Caesar's Conquest Of Gaul example essay topic

Caesar's Conquest of Gaul Gaius Julius Caesar, born 100 B.C.E. in Rome to the impoverished patrician Julian Clan, knew controversy at an early age. Nephew to Populare Gaius Marius, he was earmarked by the Optimates dictator Sulla for proscription after his refusal to divorce his Populare wife, C inna. Fleeing Rome, and not returning until after Sulla's resignation in 78 B.C. E, upon his return he gained a position as a pontificate, an important Roman priesthood. Slowly but surely throughout his lifetime he worked his way up the political ladder, eventually becoming Consul, and finally Dictator Perpeteus - Dictator for life. One of the most influential political and military leaders of all time, Caesar was also a highly intelligent man and an exceptional orator. However, acquiring this absolute power was no mean feat, and Caesar had well equipped himself through previous expeditions with all the resources necessary to gain power in Ancient Rome.

One such "expedition" was Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Through Gaul, Caesar found a way to acquire power and prestige for himself within the Roman political arena. Therefore, Caesar's conquest of Gaul was incidental to his rise to power, and was merely used as a "stepping-stone" by which he could climb further up the political ladder, following the traditional path of the curs us honor um. His conquest of Gaul gave him all the resources necessary to climb the political ladder - wealth, popular support by the people of Rome, and, most importantly of all, the support of a staunchly loyal and experienced army. In previous years, Caesar had relied upon the wealth and prestige of others in order to further his own political and military ambitions. Before his governorship of Cisalpine Gaul, he relied heavily upon the financial support of Crassus (whom was his main creditor) to gain favour with the Roman public.

However, with his appointment as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum in 58 B.C. E, Caesar saw an opportunity to increase his own wealth and prestige without relying upon the support of others. To his command of Cisalpine Gaul, he was also later given the command of Transalpine Gaul. His command of the Gallic region had several advantages. Firstly, the Po Valley was an excellent recruiting ground for troops.

Secondly through Gaul, Caesar had an opportunity to acquire great wealth, which would be needed to further his political career. Furthermore, the political instability of Gaul gave Caesar an excuse to gain military glory for himself, and thus the support of the public in Rome. Almost every single move that Caesar made during his political career was not without a clear purpose; indeed even his acceptance of the position of proconsul was not without purpose: Cisalpine Gaul's proximity to Rome allowed Caesar to keep a close eye of the affairs of Rome. However, it is also apparent that there were other reasons for his acceptance of the post:" When at the close of his consulship the praetors Gaius Memmius and Lucius Domitius moved an inquiry into his conduct during the previous year, Caesar laid the matter before the senate; and when they failed to take it up, and three days had been wasted in fruitless wrangling, went off to his province. Whereupon his quae stor was at once arraigned on several counts, as a preliminary to his own impeachment.

Presently he himself too was prosecuted by Lucius Antistius, tribune of the commons, and it was only by appealing to the whole college that he contrived not to be brought to trial, on the ground that he was absent on public service". (1) During Caesar's first consulship of 59 B.C. E, his supporters used violence as a means of getting his political counterparts to pass his Agrarian Land Bill (the Lex Campania), which proposed to divide up publicly-owned land between the army veterans, as well as the urban poor. The Optimates vehemently opposed the Bill, and it was only through the use of violence that the Bill was ratified in the Senate. Therefore, Caesar also accepted his proconsul ship of Gaul so readily, because it granted him immunity from the charges that he was facing. Taking up his command of Cisalpine Gaul in 58 B.C.E., Caesar was confronted by the opportunity he had been waiting for. A tribe known as the Helvetii from northern Switzerland started a mass migration in late 58 B.C.E., seeking new homes within Transalpine Gaul.

It was under the pretext of protecting the other Gallic tribes (such as the Aedui, who were allies of Rome) that Caesar found an excuse for his army to invade Gaul, so that he could win military glory for himself. Meeting the Helvetii at Bibracte, Caesar forced them to return to their homes. Later that year, the Suevi, a Germanic tribe started to expand at the expense of Aedui, and Caesar, sensing another opportunity for a successful campaign, drove the Germans back beyond the Rhine. Once again, in the winter of 56 B.C.E., the Gallic tribes of the Veneti and Aquitani revolted against Roman rule.

