do you have Roman the power brokers in the Senate? Caesar was popularity. He was one of these people that made his political name supposedly appealing to the needs of the people, as opposed to the wealthy people in Rome, and so may have written this, maybe not even to be read, maybe to be read aloud

crowds in Rome in a language that was straight forward, that they would understand and pulling themes, an ways of approaching the story out, for example, praising the average roman soldier quite a bit as some to curry favor with the crowd. This is a political document. It's a doc! the personal aggrandizement it is a piece propaganda and it is also the best source of military conduct that you were going, till the Byzantines maybe, best source you're going to get in the entire ancient world. For a man, as my branch says whose authority is absolutely unmatched in this. I mean. Who would you rather, if you could only have one account? Who would you rather have it from Unbiased observer would be nice, but when Your tells you about the intricacies of this he's telling it to you. You know, as the and who decided on things so he's biased as hell, but he's an absolutely

Unbelievable source to be able to hear from in the first person sense Caesar gets command he wants from the three headed monster. He was looking at a place called Datia over near the Adriatic, is maybe a place to Paul himself. That's a good place where I can conquer some people make some names. You know secure borders, but little over in instead and it flared up an indirect way, if you believe the sources, because of this new german situation, a tribe that was changes territory, I'm gonna call the tribes with some of these places were really protestations or states. Let's understand tribes is a bad were a bit as gold for the says, we're kind of stuck with it, but this tribe look hated in. What's now modern Day, Switzerland Caesar says decided they were going to move like being neighbors of the Germans and they felt too constrained.

Land hand by mountains and not enough territory said they were going to move and they were going to move in a way where they were going to cross Roman territory this southern France area that the Romans had had to take had to take, of course, to protect this road to Spain. They called it the province province today. I think Caesar just called the province, and this group of Gauls from Modern Day Switzerland numbering the ancient sources, said in excess of three hundred and fifty thousand people in a Migration, men, women, children, the whole thing burn possessions burn your towns, three years in the makings and leave three hundred and fifty plus people are going to cross roman territory Caesar in the Romans. Basically say: no they're, not now this is where narrative begins or he starts explaining. You know the garlic wars. The first thing he does is for paragraph to two. He lays out the land, for your average, roman

Sumer of his media? We would say today because one sees Caesar gets away from the closed parts of golf I toga wearing call the next a short haired gall. Once you gone into long haired girl. You are continually moving into less and less well known territory. The farther you go. Seizure becomes a bit like a Lewis and Clark Expedition at some point in this endeavour, a very heavily armed one, it must be said, but he said has to lay out initially the lay of the land for the people in Rome. He talks about three big cultural groups that inhabit this whole area and the difference between them in one of the more famous passages in all ancient literature Napoleon all the greats read that these are in the doesn't matter which translation you use its it suitably awe inspiring, in my opinion, in all of them user, Caroline Hammond translation for this, but

and here he is laying out the land for you and by the way, no how is also kind of beginning the transition idea they softening idea that roman luxury soften these people by the I'm going to say Bell Gay, you can say Belgae some people say Belgie and there's an old saying that there's a right way and a wrong way to miss pronounce Latin. So hopefully we're mispronouncing it the right way in this program. Most of the time Caesar says, and it's amazing to think about the Caesar rights you have Caesars writings, it's crazy to me Caesar it's quote, the whole of gall is divided into three parts, one of which the Bell Gay inhabit the equitone another and the third, the people who, in their own language, are called Celts but an hour's, They all differ among themselves in respect to language way of life and law.

The river goron divides the Gauls from the equity Connie and the Marne Insane River is separate them from the Bell gay of these three. The Bell gay are the bravest, for they are a from the civilization and culture of the province, meaning the roman province merchants rarely travel to them or import. Such good as make men's courage week and womanish. They live, moreover, in proximity to the Germans who inhabit the land across the Rhine and there continually at war with them. For this reason, hello VD also week, the other goals- bravery because they embroiled in almost daily battles with the Germans. When they are awarding them off from their own frontiers or when they themselves take the fight into enemy territory and quote Storing Andrew M Rigsby goes to great lengths to point out. The Caesar is actually a stab pushing his own boundaries for his own purposes here and that these may not,

in boundaries that were recognized in other. This is necessarily mean Caesar creating boundaries so that he can come to natural extensions of them and stop I mean it's all very interesting, but the point is: is that take with seizures says with a grain of salt, as always, but he's basically telling you the lay of the land in goal and then right after he does that he starts talking but a conspiracy, a conspiracy, that will legitimize actions in golf on stopping the migration of this tribe, but according to Caesar it's behind the migration of the help visions. These three hundred two thousand people or more the Caesar says, burned their four hundred villages and twelve town. Maybe some of which may have been proto cities. For setting off, so that they would know that we're not going home right same with when the captain of the ship in the ship. Runs the ship, so you don't think of going home, we're going to burn these villages and then we know going back and but

only in referred to this part of Caesars being simply incomprehensible, Han still broke, scoffed that there could be all these peoples on the march like this, he was talking about the logistical disaster. It would be but a couple of modern day historians an interesting way of looking at a kind of comparing it to the way you would have compared people who showed for the Woodstock Rock concert in the 60s right small groups of people sort of migrating at a time caring most of what they needed on their back or with a single wagon and having the migration take a longer period of time. So, instead of having like one army moving around. You have groups of people migrate and the way Caesar tells the story. It sounds more like that now These are, it should be pointed out, probably heavily armed migrants. So let's not make a bunch of lions B little lambs right, but Caesar claims

Migration is all part of a plan and that a leader of this tribe of Hell Visions is trying to become a king. But the tribe doesn't have kings anymore. They have magistrates and elected officials and some sort of aristocratic all of our kick Senate of a sort and the punishment for try, to turn the society back to a king ship used to be burned alive. Caesar says now: I should point This information is delivered to us by Caesar on, like the very beginning of his commentaries right after he lays out the way the gall is divided into different groups. He then explains this story. The story involves three golly nobleman, powerful guys in three different powerful goal tribes. He then describes a scenario that a couple of historians you know point out and

obvious and ironic and there's some kind of psychological thing may be going on with seizure, but he describes a three headed garlic first triumvirate if you will, in other words, he's explaining that these garlic nobleman are working together to help each other get what they in terms of more power the situation, it's easy Paul gin back in Rome, with those two other guys that make up the first triumvirate right and he's a lot more critical, of their try and rent the use of his own. He makes it out to be sinister. He says that these three garlic nobleman are plotting to take over all of gall which, again, if we're looking at it from the point of view of the Gauls, isn't that what you'd want them to

doing and by the way it already been done by other Gaula tribes in other areas that the Romans had already taken over in Spain by the way was common, there's a national hero of Portugal that did it to consolidate the tribes and the locals and fought the Romans for a long time in happened in Galatia to happened in the Balkans to so, it's sort of Standard From the garlic pov, these three guys might have been national heroes, like Winston Churchill type saying the Romans are coming, the Romans are coming quickly. We have to combine it's a national security question, but Caesar plays it off to be a raw grab for power by these three guys, and one of them is the Helvetian ruler and the reason he's moving his people as much more sinister than just they need more. Territory. It's part of the plot, either roman diplomacy, with the tribes on people find out that he's involved in this plot and have visions are about to have a big trial burn this guy and he shows up with, like ten thousand of his best friends here,

containers and what not to the court and the court basically has to gulp and let him go and then Caesar says that The war is about to start, and then mysteriously the dude dies. His name was or but the I'm still going to move because it was in the plan, and so that's arch this chain of events that will eventually lead to celtic culture. In what now France Being mortally wounded, so what's the cause of all this if you're in a war, crimes, trial and they're, saying how did this ethnic cleansing or whatever come to be Well, it all starts with the rationale and here's. How Caesar lays it out in my essay a translation quote the foremost men among the Helvetii in rank and wealth was or get a Wrex in the consulship Marcus, Masala and Marcus this piece. So he was by the hope of obtaining royal power to organize a conspiracy of noble and persuaded countrymen to emigrate en masse telling but they were the best fighters in Gaul.

Very easily conquered the whole country. End quote. He then explains that this or get Eric sort of leads the entire movie to get it together to burn the homes eventually in migrating mass and then, as part of the process, to go shooting with nearby tribes. You know that they would have to pass through restarts, make a couple of important friends of these other tribes. They decide to work together as users, as quote, or get a Wrex convince them. These are the two aristocrats that these schemes were quite easy of achievement by telling them that he intended to usurp the sovereignty of his own state, which you said was beyond question the most powerful in Gol and then could use his wealth and military strength. Just a them the possession of their thrones. His arguments proved effective the three men swore an oath of mutual loyalty, hoping that once they had made themselves kings the great power

of the war like peoples they ruled would enable them to get control of all Gaul and quote if you're looking at is from a pro golly perspective, though, that might a good idea, Caesar appraise it is otherwise. But remember in this story, it's Darth Vader's account that we get to have Celtic expert Barry Cunliffe. It offers an idea or a way to look at this where the people of Gol were on usually threaten during this time period in may be in a crisis situation, if you will, in which case the migration of the help, visions might have been much more like a Cherokee trail of tears. If you want to compare it to something from the native american Terminal, G. He says that Caesar's oft quoted rationalization.

Gall, would have to be taken over by the Romans if it were not to become germanic. He says quote I have been an unbiased interpretation of the evidence he had before him and quote. Cunliffe also points out that events, quite a distance from here, could be having a ripple effects. For example, he talks about nations which are a barbarian people that may or may not be dramatic, also having a huge offense. Against another celtic people in the hungarian plain, which has a domino effect or an accordion effect that in a Caesar ends up dealing with the end result. You know, as these Helvetian start to move, because tribes to the east of the hell, visions are being displaced, so the celtic peoples of Europe and Gall specifically are threatened from multiple directions and different people describe the Helvetians would have been on, like the bleeding edge of what may I was starting to look like the sick man of Europe for this

period. And they were, having pieces their territory beaten off from every direction: the Germans EAST, the Dacians from the southeast and now the Romans from the South darn right you, beach talking about consolidating your power to try to resist this. If you could, Caesar's gray period in his history begins when he confronts this three hundred and fifty thousand person, column of humanity, if you believe, the numbers of the way they showed up a roman doors over river, with the bridge that Caesar had just destroyed. Basically, this group of people the front end of this tribe is reached Caesar and now they're going to have to ask him for permission to come into the province. Caesars going to say, let me think about it.

Go over there camp out, while I think about it. Meanwhile, while they're doing that he's, you know, organizing the raising of armies far away he's got the truth in building a giant sixteen mile or something long for vacation with hard towers at regular intervals, no doubt with some roman bolt throwers in them, and we the tribe, comes back for their answer. You know after they, and how are they eating, you know that mean you could have lots of people dying on this a death march from the Swiss Alps to we're Caesar was, and they say, okay can we. Ross now is easier now, with this giant fortification behind him. In more troops with them says now now I'm just curious, if you're in this Golic massive people and you've, been camping out eating up. Maybe what little of your food is left and you're waiting for a roman decision and more people are showing up, as the trail of the mass of humanity keeps arriving

and you're waiting in your waiting and the Romans are building these fortifications and your shop can we we please cross now, and then they say. No. What do you do? She's She says that small groups of people in the night in the daytime try to cross over themselves over the river to get on the other side, it doesn't sound like a big armed have you man. It sounds like a bunch of people desperately in like small family groups and what not trying to cross over and over one, the defense's or sneak by on any given and the Romans concentrate missile fire. They say and kill all these. On the water and drive them back? Just have a Adrian Goldsworthy describes the situation. He says when the hell VCR return for seizures decision? He bluntly inform them that he's quoting Cesare now, according to the system and president of the roman people. He could not permit anyone to journey through the province and that he would stop if they tried to force their way through. Goldsworthy then says the new

Vacations were there to demonstrate that he meant what he said. However, it was difficult, such a great mass of people suddenly to change direction and purpose. Period of waiting by the river had also probably been very frustrating and men of the heavy. She I were determined to keep going, especially so the years of preparation and the willingness section of their old homes. Small groups began cross the road either using the Ford's or rigging up rafts to carry themselves or animals in vehicles. It is that these were deliberate probes, sent by the chieftains to test the strength of caesars defenses, but more likely reflected the loose central authority and individual independence that seemed to be characteristic of many of the tribes of gall. They were certainly not full fledged assaults on the lines of fortifications. Most of the crossings took place in cover of darkness, but a few parties were bold enough to risk tempting daylight. None. Exceeded

seizures men were able to concentrate and meet each group intern overwhelming many of them with missiles as they struggle to cross end quote. It seems to be Goldsworthy twos may be leaving open the possibility that this is more of a humanitarian situation, And Caesar let on eventually the Kelly tribe will move away. They have a plan b which they tried to avoid. Is it's a much tougher route and they have to get the permission of a bunch of different of the tribes, but they heading away and see decides, maybe he can't let them migrate to the other, location that they want to do, even if they don't have to pass through. Roman territory could be a problem anyway, then he says that one of the conspirators. One of the garlic triumvirate the three headed garlic monster is working with the hell to to negotiate

did, you know pass over all these differences between these tribes right, smoothing it out. Maybe so they could work together more and they organize a situation televisions promise we won't do anything will be very nice as we cross or territory. We won't do anything bad and then they go through the territory of these tribes that are allies of Rome, and then they start breaking stuff and steel and stuff, and ever in the territory, and so these golly tribes that are allied to Rome, say to Caesar or so Caesar says, help us. How can Let this happen to your allies right when you have an army right here and Caesar says, I can't let that happen to my allies. He justifies it in the book that way and then he goes after the hell visions. Seizure will go, raise some more armies, real quickly, he'll catch up to the Hell visions as their migrating across another tribes territory. Caesar will come upon the tribe while they're in the process of crossing a river, and he says three slash four of the tribe in already crossed. He says it took twenty days shows you

long this massive humanity is taking to move whatever the real numbers were talking about here might because Caesars must be inflated, but it's a lot. People one way or the other and they're hard to feed and Caesar comes upon. He says this tribe, where three slash four of the tribe across one quarter were was still on the other side waiting? That was the side Caesar was onto so he attacked them killed a bunch. This is women, children, wagon is warriors a bunch of them ran into the forest, and now the tribe come. Season basically says you know, what do you want from Us Caesar says this, that and the other thing reparations and oh yeah bunch of hostages. Now this is a moment we should just discuss this for a second cuz. It's wild also, this practice of hostages for good behavior. This is very common in the ancient world, but I always think to myself what if this happened today

what, if that's, how we ensured good behavior today, what? If, when we were having problems with Sudan Hussain and you have your first Gulf WAR and at the end of it, he stays in power. But in order to stop fighting, you demand a couple of his sons as hostages,. Would be an interesting way to handle modern diplomacy, wouldn't it but that's what's easier, says he wants from this time, and I want hostages and there are always going to be like the sons and daughters of the nobility, so the people he's negotiating with the ones you have to give the sons and daughters- and they say: hey, hey, hey, don't get cocky as you beat us in a situation where we were in a refugee. Dover River were basically still undefeated heck. We beat you couple of generations ago were in the practice of taking hostages, not giving them, and so the meeting broke the hell visions who would not provide hostages go back along there, when continuing their migration? The Romans go back to tailing them.

And Caesar now is looking for a way to strike at them because they haven't accepted his terms before he can manage to do it though he begins to have severe supply problems more on that in a minute it forces him. He says to break off the pursuit and go in an opposite direction towards a friendly Golic City where he can get supplies and Caesars when they change course away from the migrants. The migrants turn and come after them. The seizure stops. He puts his entire force on a hill where it's covering the hill. With legionaries in the traditional three line formation he's preparing for the bath Caesar's says in a very grandiose move for the folks back home, but one that has real world dividends to be paid Cesar will get off his horse and send it to the rear and take his place frontline with the soldiers sharing their fate,

encouraging them and remember this stage in his career Caesars, not the great general that we know as Julius Caesar he's a lot of fighting, but this is really his first true command, and this is making his name and part of making his name is show there. Something special Napoleon did a bunch of things this and so did Alexander it's a tip general move, but he can work wonders over the long haul seizures earning the trust of his army. He says that these garlic troops, these ferocious soldiers come charge. Going uphill at the Romans. So you already since disaster right. This is not a good move. But the goals are not known for tactical brilliance. In fact, it almost seems like the inevitable tradeoff in the price. You, pay for being these out of control impact She wished warriors that lose your mind in battle lost. Is that your inevitably lestat

really cohesive and less concern think about things like making sure you save enough energy to be able to fight for awhile additional book, the playbook, the opposition handbook on fighting Ingalls, says that the initial, charge of these people is ferocious wild and hard to hold. But if you can stay strong and hold the initial charge, they begin to get tired and then they begin to get disheartened. Impetuosity fades and then the lack of the armor that they normally have the fact that they've totally cohesion after a little all this stuff begins to tell so if you can sit through and whether the initial storm you tend to be. Okay, charging a bunch of Romans, throwing heavy javelins downhill, not a good start. Caesar says that the Roman Pella stuck in the shields of the Gauls. Of course, it has that little narrow week, Neck Delib, we designed to bend

so that all of a sudden, it's dragging down the shields of these goals. Caesar says they shake their arms for a long time, then throw their shields down. So you take People already not heavily armored and take away the shields, and then the Romans charge down at them with swords, and it begins to be. You know a typical Roman battle against galls, where they're going to get chopped up pretty good. He says you never see their back, they don't run, but they conduct a fighting withdrawal to a nearby hill when the Romans pursue them. They're hitting the flanked by two other tribes that were nearby now we should point out Caesar has every interest to exaggerate how dangerous this enemy is and how difficult the can faced were because, obviously, if he, fails and wins. Well, it's that much greater of a victory to site to the folks back home. Nonetheless,

when Caesars hit in the flank, he says the people that he was pursuing charge at him from the front again, so he's surrounded and his flank is hit it. This is a greek army instead of a roman army. It's done for at this point, because the humans could do with the Romans could do a tactical flexibility. That was pretty much unique. Can the ancient World Caesars able, take one of the three lines of the roman army, the one that's not yet fighting and shift it's facing It's now facing the enemy. That is it. The Romans like now they're facing Romans from the front, hard fought battle now seizures troops get the upper hand. The warriors- will retreat to a wagon fortress they've, taken all the wagons that they're migrating with, and they put them in a giant circle and it's defended all the non combatants and whatnot and

the Romans attack it that's the last stand of the battle and by the time the whole thing is over. The Romans may have killed two hundred thousand of these people by hand, if you believe those not, Historian Michael Sage, says this about. The numbers quote in the after the battle sees claims. That tablets were found in the Helvetian camp, written in greek character containing lists of men of military age, women, boys and the elderly who would join in the migration. There were also counts of the other tribes who accompanied the Hell visions for a total of three hundred and sixty eight thousand people of whom ninety two thousand were capable of bearing arms seizure. Then words of census, taken the Gauls returned home. Total two hundred and ten thousand it is difficult to assess The accuracy of these figures- and this is the

case in the garlic war. We're Caesar refers to such lists. The goals did right. Celtic in greek letters, numerous inscriptions in Celtic, written in greek characters have been preserved. The figure of ninety two thousand warriors is plausible. If the total of three hundred and sixty eight thousand is accepted in pre, populations about one slash. Four of the population consisted of males of military age. The total for all those migrating is also in the realm of possibility. The hundred ten thousand survivors representing a thing. Of those who set out is more of a problem. The loss of more than two thirds is as possible, but Must've had a number of causes, the migration from beginning to end probably consumed about three months with the. Battle in late May early June, many especially the sick and the infirm may have just along the way and others simply settled along the route of migration. Once the battle these are included, which Caesar does not give the

here for losses, still seems too high, but there's no other evidence, and at least it's in the realm of possibility. End quote by the way, sages book I enjoyed immensely on this, but his point is well taken we don't know how many people really were there and you don't know how many people really came back and it might have been or the trail of tears, type situation of Bataan death March. As we said, type situation, where a lot of all died along the way, rather than have Caesar snuff out their lives. But you can be sure that, since the hell, visions were one of the great tribes of Gaul that we're talking about a lot of people here and you're, not just talking about combatants at all the end stages of this battle with Caesar had the roman legionaries assaulting the wagons brought up into great fortification, with all of the stuff that these people owned in the middle of them. The Gaulle and the Germans on a bunch of occasions were said by

and to have the women staying back by the wagons yelling encouragement to their men, deriding, the behavior of cowards, providing first, aid in medicine help to those who staggered back from the Battleline Woon did so, when the Romans in a drive back, the flea routers after they've, just decimated their formations and those people run back to the wagons pursued by the roman army. What do you think the roman army does when they get to the wagons? They kill everybody when they try to. The main things that actually protects lives on the battlefield like this is the prospect of selling the people that you can capture one thing a person on a battlefield facing the battle lust of other people has in their favor and the only thing they can work is I'm I'm worth more alive than dead and there's no doubt that lot slaves were sold after this battle, and you can hear your mind a cash register in a ding

Every time one of those people sold because one of the reasons Caesars there, if you recall, as he has these horrible debts at home, one of the ways great Roman, to pay off these debts as with a successful profitable campaign and one of the main things you profit off of his the people you sell afterwards. Nonetheless, the reason Caesar came to the entire area to begin with, has just been dealt with. After the battle, the Hell visions, essentially what's left of them, come to Caesar and say you know, we're in your power will do whatever you want. He send them home. He said back to where they came from any feed them on the way, the ranges for food and everything, good old, Caesar I'll, take care of you but the end result is you lose hundreds of thousands of people to return things to the status quo. So why doesn't Caesar go home now, wow? well he's notice, something he says in his works. That's been for a while and he's been doing some investigations and he's uncovered a bunch of while stuff that the people

Rome should know about stuff that he can't overlook. For example, he was already noticing. The weird stuff was happening with the garlic troops. The only Golly troops. He was using his army. The Romans, for example, don't produce cavalry anymore. During this period they produced legionaries heavy infantry, men armed with a heavy throwing javelin in a day. Staley nasty sword. The cavalry is raised from in a local friendly people In this case, a lot of celtic peoples tribes a lied to Rome, but they're doing the battlefield that make Caesar suspicious that maybe just maybe, not altogether loyal- I mean one famous thing he's our talks about. He thousands of these garlic cavalry and they go against a few hundred of the enemies and then all of a sudden flee in terror. We got there suspicious, then and started doing some inquiries, then, while he's pursuing the Helvetian call, The helvetian columns begin moving away from rivers and stuff where Cesar can get supplies

shouldn't matter, because all these friendly tribes that ask these are going to come up here and save us from these people that are stealing in despoiling our land. They were supposed to provide the food, but the food's not coming, and he says he keeps get excuses are, should have been here all still raising it on the way what you didn't get it. I mean that kind of stuff, so starts. Investigating that to calling some of these nobles into his office and saying where the hell is the food what's going on here,. And it all comes to a head after this battle with the Helvetian, because he says that all the other, with a few exceptions, big Golic, come to his location. Congratulate him on his victory and all these kinds of stuff, and then they say to him. Can we see you in the back room privately, so we called him into the back privately and they instantly all fall to their feet with a beseeching him tears in their eyes, and they give him. He says. This sob story about. Please please, please, You have to save us from this german king who's. Taking over gall. We told you about this guy right. He was

guy who was brought in when these two tribes of galls, that were historic enemies were looking for an edge, and so the one tribe thought: let's invite these Germans over and they will give us the edge, will win the battle which they did and they noticed sorry the nobility of the other side. But then the didn't leave, as we said in fact, according to this group of people that comes Caesar he's taking all their children hostages in anytime. They move the wrong way. He tortures him and does bad things to him. Caesars now speaking to a roman audience and basically saying: can you believe what this german king is doing to the poor galls, who are allies and friends of the roman people, can Caesars. And for that of course, she's can't stand for that. What's more, these Celts been telling Caesar stories that they've got. People in their own tribes? Who are disloyal right? You know the tribes that are enemies of Rome or just loyal, but these are people in tribes that are nominally friends of Rome, but they have huge numbers of fifth columnists that want to work for the

Will it cause instead now again And seizures portraying this as sinister and bad to roman audience, it's hard not to see these troublemakers. That's that Caesar talks about, though, is anything other Golic patriots, if you're looking at it, from their point of view, I mean the people that are here beseeching Caesar for help. These are like the quislings. Aren't they the trade the garlic cause, but just like the native working tribes, just like the tribes in Africa. These people have historic enemies amongst their own kind, with just and memories of tip for tat revenge, Michael killings, that go back forever and these were able to be exploited, in Africa and the new world by european powers in it's all by the Romans who is ITALY? I mean it is the Romans who invented the phrase that we use today to divide and conquer that's what they are

ring in garland seizures using some tribes against the others in these tribal leaders are telling him we just you know we have large actions in our own tribes that are working against you they're the ones that kept the food from coming They were the ones leading your cavalry when the thousands of your cavalry turned and fled in terror from a few hundred of the enemy, in other words, Caesar got them all around him, and this becomes an excuse to stay, more when Caesar says this. German king is a pressing all these people he base He says so galls want us to stay, I have to stay to defend them and the enemy has just shifted from Golic people to a new people, Let's understand Whether or not these new people really were a new people is open for debate Caesar. Text Emma new people in his writing, because it serves the purposes of his writing. It's an outside power, Caesars going to use it to defend now.

