Julius Caesar and the Gallic Commentaries

Gallia (Gaul) is modern day France!

Gaul!

PROPAGANDA!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!! information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread

widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

8/9 YEARS OF FIGHTING BETWEEN ROMAN PEOPLE AND GALLIC PEOPLE. (59-50BCE)

CONQUEST IS ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN EPISODES IN ROMAN HISTORY, THANKS TO THE DETAILED WRITINGS OF CAESAR HIMSELF.

BEST ACCOUNT OF WARFARE EVER WRITTEN BY A ROMAN

Julius Caesar’s Consulship Ends

Julius Caesar is Consul in 59 BCE Consul = President. There were 2 in

ancient Rome. Because of a system of checks and

balances, a consul had to leave Rome and govern another province in the republic, so as not to get too much power.

Druids

Druids – Religious

leaders who controlled civil, legal

and educational

affairs throughout

Gaul.

Vercingetorix

Greatest general of the Gallic People

Siege at Alesia – 52 BCE

Deciding Battle of the War

The Gallic Conquest and its effects on the world.

After the war was over, Vercingetorix was imprisoned and taken to Rome and imprisoned for 6 years until he was lead through the streets in a triumphal procession and executed as a part of ceremony.

The immediate effects were that this conquest gave protection from Gallic and German invaders.

The Gallic Conquest and its effects on the world.

It fixed the boundaries from the Pyrenees Mts to the Rhine River and from the Alps to the Atlantic.

It allowed Greco-Italian culture to spread and thus most of Europe became Latinized rather than Germanized.

Our culture, our language, art, architecture and government is heavily influenced by Caesar’s invasion of Gaul.

Caesar Crosses the Rubicon Caesar was still not allowed back to Rome

to become consul again. So Caesar made the difficult decision to

cross the Rubicon River and march on Rome, declaring Civil War.( “Crossing the Rubicon” is a metaphor for having to make a difficult decision)

As he did so, he uttered “Alea Iacta Est” The die is cast.

Caesar is appointed “Dictator Perpetuum”.