The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - November 03, 2024


PREVIEW： Epochs #183 ｜ Pompey & Caesar： Part VIII


Episode Stats

Length

26 minutes

Words per Minute

180.3645

Word Count

4,869

Sentence Count

225

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

22


Summary

Julius Caesar was a Roman general who spent much of his military career in the provinces of western Europe. He was a man of many talents, but one of his greatest gifts was his ability to conquer and conquer well. And in order to do so, he had to travel far and wide to get his troops across the enemy's borders. And it wasn't long before he was faced with a formidable enemy, the Belgae.


Transcript

00:00:00.120 Hello and welcome to this episode of Epochs, where I shall be continuing once again my narrative of the decline and fall of the Roman Republic,
00:00:07.780 carrying on with the military career of Julius Caesar and his time in Gaul, his many years in Gaul, a big chunk of his whole life he spent fighting in Gaul and conquering Gaul.
00:00:17.360 If you remember last time, Caesar had put down the German war master Ariovistus, and he had left his army wintering right in the centre of France essentially,
00:00:29.620 but he himself had popped back to Italy for various administrative reasons over that winter.
00:00:35.700 Now, it seems that something happened, there was some sort of shift in public opinion, if you can say such a thing, even existed in the first century BC.
00:00:45.420 Public opinion had changed, it seems, over the course of that winter.
00:00:49.960 It seems that a lot of the remaining Gallic tribes that hadn't already been subdued by the Romans
00:00:55.160 had decided or realised that Rome was now their first existential threat,
00:01:01.740 and that they should really band together to try and do something about it, particularly the Belgic tribes, the Belgae.
00:01:09.880 So the next section I'm going to talk all about is the following year now, 57 BC, we're now in 57 BC,
00:01:16.100 and Caesar spends this whole year just fighting the Belgae, which are up in more northern France,
00:01:22.760 up near Holland and Belgium, and along the Rhine there.
00:01:26.880 So the first thing to say is that the word Belgae, there's not just one tribe, one people called the Belgae,
00:01:31.980 it's a coalition of lots and lots of different people.
00:01:35.440 In fact, they get some Germans to fight alongside them as well, but we'll get into all that detail.
00:01:40.420 So let's just start with a paragraph here from Caesar, who says this, quote,
00:01:46.080 While Caesar was in Italy and the legions in their winter quarters, repeated rumours reached him,
00:01:51.400 alleging what was confirmed by dispatches by Labienus, one of his generals he'd left in France,
00:01:57.480 that all the Gallic tribes whose territory, as said above, comprises a third of Gaul,
00:02:02.360 were conspiring against the Romans and exchanging hostages.
00:02:06.040 Their action was said to be due to two causes.
00:02:08.820 In the first place, they were afraid that if all the rest of Gauls subdued,
00:02:14.160 our troops would advance against them.
00:02:16.240 Secondly, they were instigated, from various motives, by a number of Celtic Gauls.
00:02:22.240 Some of these were as much annoyed by the sight of a Roman army wintering Gaul,
00:02:26.560 and establishing itself there, as they had been by the continued presence of the Germans in the country.
00:02:31.840 Others, fickle and inconstant, merely hankered after a change of masters.
00:02:36.240 There were also some adventurers who saw that under Roman rule,
00:02:40.400 they would not find it so easy to usurp thrones,
00:02:43.040 as was commonly done in Gaul by powerful men and by those who could afford to hire mercenaries.
00:02:47.920 So, as I said, you can see there that the Gauls have realised that Caesar's here to stay.
00:02:53.960 The Romans are here to stay.
00:02:54.920 They've been in southern Gaul, the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul.
00:02:58.860 They've been there for a long time, generations, but have certainly never pushed up into central or even northern Gaul,
00:03:06.300 or up to the Rhine region, or up to the Channel region.
00:03:09.660 That had never happened before.
00:03:11.160 And they sort of know already, it's been a couple of years Caesar's been in Gaul, more or less.
00:03:16.760 They seem to have got Caesar's number.
00:03:19.220 They know that he's there for conquest and that he's not going to go away,
00:03:23.540 and if they don't band together, they wouldn't stand a chance.
00:03:27.880 Caesar continues, quote,
00:03:28.780 These alarming reports induced Caesar to raise two new legions in Italy.
00:03:33.240 Just raise two new legions, just like that.
00:03:36.080 If you don't get any more detail about the difficulty of that, or not.
00:03:39.880 He just did it. It just happened.
00:03:41.580 Two new legions straight away.
00:03:43.100 And to send them in the spring to Gaul under the command of Quintus Pedius, one of his generals.