People that are closer to home. These people he's just Well, the hundred thousand or more people of he's the Savior of the Gauls and he staying now. I should point out that there is no consensus at all over Caesars decision, make At this point, everyone seems to agree that at some point, seizure decides he's going to take all of Gaul over and most seem to think that was not his initial plan once he, originally set out to change the course of the Helvetian migration, but there's a lot of disagreement over at what points crystallize this idea that the heck with it I'm taking it over many historians, have spoken about this and Rigsby, for example. This tendency in seizures writing sometimes to give a hint of the idea That goal is maybe kind of doomed anyway and that it's like a vulnerable.

Animal in the geopolitical heard and somebody's going to get it and better us than the Germans? It's the Germans that form this new your point in the story when they appear on the scene because until now, Caesar hasn't really had an antagonist, stopping a migration of a tribal people whose, bad guy in that right, even though Caesar had some bad guys involved in the conspiracy initially by the time he's involved, their dad he's, never having any sort of a one to one Darth Vader versus another Sith Lord confrontation and, of course, he's also got that conspiracy, the shadow going on. You know where it's almost like a guerilla war now, and he can't trust. You know the celtic people, who are his friends, don't know who your friends are your enemies. Are they all look the same, But again, not a single opponent for Caesar really measure himself with until he comes

face to face with this german king. How are you this to us? King of the survey Bay, now, let's step back a minute for the sake of those, were huge, Julius Caesar fans, because how can we ignore? How quick Everything here has happened, that's a hallmark of Caesar by the way, the the moving with speed and determination, focusing on into the core issues in the most decisive points in I mean this is all happening in the year. Fifty eight BCE the dealing the Helvetian migration, is during the same year and let's remember they hardly ever campaign in the winter. So this is really like an eight maybe nine month campaigning season and right after he with the Hell visions and has those what was a huge battle. He now you know March, this to another part of this area where the german king is and begins to deal with him.

Caesar's narrative. This guy is sort of the root cause of everything. Here I mean, why is Caesar even having to do all of this in goal? Will because the Germans destabilize, the whole situation, came in there with their twenty thousand warriors or whatever began settling in Golon and has set the whole place in motion. So when she confronts Aria vistas he's confronting the root of the problem. Cesar were a less ambitious, and this could be the end of his. This could be the culmination he goes to the root of the problem you know solves it comes home, celebrates a triumphant lives happily ever after. I do have to remind myself, though, how this had the feel of Caesars kind of being at the end of the earth. We said earlier that he's like a heavily armed version of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, He feels the need in the narrative to tell the people back at home. You know what these Germans, he calls them are like what are their customs? What gods do they believe in what they look like how they fight

Supposedly the Romans had dealt with these people militarily before right at the time Caesars born. Remember the Cambrian, the two tones invaded from the north unexpectedly, a national security crisis. If you Gotten Caesar will remind you over and over again in his commentaries, it's a great way to justify after the Germans to remind you, every now and then they come after us,. But other than that not a lot to go on so Caesar explains to the folks back home. You know, these Germans are essentially like the Gauls on steroids. The goals are, all the Germans are that much taller than are blondes. The Germans are blonder in the go fight in a war, mad beserker, crazy frenzy, the Germans. That more often and their friends is deeper than the Gauls, and so kind of says that compared to the Gauls, the Germans are primitive. So if we're using our tribal scale and the goals are moving to like threes and fours and fives. The Germans are one just

Caesar would have you believe, just graduated from caveman status, They don't even really practice agriculture, which one of the modern histories or in stuff by archaeology, that I've read. None of them believe that they all think the Germans practiced agriculture, but there you go. Caesars is that the goals used to be able to stand up to the Germans in battle, but that they can't anymore essentially saying that there gun show that they've lost so many battles that they've lossed the psychological edge. You will, and that becomes another one of those on quantifiable things. Doesn't it that effects human history? You know we talked about intimidation on a personal level, but you know what happens when you get a group of skittish Aaron, unpredictable human beings together and then try to quantify the impact of the mass amount of psychological intimidation. I mean if you've lost three battles to the Germans already and you're lining up to fight your fourth. How much

Does the history of how you've done against them recently play into your ability to stand up to them now and, of course, if the celtic people can't stand up to the gym, things anymore in a doggy dogg world? What does that mean for the law? term ability of gall to remain free. Independent. So, if you're looking at this from the roman view, you can kind of see how they might come to the conclusion. Oh we're going to have german people right next to us in golf soon, so Caesar goes and begins. Conversation with this german leader, where he Ascentia tells the german leader. Ok, all the stuff has to stop. He says he begins a correspondence. He sends a message to me says: can we please meet halfway between our two locations, because we have important matters to discuss, and this is all in Caesar's commentaries. By the way he says that the german king replied by saying. Essentially, if I have something to say to you, I come to you

if you have something to say to me, you come to me and then begins a line of discussion. That's hard to understand if you're looking at this from Caesars point of view, because the german leader begins to question Caesar about. Maybe you could say legality, as they would understand it in the ancient world for all These things he's doing and site legal arguments that you couldn't use. Now I mean you have to be. It's easy to use arguments like right of conquest today, but that was something that, It was actually sometimes part of the rules back then german leader will cleverly say over and over again we're not doing anything you don't do So why are you interfering the Demons that are you makes through the pen of Caesar are just can

how long is the ones that the Hell visions kind of made when they were trying to ask the Romans? Can we please come through your territory? It's a humanitarian crisis, maybe, and modern readership has a whole different feel for it, maybe than caesars audience would because all of this looks to the modern reader, maybe to be making some really good points when Caesar tells him in the next letter, which is much more direct- you will do this. You will do that or we're going to have problems. He says you're going to release the hostages of our allies, you're, going to stop attacking our allies, you're, going to stop bringing more Germans from over the Rhine, River and uh The vistas straight up and use him Caesar basically says with defiance, but here's the problem, the the information you have about this is from Caesar and in one sense he's the best person in the world to give it to you, because he met this guy face to face and talk to him on the other hand, is the worst person in the world to tell this to you, because no has more of a vested interest in slanting. His way Caesar says that the message that came back

from this barbarian again that not sounding very much like a barbarian, maybe barbarian lawyers helping him out with the legalese he said Caesar. This is from the essay Hanford Edition of Caesar quote. In Reply Aria Vista said that he was the recognize custom of war for victories to rule the vanquished in any way they pleased and that the Romans acted on this principle by governing their conquered subjects, not according to the dictates of any third party. Their own discretion, since he did not, to them how they were to exercise their rights. He ought not to your with in the exercise of his it because the Eid that tribe that's a lie to roam. It's because ed. We had tried the fortune of war and we're the losers in the fight that they had to pay him tribute and Caesar was doing him a serious wrong. Coming to golf and causing him a loss of revenue, he would Return, the hostages to the each we but Woodruff

from making any want an attack upon them or their allies. If they kept their agreement paid the tributes regularly every year. If they did not the title of brothers of the roman people would not of them from the consequences. I am not impressed. He concluded by Threat to punish my in quotes oppression of these bull. No one has ever fought me without bringing destruction upon himself. Let him back whenever he pleases, he will cover with german Valerie's capable of we have never known defeat. We've had superb training in arms, and for fourteen years we have never shelter beneath the roof and quote. In Caesars that's basically the equivalent of saying it's on, and so he starts send his army to the German. He says the german starts to send his army toward Caesar there's this strict town that ends up between the two armies, so Caesar going basically

going day and night. You know pushing his men to get their first gets there. First, like all great generals, he understands the value of speed. And they locked themselves in this celtic town they're prepared to defend it and all looks Good for Caesar, except that the people that have taken over this town, his soldiers start talking to the local Golic people and those people start telling Caesars true about these Germans and what they are I can how they can't even look them in the face without running away. And seizures says all their gossip makes his army scared and the room what the Germans are like freak him out, and he specifically singles out you have to love this. The folks back home in Rome probably did to those young men on the make sort of the sons of each senators and whatnot who need a little military experience on the resume before they start their running for roman officer. Nothing too scary, you understand so maybe

just a nice. You know we could go after some migrants with Caesar to look good on the resume and all will be well. Caesar says that when they're looking at face he's ferocious scary unknown beasts from the edge of the world that the Golik people, who normally scared the Romans a little have said. Oh, they scare us Zz says these young men on the make all of a sudden or finding good reasons why they are urgently needed back in Rome. He says the fear spreads to the rest of the ranks and will start drawing up their wills and he says they're breaking into tears. You know it's at strange times in there the moaning, their fate and all this kind of stuff, which of course, let's be honest, now sees your build up this enemy so that when he conquered them, he'll be that much greater he's, also creating a need in the army for him, because he's to go in there with a combination of shaming people, but also logical arguments. Throw in a little bit of theater and you know you can

Caesar, says anyway, with the army into shape, and, let's be honest, we seen this with other great generals, also soften often a quality that people associate with great general right. The ability to turn around the morale of your troops and rally them see which is then as soon as the german approach is that the the Germans already this just okay, now that I'm here we can have this discussion. You wanted to have and Caesar has this wonderful moment where they meet on like a hill in the middle of a giant in a flat area They weren't allowed to bring their armies close to each other, so their armies are like in the distance and only ten guys on horseback are supposed to accompany each leader and were told they have the conversation in Golic. So this german kings mostly speaks colic and Caesar probably had a good friend you could translate for him. Caesar. Basically the same thing he said in the note german ruler and the german ruler says something similar to what he said before back. You know questioning Caesars right to do this, pointing out that we all live by the same rules.

Conquer your people, and you decide what happens to him afterwards. That's the rule. We live by. And then he says in its a wonderful line where he quit gin, Caesars motives, and he said, I think all this is just so much pretense for you coming here to crush me. And then he says, and in less you take your army out of this country. Right now, he's going to finish Caesar. And then he tells him. But if you do leave right now I'll be happy to be your muscle, man here in Germany and in and anytime, you need a favor, you won't even have to lift a finger and I'll do it for you. So it's a little bit of a carrot and stick sort of offer and once again, if you were a neutral arbitrator, you might say something like hey: that's, not a bad deal. So let's stop for a minute. Let's say that you're really dying at this point in the story for an outsider's view, point anyone else besides Caesar here, because he's really tough to read at this point: why is he

putting these sorts of accusatory, good arguments into the mouth of one of his characters that he wants you to him to conquer we mentioned earlier. There were a couple of roman writers. The came after Caesar a suit. Onias is one and that's not very long after Caesar about a century and a half for two centuries. Afterwards, there's a guy named Cassius, Dio,. A deal, has a much more greedy You are Caesar in his motivations and essentially is one of those guys that falls into the camp that cc's you're doing this for the most reasons you can think of he's in I lived in this monumental gamble in the politics of where his involvement in this region, risking his life and devoting his entire existence year after year. Two because in Gol is only because of what benefits he can glean from it in the politics of Rome and he's desperate

in need of things like money and conquest and honors and he's got to keep this military command going because the the moment that his term in office, is over. Here. Securable by his enemies in there licking their chops back in room waiting to get to him at the same time. You know at at this point in history. He has to assume that this is not a permanent command, so he's on a bit of a time clock if Caesar really wants to do these great things he's going to end up doing in golf, he's got a limited amount of time to do it and cash Do one of the people that says that everything users doing here, is the equivalent of poking the germ as with a stick trying to get them all roused, so you have an excuse to go in and kill a bunch of them. By the way, confuses us entirely By saying that Aria Vista of this decision, the king of the Germans, he's a king of the Celts that is one of two things either

do is a lazy, roman ethnographer, and there were plenty and doesn't draw a distinction. But if he is accurate, then to say: well, why did Cesar Coloma German? What's the point of you're doing that? What does he gain by creating this new group of people? That may have been a generic name that once one time only applied to one tribe in modern Day, Germany, this from my Herbert Baldwin. Master addition by the way- and I should point out- the Deos, pronouns and use of pronouns is sometimes confusing. So I'm going to insert the name of the person he's talking about in place of the pronouns, so it makes more sense. Dear writes quote now. This Vista's was the ruler of those Celts. Is dominion had been ratified by actions of the Romans and he had been registered among their friends and allies by Caesar himself in his consulship

in comparison, however, with the glory to be derived from the war and the power that glory would bring the Roman General Caesar He did none of those considerations except it so far as he wished to get some excuse for the quarrel from the barbarian so that it should not be not that there was any grievance against him Caesar at the start. Therefore, he sent Ferrari of this pretending that he wanted to hold some conversation with him. Ari business instead of obeying replied, and this is close to Caesars on description by the way, if Caesar wishes to tell me anything, let him come himself to me. I am not in any way inferior to him and a man who has need of any one must always go to that person. This Caesar showed anger on the grounds that Ariel Vistas had insulted all the Romans. And Caesar immediately demanded of Aria Vista's the hostages of the allies and forbade him either to set foot on their land or,

bring against them any auxiliary force from home. This Caesar not do with the idea of scaring him, but because he hoped to make him furious and by that means to gain a great and fitting pretext for the war. What was expected took place, the barbarian enraged at the injunctions made a long, an outrageous reply it's easier, no longer bandied words with him. End quote: that's a completely different view. Isn't it cash deal also gives very different account of Caesar rallying his terrified Romans in the Golik town that we just discussed Rad being one of the few non terrified people who could then spread his lack of your dues. Entire army d basically has the troops looking at what they're up against and thinking, maybe that they shouldn't even

against them, they're, not so mad at the Germans, they're mad at the guy, who put him in a situation where they should be fighting the Germans. When I called Do they are very aware of what role they play in this whole thing there? The power as in Caesar's game to further Caesars career and they also seem to politically speaking. This is outside the boundaries. Maybe of what the Romans themselves would consider? A legal military venture caches Dio says: when these Romans are scared. In that garlic, town, they're, scared, 'cause, they keep hearing about the Germans and the Germans are coming. He says it leaves them deeply dejected and then he, is quote alarmed by the stature of their enemies by their numbers, their boldness and consequent ready threats. They were such a mood is to feel that they were going to contend not against men but against

Kenny and ferocious beasts, and the talk was that they were you're taking a war which was none of their business and had not been decreed. Merely on account of Caesar's personal ambition and they threat and also to leave him in the lurch if he should not change his course. End quote: that's not a bunch of scared soldiers who get their fear rallied out of them by a charisma, attic leader. This is a bunch of troops fully realize what's going on here. Angry at their leader for putting him in this position and are threatening mutant, if he doesn't change the course he's I mean that's a very different story right there isn't it. I'm now

Sure really matters, though, in terms of how it reflects on Caesars reputation, because either way it really says something about the guy that he was able to rally those troops and put them in a position in a state of mind where they could face this german leader either a king or maybe Aria Vista's was an elected warleader for a federation of tribes. Its argued about, but that's a guy are you. This is who has the entire at least central part in? In fact, you could say most of golf how'd by his power and authority and seize your turns these either mutinous or petrified with fear or some combination of the two troops and gets them out in the field against this guy now, the way the battle shapes up supposedly is: it starts with a bunch of maneuvering. This is the very on the sexy side of military history people like yours truly like to cut right to the chase. We like we nice in a well organized and set up field

I, in a nice level, Ali, where you've had a lot of time for both sides to set up, and then you have your super big encounter, but truthfully in real history, if one of the generals had done his job or her job, you should have the other side beaten by the time you get to that point. And it's sometimes the big maneuvering on the strategic level. That does that. But sometimes it's just a little shading here and the sly, advantage there and they all add up general throughout history have been almost neurotic about figuring out the little elements you know to gain advantage, and there are quite a few different in history where, because of the military technology in the limitations, if both so I didn't actively want to fight a battle. Sometimes it didn't happen. If one side wanted to avoid it often times it was easy to do the 17th and 18th century, probably like the high water mark of that a few hundred years ago, where because of Things were

once I didn't want to fight about, a little must never happened. So in this period and the german commander are both sort of jock sing for position and maneuvering and one of the things about the Romans that makes the So you know again another so unsexy side of military history, but the roman soldiers are about half devastating soldier and about half construction worker and these people could set up for the for Asians in real time. In a way, actually affected the battles in day to day situation. I mean in the case with our you. The maneuvering actually takes the form of both sides trying to march around the other in camp on their lines of supply, so cut them off when the germ did it they would take wagons and what not, supposedly with them and sort of put them in a circle. Like pioneers in the old West used to do course. They had a lot more wagons were talking about a lot bigger structures.

