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Roman conquest

In 57 BC, Julius Caesar led the conquest of the tribes in the region which Romans would later call Gallia Belgica. Modern accounts hold that there were eighteen peoples in the region.Jean-Pierre Picot. Dictionnaire Historique de la Gaule (Paris: La différence, 2002), p. 321. Save the southern Remi, all the tribes allied against the Romans, fearful of isolation if the rest of the region was conquered and angry at the Roman decision to garrison legions in their territory the preceding winter. Contemporary estimates of the allies’ combined strength numbered the troops at 288,000, led by the Suession king, Galba.Gaius Julius Caesar. The Conquest of Gaul. Trans. S.A. Handford (New York: Penguin, 1982), pp. 59-60. Due to the Belgic coalition’s size and reputation for uncommon bravery, Caesar avoided meeting the combined forces of the tribes in battle. Instead, he used cavalry to skirmish with smaller contingents of tribesmen. Only when Caesar managed to isolate one of the tribes did he risk conventional battle. The tribes fell in a piecemeal fashion and Caesar claimed to offer lenient terms to defeated, including Roman protection from the threat of surrounding tribes.Ibid., pp. 59, 70, 72. Most tribes agreed to the conditions. A series of uprisings followed the 57 BC conquest. The largest revolt was led by the Bellovaci in 52 BC, after the defeat of Vercingetorix. During this rebellion it was the Belgae who avoided direct conflict. They harassed the Roman legions, led personally by Caesar, with cavalry detachments and archers. The rebellion was put down after a Bellovaci ambush of the Romans failed. The revolting party was slaughtered. Read full entry

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