00:03:48.440 As soon as forage began to be plentiful, he joined the army in person
00:03:52.260 and instructed the Senones and the other tribes whose territory bordered on that of the Belgae
00:03:57.800 to find out what was going on among them and inform him.
00:04:01.460 See, his intelligence apparatus was top notch.
00:04:05.660 Caesar never neglected the intelligence side of war.
00:04:10.200 As their reports all agreed that troops were being levied and concentrated,
00:04:14.680 he decided that he must take the offensive at once.
00:04:17.540 Again, classic Caesar.
00:04:18.840 I just have to fight and act.
00:04:20.880 That's the main thing.
00:04:21.960 And after arranging for a supply of grain, he broke camp and in a fortnight was on the Belgic frontier.
00:04:27.800 End of quote.
00:04:28.540 So again, I've said before, and it will keep coming up again and again and again,
00:04:31.780 not just in the Gallic wars, but in the whole rest of Caesar's life and career,
00:04:38.320 he moves fast.
00:04:39.960 He moves so fast.
00:04:41.340 And it seldom fails him.
00:04:43.900 Once or twice he'll sort of move too fast for his own good
00:04:46.260 and outstrip his supplier or something like that.
00:04:49.740 But it nearly always works, it seems, in the ancient world, or certainly in the pre-modern world anyway.
00:04:56.600 Moving very, very fast as a military commander is a great thing to do.
00:05:00.820 I say the pre-modern world.
00:05:01.740 Even someone like George Patton in World War II, it worked very, very well for.
00:05:07.600 As long as your army isn't massively entrenched and you're not massively outnumbered,
00:05:13.240 then it's a great tactic.
00:05:15.940 The narrative continues, quote,
00:05:17.000 On his arrival, which, owing to the speed of his march, was quite unexpected,
00:05:23.280 the Remy, the nearest of the Belgae in Celtic Gaul,
00:05:27.080 sent Iccius and Andracombogius, that's the name, Andracombogius,
00:05:31.700 the leading men of their tribe,
00:05:34.420 to tell him that they placed themselves and all they possessed under the protection
00:05:38.220 and at the disposal of the Roman people.
00:05:40.760 They explained that they had taken no part in the conspiracy
00:05:43.660 which the rest of the Belgae had planned against the Romans
00:05:46.140 and that they were ready to give hostages, to obey his orders,
00:05:50.060 to admit him into their strongholds and to furnish corn and other supplies.
00:05:54.420 The remainder of the Belgae, they said, were up in arms
00:05:56.900 and had been joined by the Germans living on the Gallic side of the Rhine
00:06:00.560 and all of them were possessed by such fury that even the Suessones,
00:06:06.400 their own near kinsmen who enjoyed the protection of the same laws as themselves
00:06:09.960 and obeyed the same king and the same magistrate,
00:06:12.380 had refused to listen when they tried to deter them from joining the movement.
00:06:17.040 So you can see there that not all tribes were completely of the same mind.
00:06:20.940 The ones closest to where Caesar had already conquered up to
00:06:24.820 were prepared to give in and just work with the Romans.
00:06:28.420 Now, in hindsight, they were probably right to, you know,
00:06:32.060 the Romans don't leave Gaul for hundreds of years.
00:06:35.620 So the Remy probably made the right decision there.
00:06:39.260 But the rest of the Belgae and the Gallic Gaulic people,
00:06:42.920 and some of the Germans even, are proud and weren't prepared to sort of see the writing on the wall.
00:06:48.800 Or it is touch and go for a while.
00:06:51.280 So it's not, it's easy to think that Caesar was always going to conquer Gaul
00:06:54.860 because it's so famous, right? It's such a famous story.
00:06:57.020 It's easy to fall into that trap of thinking that it was a cakewalk
00:07:02.160 or it was a fait accompli or it was just always going to happen.
00:07:06.400 Well, no, that's not how history goes.
00:07:08.140 And later in the story, even towards the end of the story,
00:07:10.720 Caesar comes very, very close to getting routed and defeated
00:07:13.360 and even killed himself and all that sort of thing.
00:07:16.440 So it's not unreasonable or crazy for the Belgae and the various coalitions against Caesar
00:07:23.120 to think that they might be able to beat him and kick him out,
00:07:26.760 boot him back into Italy or Spain.
00:07:29.540 Yeah, that's not a crazy, a crazy concept.
00:07:33.000 Okay, the story goes on.
00:07:34.240 Quote,
00:07:34.740 On being asked for the names of the tribes that had taken up arms
00:07:37.920 and particulars of their numbers and military strength,
00:07:41.000 the envoys, spires,
00:07:43.000 stated that most of the Belgae were descended from tribes
00:07:45.700 which long ago came across the Rhine from Germany
00:07:48.320 and settled in that part of Gaul on account of its fertility,
00:07:52.340 expelling the former inhabitants.
00:07:54.520 The Belgae, they said,
00:07:55.880 were the only people who half a century earlier,