But when the Romans would build a camp, even a small sub camp, they would build like an old fort in the old american West. You know I we're talking about with timber and go towers and even artillery in the guard towers in the Romans, were so good at this, and often with every night, when they were out in the field that they had, this do a science when everybody knew exactly where to go and how to do and what it was going to look at the layout was always the same. So when the Romans camped on your line of supply, you wake up. Next morning, and there would be a fort there where there was open country the day before so then, after the initial maneuverings. Once the Romans had this fort in too good of a position the Germans are launching attacks against the fort and those are beaten up. There's a bunch of this kind of preliminary, but still pretty large scale skirmishing before see maybe some historians think is beginning to have supply problems himself. There's a lot more of the natives around him here and he seems

in danger and needing to fight a battle or get out and so says he the army up in battle formation in March? Is it out toward the Germans on several occasions by the way by this time period? the roman battle formation by the way is three big lines, deep, usually in Caesar that's the way he lines up, and just so you know that means Diff thing from ranks ranks of the number of troops that are lined up in a behind the other and often times Each of these lines is between- and this is not just for romans- for anyone for Sixteen ranks deep. I pike formation, maybe twelve or sixteen ranks the Romans more four to eight, but then be a dead zone of maybe fifty thirty yards a hundred yards and then they'll be another line of men. Lined up in ranks should be the roman second line, and then the Romans would often have a third line. This seems

like common sense when you think about it today, but in the ancient world. This is very unusual. The Romans have reserves and time and again, it will save them in these battles because they will find out. Something's going wrong, someplace and guess what we have about twenty to twenty five percent of our total force, unengaged just sitting back there, throw them in troubled area and time and again it saves them in battle. Caesar is very cut and dried. Remember. This is not a true history. He's writing. This is supposed to be sort of in the format of patches from the front and sometimes you'll talk about, you know, what's going the battle at length, but you would think with a really important one like this one. He go into great detail and he doesn't. He basically says when real clash of arms comes. This bottle is supposed to have been fought most. Stories thinking what's now Alsace, but no one is sure, probably on the west, Bank of the Rhine, somewhere, the Roma,

probably had in the neighborhood of thirty thousand men, the germ Who knows you usually see from fifty? two hundred thousand, although you get the occasional outlier, I love him, Delbrook is you now and he's usually a great neutral arbiter, Duran, less. There's Germans involved, in which case he's, got his homer glasses on, and he doesn't see things quite as unbiased and he thinks the Romans outnumbered the Germans, but he, usual so will set him aside there in just assume the Romans were, will be somewhat outnumbered, perhaps two to one. In the worst case scenario, Caesar says that the battle takes place. So Quickly, there's no time for the usual exchange of missiles. The Romans love to throw those javelins. They do a lot of damage when you throw them all at once, hundreds of thousands of men throwing these heavy javelins all at once. But Germans and the Romans end up charging each other too quickly for that and it gets right to a sword's log right away. Caesar says that

flank he's on begins to push the german flank opposite them back but that the other roman flank on the far side of the battlefield is being overwhelmed by the german numbers. He then says that eh roman officer that he names by name because he's on horseback can see the problem from a distance and realize? Oh somebody better order. The third line- that's not doing anything right now in to fix this situation, and he does so when he saves the bottle. See by the way names this person as the son of the richest guy in Rome crashes, who, if you recall, is one of the members of the first triumvirate along with Caesar and Pompey, so you see in a way Caesars. Will doesn't forget you where, bread is buttered and how to play the wonderful game of politics and use my back and I scratch yours- remember

Caesar was allegedly not able to leave Rome at one point, because his creditors wouldn't let him out of the city and crash is paid. The bill will now all of sudden here in this battle, where Cesar doesn't go into depth about much of anything He goes out of his way to mention a single individual, the sun, the guy who paid the debts for and oh by the way, he's Klay saying without that guy, you know we lost that battle against the Germans. That's a little bit of a On to the family, isn't it so maybe paying a favor or maybe putting crashes in debt for a future one. Nonetheless, Caesars never far from playing the game in this case game is deadly. As you might imagine, these germs, once again are supposed to have come. The wagons and the families and the women on the wagons- you know with the disheveled hair screaming at the men. Please don't let us fall into slavery, the prob

with having all these women and wagons on the battlefield is obviously that at some point the battle moves where it started to the wagons and the people in the wag, and once again we have a battle where It's implied more than laid out for you, but that the Romans kill a lot of civilians, including some of the relatives of Aria vistas who somehow gets away. But we don't hear anymore from him. The Germans will run my miles to the Rhine, Caesar says there will be more germans that are just about to come over and help as soon as they hear about the big defeat of our just they turn around and go home. What Caesars doing here from a macro perspective, though, if you think about it is that there were a bunch of powers that were the power brokers in this region before Caesar intervened, and that would have been last year so think about how quickly everything's happening Caesar has a actually neutered, one of them, the Helvetian one of the most powerful tribes of the

else is now a shadow of what it was just months before 'cause. What teacher did do it, and now this player from outside the Stratix go or risk map board come in and intervened in garlic. Politics is Smith, and sent packing back over the Rhine. This thing that Caesar portrays a border what's crazy to think about it, all of this has happened in the year. Fifty eight BCE, because when you think about the ancient world, you think about a world many cases moves much more slowly than the modern one, and yet Caesar has a blitzkrieg going on in Gaul He says, and some historians will date three battle. Some some will day two battles depending on whether you consider that, first order of the Hell visions when a quarter of their we're caught on on the far side of the river to be a battle or not. But nonetheless, in that one really six to eight months, because they don't campaign most of the time in the winter

She's done all this damage and changed the in structure of this region. If he thought it was stabilize before we got involved, and that was the excuse for getting involved. He's totally destabilized it now. But when coming so what is easier do while puts his army in winter quarters and he goes back to the area just north of Rome to keep an eye on roman politics and so to think about his next move. Now, here's the thing you could make a case if you wanted to, and so have that everything Caesar just accomplished was done, you know a crisis situation in hot pursuit, whether it was I gration of the health visions, which is you know, as we said earlier, it's like if you woke up this morning and found two hundred thousand people. You know on your border, just unexpectedly be some sort of a crisis. So that's the way Caesar portrays. If you give him the benefit of the doubt, you say: well, you know he had to react. You couldn't go back to Rome and ask for votes and authority. You just that's part of what you do is the problem. You go in there and you you roll with

inches so cedar had to do that and then the Germans and their involvement. I mean that was also the same thing I mean they were coming over. The border was getting worse. You had. It was a quick the situation, but now you're taking the winter off, we go from a hot blood situation to cold blood, or you can think about what you want to do now. I love the way Tom HOLLAND. As an author, he's great at building the sense of suspense and- and he portrays the Gauls at this, in his book Rubicon as sort of waking up together to the fact that there the process of being conquered. It's a strange thing, but it's happening so quickly and because the Gali tribes are in separate from each other if they You could try, but next to you does that mean you're being conquered well, not necessarily- and you might not be too panicked, but if enough of the tribes near you or being conquered, and if you happen to know just a little of the history of roman behavior in other celtic areas, Spain for exam,

Bull or northern ITALY it's now southern France, you understand, these Romans have a track record. They come in. They defeat the celtic people, they begin to settle and in a generation or two. The celtic people become short haired galls in a couple generations, after that they become toga wearing galls. And Tom HOLLAND presents this case where once Caesar puts his troops in winter orders in the middle of gall. It sends signal to everyone that hey wait a minute here to stay and if we're going to prevent a complete, take over, as has happened to other celtic peoples, it's time to get serious about defending this place, Tom HOLLAND writes quote that win for five thousand eight hundred and fifty seven BC, rather than drawing his legions back into his province, Caesar left them a hundred miles north of the frontier deep in the territory of a supposedly indypendent tribe once again

an illegal measure was justified by the pro console as an active forward defense. This was an argument that may have satisfied public opinion back in Rome, but it did not. The ease, a mounting sense of outrage in itself, the full Locations of Caesars. New policy were by now starting to hit home. What nicely would satisfy the Romans desire for a defensible frontier, if the Rhine to the east, then why not The channel to the north or the Atlantic Coast to the west across frozen forests and fields from village to village, from chieftains Hall, the chieftains Hall, the same rumor, was born the Wrong we're aiming to pacify all Gaul that, in quotation mark, as warriors burnished, their glittering jewel, rot shields and Strip lings eager to prove themselves ready for battle for

I sheeted streams with full armor on their backs, so rival tribes sought to patch up their differences free prepared itself for war. End quote. I think a sure sign of the way Caesar was thinking during this time period is his excuse, for going back into Gollon can in to fight, even though these things in these crime, just moments that had forced him to respond or done with. He says the very act of these people deciding to work together. Against him, just I'd him going after them. This is from my Lynn, Hammond translation when Caesar is to Caesar used looking at himself in the third person and when he talks The Bell gay he's talking about this kind of celtic people as he describes it.

To the north of the area he's been campaigning, the people that actually make up what was population of Modern Day, Belgium, part of the Netherlands apart Germany and part of north, your much larger area than modern day. Belgium and some of them may have migrated across the channel to Southeastern Britain to, but it's these tribes of Bell Gay that are you now, against Caesar. So he points out that. Well, obviously, it's a conspiracy, the Hammond translation, says quote, as we mentioned above Caesar, was in nearer gall, where he heard a host of rumors, confirmed by letter from Labienus that all the Bell Gay, who make up one slash three of gall, as we said before, we're hatching a plot against roman people, exchanging hostages. The reason for this plot were as follows. First, we're afraid that our army would march against them. Now that all the rest of Gaul had been subdued. Secondly, they

being stirred up by a number of the Gauls, some of whom have been unwilling for the Germans to have any further involvement in Gaul and we're equally. Then for the army of the roman people to overwinter and become established there. Others were of a volatile and unstable disposition, the of men who delight in changes of rule yet another, inside the Bell gate to conspire because it was common in golf for men who possessed some degree of power and the means to hire, support to see is regal power, something Would be more difficult to achieve under our rule and quote. Now, if we look at this is a neutral arbitrator here once Caesar is essentially indicting these people for doing exactly what they should be doing. If you think about this logically, because there's just smashed. One of the most powerful tribes in he's got the support of another who are roman allies. He just kicked the dreaded, turns out, if you believe that these really were Germans and he

taken the surrender and admission of a bunch of other Golic tribes who are cowed now by what he's accomplished and these people to North, all these tribes, that Caesar says, are he kind of implies that they're part celtic and part german. But this is free Gol at this point, These are the tribes that have the ability to raise a lot of troops and still fight Caesar and Caesar says, and it's not hard to believe that these fifth column from friendly tribes and tribes that have already submitted our secret Whispering in the ear of the Bell Gay too, in other words, there is an anti roman insurgents, in Golon Caesars talking about it here and once again, the simple fact that it exists. Legitimizes his involvement in the region to stop it. Allegedly this tribal can racing in the north. These bell, tribes will be able to put together almost three hundred thousand warriors. Not

in children, old people and all that but warriors once again. You can't help, but contrast. With what the native Americans are trying to resist, you know expansion in North America within one thousand five hundred or maybe two thousand on a really Good Day warriors and her seizures, trying to figure out how to tackle. No guns with no can nothing like that. Three hundred thousand native peoples, even if that number is high. What if it's two hundred thousand. One of my favorite stories, which kind of in my mind, shows how you know you can do things in different ways and accomplish the same goals when you think of the really bureaucratic ancient states, when you think of an Egypt or China or in the or a Rome even and you ok, when they needed it army. How did they muster it? How did they put it together? How did they raise it and you think of a really bureaucratic affair? only thing missing are the ipads for these people. I mean they'll, be paper records that we all kinds of stuff

it's a modern organizational situation where you raise armies. So how did tribes do it, especially tribes that had lots of people well, there's an ancient source that says that the celtic method? For this was a variation if you will on the idea of, last one in is a rotten egg. Its last one who arrives to the monster, gets tortured to death in front of the army. Isn't that wickedly efficient, yet in a decentralized sort of tribal way, we're not going to get to not going to get you The figure, but it's not gonna, be written records. I can do all that, but the last guy who shows up to the muster where we kill him by slow torture in front of the just so, you know see you soon I love that I hope that's true, just 'cause, that's that's wonderfully colorful, and yet the problems of these We have is that they need all these people to resist roman encroachment, but the larger these so called barbarian armies get the harder they to feed.

I mean just imagine, instead of three hundred thousand will play with a nice smaller number, two hundred thousand. Well, that's what twenty three modern football stadiums how long can you feed that with barbarian logistics, HANS Delbruck, we know I love to quote So materialistic and down to earth and scoffs at every he points out that is where the unsexy advantage of the of the. So civilized bureaucratic states. Really is the ability to feed people in the field so that they are there to fight it, doesn't matter how many people, opponent has if they're starving they're, not to be that good or if the army has to break up 'cause, they can't find food or you're, not really an army of three hundred thousand people, then Are you you're a bunch of smaller armies Fred out over a wider area trying to find enough stuff to keep your troops from starving to death, and that means the enemy can defeat you bit by bit, which is what Caesar does Caesar will also have his Golic allies attack in

you tribes that are part of this bell. Gay, confederation and keep them busy. While he concentrates on other ones. Once again, Caesar says that these people are check, your only ferocious and once again he blames it on the fact that they're not corrupted by roman luxuries that they're a long way from Rome which keeps him somewhat insulated. When I read archaeological works that to say that the four north you go from Rome, the small The towns get the urbanized sort of core you have, the more the governments begin to resemble governments that have gone out of fashion in the parts of closer to Rome like aristocracies in king's, so maybe there's some truth to it. It's hard to explain why these bell, gay people were so much tougher in the surrounding galls. If, indeed they were, they don't see. You have been more numerous or better led. They don't have better equipment or train they don't have more money. I mean none of

of the things where you might be able to say well, there's a legitimate reason why these people, Lord it over the Golik Neighbors Caesar, says it's basically 'cause they're, tougher and more ferocious. If you don't accept that, because that's a stereotypic or rhetoric, tle trope and it is well. How do you explain it? A friend of mine? There was a military history. Major I went to college with he had the best answer. I've ever heard to this. His answer was he just wasn't buying any of it. It wasn't believing any of this stuff Cesar said in his mind, any question about how tough this tribe was versus. How tough that tribe was, is all stuff Caesar throws in there to make Caesar look better, You can never know about that kind of stuff, so he's going to use the only in a fax that you have out there on the table

form a most likely scenario. He said the one fact on the table here that is clear from everything and that screenings through the sources is is Roman Army was in comparably better than the photos that they faced. It's not a very good story, though. If you talk about how you, you picketed, the roman army, maybe the best of the roman armies, arguably the best of the roman armies that was ever fielded. If you say that, yes, our army came it cut through the barbarians like butter, it was no competition. A child could have commanded the Romans and destroyed the barbarians not a very good way to frame your self promotional piece that you're sending back to Rome is it, but my friend just doesn't buy any of that In his mind, the only thing you know for sure is that these battles, sound like slaughters and those seizure usually tries to throw in a near run moment. Yes, it was touch and go for a while, but then we crush them. It doesn't really seem that way and then

advantages are hard for my. Modern people, certainly for me to really you stand because there's something about the way we were raised in this technological error that we live in that whenever you talk about vast differences between military, capabilities. We assume it's gotta, be mostly technological and that's easy for us to conceptualize. If you say One side in this battle had machine guns in the other head, bows and arrows are modern. Brain goes, oh well, that's a slaughter right. The technological difference is going to equal a certain outcome, but you tell us the two armies in a one thousand years ago were really did in terms of what they could do to each other and how you know do they were, but they are very similar in terms of actual weapons technology. It's hard for us to understand what it is that makes up. The difference is that could account for that and, of course, all the experts, you really stand, and there are few experts on real ancient warfare, but they'll tell you

What drill and discipline does this is what equipping basically most of your troops with armor metal helmets does, and we used an example. Once imagine. Two NFL teams decided to have a football game at one. Is not allowed any pads or helmets or anything, and now imagine that both sides are actually playing with edged weapons and it's a lot more nasty even than pro football. You could see where that might be a big advantage, also, You throw that in with the drill with I mean, if there's a lot that goes into it, but it's not I said a very good story. If you say the Romans came and destroyed the barbarians, and it was trouble at all and my free mine? That's why you need to keep pumping up this next tribe that easier going to face and UT That was bad, this one's even worse, because it big

to get a little monotonous caesars, not losing any of these battles and he's not even coming close really until you end up with one of these tribes doing what common sense would dictate at a certain point you should do which is is Caesar's got this in comparably fantastic army and if it's eating you alive on the battlefield field facing it, you don't have to write, it's not prescribed and it's hard for certain cultures, sometimes because when you, these warrior cultures that have a heroic sort of personal ethos. Where, how you do in battle and bravery and conspicuous bravery right out in front of other people in fair fights and tools, and all that is part of your makeup to talk about subterfuge. Asian, ambushing and stuff like that. It doesn't always mesh so well with the your spirit, but believe me necessity, is the mother of Invention and when Caesar goes to

take on the various tribes of the Bell Gay the Bell Guide by the way is another way to pronounce it. The first what happens? Is they get these large numbers of people together which they can't feed so seizure, apparently weights them out? They'll, be some skirmish a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but it looks like The plan is to just sit there and absorb all the food he can from his own logistical services, while he watches the enemy around him, supposedly, in the three hundred thousand new mayor, arrange range begin to starve. So, of course, I have to quote HANS Delbruck here, 'cause he's the logistical guy. Brooke explains Caesars foray into northern Gaul, where the Belgic or Belgic get people live and says, quote the Bell Gay. Also Bell: guy premonition of their impending danger, United their forces and when Caesar crossed their borders, moved out against him with a large allied army, Civilization has means of warfare that are lacking to barbarians.

The bell gay were no doubt capable of assembling a large army, but not of holding gather in feeding it? Just the cimbri and two tones. Those barbarians from Caesar's birth period had to split up on their campaign into ITALY and were defeated individually by Marius Caesar instead of moving immediately into a decisive battle against an army of the same size as his or perhaps considerably larger, found the means of splitting up the allied army so that he then deal with only individual tribes. In the meantime, Del Rights sees had organized to new legions so that he now had a total of eight with his legs? So you re troops of numidians, cretans, building or x and Golly Cavalry. His army may have well numbered fifty thousand combatants and a grand total of eighty thousand to a hundred thousand souls in order to feed in such a mass in one place for a rather long time. One we have a very strong and reliable organization transport supply.

And finance system. The Romans had such means, whereas the Bell gated not, and then he points out that get ability of the Romans to sort of make. Stationary field fortifications, a battlefield weapon, Delbrook, says quote: but Caesar had still other means at his disposal. He set up a hang on the North Bank of the Ane Ane River. And his army was so well equipped with tools. Soldiers, so well disciplined and so well trained in their techniques that, within the shortest possible time, an impregnable fortress stood there and quote. To give you an idea of size and style, is very depending on how the roman force that needed to be in the camp happened to be, but some of these camps could be well over a hundred acres in size and they always had a ditch and they always had a rampart in the roman soldiers carried sharpened stakes when they marched so that at night they could stick. Those steaks into the earth and ramparts so became a

in Cushing around the camp they regard hours and walls and every day the camp stayed in the same spot and didn't move. It became more sophisticated, deeper defensible more finished. And if you were there long enough, roman tents, which were laid out on a prescribed roman road grid system, which included a main street inside you know this little roman town is what it amounted to these ten, would into cabins at that camper there long enough there be artillery and they could put it up so fast. You know, as we said earlier, I believe the roman soldiers about half soldier in about half konstruk worker and a construction worker side was more then you might think you fans the Romans nor ready, though it's it's, something that they brought to the table. Using usual, there were other armies that could create camps and more obsessive about creating camps to to protect themselves, for example when on campaign,

but the Romans almost used their construction ability in an offensive way. It's fabulous unless, of course, you're a garlic opponent, in which case you know how disheartening is it to thing. Ok, we've got a nice relatively open battlefield here. We're going to fight these Romans tomorrow and then wake up in the morning to find fortifications on that battlefield and artillery. And I should point out when we say artillery, we obviously mean roman and greek style Artillery nothing gun powdery. In this case, a lot of it was what's called torsion devices and I've seen these things, and I still don't understand the principle, but it involves twisted, seen use and it stores up a lot of energy and when it's released, you can fling stones or projectiles that look like big heavy aeros or spears from these weapons and by the way these weapons come in all she,

in sizes and the very largest of them are rather enormous, but in this case most of the ones we're talking about a lighter weapons seizure. Pacifically in one of my translations refers to one of the artillery pieces involved as a one pounder and had to go. Look that up encounter means the stone itself that this weapon flung way one pound. But I read another source that talked about the fear that these owns flying through the air at high speed in the sound they made the fear that that generated, sometimes, if you were on the receiving end of those, maybe this is how about class in opponent, when you weapons systems are not all that dissimilar? I mean they're, both you and edged weapons that are metal. They both got spears. They both you use human sinew power for tactical battlefield. But the roman artillery is pretty awesome and having the logistical

innovational capability to build a fortress overnight! That's pretty important and effective. To add to that, we've been talking the ability to feed your army on campaign, and it easel, explains how Caesar's campaign against these tribes of Bell gave actually workout as we said, he may be facing three hundred thousand of these warriors up in the north here near the channel, but how do you feed a barbarian army that large? The answer is, apparently you don't Caesar says that rhyme come together and have a meeting and say we go home. Everybody's got to go back to their own homes. We know we can feed ourselves so long back to our own homes and when we get there, if Rotax any of us, everybody will come to the aid of the attacked right, mystery history, divided as to whether or not that is a realistic defense strategy, some sort of packed or whether it is a cop out sham cover up a

man for himself or every tribe for himself sort of attitude for those curious hamster Brooke falls into the latter category, but tribes decide to break up and go home. Well, let's pretend it is three hundred thousand people when they decide go home and they've been facing Caesar how they even go about this I mean. Is it like? Didn't we compare things to wood stock, the wood stock rock concert earlier? Well, what happens when would stock brakes? Will lots People in large masses just sort of go streaming in the opposite direction. So what Do if your in your opportunist? Well, you attack, don't you and he sent his cavalry running through these crowds of people, spearing them, shooting them just running them to killed untold numbers and all of these Belgic tribes, ran back to wherever they're tribal homeland was. They seem to have decided that they were going to hold up most of the time in these hillforts of there.

