Caesar used to appear in places where the enemy did not expect him to appear and also at an unexpected time. Caesar’s strategy was based on the rapid marches of his army, as did the strategy of other anterior and posterior great commanders (Alexander, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and others). The Roman general, leading eight Legions and a large cavalry force (of Gauls, Italians and Spaniards) marched immediately to the north, in Belgica. The Aeduan aristocrat was additionally Caesar’s main adviser and negotiator. Caesar arrived with his two new legions at Vesontio (modern Besancon) where he joined Labienus’ army and a numerous Gallic cavalry force, mainly Aeduan under the strongly pro-Roman Aeduan leader Diviciacus (57 BC).
Many archers were Cretans who were renowned as the best in the Mediterranean. The majority of his legionaries, old and newly enlisted, were still Italians but a large percentage of them were Celtiberians, Gauls and Iberians. Caesar had already enlisted in the Po Valley and Narbonensis Gaul (modern Provence and Languedoc) men for the foundation of two new legions, the thirteenth and fourteenth (XIII and XIV). Labienus, Caesar’s lieutenant commander, informed him on their war preparations while the latter was in the Po Valley during the winter. The Belgae realized that Caesar would campaign against them and thus their leaders started to exchange hostages in order to further strengthen the bonds of their union.
The Belgae tribes were united in a tribal confederation on the basis of their common origins and culture. The majority of them were fanatically anti-Roman and their leaders and nobles supposedly kept their morals intact without succumbing to the Roman bribe attempts. The Belgians were additionally strengthened due to their long wars against the Germans. Caesar in his ‘De Bello Gallico’ describes them as the most warlike and brave among the Gauls. However the Belgae included some Celtic proper and Germanic tribes and clans.Īfter their settlement in Gaul they had almost completely adopted La Tene culture (typical Celtic). The Belgae were a large conglomerate of Celtisized peoples mainly of the Northwestern pre-Celtic ethno-linguistic group (pre-Teutonic Germani) as it seems, whom the Germans had expelled from their cradle (in the east of the Rhine), thereby they settled in northeastern Gaul, mostly between the rivers Seine, Marne and the Rhine. Others understood that Caesar intended to turn their country into a Roman province. Many Gaulsfelt relieved by the destruction of the Suebi who had been threatening their homeland. In the next year, the Roman general turned against the threatening Belgae. That year he overwhelmingly defeated the Germanic Suebi (Swebi) who also intended to conquer Gaul under their king Ariovistus. In 58 BC the campaign of Julius Caesar for the subjugation of Gaul was going on. The picture could very well represent legionaries ready for combat in the dense forest of Belgica, but the problem is that the depicted legionaries are of the Imperial era. Reenactment of Roman legionaries at English Heritage Festival in 2011 (photo by Lichfield Lore).
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