00:07:58.700 when all the rest of Gaul was overrun by the Cheutone and the Cimbri,
00:08:02.260 they were the Germans that Marius fought, if you remember,
00:08:04.700 prevented the invaders from entering their territory,
00:08:07.540 the recollection of which made them assume an heir of much importance
00:08:10.840 and pride themselves on their military power.
00:08:13.580 Regarding their numbers,
00:08:14.560 the Remy professed to have detailed information,
00:08:17.780 explaining that they were united with the various tribes
00:08:20.220 by ties of blood and marriage
00:08:21.560 and knew the strength of the contingent
00:08:23.520 that each had promised in the general council of the Belgae.
00:08:26.900 So, great intelligence.
00:08:28.440 Find out the numbers of your enemy.
00:08:31.180 That's gold.
00:08:32.120 That's gold dust.
00:08:32.640 The most powerful of all, they said,
00:08:35.460 were the Belovaki.
00:08:36.860 On account of their bravery, prestige and large population,
00:08:40.560 they could muster 100,000 troops
00:08:42.500 and had promised 60,000 picked men
00:08:45.220 and claimed the direction of the whole campaign.
00:08:48.620 So, the Belovaki are one of the key peoples in this.
00:08:52.200 It goes on.
00:08:52.820 The Suezones, near neighbours of the Remy themselves,
00:08:56.440 had an extensive and very fertile territory.
00:08:59.080 I'll put a map up so everyone can see what's going on.
00:09:01.820 They had been ruled within living memory by Diviachius.
00:09:04.880 Remember him from the last couple of episodes?
00:09:07.160 The most powerful king in Gaul,
00:09:09.160 who controlled not only a large part of the Belgic country,
00:09:12.120 but Britain as well.
00:09:14.140 I have to pause there.
00:09:16.280 You would have thought Caesar would have mentioned that before now
00:09:18.380 if that had been the case
00:09:19.240 because Diviachius has come up quite a lot already
00:09:21.900 and there's no mention that he was also the ruler of Britain.
00:09:26.120 But, later in the story, an episode or two from now,
00:09:29.500 we'll talk all about Britain
00:09:30.480 because Caesar bounces across the channel a couple of times
00:09:34.240 and has engagements in Britain
00:09:37.700 and we'll talk all about the connection or lack thereof
00:09:41.640 between the Gauls, the Belgae, and the Britons.
00:09:46.680 But it's an interesting line there that he says
00:09:48.680 Diviachius was also some sort of king in Gaul.
00:09:54.380 Certainly not the king of all Britain or England in any way.
00:09:58.460 That doesn't happen for centuries and centuries and centuries yet.
00:10:01.760 Okay, the story goes on.
00:10:02.860 Their present king, the Belgae,
00:10:04.340 their present king was Galba,
00:10:06.320 to whom, as a just and able man,
00:10:08.760 the supreme direction of the war was being entrusted
00:10:11.060 by common consent.
00:10:12.880 He possessed 12 strongholds
00:10:14.700 and undertook to furnish 50,000 troops.
00:10:17.660 An equal number was promised by the Nervi,
00:10:20.140 so already we're talking 200,000 guys,
00:10:22.660 who were considered by the Belgae themselves
00:10:24.460 to be their fiercest fighters
00:10:26.040 and lived furthest to the north.
00:10:28.500 The Atrabates were to provide 15,000 men,
00:10:31.520 the Ambiani, 10,000,
00:10:33.300 the Morini, 25,000,
00:10:35.580 the Menapi, 9,000,
00:10:37.420 the Caleti, 10,000,
00:10:39.160 the Velio Cascis and the Viromundi,
00:10:41.740 10,000 between them,
00:10:43.220 and the Atuatuki, 19,000.
00:10:45.500 The Condrusi, Ebronis,
00:10:47.800 Ciarosi,
00:10:48.940 and Paimani,
00:10:50.220 who were all known as German tribes,
00:10:52.020 thought that they could raise an army about 40,000 strong.
00:10:55.480 End quote.
00:10:56.580 So, loads, like hundreds,
00:10:59.100 hundreds of thousands of guys.
00:11:00.740 A good quarter of a million,
00:11:01.980 if the numbers are to be believed, that is,
00:11:05.100 but, you know,
00:11:05.680 easily something in the order of
00:11:07.940 a quarter of a million men,
00:11:10.420 300,000 men,
00:11:11.560 fighting men, that is.
00:11:12.820 So,
00:11:14.240 a fearsome giant host,
00:11:17.260 the Belgae Coalition,
00:11:18.920 including, as you said,
00:11:20.000 they're Germans.
00:11:21.200 Caesar would have had nowhere near that many.
00:11:23.620 Nowhere near.
00:11:24.220 It's only got a handful of legions.
00:11:25.840 Four, five, six, seven legions.
00:11:28.580 You know,
00:11:28.820 a few thousand.
00:11:30.000 Nowhere near.
00:11:31.180 Nowhere near that.
00:11:32.400 Again,
00:11:32.760 scholars and historians have always argued about,
00:11:34.760 or always do argue about numbers,
00:11:37.120 when we're given numbers in ancient sources.
00:11:39.480 The tendency is to nearly always say,
00:11:41.100 oh, they're exaggerating.
00:11:43.160 Particularly in this account,
00:11:44.400 where it's Caesar.
00:11:44.980 Obviously, he wants to make himself
00:11:46.060 sound as cool as possible,
00:11:47.880 as great as possible, right?
00:11:48.980 So,
00:11:49.600 if your enemy is a giant, giant host,