Which, by the way, if you've never seen one go, look at an aerial photo they're awesome, basically what these people did was find you know nature fortification where nature had crafted a wonderful area to defend and then added human touches some timber here, some stone work there and what have you? But if you have a nice flat giant, hill, and you have maybe a nice river that curves around the whole side of it forming a defensive optical. I mean you got a pretty good start in a lot of these tribes, maybe thought that they could hold out in these locations and they were wrong apparently Caesar had to do was show up to some of these nasty Gary tribes that he talked about and I think they saw him. They gave up one tribe, big nasty tribe. And of thousands of warriors Caesar, As they saw the roman siege weapons and when I'm out, if you're use those I'm out. So ok

awed by roman technology. There is another one of those big nasty tribes. He didn't even get within five miles of their health for and they were coming out to say we're done. He says the last of the big tribes. That was opposing him with this tribe called the Nervii or the nerve vii way up in the north right. The scary northeast is that they took their people, their wives and their children and their elderly. Their animals and their baggage and possessions, and they took him into the deep dark forms with the Romans, couldn't get him and we're going to resist so, of course, Caesar takes the army into the land of the nerve EI, and he said one day. You know there deciding where they're going to camp for the night, because we talked about that right, the little obsessive about the camps, but if you're as add at scouting and reconnaissance is. The Romans are always joked about being, as one

friends, also said, if you're as bad bad scouting. The Romans are, you better have a good camp with big walls and towers, and in this case, has his army arriving in a long column down the road, because, where we like to talk about field battles all the time, let's understand that most of the time these armies are on the move and when they're on the move, they're stretched out in a long line like a snake, all the way into the distance very vulnerable position to be in. And when the head of the snake arrives at the campsite for the night Caesar tells those legions that are there first to start building the camp, the Legion at the very tail of the snake, won't be arriving for sometime. Caesar chooses another one of these hills that if you've been paying attention, he likes all throughout his writings. He likes a nice hill that could put most of his army on its size wise. He likes a nice gentle slope on one side. He loves it. If you can have a terrain feature to guard flank and in this case, there's a river at the bottom of the software

sloping hill, he says it's only about three feet deep, but it's there then he says on the opposite. Side of the river is a mirror image of his hill. It slopes up from the gently. He says: there's about two hundred paces, so think about a couple of football fields of open country and then there's a wood on the top of the hill Caesar has the you know, legions put down their packs in a put their military stuff aside- get their hammers their nails, the timber, the shovels and begin making the camp and transform themselves into these amazing construction workers Meanwhile, he says- and this could be open to question by the way first what's about to happen here will earn Caesar some criticism during his own lifetime and for military. Search ever since, but he says I put my cavalry in my light troops and had them screening this whole operation. Right to protect the vulnerable regions that, were you know under construction

moment. As more and more of my troops arrived from the column. Eventually, Caesar will have six league is there building the fort with more on the way, and he says my cavalry is skirmishing with some of the bell. Gay cavalry it says and then my baggage comes into view in the distance, so the roman baggage is in the middle of this long column and it comes over the horizon and everyone can see it and he says when that happens, that's the signal for the ambush to start. He says that there's an army of VI in the woods on the He said he'll from Caesars an army. As my friend said right, if you're going to be so bad at scouting, you miss the army, barbarians in the woods across from where you're building a camp, you better have a strong camp. In this case right around the time. Seizures cavalry, gets close enough to the woods, maybe to figure out what's in there. What's in

charges out of the Woods Caesar says at astonishing speed, that's by Carolyn HAM, Carolyn HAM, The great line astonishing speed. Seizure then goes on to say that they brush aside his cavalry and light infantry screen like an insect basically and they come screaming down. The hill. Now We have no idea how big this hill is. All we can say is that, scream down that hill. They crossed the three foot River, they start up the next hill and that's the hill. Caesar and six legions are on not ready for this. Now we talked earlier about why we chose this as a subject- and I said I was fascinated with the tribal people in situation that we've seen all throughout history trying resist the encroachment of a more technologically and organizationally superior or more efficient culture, and I chew

this one, because, unlike the native american example of the african example, these people had a chance to win now they were never the betting favourites and the way that they prefer. And so far in battles against the roman army demonstrates. That but the numbers are so much larger than what the north american native Americans, for example, could have put together that you can see why you got to give these people. You know the quota boxing line the punchers chance, good luck. Bring out how many people there are here, if you're going to believe Caesar you're going to get up to numbers that are like seventy five thousand. Those seem absurd. But there's a lot of Romans there and that's pretty confirmable. So it's not going to be too low. If you said twenty thousand, that's going to be four times the largest native american force, I've ever heard of four times and we're talking about charging out of the woods all at once,

one thousand would also be about how many Zulus were at that famous battle in the late 1800s, where they wiped out a force of thirteen or fourteen hundred soldiers from Britain. But the truth is it's probably larger than that. So if you said thirty, five thousand and thirty Five thousand men charging out of the woods. Within running distance from you and that's how long you have to get your act together before they hit you and how to blow you away like a wave blowing through a bathers on the beach Caesar, goes into overdrive at this point- and you begin to see- you know what makes the guy so special he's, not Alexander the great grabbing be ran, leading the Calvary into the charge. Caesar does grab a shield, he says, but he begins to go. And demonstrate leadership. He also says that these veteran troops do a lot for

cells and Caesar had left their officers with him and so all of them which, throw down their work tools, grab a weapon that they could find Caesar says their shields were still on the leather cases, their helmets weren't often around, and they just ran to the nearest standards. They forgot anything about going to their own unit, they're just trying to form a blah Of human beings that can resist this on rush, that's coming toward them at full, running speed Let's understand something. The nerve by tribesmen here are participating in huge gamble, because they certainly know that they are to be like blown horses by the time they reached the roman lines there taking this gamble that there won't be any roman lines when they get there yet and that they're going be able to attack these Romans while they're still divided and small clumps that are unconnected to each other, in which case they should be able to just blow them away, The gamble is if they don't they're, not going to have a whole lot left. If this

as in any kind of a long term, slog they're doomed Caesar says: grab the flag, he says, couple of words of encouragement to the unit that he's with before into to the next unit to talk to them, but by the time he gets to the next unit, they're already engaged. This is a moment here these legions and Caesar with them could ease. Be overrun and it allows us to play with some counterfactuals. We haven't really been able to discuss yet the first counter factual is, what is Cesar loses here. The second counterfactual is what ifs. Dies here in the first case, you know. We had said earlier that the Roma expansion into the tribal territory, the rich tribal, Territory to the north of them seemed inevitable, just like manifest destiny seemed inevitable. But maybe the question to ask is: how many deaths would it to make something that seemed inevitable? Not the anymore.

Because we can see that only about sixty five years after this battle, the Romans will be ambushed by another tribe of people who are tribes of this time in Germany Modern Day, Germany and there probably what we could call Germans, they will destroy this roman army in a famous battle called the tutor burger involved in in, I believe it is the Roman commander will commit suicide on the battlefield to avoid falling into the hands of his barbarian opponents. Which, if you believe the hyped up, roman sources is a good thing to do, because the Romans DR, it's it's legendary would be a good way to print a legendary mission a couple years after the defeat in the back all to recover, what's left of their dead comrades and they go into the deep dark forest and supposedly the delivery details of of roman skeletons in a stapled,

trees and piles of skulls and religious altars with in a dead Romans and blood everywhere I mean just this horrible Bible, nightmarish vision, haitian of all. We the native frustration at the situation, and you have the the story of the roman emperor at the time will beat his head against the wall and supposedly yelled, the name of the general who killed himself verison Severa's, give me back my legions, but that was only about fifteen thousand dead Roman. And whatever happened. There was one of the main components, supposedly made the Romans decide? You know what we don't need to advance any farther in Germany anymore. That's a good place to just set the border and will expand elsewhere. If that really played large of a role in the Romans, decided not to go into Germany, any farther. What if Caesar lost twice that many men at this battle and What is twice that many men in the larger scheme

things. So if you say gee could the Is it ever done anything to short circuit, manifest destiny? Well, I don't know what if they killed. One thousand american soldiers in an afternoon did the math, and you know these numbers are debatable to but I went to some common sources and I added up all of the combat deaths that the United States has suffered from the wars of independence when we got our independence in this country up until First World war started, and then I say, directed the civil war, because those are crazy deaths and everybody on both sides dying is an american casualty zero. Us combat deaths, excluding the civil war up to nineteen seventeen, and it's almost it's only under thirty thousand, if you lossed all the people, you lossed from independence, first World WAR minus the civil war in an afternoon with slow down manifest destiny at all. How much? If the United States,

into a Gawlik kingdom on the other side, the western side of the Mississippi early on, and they inflicted a thirty, thousand death afternoon on the United States. What's the ramifications of that who knows but remember the Romans have no guns. They have no cannon there on this hill trying to deal with these people that are going to smash into them. Caesar's running from unit to unit trying to help it's the most critical point of his career. So far, he dies here, which is very, very possible. Does the Roman Republic fall the empire River start, I mean the dominoes start tumbling. If there's no caesar you know end this afternoon,. And remember Caesar is going to maximize his chances of becoming a casualty by continually in a running over to whichever part of battle line, if you can even call it something as organized as that which

part is the most threatened we're in the nine one. One call is he's going to go there. We The bell gay, when the Nervii I managed to hit his troops his troops on the after able to get off. He says a throw of their Pella that the heavy javelin and then charged The hill at this one group of Celts or Bell Gay, they will be chase them down the hill chase them over the river. The warriors will then regroup and charge the Romans again only to be beaten by the left wing of the Romans again and that left will start advancing up the hill. George, where the celtic camp is. Caesars Center, will also weather the storm and managed to do something similar by beating in hand to hand combat the warriors that they run into to their front and will also advance now the price MRS with the left in the centre. Advancing you end up with an open,

face the roman right wing no longer has any protection there uncovered on the flank. You might say and Caesar is a giant group of these nerve VI. Tribesmen With the commander in, like a giant hammerhead column, push through this gap and then once they're past this point. Some of them turn around and begin smash into the flank of Caesar's. Right hand units some of them go straight on ahead toward the roman camp, with thoughts of looting and burning and pillaging. So Caesars right hand, legions are now in trouble. He runs over to them to try to help. Meanwhile, when the celtic forces the Bell Gay Forces break into Caesar's camp and start looting, the people that see that I think, the battles over Caesars his cavalry in and light troops that that it been brushed aside like in

x and beaten so badly when this first starts just now we really struggling into camp. They look up and they see the very people who beat the hell out of them running rampant through Caesar's camp, and they go that's that and they run away all civilian and your average Joe camp followers run in fear. We're told even that Caesar is very tough, supposedly celtic Allied cavalry sees the Bell Gay running rampant through the roman camp and figures done too, so they turn around and go home. In other words, you know, there's bad situation is getting worse by the moment, so he runs over to the right flank, where these it's are in desperate trouble and basically portray Is the situation as dire and collapse of the right flank as imminent? Is there a Caesar describes the difficulties on the right flank this from

Yes, a Hanford translation and remember when Caesar writes Caesar he's talking about himself in the third person quote after Singh, the Tenth Legion Caesar had gone to the right wing where you found troops in difficulties. The cohorts of Legion were packed together so closely that the men were in one another's way and could not fight properly. All the centurions of the fourth cohort, as well as the standard bearer, were killed, standard was lossed, nearly all the centurions of the other cohorts were either killed or Woon did include, chief centurion probably is Steve's Baculus, a man of very great courage who was so disabled by a number of severe wounds that he could no longer stand The men's movements were slow and some in the rear feeling themselves abandoned, were retiring from the fight and trying to get out of range. Meanwhile, the enemy maintained, unceasing pressure up the hill in front and we're all closing in on both flanks,

situation, was critical and no reserves were available, Caesars to shield from a soldier in the rear. He had his own shield with him made his way into the front line addressed each century and by name and shouted encouragement to the rest of the troops, ordering them to push forward and open out their rank so that they could use their swords more easily, coming gave them fresh heart and hope. Which man wanted to do is best under the eyes of his commander. In chief, however, desperate the pair and the enemies assault was slowed down. A little end quote, but, Legion next door to that was having even worse trouble, so Caesar ran over there. The commanders of that forced to put his soldiers into a square so that they couldn't be outflanked an attack from the rear anymore and that stabilized that situation historian. Adrian Goldsworthy writes about this moment.

Saying that Caesar had stabilized the situation on the right flank, but the collapse was still imminent. It was just a matter of time. The celtic force was battering these Romans down, but two things happened that it having the same effect on this battle, as the Romans Having a third reserve line has done in the previous, battles. Remember they don't have a reserve line here, because they don't have a line. They're not deployed, but when happening, is those Romans that had been Victor, initially on the left and gone and capture the barbarian camp on the opposite hill. We're now able look down and see the problem that Caesar was facing, so they began to come down the hill to renew the fight themselves. Plus the legions. In the very end of the column, the tale of the snake have finally gotten to the top of the hill and look down and see what's going on, and they now

into the fray. So even though Caesar wasn't able to create the traditional roman third line, the reserve line to throw in you know when everything was hell in a handbasket the circumstance. His had, in effect created one and the they came down after capturing the celtic camp and the ones that in the rear of the baggage train, turn the tide of the battle and remember he's Bell, gay, these nerve vii and related tribes had sold their soul. For that initial, they were like blown horses. As we said, the arrival of fresh Bruce is the worst thing that could have happened to them, but Caesar says they were tough. They were ferocious, they would not give in even when he had them. Basically, you know compressed into a disordered mob, and he was he was killing them all with missile weapons. To that d didn't even have to risk his troops. He's did the warriors stood on top of the corpses of their friends, pulled the spears

of the enemy out of their shields or caught them in the air and turned around and threw them back. You know yelling defiant each of the Romans, even as they know how the afternoon turn out a ferocious or your enemy allowing themselves to be absolutely decimated rather than running away once again, let's remember Caesar, has every interest in portraying them to be incredibly nasty and brave as possible. Nonetheless, maybe they were Caesar says that, after the battle, the families that had taken shelter in the deep dark, woods or swamps came out sort of begging, his clemency, which Caesar gives and was known for giving plenty of times. Let's point that out and be fair to him, It was part of his act, a little bit part of his schtick part of in his Janice, a qua sometimes I'll. Let you live, but he did

Also says, though, they gave him a rundown of what they suffered in the battle, and he says that they told him out of sixty thousand fighting men. They only had five hundred left who could carry arms now that doesn't tell you if those people are all dead or if they are incapacitated from wounds likely a combination of both, but we have no idea what the breakdown is. Then they also point out that Caesar has destroyed their leader. In this bottle. They say out of six hundred and the different translations say different things. One says senators and others as counselors under this is magistrates, but out of six hundred of these leading figures in the tribe, these survive, Tell Caesar only three are alive, so, for all intents and purposes he has destroyed this tribe and he did it in battle and that's going make a crucial difference soon. Now, there's one little bit of leftover business, though that Caesar accomplishes right at the end of this battle, one of the tribe,

it was coming to help the Nervii I never made it to the battlefield found out results turned around and went home, but that does get you out of trouble with Caesar who follows them back home. He has a very confusing incident involving you know. The deal of the surrender that maybe were missing are rooted nonetheless, bad, it happens so Caesar eventually had to storm the town kill a lot of people. He says he sold fifty three thousand people from the population into slavery. Points out that he sold 'em all in one lot: roman version of storage wars or something, and how much for this entire city of slaves? Hey. You got fifty three thousand at a bargain rice and the slaves. Now, let's recall something: this is money. Teaching. You sell the slaves, you make money, it's one of the things that comprise booty money stuff. You know whatever you can take and sell, or whatever

you can take for yourself. Sometimes Caesar would gift slaves who weren't Dave's five minutes ago. Let's point that out to his soldiers, each one gets a That is a nice little Christmas bonus If you are a roman soldier or any soldier, and a couple of historians say, but no one knows because it's not like. We have a financial statement on how Caesars doing each year, but you stop Hearing about Caesars, terrible financial crunches now and he's he's seen distributing money more he's allegedly paying his troops more than the going rate and he sharing the winnings with them, which is pretty normal. But if you're doing really well the win can be really good and, as a side note all of you who know the roman story understand this there's a process underway here that will play You know mightily into the destruction of the Roman Republic very soon, and that's the allegiance

of this army? Not necessarily being one hundred percent entirely to the Senate and people of Rome. But increasingly more and more to this man, Julius Caesar and he's far from the only roman general, this is happening to his. Fellow members of the triumvirate are getting into similar situations when allegiance of the troops, because how they're doing in life is so dependent on that single figure at the head of their particular army when they're region shifts from the state to a single individual. You can see how the recipe for disaster is just well the chain. Action has already started right. Rome's problems go deep into the distance, but that's a key component that has to happen and what I always tell people that think they see. Parallels with the United States today and the Roman Republic Yes, there's there are some but you're missing that key component and it's important We don't have armies that are beholden to single in a military

visuals more than they are the state in. Recently is this army and Caesar Bond together and share the fruits of their labors. They are so the Weather Caesars in debt anymore seems to be that he probably isn't, and in fact this business venture, gall is working out pretty well. Indeed, Caesar says after this little battle with the Bell Gay, he sends him Richter, oh man, and he says- and let me point out not for the last time in his commentary golf is pacified. Now. Let me stop for a minute, because if you say not, for the last time, gall really pass ified, because, again you have to wonder what Caesars doing here. He may have had a whole lot of reasons for going back to Rome at this time period and telling them hey the war is over and we won. You can see some eyes are going, listen Caesar. You have no idea what it's like on the ground in Rome right now we're trying to get these people

to the Senate, it would really help if the timing were good, and you said we wouldn't ingall right, I mean I guess. What I'm saying is. I trust these are in his intelligence, both his mental intelligence in his reconnaissance enough. To think that, I doubt whether he goal really was pacify because let's look at what just happened here in two campaign season, so less than two years Caesar conquered a place size, Texas, Plutarch, says three hundred tribes really and you expected to stay subdued? Well, if he did expect that he was wrong and if he didn't well, there must have been another reason for telling the people back in Rome that the war was over seas are in a rare obvious rag in the commentaries points out that when the Romans heard that Caesar had just Uninstall. They proclaimed fifteen days of thanksgiving in the capital which these are points out.

Is a longer amount of time than anyone before him had ever had a thanksgiving declared in their honor? So maybe that accounts for it right there. Let's, from or why Caesars Ingall doing all this? To begin with, because of how it's looking back home fifteen days of Thanksgiving an unprecedented amount that makes it all worth it right there doesn't. It depends on what your goals are. Of course,. Now. The other thing that needs to be pointed out here is how victory has a way of forgiving everything, because There is an undercurrent in Rome amongst prominent individuals, admittedly prominent individuals that don't like Caesar anyway and would find something to get him with if they could anywhere, but the was Caesar's doing grossly illegal on many fronts he's raised legions of

own pocketbook. In without permission, his moments in Rome have pointed out things that done during this campaign that violations of roman honor and one or two of them will suggest. Maybe he should be handed over to former roman enemies. As a will look this way the Romans have done that before, where some roman general on the ground made a deal with another city back the roman Senate, repudiated the deal the general back to the former opponents in chains left about sort of in front of the front gate and said sorry. He could make a deal like that. That's against roman honor, but since he did here, you can have them do with him. What you want. There are people, you know the Cato camp that were maybe suggesting that Caesar deserve treatment like that, but very few people were listening. You know why 'cause, the guy, just hunkered, an area larger all of ITALY itself into campaign seasons, you can hear the

crowd going in Rome, Rome role number one I mean come on when in human history have the populace not celebrated unbelievable victory. It's almost weird to imagine the general public ever doing the opposite. So what it took for you get these victories legal or illegal totally overshadowed by the result. The Maybe an illusion. Now. Caesar says that after he's done here, he goes and starts to look at the next big venture. He's going to do is he's finally going to go into Elyria around where, in the modern age he is he's. Gonna start congressman tribes there, which had been a plan of his all along, but now the goal is pacified. He can, you know, put some time into it. He says, while he's there gall erupts back into war, it happened so fast. You can't help, but- if it was ever pass ified at all and there some theories floated in a bunch of books. I've read lately, which I think is fascinating and I'm going to run it past you

it, would make a lot of sense winded and it's the idea That may be the reason. Ghaul almost immediately erupts into trouble after Caesar says it specified. Is that may they didn't fully understand what they were agreeing to when they say they were going to submit to Rome. In other words, Rome is treating them as though they have signed a contract, and if you break the contract, the vacations are in a mafia style. Well in nature, so don't break the contract and maybe like a bunch of native Americans who are expected to like a lawyer, this treaty, and yet they can hardly write their names in man's language maybe celtic leaders were essentially taken for a ride. Their barbarian lawyer is not as good as the roman ones and maybe as soon they started living under the real terms of the deal. Maybe it was a little different than they thought, and one of these historians had a great line. He said these tribes were accustomed to making themselves clients of other barbarian peoples. Very well may have treated them in a much more less

a fair hands off kind of fashion that might have been their idea of a client in their world. But now the Romans were coming in and these are going to send the sensor vehars to your property. Let's see where the property line is here, we're going to settle some former soldier veterans on part of your property are going to take your son into the army and oh yeah. A taxes are going up this year and we need extra week 'cause the army starving, I mean whatever it might be. The golik people are chafing at what it's like to be a Roman. But now I think we get to the crux question that we started this talk out with you know. What would you be willing to sacrifice everything for you're. Chafing is another word I just used if you're chafing from roman domination at what point is that a bad enough for you to risk. Having the Romans come back, teach you in some sort of field battle kill you know what do we say or kill. You kill your sons, rape, your wife, send your daughters off to slavery, destroy mean at what point is

having bad enough to earn that you begin to get into this question of human motivations. What is it that's worth risking that kind of herbal outcome for Caesar says it's liberty and freedom and ended pendants and that's weird, not because those are weird motivations, but because she's Is the guy who's going to stamp out these people? And once again he's giving them aspiration's that we can sort of relate to that make them. Some that he carried used to us in the same way. He's put the voice of an almost war crimes prosecutor in the mouth of his german opponent, ARI, This he's going to put in the words of people like Pat trick, Henry give me liberty or give me death and all those kinds of people into the mouths of these Golic opponents whose, Rudy. He is smashing.

It's fascinating and again it's very complicated. I don't fully understand it. I enjoyed Andrew an Rigsby's book, as I said, on the on the whole analysis, but No consensus exists: they just analyze the three dimensional chess game, Caesars playing and, of course, first question: we all ask right is if Caesar says that these people are fighting for liberty and freedom and when he puts words into their speeches, and they talk about liberty and freedom. What the heck do? People barbarian people? two thousand years ago mean when they say that or if Caesars putting those words into their mouth and their caesars words. Caesar mean for it to mean, but according to Andrew Rigsby, it's just you think it means, maybe only more so he it's the word and then gives you the latin word Caesar actually use. He says quote freedom live task, wasn't even more politically charged term for the Romans than it is generally today, for it is deeply rooted in the pervasive social institution of slavery, despite the men

and varied situations to which it was applied. Libertus remain a powerful slogan because of its unambiguously positive primary sense. Conversely, slavery, server, recall the degradation of slaves seen daily in a society which, as we have already noted personal Kennedy was a fighting matter. End quote: in other words, you know users basically giving an excuse. These rebellions galls the heat is right away. Right is, is a question of freedom versus slavery, implying that Romans understand that it would never settle to be slaves and that we today, look at and go well. I can fully see what the goals are about, because I'd be on their side to it's a very interesting, and it says a lot about the tenor of the times in the audience. He was writing for. He could position full story this way and still expect

you to cheer on his victories when he crushes these freedom, loving galls right. If that's really what they were and just with story of revolution by the way for every sound you hear of the Gauls trying to preserve their own liberty and freedom in a very high minded, Patrick Henry Sense, you will read the accounts that get much more gritty and Reid, much more base values to the people who are doing these things. You know this particular run by this aristocrat once more power within his try, but roman domination it's his ambitions, so he's wanting revolution or other tribe who used to collect, the tolls on this river before the Romans took over, but now they favor the rival tribe, and so you receipts are down from the river tolls, so we're going to the ones who are just plain fickle

I'm tired of living under the same set of rules for a significant period time seizures says that the Gauls all have a bunch of men who just delight in the change of governments and they get bored easily and so they're easily roused to some sort of change. For changes sake. So who knows what? The actual reasons are? The bottom line, though, is Cesar, barely gets to enjoy the winter off before he's back All recently, pacified gall has exploded into problems three or four month after Caesar declares mission accomplished. There's a brain of historians who think this is all part of the plan Cesar doesn't want to His command, remember: he'd, be vulnerable in Rome plus, there's still places to conquer money, to be made reasons to stay armies to keep assembled and in your hands. But a pattern is going to emerge for the next couple of years: It's a pattern. Actually, that's not that dissimilar

other roman conquest of celtic peoples in other parts of Europe before this time. The pattern is, Charismatic leaders emerge who can, each to unite at least local grouping of tribes into larger confederacies, who then challenge the Romans by rebelling against them? Well, Romans will respond with extreme violence. It's actually very just in case study for modern people in if you're, interested in military affairs and guerrilla warfare and civil wars and things like that to watch how Caesar approaches in the rooms during this period approach how you quell domestic resistance in population because when I was growing up in the wake Vietnam war. There was so much talk about. If you'd only fought the Vietnam WAR, with the gloves off was the phrase used to take away these modern cultural

inhibitions that tell you you know, you can't do this and you can't do that. You you go in there and you really just are ruthless and you'll change the battlefield seen overnight. To? The Romans are an example of that in later Roman history, they will be very good at the game of the carrot. Stick in a learn how to bribe tribes and when it's better, to spend money than to beat people over the head with a stick in it's period, they're much more in the beat the other people over the head with a stick mode and Caesar will go back to Gaul. And spend the next several years. Truly pacifying it, the math is this user will use, though, to quell this resistance are rough when the first people he'll deal with, and it's a confederacy of peoples on the Atlantic Seaboard in fifty six BC e he will defeat, he has to build a fleet to do it. The Romans are crazy, good that way defeats the seafaring people.

