Caesar portrayed the invasion as being a preemptive and defensive action, but historians agree that he fought the wars primarily to boost his political career and to pay off his debts.

Following common practice of Roman generals as early as Scipio Aemilianus,[17] each legionary was required to carry a substantial amount of his own gear, including weapons, and rations enough to operate independently of the baggage train for a few days.

Still, a legion usually had around a thousand beasts of burden to carry the tents, siege equipment, reserve food, entrenching tools, records, personal effects, and all other items a large army needed.

[19] Only 50 years before the Gallic Wars, in 109 BC, Italy had been invaded from the north and saved by Gaius Marius (uncle and father figure to Julius Caesar) only after several bloody and costly battles.

[23][24] Through his influence as part of the First Triumvirate (the political alliance which comprised Marcus Licinius Crassus, Pompey, and himself) during his consulship, Caesar had secured his assignment as proconsul (governor) to two provinces, Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum, by passage of the Lex Vatinia.

The assignment of the province that comprises what is now Northern Italy was helpful to his ambitions: the Po Valley and the adjoining regions had large numbers of Roman citizens, who could be enticed to sign up for legionary service.

[30] In the captured Helvetian camp Caesar claims that a census written in Greek was found and studied: of a total of 368,000 Helvetii, of whom 92,000 were able-bodied men, only 110,000 survivors remained to return home.

Hesitant to send senior officials, Caesar dispatched Valerius Procillus, his trusted friend, and Caius Mettius, a merchant who had traded successfully with Ariovistus.

As the Germanic tribesmen began to drive back the Roman left flank, Crassus led his cavalry in a charge to restore balance and ordered up the cohorts of the third line.

They had recently attacked a tribe allied with Rome and before marching with his army to meet them, Caesar ordered the Remi and other neighboring Gauls to investigate the Belgae's actions.

This had a ripple effect: the nearby Bellovaci and Ambiones surrendered immediately afterward, realizing the Romans had defeated a powerful army without any combat.

The strong stand by the X legion and the timely arrival of reinforcements enabled Caesar to regroup, redeploy and eventually repulse the Nervii once the Atrebates and Viromandui were put to flight.

The end of the campaigning season saw Caesar conquer tribes along the Atlantic coast, and deal with the Atuatuci, who were allies of the Nervii but had broken the terms of surrender.

He saw a minor setback towards winter as he sent one of his officers to the Great St Bernard Pass, where local tribes fought back fiercely; he abandoned the campaign.

[56] Caesar wished to sail as soon as the weather permitted and ordered new boats and recruited oarsmen from the already conquered regions of Gaul to ensure the fleet would be ready as soon as possible.

Gilliver regards this as evidence that Caesar's claims the prior year that Gaul was at peace were untrue, as the legions were apparently being dispatched to prevent or deal with rebellion.

[61] Historian Kate Gilliver considers all of Caesar's actions in 55 BC to be a "publicity stunt" and suggests that the basis for continuing the Celtic/Germanic campaign was a desire to gain prestige.

The nominal reason to attack Britain was the Britonic tribes had been assisting the Gauls, but like most of Caesar's casus belli it was just an excuse to gain stature in the eyes of the Roman people.

He moved up the coast and landed—modern archeological finds suggest at Pegwell Bay[64]—but the Britons had kept pace and fielded an impressive force, including cavalry and chariots.

Gilliver notes that Caesar took with him a good number of Gallic chiefs whom he considered untrustworthy so he could keep an eye on them, a further sign that he had not comprehensively conquered Gaul.

They attacked the camp of Quintus Cicero, brother to Marcus Cicero—the famed orator and a key political player whom Caesar wished to keep as a loyal ally.

[68] Caesar's legions had been split up to put down more tribes, and his lieutenant Titus Labienus had with him 25 cohorts (about 12,000 men) and a good deal of cavalry in the lands of the Treveri (led by Indutiomarus).

[1][70] After the poor performance at Gergovia, Caesar felt a direct assault on the Gauls was no longer a viable solution, so he opted to simply besiege the settlement and starve out the defenders.

But two chiefs in southwest Gaul, Drappes and Lucterius, remained openly hostile to the Romans and had fortified the formidable Cadurci oppidum of Uxellodunum.

Gaius Caninius Rebilus surrounded the oppidum and set the siege of Uxellodunum, focusing on building a series of camps, a circumvallation, and disrupting Gallic access to water.

But Henige points out that such a census would have been difficult to achieve by the Gauls, that it made no sense to be written in Greek by non-Greek tribes, and that carrying such a large quantity of stone or wood tablets on their migration would have been a monumental feat.

[30] During the campaign against the Usipetes and the Tenceri, Caesar makes the incredible claim that the Romans attacked a camp of 430,000, their victory was total, they lost not a single soldier, and that upon losing the tribes committed mass suicide.

By making it appear that he had won against overwhelming odds and suffered minimal casualties, he further reinforced the belief that he and the Romans were protected by the gods and destined to win against the heathen barbarians of Gaul.

It has consequently been a subject of intense study for Latinists and is one of the classic prose sources traditionally used as a standard teaching text in modern Latin education.

[89] In addition, the comic Astérix is set shortly after the Gallic Wars, where the titular character's village is the last holdout in Gaul against Caesar's legions.