00:11:52.440 that reflects even better on you,
00:11:55.020 if you beat them.
00:11:56.100 So, maybe he is exaggerating.
00:11:57.620 I wouldn't be surprised if there's some exaggeration in there.
00:12:00.140 But then other people say,
00:12:01.320 other people argue,
00:12:02.560 with some reason,
00:12:03.900 that even if it is a bit exaggerated,
00:12:06.260 it probably wouldn't be massively exaggerated,
00:12:09.580 because people at the time would know,
00:12:11.540 and just call him out for being a liar.
00:12:13.040 You know,
00:12:14.080 you can sometimes fib a bit,
00:12:16.440 or exaggerate a bit,
00:12:17.740 but if you do it too much,
00:12:19.260 if it's too obvious or egregious,
00:12:21.080 you just won't get away with it.
00:12:22.620 So,
00:12:23.120 I have always thought that those numbers
00:12:24.720 were probably a bit exaggerated,
00:12:26.520 but not that much.
00:12:28.120 That's my feeling.
00:12:29.160 But who knows?
00:12:30.540 No one knows.
00:12:31.660 The archaeology will never be able to tell us,
00:12:34.020 and there were no other good accounts,
00:12:36.040 so we will never know.
00:12:37.740 All right,
00:12:38.180 Caesar continues here,
00:12:39.260 quote,
00:12:39.960 Caesar addressed the Remy
00:12:41.200 in gracious and reassuring terms,
00:12:43.820 telling them to send their whole council to him,
00:12:46.080 and to place the children of their leading citizens
00:12:48.120 in his hands as hostages.
00:12:50.120 Again,
00:12:50.580 most people might know,
00:12:51.720 and I've said a few times at epochs,
00:12:53.160 that ancient hostages,
00:12:55.320 quote-unquote hostages,
00:12:56.260 are not the same as a modern-day hostage.
00:12:58.940 It's not like you're kept in a cell,
00:13:01.180 just awaiting execution or something.
00:13:03.660 You may well be treated,
00:13:04.860 if you're a child that's given over to a Roman,
00:13:07.880 as a hostage,
00:13:08.520 you might be raised in Rome in opulence.
00:13:10.620 You might be,
00:13:11.420 you might not,
00:13:12.040 but it's not quite like a modern-day hostage,
00:13:14.860 where you're in a world of hurt.
00:13:16.440 You're not necessarily in a world of hurt.
00:13:18.120 Okay,
00:13:18.320 anyway,
00:13:19.360 in fact,
00:13:19.780 kind of the point of it is that you're treated well,
00:13:22.340 so that if and when you are returned,
00:13:23.680 and you probably will be returned,
00:13:25.040 probably,
00:13:25.740 you can tell stories of how you're treated well,
00:13:28.980 and that the friendship between your peoples
00:13:30.660 can now be cemented.
00:13:32.440 And in the Roman side of the equation,
00:13:34.640 anyway,
00:13:34.840 they often like to raise enemy children in Rome,
00:13:37.800 in sort of the Latin style,
00:13:40.140 make them literate and things,
00:13:42.040 and then,
00:13:42.560 you know,
00:13:42.760 it's a long game,
00:13:43.840 it's a long con,
00:13:45.160 but then they'll take that culture back to their own lands,
00:13:49.140 and there'll be a seedbed of Roman,
00:13:52.200 Mediterranean culture all over the place.
00:13:55.080 It actually worked very well,
00:13:56.700 a very good long con,
00:13:57.940 it seems.
00:13:58.760 Okay,
00:13:59.000 it goes on.
00:13:59.360 These orders were carefully and punctually obeyed.
00:14:03.300 So the Remy,
00:14:04.320 do capitulate to the Romans,
00:14:05.620 sort of completely.
00:14:06.660 He,
00:14:07.120 Caesar,
00:14:07.780 impressed upon Diviacus,
00:14:09.480 the Aduan,
00:14:10.480 the importance,
00:14:11.660 alike for Rome,
00:14:12.580 and for the general safety of Gaul,
00:14:14.300 of preventing the junction of the various enemy contingents,
00:14:17.880 in order to avoid the necessity of fighting such powerful forces all at once.
00:14:22.720 Yeah,
00:14:23.080 classic,
00:14:23.700 classic,
00:14:24.140 of course.
00:14:24.500 If you can divide your enemy,
00:14:26.580 that's in your interest,
00:14:27.480 if you're outnumbered,
00:14:28.200 or even if you're not outnumbered,
00:14:29.120 it's just always going to be a good thing to do,
00:14:31.840 if you can divide your enemy into smaller chunks.
00:14:34.460 Just being completely outnumbered and overawed on the battlefield,
00:14:40.480 you don't want that,
00:14:41.920 obviously.
00:14:43.400 He,
00:14:43.920 Caesar again,
00:14:44.660 explained that the best way of effecting this was for the Adiwai to invade the land of the Belovaki,
00:14:50.600 and start devastating it,
00:14:51.960 and dismissed Diviciacus with orders to do so.
00:14:55.620 So,
00:14:56.040 here,
00:14:56.500 you know,
00:14:57.660 Caesar is laying waste to the land here,
00:15:01.080 or getting other Gauls to lay waste to Gaul.
00:15:04.380 I mean,
00:15:04.760 so far in this story,
00:15:06.500 there hasn't been a great deal of that,
00:15:09.520 but there is a lot more of it as it goes on.
00:15:12.680 You know,
00:15:12.840 because some people,
00:15:13.380 a lot of people think Caesar is a superb,
00:15:15.460 great person,
00:15:16.520 but other people do say,
00:15:17.740 you know,