And because in Caesars mind all of this area is already been pacify. We're now dealing with rebellions. This isn't a contest of you know. Choose on the battlefield may the best man win, then you'll probably get clemency afterwards. This is your belling against the authority of the state. You are a bad example for other people. We need to keep down. So we have to make an example of you and, on the main, tribe, called the venetie or sometimes Vinny D season. Killed their entire leadership. Beheaded them sold the population into slavery,. He will deal with german incursion again or so he says, Fifty five BCE so, he launches is what you might call a four ray a raid, a punitive Expedition into Germany.

Meanwhile manages to have another battle against a german tribe. This is the incident by the way that some of the Cato crowd back in Rome suggested that Caesar, maybe should be handed over to his german enemies in chains, because, he did, and he admitted freely in his commentaries. Is this leadership of this german tribe sounds like a large number of people showed up Caesar maybe to negotiate they thought was a surrender, and instead grab them and hold them and send his army out to attack the now leaderless and unexpecting german tribe and the numbers that die here? Are crazy, unbelievable and crazy? I mean Plutarch says wait for it. Four hundred thousand german tribes people died and Caesar himself in the writing. Talks about a moment in the fighting, where there's just

crowds of women and children and what do he sends his cavalry too, and this is a quote from the Hammond translation hunt them down. So perhaps we're moving from one potential Un War Crimes Tribunal set of charges when we're talking about free and understood warfare and a contest of arms and something like this. The most amazing things easier. Does we have to point out the wild factor? Don't we is that he will build a bridge, over the Rhine River right, no small river that he will do it ten days- and I mean it involves cranes and pylons and rams to put pillars into the riverbed. It's incredibly.

Tribes common submit to him simply because they've seen him build this. He said had to build it, because boats did not seem like a good way to cross the river, and he wasn't sure it was in keeping with human dignity? He said. So you spend ten days and you build a trestle bridge. The Romans crossed the bridge, burn, lots of villages in a killed. Quite a bit of people These raids took eighteen days comes back over the Rhine on the bridge they build, and then they destroy the bridge. It's generally assumed that Caesar was trying to send a message. The messages, at least one is clear, and that's that we can over this river anytime. We wanted it snow berryer at all, don't pretend like you're, safe, the one, which is what some historians have also said, that it was also Cesar's way of saying and by this is the border you come over here expect response not from these garlic peoples whom you've come to expect you beat in battle, but against us that

just lossed yet another battle, two, how many dead four hundred thousand Caesar said there were four hundred and thirty thousand people there. Any talks about great numbers of them dying. Even Michael Grant says the numbers may be exaggerated, but maybe not that much. What do you do with Caesar's death ledger there? It just went up by a lot, didn't it and if you Eve, Kato and segment of the Romans. It wasn't some that had to happen Caesar prompted it maybe wanted it. After this defeat of the men's late in the campaign season, ready should probably pack it in. After that big german thing. Now he takes a fleet and crosses the English Channel and goes where no Mediterranean Army has ever gone before the. The misty on legendary in Mediterranean circles, island of Britain, lands there talks about the

is being in chariots and painting themselves. Blue and Caesar has a battle, and of course it's you know near run thing because of all kinds of problems, but of course he wins are the fleet on gets destroyed by a storm there or howls of protests among his contemporary political opponents and, let's be honest, arm chair generals ever since going what the heck are. You doing, What does this have to do with anything? How do you justify this, and yet the publicity is out Just really good earlier, we said he's leading this expedition like a heavily armed Lewis and Clark Exploration team will G just land but in Britain and the people back home can't stop talking about it all those people that keep talking about exceeding his wartime authority. And what have you you know? One can hardly make themselves heard, above all of the in a positive comments. By the way, little side note here, the debate,

is ongoing. Whether or not these people in the british Isles during this period should be classified as Celtic or not and again we're not talking in terms of ethnicity as much as in culture. It's a little confusing 'cause Caesar says one of these tribes lived on the now french side of the English channel did some migrating over. So when Caesar goes Britain and describes people that sure sound Celtic. They sound a lot like the people we've been talking about in terms of their dress in their styles and they're there it's huge in their religion and what not you don't know whether or not he's running into that one tribe or whether or not the people all through the rest of what I need. They all have celtic names I mean again, I'm not qualified the way into this. On going to be Apparently Caesar doesn't refer to them, specifically as Celts and in the end world: they used a different name for them and I'm going Is my Barry Cunliffe get of the jail free card and say that account is anyone who considers themselves to be celtic? I don't know. Now Caesar's obviously created a problem

hard one to imagine happening either when he takes a big chunk of his army. From which now modern Day France and takes it over into Britain, because that means it's no longer in what's now modern day, France, you can already feel two thousand plus years later sort of the rumblings going on right. If Caesars not actively here, you know the cauldron starts bubbling again. The next fifty four BCE Caesar seizure, launch is a much better prepared and significant. That raid was what the earlier expedition to Britain probably was. This is more like an a recount enforcer, a minor invasion. He lands their defeat. Some major british tribe, here's sort of I mean if you're following Caesar's story and Caesar's narrative thrust, entire narrative, we said: there's been this fifth column entity in Ingall itself,

who are in these tribes, certainly in the less friendly tribes, but even in Rome's greatest allies who don't like the Romans and so Caesar. When he's going to go back to Britain for the second time realizes you know he's leaving all these troublemakers backing go. Also in a very ancient typical roman thing. He asked for them to come to an honored guest would probably be the way the invitation said. But hostages is the way you would call it today, hostages, Good behavior we're going to take the troublemakers with us, there's a whole bunch of famous troublemakers in roman celtic history, these people that are like the Geronimo's of Celtic? distance and in this case one of 'em. You know not that I expect everyone to remember. You know that

magician Gandalf Dumbledore religious leader, druid guy, we talked about earlier. He was sort of the reason. This whole thing happened, though, if you believe the official narrative to fictitious, by the way, you will also see differ Kaiaka's and Debbie. She Ocas, but we're going to go with this well difficult. This is sort of a roman friend, but he's got a brother think of two heads of the same coin and his brother, This tribe that are Rome's greatest friends in the region is anti Roman and his druid brothers been covering for him all this time and Caesar says he's been nice about the whole thing, because he he appreciates this druid and like him and needs. His supporting his tribe is very important. But this is one of the guys, his do nor x one guys Caesar wants to take with him to the british Isles so that he's not causing trouble when Caesars away just, do narcs character, decides that this at least once again, Caesar Caesar says, do Norrix things Caesars going to take. He

and all the other troublemakers across the english channel and kill them there away from the prying eyes of his own people, able to come back and make any old excuse. Why they're not with him anymore and if do nori, doesn't believe this himself. Caesars he's going to all these other tribal leaders and saying you know, don't go with Caesar to Brittany is going to Was there see, then It's about many excuses that this do noric making of of the sort that you know. I get seasick and I can't go with you for all these other reasons. Caesar says. Finally, when you see Corners in the guy bolts basically showing his true colors. Caesar would basically have you understand, he's just uncovered an in this conspiracy. He said men to go, bring this guy back dead or alive. They bring him back dead, and this guy become. Just one of many troublemakers that Caesar begins to go app, Now is his way of shutting down this call. It resistance right, get rid of the the leaders

the resistance, because you some of these tribes have large numbers of people that are of a different political opinion than what the majority eventually gets. I mean one of these battles that Caesars facing he'll face a tribe that has reportedly build all their senators, who disagreed with the idea of rebellions of when we were saying what are you willing to die for? What are you willing to lose everything for there might be, agreement in your community about that was one of these tribes killed all the senators that had a no vote on rebellion and went. You know I had to go meet their fade against the Romans, the troublemaker that Caesar had instructed be brought back to him dead or alive that Doom Norrix guy. He represents an example of a counter faction in opposition party. If you will in his own tribe, and he must have been charismatic and he must have been

dangerous in the roman eyes- and he just becomes the latest victim in the roman standard policy of how you deal with these troublemakers everywhere you encounter them it's a sort of. If you will very mafia, like uh switch to the situation, but it's hard to argue about its efficacy when faced with careers, Matic, try guerrilla leaders. If you will kill them, when you can, the Romans had done this. Many directly or indirectly, I believe earlier, we mentioned one national heroes of the people, Portugal, now when they were in their ancient version and he's one of these people that you know let a opposition to Roman. They managed to get him assassinated, I believe by his own people. I believe there was a bribe of paid assassination, in another case, The Romans ran into one of these leaders, and this is in this conflict that

as charismatic that they wanted to get and during a cavalry bad the Roman. This is from Caesar by the way the roman leader on the site had instructed Calvary remember. This is at least hundreds of men against hundreds of men, and maybe thousands of men against thousands of men that, when go out there on the field for this large cavalry battle, don't pay attention to any of the other people in front of you go after that, one guy and all I could think about was imagine being you know that guy you're on the field, with your hundreds and hundreds of cohorts, thinking we're going to take on their big formation and everyone in their formation is, after you personally. Needless to say, they brought his head back to the roman commander mission accomplished there. And another influential, maybe irreplaceable leader of the Celtic

position is no more right out of the roman playbook and then in fifty four BCE you one of the pretty good troublemakers right at these, are all sparks. This is a pretty good spark. His name is Ambiorix. He was one of several important people in a revolt he's a national hero of Belgium now and he fit this template of a of a charisma, attic. Celtic figure who could United Bunch of tribes together to oppose the Romans, he's a particular successful one of these rebels in that he manage is, by hook or by crook, to kill a bunch of Romans. I think it's, like fifteen cohorts, legion and five cohorts, something like that. He gets out there and Vinces them to leave the safety of their fort ambushes them when they're marching through some deep, backwoods, no doubt and the

one would be in trouble all the time during the winter when they would break up to the various areas they had to patrol and keep safe in these forts, and it becomes like four to patch. And any time a rebellion happens. You know these isolated Legion or two of Romans will find themselves deep in indian country, surrounded by angry natives and time and again, this becomes part of the narrative but when Caesar will go back and rescue all these people or avenged them a lot more of the garlic folks die, and you again have to ask yourself You know. What's going on here, and what do you form in terms of an opinion of what or not. It is a good idea if you are a follower, of Ambiorix, for example, to rebel against Romans. 'cause on one hand, how could anybody you didn't have a good enough, because when you're talking about your freedom and your independence right your liberty, your political liberty, the you have your own people whatever it is, those are pretty high minded causes

but, if you're in the meeting amongst your peers in your countrymen and you're, having this discussion of, do we rebel or don't we I mean? Are you ok, Howard. If you stand up and say, listen, we have very little chance of actually succeeding here and, if We failed. There's a hundred percent chance we're going to lose everything that matters to Us including the liberty that you're worried about now. Maybe we shouldn't do this. Those are the kind of choices as the old. Those that try men's souls right Give an example of what it might mean in practice. Take a look at what happened to this and be our x character right. This latest spark a guy who, when he destroyed these roman legions in the deep dark woods on the march, in a Caesar made. It out to be like a Custer's allow stand situation with the officers in the men who were left over commit suicide because they're, just they're trapped by the native surrounded. I mean it's, it's a harrowing

we'll story and Caesar launches recrimination, certain commanders, I mean it's a stain, and so the bad guy, well, probably hero in the garlic. As with the bad guy, the Roman story and brx is going to be pursued as if to the ends of the earth and Caesar has this ongoing attempt to track Downey finally has in getting away and riding off into the sunset would like only four bodyguards. His is the only amount of people he would trust his life to. Of course, it's a good end of the movie is not I mean the the Geronimo figure here from the roman point of you gets away lives to another day off into the sunset. Whatever button for Please whole tribe can't do that and Caesar will wipe them out of existence. Well, that's the way he Is it anyway? Historians are not sure if that was really what happened. It's pretty fair say, though, that Caesar treats this tribe, the tribe, the Damn your ex was a leading figure in as hard

or more harshly than any other entity. Caesar punished in his career. And so you might think to yourself. Okay, now that these people have seen what almost everything is, the Romans after this, we will start going after celtic cultural things that they think are inciting revolt or bringing tribe together. We mentioned druids earlier, there's a pan, tribal nature to these druids, maybe where they come together from multiple tribes. In meetings to debate, things in it at certain points. After this period, the Romans will think that the druids are sort of a hotbed of resistance and target them Romans could be very accommodating to your local traditions as long as you didn't mess with them. If you cause trouble, and they decided that these local traditions had something to do with it. Goodbye local traditions So this is where some who will say Maybe we're not talking about an act.

Will genocide here as much as we're talking about a cultural genocide may have a point there. As we said before this genocide question is somewhat clouded by the fact that the people in this story- have a choice, unlike those involved in the Second World WAR, Holocaust right, the choices submit and stay quiet or die. How does having a choice like that make this sort of a Holocaust, if, indeed, that's the proper term for the celtic Holocaust? How does having choice, make it different 'cause. It obviously does from something like what the victims of the Second World WAR Holocaust went through. I would also be remiss if I didn't at least point out this idea of choice may have been in illusion for most of the people in this story. Caesar self said, and I don't know how well we can believe him that there were

the only three classes to use a modern term in the garlic society. You had the nights, you know basically the heiress Accuracy and the nobility you had the Druids and then you not everyone else. He said everyone else is basically a slave. Now this is probably roman hyperbole and and misinformation and whatnot archaeologists like berry, Cunliffe and John Collins will point out that there's a lot more new to something like that. Then Caesar points out, but his point might be taken how many people, if you give the choice of you, know just acquiesce to roman conquest and submit everything will be fine, but if you don't you're all going to die and be sold into slavery. How many people get to make that choice in that garlic, society How many people are in on decision? I would submit that it's probably likely and common sense that most of the people,

the situation or simply caught up in the gears of history like most people in any other period. Sometimes it seems like we're all just along for the historical ride. Doesn't it in this case Caesar will spend the entire campaign season, the fifty three b c e s, chile, punishing punitive expeditions, finishing off battles, small things as intermingled with, as he campaigns the entire campaign season in, but he doesn't fight a major battle. What's he doing pacifying and it's ugly brutal business on the ground and don't have details, but Goldsworthy has an interesting line where he says that the archaeological record has shown that the quantities old and other precious materials found insights, this area after this time in Gol plummet. He says quote,

overall, the archaeological record, shows a market decline in the quality and quantity of material culture and suggest that region did not recover for at least a generation end quote so quelling the spirit of the population to resist that's an age old, counterinsurgency strategy, You don't just go after the rank and file, though the people you go. After their leadership, as we said and seizure determined that this one, it seems highly respected, figure it's hard to draw any other conclusion. Consider his demise, create and in terms of resentment, but seizure determines that this Golic leader named echo or echo, is in part launchable or was somehow involved in this resistance may be secretly supplying them with Bing would have you in Caesar decides he must die, and so he has him flogged to death whipped to death. As of the bull, you think of a bull whip and elect

record, hitting you until you die and then Caesar had his head cut off, which is an extra twist of the knife. Given the religious, reverence the garlic people in the celtic people have for the head and then Caesar gets swept back into the mail, of roman politics, because all of a sudden, you know if the roman ship of state has been foundering for a long time and taking on water all sudden in this year, the ship just goes write down in the bow, the stern of it sticks straight up in the air and all of a sudden. It's teetering and Caesar, of course, because this entire life of his revolves around roman politics and how he's doing it it gets drawn back the situation, there's riots, there's killings, the Senate houses burned down, and the garlic celtic people here of this, and they think maybe Caesars not coming back

The same time. They're upset about this nobleman being whipped to death. There upset about the Pasifik and there's a whole bunch of tribes. Adrian Goldsworthy reminds me that are some of the most powerful tribes in Gaul. Some of the most of headed to the ones who have the most contact with Rome, which is why most of them are roman friends, which is why, up until this time, they haven't really participated in the golf is they're on the roman side starting to realize, but the roman side is going to control all of the some point, you may be a more favorite tribe under roman domination, but you're still under roman domination, Goldsworthy great job explaining the situation he writes quote Caesars understanding and manipulation of tribal politics was generally good, but over the winter of fifty three fifty two BC, his policy failed badly There were a number of reasons for this failure, but at its root

growing sense of the extent to which his presence had changed things. This especially true of the Celtic Golic peoples of central and southern Gaul. One of the broad groups into which Caesar's commentaries divided quote and quote the whole of gall this tribe had not yet fought against Caesar to any meaningful degree, although it was in their lands that the campaigns against the hell VD and are your business, had been waged dominating the trade routes with the roman world tribes the easy we sequani and arverni Verney were wealthy, and more politically sophisticated than the peoples to the north. They had did Caesar and he in turn had favored the tribes and leaders most sympathetic to him and he had fought- or at least so. He on their behalf against the hell vdare of this. This now over the course the next year, virtue, all of them would turn against him. This was not simply a you have rebellion by those who had not received the pro councils favor and had,

his rivals were elevated above them. The rebels eventually included many chieftains who had done rather well under roman domination. That was at the part of this new mood, the realization that Caesar in his legions were in gall to stay and would not be turning to the confines of the Trans Alpine Province. After a few swift campaigns, Rome now expect power to be acknowledged on a permanent basis throughout gall the allies had. I'm the conqueror without are facing serious resistance from the celtic peoples. End quote: well, of course they and fey series resistance, 'cause Caesar had been practicing the divide and conquer strategy on them. He'd been using these powerful tribes that were friendly to Rome, against the powerful tribes that weren't now the ones that are friendly to Rome realized that it doesn't matter which side you a lie with your going to you living under roman control, either way, and it makes them receptive to the idea

Is that come forward once it's clear that the political problems in Rome may Rap Caesar. There well Legions are wintering in Gaul. What, if all Gaul could unite again easier, especially while he was away. Think of how crazy the movie idea would be if some screenwriter hello to treatment based on the idea that all the north american tribes unite together in a common f militarily speaking, to defeat the european colonists on the eastern seaboard. In I don't know, one thousand six hundred and fifty will say. They would have, of course, had to have conducted their own native american version of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. So those eastern tribes could trek across North America and find out that there's a West coast and natives living there, rope them into the defense arrangement, and then at some point you could you can have this big fat

stuff between all the native tribes in North America, against the Motiv newcomer Europeans. It's too crazy to imagine, though, is that you would be able to suspend disbelief. The premise is too far fetched, but that's what happens in That's why it's such a rare moment, the divide and conquer strategy, all of a sudden fails all at once, and these tribal people realize their predicament at the Time and are able to drop their age old animosities and decide to other than it's now or never. Maintain our freedom, even our freedom to fight each other for tribe supremacy down the road we're going to have to unite now and defeat. This threat it's too late, and it might already be too late, but this opportune,

Cesar Caesar getting rolled back into the politics of Rome opens up the door. Caesar says that there's a lot of other grievances coming to a head all at the same time, including Caesars execution of that nobleman, echo or echo that he had whipped to death, and he says that these Golic tribes come together. It makes him sound like the leaderships come together in the deep dark woods, archaeologist, Barry Cunliffe suggested would not be range. To think of the druids, be the ones who sort of officiated an event like this, both for sacred reasons, but also because they're sort of the diplomats in the Penn National Sanctifier, these tribes, I mean they would have been the respected people to act as the referees and judge. Arbitrators in a case like this. There are stories by the way of druids stopping in a change to the middle of a battlefield between

the lines of two army's about to clash and stopping the conflict. So these are people with huge amounts of moral authority and Cunliffe suggestion that, for such a sacred important situation is this conspiracy in the groves as Caesar portrays. It would not be beyond the pale and, in fact can sit, with these tribes are pledging to do. You would want to have a signed contract in blood. You'd want to have the druids officiating you'd want to have a lot of witnesses, and if you know the republics, because the the challenge here, is that now everyone is aware, with the stakes are and everyone knows now that if they rebel they're going to get the treatment that these tribes had everybody wiped out, have faced every, understands that the to fight back now is to wager everything once again in the genesis of this story. Ground zero is Caesar himself. I would love to know It's even true how he found out about it, but he gives an account of this

tribal meeting in the deep dark woods. My Tom homes, translation of Caesar, which dates back to the early 1900s and is a has some fabulous different words in it. Then most of the more modern ones I mean instead of saying gaules pass ified over and over. He uses the tranquillized, which gives it a different sort of feel, so he picks up story, where Caesar's back in Rome dealing with all the political trouble and the celtic people in golf about that political trouble, which then prompts this meeting in the woods. Here's how my homes, translation of Caesar, has it picking up right after Caesar talked about all those problems in Rome, keeping him their quote the news of these events speedily made its way to Tranzalpine gall the Gauls amp find an embellished. The story, as the facts seem to warrant spreading rumors. That Caesar was detained by the disturbances in the capital and that, while these fears conflicts were raging. He could not rejoin his army.

