As mentioned last time, after the suppression of the Spartacus rebels, Pompey and Crassus, each commanding a heavy army group, did not immediately disband their own armies, but instead confronted each other in central Italy. In the end, because the Italian people were weeping bitterly, the two of them had to shake hands and make peace, and each disbanded the army and served as consuls together.
During the two consulships from 70 BC to 61 BC, Pompey led his army in the East, conquered the kingdom of Pontus in the Third Mitratian War, and took the opportunity to incorporate Syria and Palestine into the Roman territory, while Crassus continued to do business in Rome and amassed a lot of money. At this time, another new person gradually rose in the Roman political arena, that is, Julius Caesar, the son-in-law of qinna, the elder of the commoner faction who had been exiled by Sulla.
Caesar in Caesar the Conqueror of Gaul
Caesar was eloquent and eloquent, and he spent a fortune as a Roman consul, and in order to solve his debts, he led two legions to Spain to pacify the tribal rebels. Although Caesar won many battles in Spain, Spain could not squeeze much oil and water after the Hundred Years' War. In order to plunder more wealth, Caesar had to take a risk and apply to be governor of Outer Gaul for five years, for which he also deliberately married his daughter, The Great Julia, who was not yet 20 years old, to Pompey in exchange for the support of the Senate.
Caesar in Julius Caesar
Stills from Julius Caesar: Julia marries Pompeii
Transgaul, north of the Alps, in large areas including present-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the west bank of the Rhine, where the Celts, living more economically and more civilized than other barbarians, did not yet produce their own script. In the 2nd century BC, the Celtic tribes of Trans-Gaul gradually formed several major tribal alliances, such as the Narwi in the north, the Sequani in the east, the Edui in the center, the Averni, and the Aquitani in the southwest.
In 58 BC, Caesar led three legions to formally march into Trans-Gaul, when the Ervi people living on the border between present-day France and Switzerland, led by the upper nobles, planned to migrate to the Atlantic coast, but Caesar refused their request, because the former Roman consul Cassius had died at the hands of the Ervi people. The Ervi men attempted to force their way through the Roman lines, only to be annihilated by the Combined Roman-Gaulish army commanded by Caesar, leaving the remaining 100,000 survivors repatriated to their ancestral homeland.
Stills from Julius Caesar: Ervi demonstrated to the Romans
In 57 BC, Caesar led some of his Gaul vassals to conquer the Birr and the people living in present-day Belgium, the Dutch Department and the area north of the Marne River on the Seine River in France in various ways, and the following year he successively conquered the Gaulish tribes on the Atlantic coast, such as the Vennes who were not willing to be enslaved by the Romans, by which Time Caesar had conquered the entire Trans-Gaul region, and relied on the large amount of gold and silver treasures he plundered in Outer Gaul to hold a grand and luxurious triumphal ceremony in Rome.
Julius Caesar (2002), an epic blockbuster film directed by German director Uli Eder, tells the story of Julius Caesar's lifelong conquest, including, of course, Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Since Caesar's conquest of Gaul is too much to account for, the film's chapters in this part are mainly about the Decisive Battle of Alesia, but also slightly involve the War of the Ervi people in 58 BC and the Revolt of Amphiorik in 54 BC.
Caesar's route map of activities in Trans-Gaul
Caesar then crossed the Rhine against the Germans in the region, then crossed the English Channel into the British Isles and conquered the area south of the River Thames. This series of conquest wars, although expanding the territory of Rome, also put a heavy financial burden on the tribes of Trans-Gaul, and the mood of rebellion against Rome gradually spread among the Gaulites.
Relief "Caesar's Invasion of Great Britain" created in 1796
In 54 BC, gaul suffered a severe drought, the grain harvest was very poor, the Roman garrison in Gaul had to divide the army into six routes to collect grain, and Caesar, who was about to end his five-year governorship, was also active in Rome to fight for the next term. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Eplonis, under the leadership of Ambiorix, were the first to attack, using ingenious ambush tactics to annihilate the Roman Fourteenth Legion as it moved, and took the opportunity to encircle the Roman garrisons at Narvi and Remy.
When Caesar heard the news, he quickly led 7,000 troops to aid Gaul, and Amphiorik also concentrated 60,000 Gaules in his hands to pounce on Caesar. Caesar lured the Gauls to attack his camp in a weak manner, and when he was unprepared as he crossed the river in front of the camp, he suddenly attacked and destroyed the army. After being replenished by three legions from Italy, it took Caesar nearly a year to quell the Amphioric uprising.
Under the influence of the Ambioric Rebellion, the various departments of Trans-Gaul rose up, and the Romans' original ally Eduvius organized an anti-Roman alliance in Bibracquet, and they jointly elected the leader of the Averni people, Vercingetorix (meaning "King of the Samurai" in Celtic), as the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, who had served as a cavalry officer in Caesar's army and was very familiar with the Romans' fighting style and characteristics.
Vicintoli in Julius Caesar
Directed by French director Jacques Doffmann, Vicentori's biopic Vercingetorix (2001), about Vicchintoli's boyhood to surrender, basically recreates Vichintoli's early experiences, after killing his father's pro-Roman uncle, Vichintoli regained the leadership of his original Averni tribe. In the film "Julius Caesar", it is claimed that Vichytoli was a Gallic farmer who was released by Caesar.
The 1962 Italian film Caesar the Conqueror, due to its early age, has become a soloist in vichy historical action film Vicintoli's beardless, handsome young boy. In the first episode of the first season of the 2005 American drama "Rome" and the second episode of the second season of the 2018 American drama "Roman Empire", Vicchintoli, who appeared as a supporting role, also showed his long hair.