00:15:17.980 he did something terrible in Gaul.
00:15:20.760 It gets worse as we go along.
00:15:23.020 You know,
00:15:23.200 he did something approaching what,
00:15:25.000 in the modern day,
00:15:26.100 in the second half of the 20th century,
00:15:28.080 we might call war crimes,
00:15:30.060 or we might call genocide or something,
00:15:33.460 ethnic cleansing,
00:15:34.540 et cetera.
00:15:35.780 Of course,
00:15:36.360 all those things are massive anachronisms.
00:15:38.800 The ancient world had no concept,
00:15:40.960 really,
00:15:41.240 of those things.
00:15:41.900 It just didn't work like that.
00:15:44.620 Nevertheless,
00:15:45.260 you're still right and wrong,
00:15:46.920 isn't it?
00:15:48.380 They're still devastating the land of innocent peoples.
00:15:51.720 They're still the butchery of innocent peoples.
00:15:54.260 It was never,
00:15:55.260 at any point in human history,
00:15:57.140 good or okay.
00:15:59.020 But yeah,
00:15:59.360 so it must be pointed out,
00:16:00.280 because I probably won't do it all that much
00:16:02.420 to point out the,
00:16:04.400 sort of,
00:16:04.980 the amount of,
00:16:05.820 well,
00:16:06.240 human misery
00:16:07.080 that Caesar left in his wake.
00:16:09.180 I will do from time to time,
00:16:10.400 but bear in mind
00:16:11.700 that that is what's going on
00:16:13.660 a lot of the time,
00:16:15.440 continuing on.
00:16:16.220 When,
00:16:16.980 however,
00:16:17.680 he learnt from his patrols
00:16:19.060 and from the Remy
00:16:19.760 that the Belgae
00:16:20.880 had already completed
00:16:22.260 their concentration
00:16:23.140 and were approaching,
00:16:24.580 he hastily crossed the River Aen,
00:16:26.700 just within the borders
00:16:27.740 of the Remy
00:16:28.380 and encamped.
00:16:30.020 This movement enabled him
00:16:31.480 to protect one side of his camp
00:16:33.580 by the river
00:16:34.380 and to secure his rear
00:16:35.820 and assured the safety of the convoys
00:16:37.960 that were to be sent up
00:16:39.380 by the Remy and others.
00:16:41.120 See,
00:16:41.340 it doesn't sound like much,
00:16:42.380 but Caesar's got a tactical mind.
00:16:45.720 You know,
00:16:46.440 as I say,
00:16:46.900 it doesn't sound much,
00:16:47.780 just making sure
00:16:48.420 that your one side,
00:16:50.320 one flank
00:16:50.760 is protected by a river
00:16:51.980 and that your,
00:16:52.940 the rear is secured
00:16:54.180 and all that sort of thing.
00:16:55.520 Lots of generals
00:16:56.200 all throughout history,
00:16:57.260 even going up
00:16:58.160 into the 20th century,
00:16:59.920 don't know to do those things
00:17:01.360 or aren't capable of it
00:17:02.420 or they don't have the ire
00:17:04.120 to know where's a solid,
00:17:07.080 decent place to camp
00:17:08.040 and where is a terrible,
00:17:09.720 stupid place to camp.
00:17:10.680 Well,
00:17:10.840 Caesar absolutely has the ire,
00:17:13.060 one of the best ever.
00:17:14.300 So that sort of thing
00:17:15.020 was just bread and butter.
00:17:15.720 We probably didn't really
00:17:17.280 spend any time thinking about it.
00:17:19.000 It's just obviously
00:17:19.580 we're going to do this.
00:17:21.520 Okay,
00:17:22.060 so it goes on.
00:17:22.880 The river was spanned
00:17:23.780 by a bridge
00:17:24.500 at the head of which
00:17:25.760 he placed a strong guard
00:17:27.000 leaving one of his generals,
00:17:29.460 Quintus Titorus Sabinus,
00:17:31.320 on the left bank
00:17:32.180 with six cohorts.
00:17:33.660 He ordered the camp
00:17:34.480 to be made
00:17:35.020 with a rampart
00:17:35.740 12 feet higher
00:17:36.680 and a trench
00:17:37.600 18 feet wide.
00:17:39.060 Once again,
00:17:39.560 no small feet,
00:17:40.780 quite a large,
00:17:42.160 a reasonably large
00:17:43.060 bit of engineering,
00:17:44.720 just quickly order that
00:17:45.660 and it just happens,
00:17:46.500 just springs up.
00:17:47.600 It feels like,
00:17:48.420 doesn't it?
00:17:48.980 Often,
00:17:49.340 it just feels like.
00:17:49.880 Caesar orders
00:17:50.420 some sort of giant earthwork
00:17:52.060 or some sort of building construction,
00:17:54.140 would have all been in wood,
00:17:55.580 just orders it
00:17:56.340 and it's just happened.
00:17:58.140 That's the way
00:17:58.580 Caesar tells the story.
00:17:59.580 But you do get
00:18:00.460 that impression that,
00:18:01.600 and we do know
00:18:02.220 from other sources,
00:18:02.880 that the Romans,
00:18:03.860 the Roman army,
00:18:04.460 at least in this period
00:18:05.340 and have been for a while,
00:18:06.800 extremely good
00:18:07.720 at this sort of thing.
00:18:09.300 Extremely good.
00:18:10.920 Gallic and German armies
00:18:13.360 don't do this.
00:18:15.060 They don't build,
00:18:15.940 not very quickly anyway,
00:18:17.240 not very much.
00:18:18.300 They don't build massive camps
00:18:19.900 and earthworks
00:18:21.760 on a battlefield
00:18:23.300 out of scratch
00:18:23.920 that they're only going to need
00:18:24.740 or use for a short period of time.
00:18:26.960 They just don't do it.
00:18:28.240 It's rare throughout