Attunity stimulated the Gauls stimulated. I love that steam I did the goals they were already smarting. That's another good they were already smarting under their subjugation to the roman people, and they now began unreservedly and boldly to form projects for war. The leading men of gall mutually arranged meetings in secluded woodland spots. They spoke bitterly of the death of echo. That was the man who was whipped to death by the way telling their hearers that the same fate might befall them and deploring the fortune that oppress the whole country they made promises and offered rewards of every kind to induce volunteers to strike the first blow and their lives, to restore the liberty of gall end quote. There he goes again Caesar making these people in their cause sound like the one you want to get behind right, garlic, Liberty, who would oppose that?

to Darth. Vader, do oppose that. What's sees doing and, as we said earlier, the experts disagree Caesars writing on multiple planes. Here. There's lots of spec some of it's fun. I'll. Just give you one of the ideas out there. That might again speculation might help. Explain, though, what he's been doing this whole time, we've been making the celtic side out to be somewhat admirable, but there's an idea out there that he sort of setting stage for what happens a generation or two down the road after they've conquered all these people I mean you have to. Trying to sell the idea back in Rome a little bit, don't you don't listen, don't worry, we'll incorporate gall into raw but there is Obel Bull. You know, of course, sure they run tractable and they're not house broken in their culture is substandard by roman measure, but we can fix that

Generations will turn them into good Romans, and the way you can tell is because look at how they have our same values. I mean you know if you put the phrases an concepts in the mouths of a roman character in a roman stage play the roman audience is going to cheer. In other words, sort of making the case. According to one of these theories, I read where the Gauls, are trainable, but the Germans are never going to be housebroken. Therefore, we can incorporate the Gauls down the road you know after we break him to the yoke of empire. Know teach him up right. Look at how well those goals in short, haired gall have been doing now for fifty sixty seventy years. Seventy years we could, we could make the evil into good romans- and you can tell just look at how they're spouting phrases that would make them good Romans. Today, it's sting idea, and it would explain I'm why Caesar makes their cause sympathetic. As he's crushing it.

It does sound a little bit like he misjudged how serious it was when he got word. Back in Rome, the situation was starting to mellow out a little bit back there. He says, and then he hears about these problems but, as one historian pointed out will he conquered this area? What four hundred and fifty six years ago, initially an he's had problems with it every year, headaches right sparks the way we describe well, these aren't headaches and he doesn't know it yet. This is more like a stroke and all those sparks that we've talked about earlier. Fine, fan into a general forest fire as of Gaul will go up. Basically in value, including the great friendly tribes of Rome, and it start which one of those moves that had does as a way of sort of dipping their dagger in the assassination victim and saying. Okay, I'm in it involves it's always been hostile to the Romans. That is the one. That's

as forward allegedly at this woodland conspiracy is says, will strike the first blow they go after this hill, Hillfort town of a Celtic try but that's full of roman traders and businessmen and after they take the town they secure all the Romans so essentially saying that the rest of the tree okay. We agreed to do this, we're all in there's no going back for us who's next and the some of the story is interesting because you will have the truck x, join the rebellion you usually in big chunks, but even all along the way. Some big tribal at the last moment change, sides and and so slowly, but surely the rebellion gains steam the massacre that kicks it off. That mentioned earlier. The news of that spreads like wildfire in the central Golic tribes go up in flames, except for the ones most loyal to Rome. The e we are the are the big tribes

matter here, they're the ones who initially went to Roman said we need help cuz, this Germans been brought it. I mean this is the ally of allies for the Romans in this region, so they're the ones that they worry about. That's, where the Romans get all their supply help the grain, that's where they store their hostages when they take them from other garlic tribe, it's sort of their administrative center and all these are good allies, and we can trust them well on paper, it may look that way, but remember what said earlier. These Golly tribes are not united and he Caesar says: they're split, an rife with factions, so think Democrats Publicans Tories and labour. I, whatever you want to say, write your your two side the coin, and maybe just because a tribe is taking a particular course Actually it may be, like fifty one percent of the tribe wants to do it in forty nine percent. Doesn't so sometimes it does take a whole lot of change to sort of

the scales tipped the other way and when the first big tribe of galls commits this massacre of Romans, it's on and a These tribes start to get unique as a Caesar says. That's kind of the garlic character anyway right, see, excitement happening and want to get on board by the time he realizes how bad things are he's in trouble, he's a long way from the action and he's got enemies between him and roman North ITALY now and all where the armies are so the first chapter of this story has Caesar doing amazing things. Let's be honest, he's an amazing guy and the speed of movement that he employs, for example, is crazy and his audacity he takes the great calcu. Risks Alexander, would have jumped off the cliff darkness and whatever happens happens, I'm a god right. Caesar took these calculated risk, but his audacity in his speed is continually displaying. So he manage is to get

back to his armies, his arm I managed to break out of a of an am, which one more of these tribes start going the other way, and while this is going on a figure emerges on the scene that we only really know of because of Caesar, but he's fascinating and in a way could be an egg. Sample of that beam, C idea we talked about earlier. You know how the Celts might have been caught in the Bmc, because they were in transition from a more for road, barbarian way of life to use a term from a hundred years ago. And a more roman sort of existence and that they they had sent? ilost in my court jester silly theory, the Pharaoh justness of the more barbarian tribes and not yet gained the advantages that comes with being able, and a logistics and supply and finance in organization, and all these roman things, this person that will crop up

last available moment will try to turn the celtic armies into something that can fight the Romans, because, just because you, can make a lot of garlic tribes decide to join a rebellion. And maybe grab hold of more warriors than they've ever been able to put together in one place in Gaul. You still can't feed them right. We learn that earlier in seizures conquest, these armies can't just get bigger, they have to get better and they have to be able to support bigger, better armies. So how do you do that? Well enter this amazing? character, you can pronounce his way several different ways and you can have fights over and I've always gone with. Vr can get Erix, but Versing Generix is also popular. He is the great unifier

the goal like people in the last possible moment. You know when resistance is possible. He appears on the scene as a king by the time Caesar runs into him. He came from a tribe that was pretty out of this whole Celtic Gaulic war thing at this point, the attorney that's a try by the way, that's one of those developed ones that has more of a Senate and more of an oligarchic sort of roman system, and there can breaks his dad had apparently been executed for trying to become king of these people, taking them back to an old way of government and by the way early in Rome's history when their republic was new and that they had ditched the monarchy. The crime of trying to reinstall. The monarchy was was equally harshly punished, but in this case, remember you're supposed to be burned alive. If you try to do that, so I guess, without

sang, so maybe there can get Eric's dad was burned alive for trying to become a king. When all rebellion takes place. As the story goes, I can get erix His family members, including an uncle, will sort of fight over what to do. There can get her ex will apparently be wanting to become a king maybe take on the Romans. The uncle opposes him, so very can get her ex gets thrown out of his city Caesars He goes out and using Golic Liberty and freedom as his as his rally and cry rally. All these Caesar says desperados dead enders, but you could really see them as may be patriotic, Golic warriors. Finally, to rise up. I mean it depends on the way you're viewing this. They must have been pretty decent levy intimidating because there can get a Wrex will come. Back to his home city with all these desperados and dead enders around him. Essentia Lee launching

If you will, against his home city, become the king of those people and then begin into Raleigh tribes. Together these tribes begin to see authority to him as a war leader, which is very unusual in the celtic world. Historian classicist Michael M Sage points out that there can get Erix did start this rebellion against the Romans, but he quickly came in and sort of took it over. He said embassies everywhere and formed alliances, Sage says many names. All these big important tribes that there can get a wrist begins to communicate with and say, listen the is now remember. It's only been a few years since Caesar conquered this place, so these all recently subdued peoples and they sort of understand that this is how it's going to be in less. They move at some point and there can

There is sending embassies to all these tribes saying that point is now Michael M Sage, right so that there can get Erics was chosen, the war leader of these tribes and began implementing policies that- we're very Une goal like in nature. That a Roman like Caesar could appreciate, because they're more, like roman standard sage, writes quote There can get erect was chosen as commander and please set about organizing the rebel army in accord. The standard garlic procedure he demanded and received hostages from each of his allies as pledges of good faith and issued orders to them to provide a specific number of soldiers for the allied army he enforced is, with ferocious punishments that included execution and torture. This was an extraordinary development. During his, campaigns in Gol Caesar had faced individual tribes or cold. Ins on the battlefield, perhaps the largest,

out of the bell, gain fifty seven BC. However, in these conflicts, There's no hint of any central organization among allied tribes after Caesar's initial refusal to engage the Belgic Army, the tribe simply returned home to face these are individually there. Can Rex, represents an entirely new direction and garlic resistance to the Romans for the first time there, Prominent was a centrally organized and directed Army that rep did an alliance of a number of different tribes. Creation was in part due to the extraordinary personality of air can get are x and also to the six of the roman conquest, the Gauls repo. Did failures against Caesar had to the realization that their traditional military methods were no longer adequate. The roman army in Gaul was too large to be dealt with without a collective effort. Importantly, it provided a model of a highly organized and centralized army that there can get Eric

correctly saw was the only possibility of defeating the Romans. End quote. Age goes on to point out that there can get a rich Tribe was friends with the Romans and It was not unusual for garlic nobleman, a friendly tribes to serve with the Roman, on campaign is allied Cavalry and it's possible. Although he points out, we have no evidence one way or the other that their king, Lyrics had done this once upon a time too, and maybe was quite familiar with the way. The and sought Adrian Goldsworthy even suggests the possibility that Caesar and very king gatherings knew each other personally from years before this period, which would added a completely new layer to things. Wouldn't it none the less there are some things that very can get our ex now as the Supreme Commander, the warlord of all these tribes in Gaul, with the exception of a few who are slowly but surely going to come on board, you can control some things now, with

greater authority than any garlic ruler since Cesar first arrived on the scene, but there's other things. He can't change. He can stay, ordering tribes around now. So, instead of having to beg a try if you normally your enemies with better temporarily fighting with for supplies and and and troops, and what not you can order it. So you can begin to mimic in a maybe less efficient way. Things like roman supply and working together, and One tribe to go over here in another tried to go over there as part of some larger strategy, which is a huge improvement, but you're not changing the reality on the tactical level on the ground. You're not turn your Golic warriors with their swords in their shields into roman legionaries you're, not venting centurions you're not getting.

It'll feel discipline and drill an organization at that level. So you still can't face the legions in the field and there can get a Rick seems to know this because he's going to be famous for telling the rest of the Gauls, they have to do something that runs against their nature. In terms of this heroic ethos, he tells them they're, essentially going to have a guerrilla war and they're going to have to adopt a scorched earth strategy and they're going to have to destroy their stuff and where they live, and everything in order to defeat these raw, Now we talked earlier about some of the greatest tragedies in human history being when some of the on the list that you're willing to die for become the cost of other things on the list that you're willing to die for- and this is the greatest test in the history of any garlic leader that we seen what may be anywhere in the history

x, where you are going to have members of rival tribes, making decisions that tell you. You have to burn down your homes in your city and leave the fact that these tribes listen and agree to adopt this strategy of their can get. Our is assigned one of the desperate times and two of his unrivaled authority for the first time in history, gall, or most of it anyway is acting under the control of sort of one mind. One will as the Nazis would have said, but it creates a situation where, The goals are now at least on par with Caesar in the ability to have a united strategy, and this has never before been the case. But just because you have more power than any garlic warlord you can find in the previous history books.

I mean you're, the one who always gets to decide what to do. We all know right. Is a game of seizing the initiative and sometimes responding to the other person. Doing that, sometimes you get to play offense, but sometimes the other guy has the ball right. In this case, there will be games that both Caesar and bears and get a ritual play with the city's it's sort of our I think one of the things they're soon rich is known for is telling the celtic people have turn all these cities will wear to all the major encounters happen outside these garlic towns or cities. Much of this encounter involves sieges in the attempt to relieve sieges for various political reasons. Caesar will show up on the scene and go Bam, Bam and take a couple of towns real fast, reminding the celtic people that they cannot stand up to, Siege is very well, then they will defeat. Some garlic cavalry in a skirmish sort of reminding the goals that they can't face up to roman field tactics and

The army is very well either. So what do you do? Then? This is where the strategy comes into play of a scorched earth type deal so very can get erix according according to Caesar. We should emphasize that gives this big speech where he tells him. They have to destroy everything. It's great it's worth, quoting in full and notice at the end, by the way that he throws one of those You'll lose everything kinds of pictures to the people right. I realize I'm asking you to do a lot and it's a bunch of things. You'd be willing to die for maybe, but it's there to preserve other things. You willing to die for. Remember the stakes this from the essay Hanford addition- and this is cesar- putting this into can get getter exist mouth, remember by the way will mention these other cities that he's now taken already on the way to dealing with this rebellion and they sound names out of the Lord of the rings. Don't they quote. After this series ever reverses and

doing Numb and send a bomb and Novio doing them. There can get Rick summoned his followers to a council of war and told them that their plan campaign must be completely changed. This is very king. Get Eric's talking according to Caesar quote. We must strive by every means he said to prevent the Romans from obtaining forage and supplies. This will be easy. Since we are strong in cavalry and the seas, is in our favor There is no grass to cut so the enemy will be forced to send out parties to get Hey from the Barnes and our cavil. We can go out every day and see that single one of the returns alive what is more. When our lives are at stake, we must be prepared to sacrifice our private possess. Shins along the enemies line of March. We must burn all of the villages and farms within the radius that the foragers can cover. We are elves have plenty of supplies. We can rely upon the resources of the people in whose territory the campaign is conducted.

The Romans will either succumb to starvation or have to expose themselves to serious risk by going far from their camp in search of food. We can either kill them or strip them of their baggage, which will be equally effective since without it they cannot keep the field we It also burn all the towns, except those that are rendered impregnable by natural and artificial defenses, Otherwise they may serve as refuges for shirkers among our own numbers and give the enemy the chance of looting. The stores are provisions and other property that they contain. You may think these measures harsh and cruel, but you must admit that be a still harsher fate to have your wives and children carried off into slavery and be killed yourselves, which What will inevitably befall you? If you are conquered end quote.

That is by the way, sort of Caesar pointing out. I guess you could read it did this. Yes, that's true. That is what I'll do to them. Caesar says that most of these tribes that were working with their can get a rich complied. He says one of them burned twenty of their towns simultaneously and that you can see the smoke in the skies, but one tribe built the other Golic tribes not to make them burn their city down? It was the special city, they said. I mean they were wrapped up in it. It was one of the finest in all the golf please make them do this. It's like, please don't make me choose between one thing on my list that I'd be willing to die for and some other thing on the list so either very to reach is softer than he seems in other parts of the story, or maybe he didn't have as much authority as is suggested by Caesar, but none the less. These people are able to get their city spared this hill. Top town of theirs,

Supposedly one of the arguments they made is listen, it's impregnable, don't worry and then Caesar took it. This is the city of of ericom and tradition, It's considered to be one of the three main encounters that formed military side of this Golic rebellion, but it's worth pointing out that in in the same way that the word pacification covers it Khan of low level, violence that doesn't quite you reach the standards of making it into the history books talking this call garlic, rebellion and then boiling it down. Three sieges and the violence associated with that is a minimizer also of all the things that were going on sort of under the radar under the historical radar, so to speak, archaeologist berry can lift points out in Tristen sort of ironic fact. First of all, you have your can get our x you're saying: they're gonna have to burn the cities of the Romans. Have no high value to targets, and yet here they are going after high value.

It's anyway. All of the major encounters in this rebellion will happen around cities. So what happened there? You know they should be burned down, should they, but each one sort of has an excuse for why it's still there and very come live points out that. What sort of ironic is that it's only in the parts of gall all that it has significant contact with the Romans and become more roman. Like that, you had these sorts of cd, for the Romans in Julius Caesar to target to begin with right. If you go to the civilized and using air quotes with my hands in the a civilized tribal up where the in the Bell are and everything they don't. Even have cities like this they're much more decentralized, I have to chase the tribal. A lot of their little huts and into the woods, but here you can almost treat these Golic state Remember that's the way, some translators translated now, not tribes, but states. You can almost treat them the way you treat these states in the eastern

nice, when the Romans go there, they just go to the major population centers and take 'em boom wars over some of these holy tribes are becoming more like the Roman, so the Romans can fight them more like their traditional enemies. They can go after. Basically, the capitals of these states, the administrative center, the tribal heart, if you will can live writes quote in dealing with the more urbanized tribes of Central Gall Caesar's tactic was simply to pick off the population centers one by one. Such an approach would have been impossible, the tribes of America and Belgica, where this degree centralization had not yet developed. End quote, you know it's funny that knock on the Gauls is always been, that they weren't able to work together and to take things to the next level, developmentally speaking and form, for example, more order

nice states, but John Heywood, I think, was the author that I read that went the complete one hundred and eighty degrees on that theory and said that what would have kept the let's say for longer, was to be even more decentralized and his If I remember correctly was that when the Romans faced other herb, eye centers in other places, Egypt, Greece, any place like that they would, Troy those states in one or two battles, because the other centralized state brought all of its assets to one place in the Romans destroyed them there, but how long again? If I'm remembering correctly, he said it took to defeat the Celts and the various other peoples of the spanish and Portuguese. Is area right of a Lusitania all there, because those I'm were so divided in so decentralized. You always had to keep going after another tribe. It's an interesting theory, but in this case the fact that there were even cities at all for Caesar to target

is a facet of the Gauls becoming more and more like the Romans and by the way. This is something Caesar now portrays in his writings and it becomes a feature of going on in the longer. The Romans are out here now. Fighting the golf Caesar says the more the Gauls are imitating the Romans and becoming even more. Dangerous. So there's this now undercurrent of need here that not only are the Gauls perhaps worthy of becoming Romans, if we just train him up a little bit but the more the contact they have with us, the more like Romans becoming here in battle, so we better hurry at a. Become Caesar, and the Romans will be unable because of the fact that this hillfort, this on a giant Mesa is a good way to put it that's what these hill forts that become hill towns that eventually more into hills. Cities in these more sophisticated garlic states are like

It's. Not a man made feature, it's something. What was the line from the Lord of the rings that has stood here since the dawn of time, and then man put some fortifications on top of it. Avaricum has marches all around it, so the Romans can't do their normal practice of building a giant wall. Around the whole place because we're going to build in the middle of a swamp there's only one entrance to the place. So it looks like If this were a garlic besieging army, they would be stymied. But of course this is the Romans and over course, of almost thirty days, they build a counter mountain, maybe you could say it's hard to understand. Some of the sources talk about a ramp. Others talk about a mound, but essentially build something on one part of one side of the fortification to equalize the height.

It takes the legionaries almost a month and it's like four hundred feet long about eighty feet high and you just marvel at what the Romans capable of doing and listen. A lot of other ancient armies could too, when you have that many people involved in laboring for ten hours a day, seven days a week, you can get a lot done now. The Romans while they're building this or under pressure, because there it can get it. This strategy of scorched earth is working. He's br his army and he's keeping it fifteen or sixteen miles away from the Romans who are building their siege engines and creating this giant mound or ramp and they're picking, Afroman stragglers, as the Romans look for food and they're looking for food already, this strategy is starting to bite. Is one of the historians I read put it? You know that the scorched earth strategy is starting to

right, but the siege is working too and at one point Caesar says they men in the garrison decide they're going to try to slip out and get to veer can get. Rx is army live to fight another day? The problem is: is that that town contain it's not just those warriors, but their families, two and Caesar says attempt to sneak out you know without alerting. The Romans was foiled when the women started screaming and crying you know when they realized the men were leaving, begging and beseeching them not to leave them to the fate of falling into the ends of the Romans sort of screwed up Landay, alerted the enemy because they were so loud and the warriors had to give up their ideas. Slipping away. But it's an emotional reminder, isn't it of the stakes, so you can get caught up in the that this happened, and then this happened on this next year. This house Forget that no we have women and children screaming They think their men are leaving because it's better to

save at least the warriors than to have everyone die right because that's what's going to happen when less than uh after the siege started. After a rain, storm begins and the Gauls sort of lose their focus on one part of the wall for a second, the when's take over the wall close off the city, and you know they could point out of you ever been to like one of the old towns in some of these european cities, stock home, for example, Scott. When we're when you walk through it, you realize how really narrow and and small all these old fashioned evil and ancient streets were in all the little side streets and how clogged they could be. If you had crowds of people trying to oh, I don't know get away

pursuers at the same time, Caesar points out that every place gets choked with people trying to get away and out of a population of forty thousand Caesar says about eight hundred survived. The Romans killed everyone, man, woman, child old infirmed everything and Goldsworthy and others point out that this might not have been part of Caesars plan. He will be very strategic, as he sort of puts down this road in who gets clemency and who gets absolutely decimated the important used to be friendly to the roman Caesar tends to be kind of light handed with Oh we're! Sorry, you left! You should come back to the Romans right, but the people that have been nasty- time is that the Romans had nothing to politically gain with often are used as examples. In this case, though, user, is giving up a lot of money when these people are being killed in the streets of America. And even these soldiers who stood to get a cut right,

we got their own slave, but they're busy, killing the booty in these narrow streets of this Golic town and some of these Variance goals with each one of them, I think, made the suggestion that this might have been an army. That was just so angry. For all sorts of reasons, including the killing of the roman It's been traders to kick off this rebellion that they couldn't beacon, old or were mad enough to think to Hell with the money to Hell with the slaves to hell with the booty, I'm killing these people and they did and it's another one of those tragedies that goes into stomping down. Golic resistance Normally, a disaster like a Verica would have heard a war leaders, reputation, but Caesar Suggest- and it's not hard to believe that it actually helped me I can get her ex is because he had been one of the people. That said, we should be burning this town down and then, when