Caesar swiftly put down this uprising; however, he was extremely lenient in punishing the Veneti and Aquitani, as he realised that the Gauls could be useful allies to him in the future: "the perfidiousness of the tribes whose good-will he conciliated, another in his humanity and clemency to those he overpowered". (2) To furthermore reaffirm his newly kindled friendship with the Gallic tribes, he created a new legion composed entirely of Gauls trained in Roman tactics and warfare, to whom he gave full Roman citizenship:" Encouraged by this, he added to the legions which he had received from the state others at his own cost, one actually composed of men of Gallia Transalpine and bearing a Gallic name too (for it was called A lauda [or "Crested Lark"]), which he trained in the Roman tactics and equipped with Roman arms; and later on he gave every man of it citizenship". (3) This important period of Roman expansion into Transalpine Gaul was extremely beneficial to Caesar's popularity and political career. Following his victories over the rebellious Gallic tribes, his reputation was greatly increased, and the Roman public was greatly excited by the amount of booty that Caesar's Gallic campaigns had netted for Rome, thus further increasing his already vastly expanding support base. Through his vastly successful campaigns, Rome now controlled nearly all of Transalpine Gaul, not only giving him an enormous supply of natural resources and wealth, but also the support of Gallic tribes. Caesar had "become the champion and protector of the Gallic people" (4), due to his leniency towards the rebellious Gallic tribes.

In 55 B.C.E., two Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine into Transalpine Gaul, and, in a show of Rome's (and his own power), Caesar annihilated both tribes, including women and children. His legions then constructed a bridge spanning the Rhine, 280 metre's by 12 metre's wide, crossed the Rhine, and then promptly destroyed the bridge in an outlandish display of Rome's superiority and strength. In 54 B.C.E., Caesar crossed the English Channel, met the Britons on their own ground, and defeated their leader, King Cassivellanus, and subsequently took their capital. He exacted a heavy tribute upon the British tribes for the return of their capital, and, following his payment, he returned to his post in Cisalpine Gaul. This apparently motive-less move by Caesar was actually quite well thought out, as it greatly excited the masses in Rome, and so, once again, popular support for Caesar soared. Caesar, however, faced a major challenge in 52 B.C.E., when a young Gallic noble called Vercingetorix of the Aver ni tribe united the Gauls against Rome's rule.

Up until this point, Caesar had not really had any major challenges or setbacks to overcome, but now, this young Gallic leader posed quite a serious threat to Caesar position of power in Gaul. However, Caesar and his legions proved themselves quite adept even against the power of a massed Gallic army, and, following a series of Roman victories against Vercingetorix, he and his troops were forced to retreat to the natural hill-fort of Alesia, where they were reinforced by yet another immense Gallic force:" After the defeat, a great part of those who had escaped fled with their king into a town called Alesia, which Caesar besieged, though the height of the walls, and number of those who defended them, made it appear impregnable; and meantime, from without the walls, he was assailed by a greater danger than can be expressed. For the choice men of Gaul, picked out of each nation, and well armed, came to relieve Alesia, to the number of three hundred thousand; nor were there in the town less than one hundred and seventy thousand". (5) With his force of almost 70 000 Roman troops, Caesar defended the siege 25 miles of siege works he had constructed around Alesia courageously. Faced with enemies both behind and in front, and outnumbered almost seven to one, Caesar's victory was far from assured. However, in a superb tactical move, Caesar managed to maneuver his main cavalry force behind the largest Gallic force, and in their charge, the Gauls panicked and fled at the prospect of being attacked from the rear by the experienced German cavalry that Caesar had employed.

Fleeing troops make easy targets, and, with his main force routed, Vercingetorix surrendered his remaining forces to Caesar and his army:" Vercingetorix... putting his best armour on, and adorning his horse, rode out of the gates, and made a turn about Caesar as he was sitting, then quitting his horse, threw off his armour, and remained quietly sitting at Caesar's feet until he was led away to be reserved for the triumph". (6) With the defeat of Vercingetorix, Gallic resistance to Roman authority was virtually annihilated, and it was to be the last major rebellion Roman forces were to face in Gaul. Within the eight years that Caesar had held proconsul ship over Gaul, Caesar is believed to:" ... Have taken by storm above eight hundred towns, subdued three hundred states, and of the three millions of men, who made up the gross sum of those with whom at several times he engaged, he had killed one million and taken captive a second". (7) The Gauls were left both politically and financially exhausted after eight years of pitched battles with Roman forces, and submitted to Roman rule. Following this, Caesar conducted a campaign of reconciliation with the Gauls, as, he realized, he might need their support in further conflicts with the Optimates.

