Julius Caesar led his 60,000 Roman soldiers to siege one of the capital strongholds of Gaul. Approximately 300,000 Gauls then descended on him. Whether it was destiny or military genius, Julius Caesar cemented Rome’s road to empire and lived to tell the tale in his book, “Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War.”
Riding high on successive victories, the Romans besiege the next major stronghold of the rebels in Gaul, but it is set high on a plateau with only one narrow road up it and would be a height no Roman eagle would fly above, for now.
With the tables turned, the Gallic rebellion finds itself starting out on the defensive as Julius Caesar marches straight onto the rebel stronghold.
Having just put down a revolt in Belgae (modern: Belgium), Julius Caesar was faced with no time to rest as a major rebellion brewing in the heart of Gaul threatened to undo his six years of conquest.
Conquering a land is not as simple as winning battles. Julius Caesar had to park his troops in various hostile neighborhoods and deal with repeated uprisings until the natives there could be beaten into submission and resolve to accept Roman yoke because resisting it would be too fatal.
Having learned from his experience invading Britannia the first time around, Julius Caesar ventured forth once again a year later, but this time with a full military force and his special brand of simple, straightforward, adaptable military genius. The result was essentially Roman dominion over the southern half of Britannia for the next several millennia.
Much like Mongol attempts to invade Japan, Romans faced the challenge of safely transporting their army to a rocky island across a stormy sea.
During Julius Caesar’s tenure as war-lording proconsul of Gaul, a consistent feature of the Gallic landscape was the barbarous presence of invading semi-nomadic Germans who liked to raid, plunder, and fight.
Conquering a land is not as simple as just moving in and beating people up. Even after battles are won, the local people must accept your rule. If not, you will have to deal with uprisings like Julius Caesar did as he undertook his effort to conquer Gaul.
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