Advice- wasn't chosen because he's not an absolute ruler in any sense of the word. He sort of chosen almost like an outside contractor. If you want to look this way by these tribes and if they don't like his leadership, they can bolt Singly or in groups, in this case he looks like he, was in the right all along so after so after Avaricum, the Golik Army continue. To harass and shadow Caesars Romans. Remember: Caesars Romans are the only roman army here, so there no other pincer. They can come around and do stuff if Caesar wants to do something in two places, at the same time. He has to split the army, he's got, which means that the Gauls could Caesar's army sort of occupied somewhere there free to move around and do things in every other area of the theater, for example, there can get rich is continually sending his emissaries to all these other tribes that have him joined the rebellion. Yet there's one in particular that would transform the situation. If there can get a wrist, could flip them. It's this tribe, that's so close to the Romans, the easy way,

the ones who got us involved in the story to begin with that so called Druid efficacious is a member of the E Dewey tribe right. The reason that they're so important is because that's who's, providing Caesars food right now and they're guarding his food supply lines also with their warriors. What would happen if they flipped so fast forward to what's going on Caesar and this call army, are sort of shadowing each other very can get Eric takes his army up into some hills around this. Let's call it a very large hill or a mini mountain, and it's very tops it's two thousand four hundred plus feet above the ground level and this is another Golic Hill City or held town or fortified town or whatever definition. You want to use and

once again, there's an excuse. Why it escaped burning. This is very, can get a Reqs tribal capital. This is his home. Basically,. So maybe it's a do. As I say. Not as I do situation, you all burn down your towns, but I'm not burning down mine, or maybe this place was so easily defended and so hard to take the can get a restart. It was a place he could pin Caesar down while he destroyed his supply and by getting this friendly tribe. That was providing seizures food to flip Caesars in terrible trouble. Camped out in front of this city called your govea and your govea is normally considered the second big encounter. The big three as part of these garlic wars- it's also one where you have to take Caesar and even let's face value, because this is not the high watermark of caesars generalship and so for a piece of property and the like these war commentaries, if you're

we're going to shade the truth and try to make yourself look better and spin things. This is going to be the place where you do it. No, Emily Caesar would look at a place like this and think, let's starve it out, but given the supplies that you he'd be more likely with his army to starve before the people in Govia did more Caesars, a little light on troops at this point. This is one of the moves that some have criticized over the air but we told you earlier Caesar needs two things done simultaneously in different, is he doesn't have another army in Rome he can call on? He has to split his own and before this battle, the siege at Gergovia, he does and sends out about forty percent of his horses to go, handle something involving a couple of other tribes that need a good for, but it means you're gonna be in there not. There when you start considering. Oh maybe in closing an entire mini mountain with wall. And fences and things to cut it off from the outside world,

you look at your six legions. You may be thinking to yourself. I really don't have enough people for that kind of strategy. Right now now, describing sieges is always difficult. So I'll just use these rough, has basically, when Caesar gets there and sees what he's up against. He starts nibbling at terrain each nearby that will help them. For example, there's he'll nearby, where he takes that Little hill, the Gauls haven't really defended, it'll, be harder for the goals to get so it becomes this little game of nibbling on terrain features, building camps doing all this sort of stuff and then, while he's doing it, he gets word that the e we have flipped at the baggage in his rear is compromised and the food may not be arriving. So he takes a large portion of the regions he's working with a gergovia and goes how to deal with the problem with the supply lines and while he's gone, so Certainly, there can get Erickson the warriors come out of the the heights down the hill in a

this roman camp, the roman camp, built for like six legions, but now only defended by to which you can see, would make it difficult. Caesar gets word of this. When he's on his way back from dealing with the supply line, problems with like four legions and when he gets to the Campisi's that they have managed to beat off assault with artillery and all kinds of things, but they're in they're in a bad way to see your devices. The strategy, where he's going to faint an attack on one side. Get all the celtic warriors to go to that side of the top of the Mesa of the Hill Fort and then Caesar will attack on the on the far side. That's now abandon with some more troops. So he sets this up eventually gets to the point where the Gauls take eight, they all come to the one side of the Mesa to deal with seizures. Faint Caesar sends his legions around the supposedly now undefended other side. They start

in real. Well, they get through the the main wall they're starting to cut up some of the camp in the women and the children, and I mean maybe this is going to win, and then the celtic warrior that have been drawn off to the other side of the Mason by the faint come back and mass there can get Eric himself might have led the cavalry charge that sent the Romans careening back down the hill Caesar will get together a bunch of regions that are not involved the bottom somewhere near the bottom of the hill, so that his own and then hide behind them and his new troops that are involved in the combat? Can ward off the pursuing Celts Caesar says will admit to like seven hundred dead legionaries between forty and fifty of these people are centurions. There's been an interesting But you can read on whether or not this is the roman habit of encouraging well conspicuous brave

he would be one way of putting it. If you wanted to spin it one way, reckless endangerment for gain might be another, but Caesar kind of blames that a little bit at the same time Caesar's been encourage Just kind of audacity forever, you know where these leads area in their centurions are rewarded for throwing themselves into the breach in being extra tough, an extra aggressive in this case Caesar says the one point. These calls will be rowing. These dead Romans, over the walls head first and Caesar will name at least one of these dead Romans being thrown over the wall by the celtic warrior killed him by name. So you know the guy who you're seeing thrown over the walls dead. It, sounds like it was a nasty situation. Some historians have suggested the casualties could be a great deal higher than Caesar was admitting to the military set back. That Caesar suffers at your govea.

Find with the losing of the e we tribe to the rebellion, begins to flip, yet more tribes and tampa size. How quickly this is happening. Everything we're talking about here is happening. Two two b c E. Normally, when you think of this period, you think of an era of almost glacial like operations when they were talking about armies, advancing are sieges or any sieges could take years. All of this is happening in fifty two, which shows you how quickly events. Unfolding and by the way Caesar was not giving conventional dates so say that all this stuff happened in this one year, but you don't know when sometimes he'll give you an ink have a season right, so you could say well. This happened in the winter or this happened in the spring or what have you but most armies? I can go from the ancient period. Well, up into almost the modern era would have a hard time dealing with the speed of something going. This fast I keep trying to imagine you know, European

from the middle ages, trying to crush this revolt this quickly. Part of it, of course, is Rome, but the other part is and what sort of bad karmic luck do. The Gauls have that this happened that they get one of the great generals: in all human history and a guy at the top of his resume. When he's bragging about his God, given qualities, is going to put speed and decisiveness of movement, as if the Celts already didn't have enough, going to going against them in this deal between the technology and the lack centralization and all the things we've been talking about. They got to get this guy at this time too. In fact, it's worse than just that sees, political antenna, as you might imagine, from a guy honing his skills, the Rome of the Late Republic are exquisite and his Read the proper way to respond to these tribes in order to play them as much as he can. Like a musical instrument is crazy. You know some tribes get clemency, others get

right down. You got to know how to play this game to keep most of them in your camper, at least forty nine percent of the try. Maybe that wishes they were in your camp but are, Lee in the minority. You think about guys coming the error Caesar was born in Marius and Sulla. They might have been equally successful at destroying these garlic army but I imagine Caesars going to look like a great big softy when it comes to the Jenna during the Holocaust were talking about. If it's Mary, is there cell addition out the punishment, maybe everything when we talk about these historical genocides and crimes against humanity, all these modern terms. Maybe they all need to be graded on a curve a nonetheless, at this point in the story, This is about the low watermark of Caesars entire career. An most generals, would be toast at this point remember Now this is an army Caesars that was alright

feeling the bite of the scorched earth policy. So he was not doing all that great to begin with the Terry set back at your goalie is not huge in the military, since the Romans can suck up those casualties, but in a political sense it's big. Several historians will point out that this chatters, the are of roman invincibility, more tribes join the rebellion, but bigger than that is the flipping of the e tribe for all sorts of reasons, but just look at one of them. The e d control Rome's administrative base in Gol, their storage locker. If you will, where they put all stuff, while they're traipsing around gall it's a city called Novio Dunam, and when the e do we flip they Noviodunum with them, then they sack. Almost if they were conquering their own city so that they can keep it out of the Romans hands. What did it have in it? Here's historian Nick Fields, talking about Novia, doing them and its importance to Caesar

quote here were to be found all his gaulish hostages, grain Reserve, his war chest remounts for his cavalry and the best part of the army baggage, Corridor, rakes in theory, Damara, is too young. Chieftains of the e d. We turned on the roman garrison at no v, o doing them and slaughtered them, together with the traders gathered there released. The hostages divided the money and carried as much grain as they could transport and dump the remainder in the river and torched the town and quote fields actually set up a dumb, which is the word for a Gawlik town. The point is think about this from the all like perspective, this is in Apache raid that successful and that take an enemy who's already reeling from your go and stay. To them. In the back. I mean this is a huge moment from a native perspective here and the ten ramifications that become possible now caesars defeat in the distance. Well, that's a check.

It's that the native american tribes never had, I mean, even if they had gone after the very early settlements in Virginia and places like that. Could they have wiped them out forever? Could they have had draw a line and say we're not crossing the ocean anymore, because you can't live on the other side. The natives will kill you same thing with Africa. It was it's too late in technology, since the odds were too one sided. But look at this here. This is an opportunity for the tribal people to win Caesars in trouble. Think about what just having hostages does for a change in power and authority here Caesar in keeping the sons and daughters of the powerful and important people of all these goalie tribe. She hope to keep under his thumb and now, all of a sudden they fall into the hands of the rebels and, of course, the rebels can do any number of things with the they could be magnanimous, give them back to these other Golly tribes, say Seagull, stick together and by the way you owe me a favor they can also if they wanted to play hardball, say something like

she doesn't have your children anymore. We do for joining the rebellion right. Nonetheless, now that the ed we're on board, we are told that there can get her ex has now a big trial meeting and in this meeting the do we are er but they actually make a play for the leadership there. Their smackdown and almost all the other tribes in Ingall Plutarch, says that there were like three hundred tribes or it's that Caesar subdued. I can't believe it's anywhere near that many some of these may have been really really small, but, let's just say it's one hundred and twenty or one hundred Caesar says he's got like two that still support him. Severe can get Erics. Has this big meeting with all these other tribes running into an Golic council, and you do wonder is the native Americans, or some of these other people who are victims of colonial conquest ever were to get all of their people together in one place or the representatives of them and all sort of try to unite and speak with one voice.

This is an amazing thing when you think about it all of Gaul, with the exception of Blue tribes are united against the Zorin seizures in trouble. This is a historic moment. He's basically cut off from getting new troops in ITALY this point and remember the Romans don't use their own cavalry anymore. What do they use? Well? Local, allied troops who's allied to the Romans now so he's got an issue: where does he get his cavalry from well? This is where we find out- and you know those who enjoy little teeny tactical things on the battlefield and end up having perhaps huge effects on history love this part of the story, but is where we find out that Caesars been making friends on the other side of the Rhine with those german people that you can't house break, and you can't

You can incorporate you can't assimilate, but if you need the cavalry bad enough, you can maybe work out a deal. This is your starts. Bring in this friendly german calorie from some of the tribes. Maybe that were the enemies of the people. Caesar was beating up on in Germany, and we hear of their appearance, and it's bedevilled well take wargaming, for instance, most wargaming rule sets when talking about this german cavalry in this period gave it special powers, especially special powers over celtic troops. You know why, because the celtic troops were scared of him. These are the same kinds of force remember that Caesar had noticed had driven off many more times their number numbering Golic Calvary earlier what's going on when we talk about toughness or intimidation or all these qualities that are hard to quantify. What do you get when you take? Four

german cavalry, which is not enough to make a big difference anywhere in these size battles and they dominate? kind of Superman are we talking about here and have wondered ever since now we can go into the on quantifiable things, but they are, of course, on quantifiable. You could talk about the fact that these Germans, way of utilizing infantry with the cavalry. So they'd have one light infantrymen to go with one Calvary: men and they were supposed to operate together and the light infantrymen supposedly would hold to the mains of these horses? They rode into battle, and it would almost act like a night with his squire and that the combined arms Mobile Infantry formation was unique and deadly. There are also some theories that these German, weren't, just your average german warrior, but this is more. Like you know. A bunch of urban adventurers and it's like the if seven or something, but it's the magnificent four hundred or later, maybe six hundred and they're. All these you know bad Germans

Germans who make other german scared right, so it might be that kind of a deal that explains why there so dominating on the battlefield. Once again, it's kind of confusing! Isn't it? Why Caesar who's? Writing this propaganda piece please roman audience, blah blah blah. Why is he saying such nice? things about the Germans and giving them so much credit. It's hard to figure out, especially for a non expert like yours. Truly awe like say, is that in a number of different encounters, these german going to make all the difference in the world. In fact, The reason that we're going to have the climactic battle this great in Sharepoint right, that's what the german generals say this this this climactic intense decide the whole war situation in this one city is maybe because this german cow We turn the tide at a battle with, can get a Rick said assembled all the Dang Cavalry could get his hands on practically told the tribes, you didn't want any infantry. He already had. Eighty thousand and as many history

things would point out. Eighty thousand is a lot to feed already at the point in the story, and again you got to love the way. These things work very interest? May want that infantry more as a way to hold some of these tribes hostage. We got your warriors, be good right, don't flip back to the Romans, but at this which stage in the garlic redevelopment, it's their cavalry. That's everything and Caesar will end up re hooking up US forces that he had sent away to do other things before your via. They will to March in a direction that looks like, maybe they're leaving- and this is where maybe there can get lyrics- gets confused lot of the different histories. Portray this as an attempt to attack the Romans as the Romans March away, but there can get erections put. Fifteen thousand cavalry were told together

all of whom have pledged to not go home to their wives and children or anything unless they have ridden twice through the roman column attack is Romans on the March and the german cavalry working in conjunction with the legionaries once again saves the day and sends their can get a rakes and his counselor reeling back towards the first place to rally, which is this colic city once again, remarkably untouched by flames called Alicia Caesars

by the way, the pursues the garlic army so closely that he kills three thousand members of their rear guard as they try to cover the army's retreat into the hill town of Liza. You can see the ship to some people do. This is a typical Golly killed town in the sense that it is protected by natural features to make it pretty tough. To take Michael M Sage says it is a plateau near Dijon, France right now about thirteen hundred feet high about one point, two miles long. Six hundred fifty are wide on three sides. The train is like impossible. Rivers, craggy rocky terrain, but on one side on the west. It's a nice gentle slope a couple of miles. Long so is another. History pointed I think, of a peninsula, and it's a little like that. So there can get a rich retreats to this city.

Then turns around and blocks the entrance to the peninsula with his army digs a ditch, builds a sick. Tall wall made of loose stones and above It's it's, this hillfort city with the tribe whose home it is so a lot of civilians. We sort of weights for Caesar Caesar shows up, takes a look at this place and decides well. This is something you have to put under siege, obviously, but how do you put a place this large under siege? This is a huge endeavor if you really want to go there, but, as we've said all along, the Romans are one of the great secret weapons is the fact that they're legionaries are about half construction worker half soldier his store Michael M stage, writes about Caesar looking at Alycia and deciding what to do quote since a direct assault was precluded. The only alternative was to capture the town by siege, which required the CAN

tion of massive fortifications, one of the striking aspects of the garlic, or is the engineering skill the Romans displayed in constructing siege fortifications. This expert, it was part of a wider development in the use of fortifications by the Romans they were used extensively, not only in sieges, but also battle battlefield. The Romans can to continue with siege wall over ten miles in length to close off a lisia. End quote: well, that's just for starters, but basically It's very can get or exceeds what's going on here and the scope of what Caesars about to do. He launch A cavalry attack down that one gentle slope of the peninsula of this plateau he's occupying and gets into a dust up? both Caesars, legionaries and Caesar's german Calvary and once again German, cavalry make the difference and they pursue who, along with the Romans, these Golic Cavalry

who sees says, get caught up kind of in their own defenses and they start clogging up around the narrow parts, and they, just massacred in crowds of people. He's is crushed to death, so Caesar says that this tells you can get a Rick's that he's not going to be able to break this siege himself, and also, as this fortification starts, to become complete. You going to do with cavalry anyway, so it's easier says he sends his cavalry away since all the cavalry back to their home tribes 'cause. This is an army that is a consolidation of a bunch of allied tribes. Now right, almost everyone, so he sends them every back to their own tribes and Caesar says he tells them to bring a relief army together, a rising of the tribes and come here and save us, we've got Caesar pinned down right here, there can get or exist sending this cavalry all back to their home tribes, Caesar and putting the words in his mouth has him saying, Don't leave me here, don't forget who fought for your liberty and then something to the effect of oh yeah,

eighty thousand of your countrymen with me, you would want to see them die either. Would you which would bring us to numbers here for a second, because who the hell knows what else you going to say about these battles? Sometimes you can reliably come close to something on the roman cycles. They'll say something like we had this many legions. You know you're, probably under strength. You know, they've probably got you know, part time combatants, who are their servants and camp help in all that the other, so you don't know, but you can estimate better on the like numbers, you only have cd to go from and he's outrageous. As every historian says, what do you fill the blank with? I like the way Adrian Goldsworthy figures out. He says, what's about to happen, he you don't know the numbers of Celts involved, but you can reliably say it involves more than had ever been assembled at a single place before, because this relief army that begins to come together is going to be, according to Caesar absolutely enormous.

Now Caesar may have expected. The relief army may not have accounts. Different interpretations differ on that front, but if he didn't expect it at some point here. Is that it's coming so he begins doing what this battle, or this siege is kind of known, for he begins building another wall and another notification facing in the opposite direction from the one he's already mostly completed, so, in other words, he's besieging the Celtic. Army in this hill town, while preparing to BBC aged himself from without the roman Army is going to operate within two separate each walls they're going to camp there, they're going to live there and they're going to starve out this celtic army on the hill while frustrating the? for each of the relief army that showing up to rescue it so for visual

purposes if you imagine a hill or a plateau, completely surrounded by four fortification the ring of fortifications and then an even larger ring surrounding that I read somewhere, it's like a fourteen mile, circumference or something then visually you'll get the right picture. Imagine watch towers that had artillery in them. I thought I read somewhere. Fifteen hundred was an estimate somebody threw out there for the number of those a watch towers. This is a place that's going to be able to how is sick Eighty thousand roman soldiers and friends- so I mean think of the size we're talking about Here- it has multiple camps. Each camp is a is a fort. In and of itself It has twenty three things that are like other roman word means little castles or little fortresses. It's crazy. The best

short description. I ever read because they're hard to find, because even Caesar who is normally very spare with words can't help it go on on by seizure standards about all these pits filled with sharpened stakes. All these things that are awaiting the garlic warriors. John Warri run a great book on ancient warfare, and he described the defenses, which is a weird word right, 'cause their defenses, instance, but they're also the fortifications besieging the other army in another. This is how he described the fortifications at Alicia quote: roman entrenchments, Linkedin and circling chain of camps and forts. The inner ditch was twenty feet wide with sheer sides. Ie not tapering at Bottom and the main circumvallation was constructed four hundred paces. Behind this ditch here there were two trenches. Each fifteen feet wide

eight feet deep. The river was diverted to carry water into the inner trench wherever possible, be the trenches was a twelve foot earthwork in palisade, with antlered prongs, projecting from it breastworks and battlements were overlooked by turrets at intervals of eighty feet, Caesar also sold the grounds beyond his fortification with prongs and pitfalls of various patterns. Illustre give me humorously termed lilies and stingers a parallel line of fortifications was then provided as an out. Circumvallation against the inevitable, really force the perimeter was ten point one miles long, the outer twelve point nine miles. End quote so if you these garlic warriors looking to strike blow, maybe a fatal blow in the defense or re conquest of garlic. Celtic

and you show up here to do battle with the Romans before you even get to the actual play Where the Romans are. You know, they're standing behind their earth and timber fortifications there be find all these defenses you get to get through the gauntlet and the gauntlet is, points out starts with a huge twenty foot wide it'll say how deep, but the other trenches are eight feet deep, so figure at least eight feet. Deep trench, that'll break up the momentum of a giant human wave charge. Won't it, but that's about six foot feels he says from the rest of the defense is when you run into them. You're running things like a double line of trenches. Fifteen feet wide eight feet deep. One of them filled with water. You're also running into, and this is something you can see- most enjoyment on the Romans part when they say that they've constructed all these little traps and they sound like

kind of traps. When I was growing up the north Vietnamese, the Vietcong always set. You know these these things where they'd put a big sharpens make you know three feet in the ground and then covered up with leaves and wait for someone to walk by, but the Romans have like thousands of those in front of their trenches, and then they have a of other things that are similar but disguise differently in, they mix them all together, so that as you, approaching, GINO know you're coming towards artillery range. The start shooting at you know, you're just starting to get your what, if you're, not worried about where you're, stepping and everything and then all of a sudden you run into all these traps and then right after the wraps there's, more trenches and then you run into these prongs were recalled them. I was read they did this. The roman soldiers would go cut all these branches and then they cut the ends off the branches and sharpen all the ends, and then they would arrange them in a way so that it was like a giant hedge of knife, thorns against

let's a giant. Almost it's almost like ancient barbed wire, and they would either put it at the bottom of these trenches or right as you were clamoring out of one of them, you're clamoring, out of this eight foot trench- and you know human wave. Attack has been somewhat disrupted and what's at the top of the trench, this giant hedge of prongs and all this, of course, for the garlic warriors even make it to the Romans, stockade and earth and sort of wall. Historian Nick Field says that six thousand trees were logged to create these fortifications. They might have been tough for the celtic people, the over run without all that stuff. In for one them- and let's not forget that behind these fortifications of these very same legionaries that have beaten these garlic warriors most of the time in the open field, without even having the help of fortifications.