00:18:28.760 all of history, actually.
00:18:30.220 Caesar goes on,
00:18:30.940 quote,
00:18:31.580 Eight miles away
00:18:32.440 was the town of the Remy
00:18:33.620 called Bibrax,
00:18:35.360 which the Belgae,
00:18:36.620 as soon as they reached it,
00:18:37.780 assaulted so violently
00:18:39.300 that the garrison
00:18:40.360 had difficulty
00:18:41.120 in holding out
00:18:42.200 to the end of the day.
00:18:43.760 The Belgae have the same method
00:18:45.160 of attacking a fortress
00:18:46.140 as the rest of the Gauls.
00:18:48.180 They begin by surrounding
00:18:49.220 the whole circuit of the wall
00:18:50.460 with a large number of men
00:18:51.680 and showering stones
00:18:53.200 at it from all sides.
00:18:55.040 When they have cleared it
00:18:55.860 of defenders,
00:18:57.180 they lock their shields
00:18:58.040 over their heads,
00:18:59.260 advance close up
00:19:00.260 and undermine it.
00:19:01.540 These tactics
00:19:02.280 were easy to employ
00:19:03.560 on the present occasion,
00:19:05.100 for with such a large force
00:19:06.400 hurling stones and javelins,
00:19:08.480 no one could possibly
00:19:09.400 stay on the wall.
00:19:10.640 When night stopped
00:19:11.460 the assault,
00:19:12.500 Iccius,
00:19:13.260 the governor of the town,
00:19:14.520 a Roman nobleman
00:19:15.440 who was very influential
00:19:16.560 with his countrymen
00:19:17.560 and he'd been one
00:19:18.400 of the envoys
00:19:19.120 deputed to ask Caesar
00:19:21.040 for peace,
00:19:22.080 sent word
00:19:22.640 that unless relieved,
00:19:24.060 he could not hold out longer.
00:19:25.680 Shortly after midnight,
00:19:27.200 using as guides
00:19:28.140 the men
00:19:28.620 who had brought
00:19:29.280 Iccius' message,
00:19:31.040 Caesar sent some
00:19:31.880 Numidians,
00:19:33.000 Cretan archers
00:19:33.960 and Balearic slingers
00:19:35.360 to help him.
00:19:36.280 That's classic.
00:19:36.880 Numidian horsemen
00:19:37.960 are some of the best around,
00:19:39.960 Cretan archers
00:19:40.740 are known for being
00:19:41.420 great archers
00:19:42.160 and everyone knows
00:19:43.500 the best slingers
00:19:44.200 in the world
00:19:44.780 are from the Balearic Islands.
00:19:47.080 Their arrival restored
00:19:48.300 the morale of the Remy
00:19:49.380 and filled them
00:19:50.340 with fresh ardour
00:19:51.340 for the defence
00:19:52.040 of the town,
00:19:52.980 while the enemy
00:19:53.560 gave up hope
00:19:54.300 of capturing it.
00:19:55.500 Seems like quite a
00:19:56.440 swift turnaround there,
00:19:57.360 doesn't it,
00:19:57.700 the way Caesar tells it.
00:19:58.980 Accordingly,
00:19:59.700 after staying there
00:20:00.560 a short time longer,
00:20:01.860 the Belgae proceeded
00:20:02.800 to ravage the countryside
00:20:03.960 and to burn all the villages
00:20:05.620 and homesteads
00:20:06.460 within reach
00:20:07.000 and then marched
00:20:08.180 their whole army
00:20:08.960 towards Caesar's camp
00:20:10.040 and themselves encamped
00:20:11.400 barely two miles away,
00:20:12.920 so that's almost
00:20:13.440 right on top of each other,
00:20:14.740 the smoke and flame
00:20:15.660 of their watch fires
00:20:16.740 showed their camp
00:20:18.000 stretched for about
00:20:19.060 eight miles,
00:20:20.440 end quote.
00:20:21.720 So,
00:20:22.320 it's quite aggressive
00:20:23.260 by the Belgae.
00:20:24.640 They don't seem
00:20:25.240 to be particularly
00:20:25.880 intimidated by Caesar,
00:20:27.220 even though they would
00:20:28.420 certainly have known
00:20:29.120 what he'd achieved
00:20:29.960 in the last year or two
00:20:30.960 in Gaul,
00:20:31.860 you know,
00:20:32.100 making short order
00:20:32.940 of the Helvetti
00:20:33.740 and besting Ariovistus
00:20:36.700 apparently without,
00:20:38.400 and a couple of
00:20:39.260 hundred thousand
00:20:39.780 German warriors
00:20:40.480 without too much
00:20:41.720 ball lake.
00:20:43.300 They didn't lose
00:20:43.740 loads of men
00:20:44.700 in that process,
00:20:45.580 it wasn't any sort
00:20:46.280 of Pyrrhic victory
00:20:46.960 for them,
00:20:48.000 and yet the Belgae
00:20:48.580 don't seem to be
00:20:49.660 too concerned,
00:20:52.140 you know,
00:20:52.440 they marched,
00:20:53.060 they basically
00:20:53.580 marched straight up
00:20:54.280 to Caesar,
00:20:54.760 build a camp
00:20:55.220 right next to him,
00:20:56.520 which is massive
00:20:57.180 provocation,
00:20:57.820 it's like,
00:20:58.420 let's do this,
00:20:59.100 we're doing this,
00:21:00.040 right,
00:21:00.240 it's on,
00:21:00.640 it's on now,
00:21:01.780 and that their camp
00:21:03.300 stretched for eight miles,
00:21:05.580 that's big,
00:21:06.480 by any measure,
00:21:08.520 again,
00:21:08.840 if you believe
00:21:09.480 the account,
00:21:11.100 if the account is true,
00:21:12.580 then by any measure
00:21:13.340 that's massive.
00:21:14.240 Caesar's looking at
00:21:15.200 some sort of
00:21:16.560 gigantic host.
00:21:18.660 Okay,
00:21:19.280 he goes on,
00:21:20.200 quote,
00:21:20.880 as the Belgic forces
00:21:21.960 were very strong