Vicintoli in Caesar the Conqueror of Gaul
Vicantelli tried his best to avoid a frontal battle with the Romans, but instead frequently attacked the Romans' heavy or rearguard units in guerrilla warfare, a tactic that Caesar hated, and he even called the Gauls cowards in the Gallic Chronicles. In addition, in response to the Romans' logistical supply of local grain, Vicintoli adopted a strategy of "scorched earth resistance", ordering the burning of all Gaulish villages and farmland near the Roman stronghold, and hundreds of Gaulish villages suffered.
Vicintoli in the American drama "Roma"
Caesar, who was handling the affairs of Southern Gaul, heard that the Gauls had rebelled again, and immediately led his troops across the Alps to return to Gaul, an action that was completely unexpected by the Gauls. Caesar personally commanded six legions and The Germanic Allied cavalry, and in the spring of 52 BC he marched on the city of Avaliken, and after 27 days of attack, completely destroyed the city and slaughtered all 40,000 inhabitants of the city as a warning.
But Vicentori also used color to induce Caesar to attack the Gallic empty camp at the Battle of Gogovia, and then attacked from both flanks to repel Caesar. The Romans lost 1,000 men, including 46 officers, in the battle, the only defeat of Caesar in Gaul. Realizing the strength of the Gauls, Caesar rested for several weeks in northern Gaul, expanding his forces to 10 legions and a large number of auxiliary legions totaling more than 60,000 people, intending to eliminate Vicintoli in one fell swoop.
In The Battle of Life and Death, Caesar withdraws from Gogovia under the protection of the Guards
Vicinttori had attempted to ambush Caesar using the tactic of encircling point reinforcements, but because the Romans immediately formed a strong defensive phalanx and mobilized Germanic cavalry to counterattack the Gauls, Vicentori was forced to retreat to the fortress of Alesia with the remnants. According to the Gallic Chronicles, Alesia was a three-hundred-meter-high fortress on a hill, with steep slopes on three sides, surrounded by river valleys, and only the gentle slopes in the west could be passed, and it is now generally believed that Alesia is located on the Osova Mountain in present-day Aliz-Saint-Raine, France.
The fortress of Alessia in Caesar the Conqueror of Gaul, The Battle of Life and Death in the Heavenly Dynasty, and Julius Caesar the Great
Caesar surrounded Alesia, and in view of the fact that the fortress was easy to defend and difficult to attack, he ordered the construction of two walls around the fortress, equipped with barracks, arrow towers, trenches and deer, and other defensive facilities, intending to force Vicintoli to surrender by cutting off food. Of course, Vichytoli had his own plans, and he had already sent a large number of messengers to the tribes of Gaul, asking them to send troops to destroy Caesar inside and outside.
However, at this time, the food reserves in the city of Alesia were extremely limited, and it was difficult to support the long-term perseverance of 80,000 Gaul soldiers and their families, and Vicintoli was forced to expel all women and children from the city in order to save rations. But Caesar was not compassionate, nor was he allowed to allow these women and children to come near or leave. Completely deprived of food, these old and weak women and children ended up starving to death in the wilderness outside the fortress of Alethea, a tragic situation that undoubtedly greatly damaged the morale of the Gauls in the city. However, the Frenchman's own film "Heavenly Dynasty Life and Death Struggle" deliberately avoided this incident.
In Julius Caesar, the women and children of Gaul are driven out of the fortress
Two months after the siege of Alesia , the Gallic tribes' patchwork of 250,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry finally arrived ( modern historians generally believe that the actual number should be 80,000 – 100,000 ) , under the command of the Roman rebel General Camus. The Gallic reinforcements launched their first general assault on the Roman outer wall, which at one point broke through several sections of the wall, but were repulsed by the desperate counterattacks of the Caesar generals Mark Antony and Gaius Tepeus, and the defenders of the city were unable to cooperate in time due to the obstruction of the trenches.
In "The Battle of Life and Death in the Heavenly Dynasty", the Gaul coalition is jointly commanded by the leaders of various tribes
The next day Camus launched a second general offensive against the weak points in the outer wall, and although even Caesar was on the front line to command the battle, the Romans were still in danger, and the defensive line was broken in many places. At a critical juncture in the battle, Caesar sent 13 Germanic Allied cavalry units totaling 6,000 men into the rear of the Gauls, which put great psychological pressure on the Gauls, who had entered a critical state, and eventually caused them to collapse completely.
Germanic Allied cavalry in The Battle of Life and Death
After witnessing the collapse of the reinforcements on the walls of Alesia, Vicintoli realized that he had no chance of winning and surrendered. The next day, Caesar performed a solemn ceremony of surrender, and he sat on a high platform, while the surrendered Gauls passed in front of him. At the end of the walk was Vicintoli, dressed in his most splendid robes and carefully groomed mounts, he rode to the front of the stage, circled the stage, then jumped off his horse, untied his armor and threw it on the ground, and finally sat peacefully at Caesar's feet motionless until he was taken away by the Roman soldiers.
The organized resistance of the Gauls came to an end, and after six years of captivity, Vicintoli was dragged to the streets of Rome as a trophy of Caesar in 46 BC and then hanged in the Mameltini Underground Prison. The rest of the Gaul captives were sold into slavery or distributed to Caesar's soldiers as booty, but the 20,000 captives of the Eduvian and Avelni tribes were pardoned in exchange for their loyalty to Rome.
Oil painting: Vichyntori surrenders to Caesar
Although there are scenes of Vichyntori surrendering to Caesar in the film "Heavenly Dynasty Life and Death Struggle" and "Julius Caesar", they only let Vichytoli go out of the city alone to surrender, and the other Gauls are watching on the city wall, which is obviously not in line with historical facts.