Guard towers everywhere, as we said artillery and yet Caesar doesn't have all the advantages. Remember there is a reportedly eighty thousand, let's lower that to something more believable say thirty. Five thousand garlic warriors essentially in his rear that army he's besieging. If the army from outside the ring, attacks Caesar the relief army- and he turns to face it well, he's got very- can get a Recs and that army in his rear, so they can coordinate their attacks well Caesars got a heck of a challenge in front of him. If you are a tribal army trying to resist colonization from one of those, you know, as we said, those technologically more sophisticated, more centralized power, as you see it all throughout history,

This is one of the better chances, as I said, you're going to find it's a gamble. This is wagering as we've been saying throughout this talk, everything if you are these celtic peoples and yet at the same time this is a pretty good wager. It might be a bit of a long shot, but this is a chance that you would think, for example, native american tribes would have given everything to simply have a chance to maybe win We said that maybe eighty thousand Romans are here. We don't know how many celtic people are coming in the relief force, but the people inside the besieged Hilton I don't know that it really forces coming at all Caesar points out that there can get a rich and his army on the hill Florida cut off from any news and information they have this new date in their heads when they think they're relieving army's, is going to show up, but the army doesn't food starts running low and they start having these hardcore Bates inside the hill for

thanks to various garlic leaders and people of note, there's like forty six tribes, I think Caesar identifies involved in this thing. So this is a pan tribal group of people that are starting to think that there's no relieving army coming. Maybe so what are we going to do? One group wants to surrender another one charge out there in sort of like a giant bonds. I charge of death right, make a good song at least, and then there's a third group that wants to hold out 'cause. They think of relieving army is coming and Caesar puts one of these fantastic. Speeches into the mouths of one of these is one of the longest. I think I read it. The longest speech seizure put in anybody's mouth the whole commentaries and Hemi is it in a bad way? He wants you to look at this people and think: aren't they disgusting, because this garlic

Why is saying you know we need to be prepared to be cannibals? We need to just eat the old people and the useless. Now this here is a way of holding out, and the speech is worth recounting out of Caesar again he's trying to make this guy look like degraded by this, but there's another way to look at it, which is I mean again: is a commitment. What does it mean when you sacrifice were willing to sacrifice everything? It means you're willing to go cannibal if that's what it takes. This is from my tongue, homes. Translation of Caesar, so Caesar says that this no womans garlic, no woman makes the speech which he says should not be passed over. He doesn't think. In other words, somebody should say that this gall said these horrible things, and so here's Caesar with this goal, and he has him saying I do not intend he said to notice the two of those who dignify the most abject slavery by title of surrender fry whole

that they ought not to be counted as citizens or admitted to a council I am only concerned with those who are in favor of a sortie, meaning arrayed of a banzai attack for you are all agreed in their council is to be recognize the memory of our ancient valor to be unable to privation for a short span that I call weakness, not manly. Rez Lucian. It is easier to find men, man who will a front death than men who will patiently endure suffering, and yet I give my sanction to this view, so high Do I respect the authority of its advocates? If I saw no evil involved in it, save the sacrifice of our own lives, but in form our plans, we must have regard to the whole of gall, for we have hold on the whole of God to help us if One thousand men fall on one field. What think you will be the things of our friends and kinsman when they're constrained fight almost on the very corpses of the slain to say

view they have counted there. No danger is nothing, do not then, rob them of your aid. Do not buy your follow. Your rashness or lack of resolution ruin the whole of gall and subjected to perpetual slavery. Can it be that because they have not arrived punctually to the day. You doubt out there good. Faith and resolution. What then do use oh, is that the Romans are toiling day after day on those outer lines simply to amuse themselves is the messengers of your countrymen, cannot reassure you, because all ingress is barred except roman testimony that they're coming is near, dread of that event keeps busy upon their works night and day. End quote the were he's saying. If you

doubt that it relieving army is on the way, tell me why the Romans are going to all this trouble. He then says that they ought to be prepared to eat each other. If that's what it takes to regain garlic liberty, instead One translation here called the Council of WAR decides to send out the useless mouths and prolong you know how long The food will last a little more sort of counting on the Romans maybe to take in these women and children and old people in infirmed. You know the people we used to live in that town before it became a battlefield, so there can get Erix sends those people out to the roman lines and Caesar probably sends them back. It's been explained that maybe Caesar didn't have the food to feed these people. We're beseeching Caesar, make us slaves and then feed us like slaves. They just wanted to eat and Caesar didn't

food himself, obviously, but also he thought sending them back might eat up. There can get a his food supply even faster. The problem is, is neither side relented in those people began to die. In between the lines eating grasses the way one ancient source described? It Dave these women, children. The families of some of these warriors dying in front of you day after day of slow starvation and exposure to the elements. While the siege goes on, and you have no idea. If your friends are coming and then and a they do and they are visible in the distance and bear can get a in his troops see them parading on an open plain in the distance in a way that is all but like a sky. Saying, rejoice. All of Gaul, is here you are rescued and on multiple.

Wills in the distance. The Romans see what Adrian Goldsworthy were set is almost certainly the largest colic army ever assembled. However, many people that might be actually goes with says probably one of the largest armies at at sage, who says likely the largest army, but even are hopelessly outdated but impossibly logical friend from a hundred years ago, HANS Delbruck, who thinks all these number crazy- admits that it might have been possible that this was a larger than normal army, because even though he's the guy who's always going to say you know, how are you going to feed him? He says it's possible that these people were never meant to eat for very long, but this really farmies like a cruise missile launched right, it's easier, the Romans and these defenses, and so you don't to. About them. Breaking up like the Bell Gay did, you know, is they're starving over a month or something so

here. You have an army here. If we're talking about the native Americans having two thousand warriors and it's a pretty good amount. With the Zulus having twenty thousand and it's a large Zulu army, this army might be when you combine the numbers inside the hill fort with the relief army hundred twenty thousand hundred two thousand, the ancient sources haven't well over three hundred thousand 'cause two hundred and fifty thousand infantry in the force alone. Those are crazy, but once again, if this is one hundred and twenty thousand tribal warriors in one place well, you know I like that Napoleon quote that quantity has a quality all its own that'll make up for a lot of roman advantages. Won't it just having so many people, and you can understand Dell Brooks idea that maybe these people

meant to be used right away. When you see how quickly everything unfolds, the relief army shows up camps out in these hills about a mile from the Romans goes down to this plane, which is the only part of the area which is really like a battlefield. The one open space that western area, the gentle slope of the plateau, so The real fighting, especially the wide open, cavalry stuff, happens there and they, go out and they demonstrate there and that's where there can get Erickson all his Billy Gurd besieged. Having people have already seen those people from the town starve in between the two armies, you know throw a cheer Caesar says, and let's remember why we say Caesar says all the time why we're so reliant on him is the only eyewitness from this battle that we have. Account from

Anyone else is accounted this battle often uses him as a source, so he's both invaluable and, at the same time, obviously biases hell. Although anyone you got from this battle, who wrote about it's probably going to be pretty biased in this case the when Caesar plays up the fear a lot of times when seizures playing up the fear of the dangers the situation, you can perhaps suggest that you doing, magnify his own greatness, but this looks legitimately dangerous here. This like a moment in history, as we said where the tribal people kind of have a shot, one hundred and twenty thousand hundred thirty thousand warriors gives you a shot. So when there can get a rich and his people, see, Relief Army Caesar says they come running down from there. Additions towards that trench that separates them from the Romans and they begin filling it in, in other words, preparing to do

their job in this whole attack, which is to attack the Romans from the other side, when the big relief army smashes against them at the front? So Cesar says he has all these people take up the positions and then shins his cavalry down into this plane to engage the garlic cavalry that's down there now who about these numbers. Estimates are Caesar had about six thousand cavalry wide mix of things still had some garlic, Cavalry probably had some Spanish probably had some Numidian. We know we had some Germans and the Gauls well goals and they fight and skirmish all afternoon, apparently an the Gauls are getting the better of it when Caesar says all of a sudden and not for the last time, these german cavalry once again turned the tide. Ok, a bunch of the goals chase him off when the day Ann

he says that there can get her ex and his people who are in a standing by having filled in the trench waiting to attack dejectedly head back up hill toward the town after they see that this relief army, isn't going to be giving them any relief today. So then you get the next day and something happens that seems to validate some of those earlier points. We were making that in the later book, of Caesars. As Andrew Rigsby points out, he begins to point out that these people growing and they're changing and their their prolonged contact and fighting with the Romans is making them more dangerous. As we said earlier, is the reason sometimes used to explain. Why the Germans will sack Rome in four hundred and ten right long contact with the Romans made them roman enough so that they could do that. We'll see, kind of alleging. Is this commentary It goes on that the Celts are going that way and then

need to be dealt with now before they get any better because they spend the next day during the day calmly, and Lee and logically and diligently. The Romans might notice, because they always think of the Celts, is so lazy and liking to avoid hard labor but they're cutting down trees. And they're making ladders and grappling hooks and putting together bundles of sticks so that when they run toward these roman trenches, they can all throw their bundled into the trench and eventually, bundles, Philip, the trench and you can run over them. In other words, they're, not rushing at the defense, like a bunch of war. Mad battle, crazed barbarians that you can just pick off, 'cause they're, so stupid. They are calmly and logically planning for an organized, a song so in a way, that's scarier, and then, when the sun goes down, things are only lit by torchlight, maybe moonlight who knows the largest.

Army, probably ever assembled in goal, one that is definitely larger than any north american tribal Army ever assembled exponentially. Larger throws itself against the roman defenses at night. Caesar writes that after midnight, this celtic army right just creeps up quietly and then launches its attack. All at once making a lot of noise. All on some imagine you're up in the Gali kill for besieged wondering what's coming next, because you're out of touch with these relief forces on the other side of the Romans and then D c illness of the night is broken by this loud roar and you instantly know something's going on down there, so they can get her explodes blows. The trumpet Caesar says begins to get him horses together to support the attack on his side. Meanwhile, this celtic forces

throwing themselves against the roman defenses in the dark and falling into all the pits and traps and spurs, and all these things that Caesar so lovingly and devilishly described they're bad enough in daytime, but at night, while you can see how it be even a bigger, He says these goals are falling into the pits and they're they're being skewered by these stakes, be sharpened pieces of wood, the size of a man, by some of them. Others are much smaller meant to go through your foot, Disable, you, meanwhile Roman Tillery is shooting from the walls that you you're trying to get through. The trenches you've got to deal with these prongs, but season Makes it out to be a near run thing and then beating off this attack. Well, something out of one of those old westerns where the native Americans are are attacking the small little fort, and there seems to

an endless supply of them, and you seem to almost be at your last leg. Caesar specifically names he's good at this remember two of his one of my translations calls them generals, which is not a good translation. Means senior commanders on the scene. One of them is MARC, Anthony, Marcus, Antonius and, of course, he'll be ancient tabloid fodder later, when he hooks up with Clea but he's one of the people that will run to the aid of the beleaguered sectors whenever it's needed. Caesar says that even with all the traps and everything they've got set up these calls are throwing down their bundles of sticks. You got their ladders in the and it's a near run thing at several different places and then the dawn breaks and the Golik wave subsides. And this painting of the Gauls back to their camp is portrayed as some historians as the failure of the assault, but other historians suggest that that first battle,

I the cavalry one that the Germans once again turn the tide at made it impossible for these celtic infantryman to operate in this big field during daylight, so whatever the, seasoning. The relief army loses its second battle against Caesar and the first assault that it makes against. The fortifications of the Romans fails as well, and Caesar says that part of the problem here is that beer can get a rakes and the troops besieged fort, never got their act together in time to help them the time the relief force smelts back toward the camp at morning. There can get hasn't launched his attack. Yet so that's a traditional Golic coordination problem. It's not surprising, although there can get Eric, had done a pretty good job, avoiding those kind of traditional garlic mistakes. So maybe it's surprising in that sense.

Caesar says that the Golik leadership which remember is made up of a ton of different tribes under several major warchiefs from different tribes. As a native american fan, I can't help, but think of some of the the chiefs that I've always thought, most highly of working together? Obviously they come from different time periods, but working together in some giant effort like this, but they have a conference to try to figure out. What's going wrong. 'cause we've lost two battles in two or three days. They were upset about the reconnaissance, pointing out, maybe that we should So many people to those traps that we didn't know about and then the interview the locals, who are, after all, Golic themselves about, the local lay of the land, is there, some weak spot in the roman fortifications turns out. There is a hill that Caesar couldn't incorporate into his defense. Is the Celts find out

out Caesar says sixty thousand of them under one of these warchiefs. You got to love it when sixty thousand is a detachment of your forces, whatever the real number might be. Sixty thousand of them sneak over to this. Spot and then, when they launch their attack, there will be corresponding attacks launched elsewhere. To help interesting to to wonder whether the people at the time understood what this is. This- is the actual in a spin of the roulette wheel. Right now I mean this is encounter that will decide and Caesar will say this. He says during the fighting to his men. This is the encounter it will come down. Caesar says to a moment that will decide the course of the war that he's been fighting for the better part of a decade and given what we know now decide the state of Golic Liberty for the next five centuries.

Caesar says that it is about noon, that this surprise attack is launched against the weak part of the roman fortification, and they say it's the week because, instead of being able to be situated on top of a hill with a good view, all around this one part of the camp had to be situated below the crest. But that means you don't oh and can't see, what's on the opposite side of the crest, the reverse slope, and in this case, if you believe Cesar Sixty thousand hand picked tribal warrior, were and around noon they come galloping over that slope heading towards a part of the camp. Remember Caesars troops are numerous, but they're strung out over the entire length of this fourteen miles, circumference or whatever. It is there's about two legions, maybe eight hundred and ten one thousand people right here close by with sixty thousand sounds crazy. So will say: Thirty thousand screaming warriors coming down that hill at them. As we mentioned this and also either has to deal with, because, of course, they launch a straw.

Take from the main area, this great big plane, all. The battles been fought on the main roman defenses. Well, those Celts come out to play again too, and his story divided on whether or not this is a real attack intending to produce results of its own or whether it's purely a diversion but you can't just send a bunch of legionaries from there now to go, bolster the weak area because they're busy, and because this is the climactic battle, you would expect that there can get except the Fort with his lean hungry, the siege troops, would also launch an attack to help too. So they come down of the hill, and they do the same, and then they be to concentrate near that same week spot that the sixty then pick the guys from outside are concentrating on. This is now the crux of the battle to seize goes to a place where he can see really well and his job. He sees it any emphasizes emphasizes this, instead of being the heroic commander on the

wielding a sword leading his men like king, Arthur or Alexander Caesars job hold onto the precious reserves and dole them out Stingily to wherever they're needed most, and he does this. But what's going to happen when he runs out of reserves, what's going happen when you have a threat and part of the line and no more legionaries to send their to bolster it. 'cause you'll do this several times in the battle. Fine the situation at the weak spot in the fortifications is so bad. It's in danger of being overrun run, which everyone seems to think would mean the battle so CZ has to go in himself. The last thing does before he runs to that spot of the line, though- and it turns out to be crucial- wouldn't you know, is to take a few leads is that he scrapes, together with some cavalry, including our german friends, puts the the command, someone says ride outside the fortifications and whip around and try

get behind the enemy that were fighting in that area and see what you can do basically and then seize your grab, some more legions. I guess that's the bottom of the barrel and heads self he arrives to the threaten part of the line, and you instantly have this feeling that he, just walked into the Alamo when totally under siege and he's Davy Crockett and he didn't To be at a place where he might die in a in a few moments, but now he's walked into it of his free will seize Says that everyone notices the red cloak, which is why you wear the red cloak, but he has the same effect that assume celebrity would have on both sides. He says celtic and Roman alike remember. This is not modern warfare where, because of the projectile weapons, everybody stays as far apart from each other as they can This is ancient warfare, where war is decided, as the Romans always say, by hand strokes. So you got to be close,

and everyone is and Caesar says that they see him arriving and both sides fight harder because of it. What's more, a lot of this battle is visible from the battle lines of people who are not involved in the fighting, so they're cheering to seize, says the first Cavalry bottle in the plane. Both sides are cheering it's like a murderous the game of quidditch or something in this case Caesar said, because of the way that hill is sloped, which made it vulnerable to begin with most of the gall and what not, in a lot of Romans, two can watch this entire fight in our cheering and making noise and the way easier narrates. This is it's a near run thing. He says his troops throw their spears fight with swords People are cheering and yelling from different sides of the battlefield. Shouts are going up, he says from the hillsides and then he describes this moment again, you know you can I think the eagles are coming. It's one of those you had to be. It's like the people

who are at the sinking of the USS Indianapolis that delivered the new your bomb and they're in the water and the sharks are eating them and they've been in there for five days and then the rescue plan, the peers and there's that moment where you just never happy in your live to see anything Cesar looks and he sees, among other things, is german, allied or mercenary cavalry? Maybe the magnificent four hundred of the german people behind the celtic force. That's about to overrun that part of the fortifications and a slaughter ensued. It's one paragraph from Caesar arriving at the beleaguered section of the fortifications to the complete turn of the tide, from the wonderful and translation seizure talks about arriving on the scene. In his red cloak and no word on whether he was doing the little Darth Vader Breath thing when he did.

Caesar says, quote Caesar hurried to join in the fighting. The conspicuous color of the clothes He habitually wore in battle proclaimed his arrival, because The downward slope swearing in Clearview from the heights above the enemy, spotted the cavalry, squadrons and cohorts he had ordered to follow him and joy battle, a shout, went up from both sides, was answered by another from the rampart and defense works hours. Through their spears, then fought with swords, suddenly The cavalry was glimpsed in the rear. More cohorts were advancing. The enemy turned tail and the cow recharge them, as they fled massive slaughter, followed end quote once again Caesar Spare with words, but you get the picture. It was a night we don't know how many people died in the fighting before that climactic moment in celtic history,

we don't know how many died afterwards. I've seen estimates, although Caesars not helping at the Rome, lost more than ten thousand, which is a lot by roman standards, but the Celts lost way more. They lost enough so that when these survivors of this charge. In this attack on this one part of the fortification made it back to their own camp about a mile away. They knew it was over and they began to break up and go home, and it's indicative of how hard fought. This battle was the Caesar in the Romans, didn't just totally destroy them, then, but Caesar said the pursuit had to be postponed for a little bit while they were covered and, of course, let's not forget their can get her ex and his besieged

his is allied army of many tribes watch this whole thing and now know they're doomed along with well everything else You know I'm always fascinated by the extremes of the human experience and the emotional and intellectual edge involved in some of the affairs I mean think about. If you could take a photo of what it looks like from there can get His point of view you, when this battle is over, as he looks out at the panel I'm a laid out before him. You know the roman defense is the sky,

line and the disaster in the foreground. What does that look like and what are your emotions, as this all sinks in as to what this means and once again, Caesar makes him out to be kind of a noble savage if you will to bring you one of those literary conventions again. And has there can get Eric's basically saying you know, do with me what you will? I only did what I did for garlic Liberty, he said, kill me or hammy over to the Romans alive. Whatever you think best, and so Caesar says, you know, he sets up this chair and he's sitting outside this camp and they're bringing prisoners to him and notable figures from inside the sieges they empty display and then Caesar makes no big deal about their can get Eric surrendering, which may be closer to the true Some historians say, but Adrian Goldsworthy says caesar- would never allow himself to be upstaged in his

commentaries and maybe he's suggesting you should believe the caches Dio war. Please Dark accounts, which are more romanticized but sound, much more in keeping with their king, get this status is a noble native tribal chief kind of I mean you put an african king or native american chief or a gillender king, for example- I mean this works in a lot of places in that in position in the movie and it works just as well. But the sources say saying if you allow for a little amalgamation of them, there can get will go and put on his best armor adorn himself with his best weapons get on his horse. Ride down to Caesar who sitting in the chair. Do a well around him get off. The

first throw is armor down, sit at Caesars feet and not say a word to be led away by the people who will throw him into the roman dungeon to wait his fate, which will have to you know, come after Caesar's schedule lightens up a little bit because he's got a whole civil war to fight and he's going to tear the guts out of the republic and when he finally gets a chance to settle down and party. You know: he'll he'll have Twenty days of Thanksgiving proclaimed in his absence when Rome hears about this whole thing, but for him to actually just enjoy himself. It's going to be awhile and and when that happens, though, there's lots of different entertainment very stuff, and the highlight of this, the party favor of party favors will be very, can get

six years later paraded in chains as part of this procession will be taken down to one of these dungeons and he will be ritually strangled so think about the human misery that emanates from the results of this battle. I like the way, He Nick Field sort of breaks down the importance of these days. I mean remember earlier in this conflict admin and it's easier sort of breaks it down to like a frantic moment, practically that the whole battle hinges, Appan, think about what that moment going the other way which might lead to that battle going. The other way would mean over the long haul. Historian Nick Fields writes about the effect of the elite Yes, siege quote: battles are singular moments in history, productive of strange events, much

depend upon a small detail. The effects of a detail may be victory and the effects of victory may be long, lasting video was such were in a very real sense. It symbolized the extinction of Gaulish Liberty Rib Ians would come and go, but never again with Gaulish Warlord Independent of Rome hold sway the tribes of gall to gain liberty. There can get Erix a strong popular leader had hazarded did everything at a and lost end quote. Which begs a more fundamental and difficult question. When you look at the last of losing was the fight and the goal worth it. The Gauls went from being political slaves to being actual slaves, historian Paul Gavigan in his book, the cutting edge had a statement that I thought was so deep it it.

It makes you question the entire paradigm when you think about admiring the resistance. The hard bitten never ending, never say die resistance, which is the thing that makes the movie so great- is the native Americans, in the face of calamity continued to resist against overwhelming odds right, I mean outcome is known, the doom is upon them and they still fight back Gavin Gun rights, quote fortunately the Gauls, protracted the war, meaning the garlic war for Non. Bloody years. It has been asked. Made it at least one million of the natives perished in the process from another perspective this was their war of independence, but they lost end quote when you're one of those

all like warriors, looking over the edge of the hill for to the devastation after the battle of Alesia, you realize now, with the down side of the give me liberty or give me death choice is going to look like and V Gavin gone quote, makes you wonder about you know: what's the proper amount of resistance to offer in the face of a conqueror? Who will take everything from you for resisting the hard question, because one might be willing to sacrifice one's own life but balk at the idea of sacrificing their children? I mean it's one of those choices, as we said, we're you're, painting things that you literally would give your life for, against other things, that you would give your life for the hardest choices in.

Human experience. I think the resistance of people that have been called Celtic or lumped in with Celtic would continue for many generations. An celtic civilization would too this conquest of the Gauls in the submission that supposedly enforces doesn't mean they're, going to stop speaking a celtic language in these areas, for example, there there will be know people talking about this score age of these celtic languages that are still tenaciously holding on centuries. After this, whether or not you classify the people in the british Isles in Ireland, Celtic I'm using air quotes with my hands. Here too, seems to a judgment call best left up to experts. But the dna evidence, as we said earlier, may indicate that there are things that go well into the roots of all the people in that region that predate the

quite a bit, so if there are similarities in them, it might be a combination of cross cultural contamination with some things that are very old. Indeed, none, the less. Maybe those personality traits often associated with celtic peoples, art all together, going on or made up much of this by the way is, you know, probably, was re, discovery, over the last couple. One hundred years as part of the awakenings of nation states, in their roots of who they are and who they were, I certain that the Irish consider themselves. You know, as Celtic as Celtic gets- and I happen to know, at least a few of them haven't given up the fight, maybe the Romans think they won, but maybe they just got outlasted. I remember when I was a kid seven years old, maybe eight- and I had an irish girl who was taking care of us. Some stereotypically named Maureen

nineteen years old, twenty years old- and she came up on me one day with soldiers also having a battle. Romans against Celts and she said who's going to win, and I said the Romans are going to win. I said the Romans always beat the Celts. She said, oh really, what language speaking currently in ITALY, she's just bear in mind back at home, we're still speaking the Irish of course. Irish gaelic is a celtic language and you'll note that it ain't dead yet go to Dan Carlin DOT com for information on how to donate, to the show.