00:21:22.780 and had a great
00:21:23.540 reputation for bravery,
00:21:25.380 Caesar determined
00:21:26.080 at first not to fight
00:21:27.100 a general action,
00:21:28.300 but he engaged
00:21:29.100 every day in
00:21:29.980 cavalry skirmishes
00:21:30.940 in order to discover
00:21:32.480 what the enemy
00:21:33.140 could really do
00:21:33.920 and how his own men
00:21:35.560 stood up to them.
00:21:37.480 So,
00:21:37.900 there we can see that
00:21:38.780 even Caesar was a bit
00:21:40.060 fearful,
00:21:40.700 he's like,
00:21:40.980 okay,
00:21:41.220 I'm not just going to
00:21:42.140 steam into these guys
00:21:43.340 at first light,
00:21:44.680 that would be crazy,
00:21:45.900 you know,
00:21:46.140 Caesar obviously makes
00:21:46.900 the calculation
00:21:47.320 that would be suicidal
00:21:48.940 because Caesar's not above
00:21:49.860 doing exactly
00:21:50.800 something like that,
00:21:52.240 you know,
00:21:52.500 if he thinks,
00:21:53.660 again,
00:21:53.980 if he calculates
00:21:54.860 that that's in his interest,
00:21:57.000 that that's the best way
00:21:58.380 to win.
00:21:58.700 Well,
00:21:58.880 he obviously thought here
00:21:59.840 that that would,
00:22:00.900 that would be crazy.
00:22:01.640 So,
00:22:02.380 you know,
00:22:02.860 he's picking around
00:22:03.720 the edges.
00:22:04.240 And he soon found
00:22:05.580 that his troops
00:22:06.520 were as good as theirs.
00:22:08.100 The ground in front
00:22:08.760 of his camp
00:22:09.400 was ideal for deploying
00:22:10.760 the army for action.
00:22:12.240 The low hill
00:22:12.780 on which the camp stood
00:22:13.940 was of just the right width
00:22:15.540 on the side facing the enemy
00:22:17.660 for the legions to occupy
00:22:19.480 in battle formation.
00:22:20.980 On each flank,
00:22:22.100 he descended steeply
00:22:23.100 to the plain
00:22:23.680 while in front of it
00:22:24.900 formed a slight ridge
00:22:26.100 and then sloped
00:22:27.160 gently down.
00:22:28.360 On either side of the hill,
00:22:30.000 Caesar had a trench dug
00:22:31.100 running for about
00:22:32.520 650 yards
00:22:33.980 at right angles
00:22:35.100 to the line
00:22:35.820 along which the troops
00:22:37.280 would be drawn up
00:22:38.120 and placed redoubts
00:22:39.480 and artillery
00:22:40.160 at both ends
00:22:41.180 of each trench
00:22:41.940 to prevent the enemy
00:22:43.160 from using their
00:22:44.020 numerical superiority
00:22:45.240 to envelop his men
00:22:46.700 from the flanks
00:22:47.440 while they were fighting.
00:22:49.080 Again,
00:22:49.560 augmenting the battlefield
00:22:50.920 very, very quickly
00:22:52.260 so it obviously
00:22:53.380 benefits you.
00:22:54.520 Classic Roman thing,
00:22:56.000 particularly classic Caesar.
00:22:57.860 I mean,
00:22:58.140 even someone like Napoleon
00:22:59.180 didn't do this stuff.
00:23:01.080 Right?
00:23:01.300 Caesar's taken
00:23:01.940 the art of war
00:23:03.360 the art of,
00:23:04.480 you know,
00:23:04.820 full-blown
00:23:05.280 battlefield engagements
00:23:06.780 to new heights
00:23:08.700 it seems.
00:23:11.360 He left the two
00:23:12.340 newly enrolled legions
00:23:13.620 in camp
00:23:14.220 to be used
00:23:15.080 as reinforcements
00:23:16.040 wherever they were needed
00:23:17.060 and drew up
00:23:17.960 the other six in front
00:23:19.080 in line of battle.
00:23:20.600 The enemy had also
00:23:21.780 marched out
00:23:22.420 and deployed for action.
00:23:24.360 There was a small marsh
00:23:25.280 between the two armies.
00:23:26.820 The Belgae waited
00:23:27.600 in the hope
00:23:28.220 that our troops
00:23:29.000 would try to cross it
00:23:30.240 and our men
00:23:31.020 stood with weapons
00:23:31.820 in their hands
00:23:32.580 ready to pounce
00:23:33.480 upon them
00:23:34.040 at a disadvantage
00:23:35.220 if they attempted
00:23:36.120 to cross first.
00:23:37.480 While,
00:23:38.120 in the meantime,
00:23:39.060 a cavalry skirmish
00:23:40.060 went on between the lines
00:23:41.280 since neither side
00:23:42.540 would make the first move.
00:23:43.960 As soon as the cavalry
00:23:44.780 fight ended
00:23:45.540 in our favour,
00:23:46.760 Caesar led the infantry
00:23:47.700 back into camp.
00:23:49.080 The Belgae
00:23:49.600 then marched
00:23:50.400 straight from their
00:23:51.120 battle position
00:23:51.780 to the Aen
00:23:52.800 which I have explained
00:23:54.420 was in the rear
00:23:55.360 of our camp.
00:23:56.200 Caesar slipped
00:23:56.740 into the first person
00:23:57.760 there.
00:23:58.680 You notice he does
00:23:59.480 do that from time
00:24:00.200 to time.
00:24:01.240 They found a ford
00:24:02.140 and tried to get
00:24:02.920 a part of their
00:24:03.500 forces across
00:24:04.200 intending to storm
00:24:05.520 a redoubt
00:24:06.040 commanded by Sabinus
00:24:07.380 and break down
00:24:08.380 the bridge
00:24:08.820 or failing this
00:24:09.780 to deprive us
00:24:11.500 of a very useful
00:24:12.520 source of suppliers
00:24:13.540 for the campaign
00:24:14.400 by devastating
00:24:15.380 the land of the Remy