With his complete control over all of Gaul, Caesar's career reached a new political high. With Gaul, Caesar added to Rome's provinces an area twice the size of Italy, with considerable natural resources to match, giving him incredible popular support within Rome. He had built up a military reputation equal to that of Pompey as a brilliant tactician, and he had earned the staunch loyalty of an experienced army, and, because of the leniency he displayed towards the Gallic tribes, he had their support during the subsequent Roman civil war. Many factors have been attributed for Caesar's astronomical successes in Gaul, namely the lack of Gallic unity between the tribes, as well as the leniency that Caesar displayed towards the Gauls. However, perhaps the single largest contributing factor was Caesar's genius in military tactics and strategy, as well as his extreme political acumen. "His character was an amalgamation of genius, method, memory, culture, thoroughness, intellect, and industry".

(8) "Caesar, if anyone, deserves to be called a master of politics. He was equally great in understanding general political trends as in directing them. With consummate skill he handled the machinery of political details, without ever sacrificing his major aim of winning decisive power... the flights of his genius lifted him to a lonely eminence where others were unable to follow him". (9) One thing can certainly be said, Caesar was a greatly intelligent man, and excelled in any enterprise he took upon himself. In taking up his position of governorship Gaul, he not only excelled at playing the game of politics, but he also used all of his considerable skills at his disposal to further his career, military reputation and popular support. Recording his Gallic campaigns in a work known as The Gallic Wars, he detailed his conquests and achievements and used them as an effective form of propaganda, widely publishing them in Rome during his absence.

Caesar truly did use his conquest of Gaul as a mere "stepping-stone" by which he was able to ascend up the curs us honor um, and so effectively did achieve this, that it led to his rise to absolute power and preeminence within Rome". ... Those many expeditions in which he subdued Gaul, showed him to be a soldier and general not in the least inferior to any of the greatest and most admired commanders who had ever appeared at the head of armies. For if we compare him with the Fab ii, the Met elli, the Scipios, and with those who were his contemporaries, or not long before him, Sulla, Marius, the Luc ulli, or even Pompey himself, whose glory, it may be said, went up at that time to heaven for every excellence in war, we shall find Caesar's actions to have surpassed them all".

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Bibliography

1) Suetonius The Lives of the Caesars, The Deified Julius 110 B.C.E. [ON-LINE] web (2) Plutarch on Caesar (Translated by John Dryden) 75 B.C.E. [ON-LINE] web (3) Suetonius The Lives of the Caesars, The Deified Julius 110 B.C.E. [ON-LINE] web (4) Bradley, Pamela Ancient Rome: Using Evidence (1990) Edward Arnold (Australia), Victoria pp 350 (5) Plutarch on Caesar (Translated by John Dryden) 75 B.
C.E. [ON-LINE] web (6) Plutarch on Caesar (Translated by John Dryden) 75 B.C.E. [ON-LINE] web (7) Plutarch on Caesar (Translated by John Dryden) 75 B.C.E. [ON-LINE] web (8) Grant, Michael The Twelve Caesars (1975) Scribner, New York pp 31-33 (9) Geller, Matthias Caesar: Politican and Statesman (Translated by Peter Needham) (1968) Harvard University Press pp 329-331 (10) Plutarch on Caesar (Translated by John Dryden) 75 B.
C.E. [ON-LINE] web Pamela Ancient Rome: Using Evidence (1990) Edward Arnold (Australia), VictoriaGelzer, Matthias Caesar: Politican and Statesman (Translated by Peter Needham) (1968) Harvard University Press, Harvard University Grant, Michael The Twelve Caesars (1975) Scribner, New York Plutarch Caesar (Translated by John Dryden) 75 B.