The Campaigns in Gaul.
The campaigns of Caesar in Gaul lasted through eight seasons (B. C. 58-51.), and are told in eight books, — the last written by Hirtius, an officer of Caesar, — each book containing the operations of a single year. The following is a brief outline:Book I. B. C. 58. Caesar checks the attempt of the Helvetians to settle in Western Gaul, and, after a bloody defeat, forces the remnant to return to their own territory. He then engages with a powerful tribe of Germans, who had made a military settlement in Eastern Gaul, and drives them, with their chief, Ariovistus, back across the Rhine.
Book II. B. C. 57. A formidable confederacy of the northern populations of Gaul is suppressed, with the almost complete extermination of the bravest Belgian tribe, the Nervii, in a battle which seems to have been one of the most desperate of all that Caesar ever fought. In this campaign the coast towns of the west and northwest (Brittany) also are reduced to submission.
Book III. B. C. 56. After a brief conflict with the mountaineers of the Alps, who attacked the Roman armies on their march, the chief operations are the conquest of the coast tribes of Brittany (Veneti, etc.), in a warfare of curious naval engineering in the shallow tidewater inlets and among the rocky shores. During the season, the tribes of the southwest (Aquitani), a mining population, allied to the Iberians or Basques, are reduced by one of Caesar's officers.
Book IV. B. C. 55. An inroad of the Germans into Northern Gaul is repulsed, and Caesar follows them by a bridge of timber hastily built across the Rhine. Returning, he crosses to Britain in the early autumn for a visit of exploration.
Book V. B. C. 54. The partial conquest of Britain (second invasion) is followed by various movements in Northern Gaul, in which the desperate condition of the Roman garrisons is relieved after serious losses by the prudent and brave conduct of Labienus and Quintus Cicero.
Book VI. B. C. 53. Caesar makes a second brief expedition across the Rhine against the Germans. Some general disturbances are quelled, and Northern Gaul is reduced to peace.
Book VII. B. C. 52. Vercingetorix, a brave and high-spirited chief of Southern Gaul, effects a confederacy of the whole country, which is at length subdued. Vercingetorix surrenders himself to secure the quiet of the country, and is taken in chains to Rome, where he was afterwards put to death at Caesar's triumph.
Book VIII. B. C. 51. Slight insurrections breaking out here and there are easily subdued; and by the capture of the last native stronghold, Uxellodunum, the subjugation of Gaul is made complete.