00:24:16.420 and to cut
00:24:17.700 our communications.
00:24:19.440 Caesar knows
00:24:19.900 that he can't really
00:24:20.580 allow that to happen.
00:24:21.840 So,
00:24:22.600 on being informed
00:24:23.400 of this by Sabinus
00:24:24.680 Caesar crossed the bridge
00:24:26.240 with all the cavalry
00:24:27.140 and light-armed
00:24:28.800 Numidians
00:24:29.580 the slingers
00:24:30.460 and the archers
00:24:31.400 and advanced
00:24:32.400 against them.
00:24:33.540 A fierce battle
00:24:34.360 ensued.
00:24:35.620 He attacked them
00:24:36.280 in the river
00:24:36.800 which impeded
00:24:37.780 their movements
00:24:38.380 and killed
00:24:39.100 a large number.
00:24:40.720 Others made
00:24:41.220 a very daring
00:24:41.820 attempt to cross
00:24:42.940 over their dead
00:24:43.560 bodies
00:24:43.960 but were driven
00:24:44.840 back by a shower
00:24:45.720 of missiles
00:24:46.280 while some of
00:24:47.360 the first comers
00:24:48.180 who had succeeded
00:24:49.140 in getting across
00:24:50.000 were rounded up
00:24:51.260 and destroyed
00:24:51.780 by the cavalry.
00:24:53.280 The Belgae
00:24:53.760 now realised
00:24:54.500 that their hope
00:24:55.040 of crossing the river
00:24:55.840 was as vain
00:24:56.720 as their hope
00:24:57.280 of capturing
00:24:57.900 Bibrax
00:24:58.800 and that the Romans
00:24:59.820 would not advance
00:25:00.620 into an unfavourable
00:25:01.920 position to fight.
00:25:03.720 Their own supply
00:25:04.400 of grain too
00:25:05.020 was running short.
00:25:06.600 Summoning a council
00:25:07.380 of war therefore
00:25:08.160 they decided
00:25:09.120 that the best course
00:25:09.960 was for every man
00:25:11.000 to return to his own home
00:25:12.440 and wait to see
00:25:13.480 whose territory
00:25:14.360 the Romans invaded first.
00:25:16.180 So they
00:25:16.580 retreated
00:25:18.020 and lost their bottle
00:25:18.660 a bit.
00:25:19.720 They would then rally
00:25:20.600 from all parts
00:25:21.400 to its defence
00:25:22.360 and would have
00:25:23.400 the advantage
00:25:23.880 of fighting
00:25:24.480 in friendly country
00:25:25.440 where their home
00:25:26.580 supplies of grain
00:25:27.460 would be available.
00:25:29.000 In addition
00:25:29.380 to the other reasons
00:25:30.380 they were led
00:25:31.220 to this decision
00:25:31.920 by the knowledge
00:25:32.620 that the Vigiacus
00:25:33.700 and his adduans
00:25:34.880 were approaching
00:25:35.980 the frontier
00:25:36.540 of the Belovaki
00:25:37.580 whose soldiers
00:25:39.160 were so anxious
00:25:39.880 to go to the help
00:25:40.720 of their own people
00:25:41.500 that they could not
00:25:42.480 be induced
00:25:42.880 to stay any longer
00:25:43.720 where they were.
00:25:44.960 So Caesar doing
00:25:45.580 a bit of a
00:25:46.260 two-pronged
00:25:47.740 attack here.
00:25:49.040 In pursuance
00:25:49.720 of their resolve
00:25:50.500 the Belgae
00:25:51.240 left camp
00:25:51.960 some time
00:25:52.660 before midnight
00:25:53.380 amid great uproar
00:25:54.760 and confusion
00:25:55.420 so although Caesar
00:25:56.740 doesn't make a big deal
00:25:57.920 of it
00:25:58.140 he does
00:25:58.500 you know
00:25:58.820 he does rout them
00:25:59.540 essentially
00:25:59.980 so they left
00:26:00.940 in great uproar
00:26:01.480 and confusion
00:26:02.000 without any proper
00:26:03.300 order or discipline
00:26:04.140 since every man
00:26:05.740 wanted to reach home
00:26:06.660 quickly
00:26:07.020 and try to get
00:26:07.980 the first place
00:26:08.660 on the road.
00:26:09.780 The result was
00:26:10.440 that their departure
00:26:11.180 resembled a rout.
00:26:12.760 The movement
00:26:13.140 was immediately
00:26:13.800 reported to Caesar
00:26:14.720 by his scouts
00:26:15.480 but he was afraid
00:26:16.620 at first
00:26:17.100 that an ambush
00:26:17.780 was being laid
00:26:18.580 because the reason
00:26:19.740 for their retreat
00:26:20.420 was not yet apparent
00:26:21.380 and therefore
00:26:22.500 kept all his forces
00:26:23.540 in camp.
00:26:24.560 At daybreak however
00:26:25.420 the reports
00:26:26.280 of his patrols
00:26:27.220 satisfied him
00:26:28.260 that the enemy
00:26:29.180 really were retreating
00:26:30.460 whereupon he sent
00:26:31.640 forward the generals
00:26:32.460 Quintus Pedius
00:26:33.380 and Lucius Cotter
00:26:34.720 with all the cavalry
00:26:35.880 to delay the march
00:26:37.220 of their rearguard
00:26:38.060 and ordered Labienus
00:26:39.760 to follow in support
00:26:40.820 with three legions.
00:26:42.160 To watch the full video
00:26:43.220 please become a premium member
00:26:44.640 at lotusedus.com
00:26:45.880 to winHuh
00:26:47.840 to have a command
00:26:49.180 in this room
00:26:51.040 to be involved
00:26:51.320 with each other
00:26:51.700 and giving some
00:26:53.380 to one another
00:26:54.160 ceremony
00:26:54.500 to be found
00:26:54.960 across the river
00:26:55.520 to see
00:26:56.340 one of my
00:26:57.220 please be
00:26:57.400 on the POV
00:26:57.720 as well.
00:26:58.860 See you all
00:26:58.960 again in this case