Julius Caesar - Expeditions to Britain

In 55 B.C. certain German tribes, the Usipetes and Tencteri, crossed the lower Rhine, and invaded the modern Flanders. Caesar at once marched to meet these invaders, and, on the pretext that they had violated a truce, seized their leaders who had come to parley with him, and then surprised and practically destroyed their host.

As a result of this unsportsmanlike conduct, his enemies in Rome accused him of treachery, and Cato even proposed that he should be handed over to the Germans as punishment.

Meanwhile, Caesar erected his famous bridge over the Rhine in only ten days, and was able to make a demonstration of force on the right bank. In the remaining weeks of that summer he undertook his first expedition to Britain, followed by a second crossing in 54 B.C.

On the occasion of his first crossing of the Channel, Caesar took only two legions, and accomplished little beyond landing on the coast of Kent. His second, larger expedition, consisted of five legions and 2000 cavalry, and set out from the Portus Itius (Probably either Boulogne or Wissant; see T. Rice Holmes, Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Caesar, 1907, later views in Classical Review, May 1909, and H.S. Jones, in Eng. Hist. Rev. xxiv., 1909, p. 115).

On this second expedition, Caesar penetrated into what is now Middlesex and crossed the Thames, but the British prince Cassivellaunus harassed the Roman columns with his war-chariots, and Caesar was compelled to return to Gaul after imposing a tribute which was never paid.

The next two years witnessed the final struggle of the Gauls for freedom.

Just before the second crossing to Britain, Dumnorix, an Aeduan chief, had been detected in treasonable intrigues, and killed in an attempt to escape from Caesar's camp. At the close of the campaign Caesar distributed his legions over a somewhat wide extent of territory. Two of their camps were treacherously attacked. At Aduatuca (near Aix-la-Chapelle) a newly-raised legion was cut to pieces by the Eburones under Ambiorix, while Quintus Cicero was besieged in the neighbourhood of Namur and only just relieved in time by Caesar, who was obliged to winter in Gaul in order to check the spread of the rebellion.

Indutiomarus, chief of the Treveri (about Trèves), revolted and attacked Labienus, but was defeated and killed. The campaign of 53 B.C. was marked by a second crossing of the Rhine and by the destruction of the Eburones, whose leader Ambiorix, however, escaped. In the autumn Caesar held a conference at Durocortorum (Reims), and Acco, a chief of the Senones, was convicted of treason and flogged to death.

Early in 52 B.C. some Roman traders were massacred at Cenabum (Orléans), and, upon hearing the news, the Arverni revolted under Vercingetorix and were quickly joined by other tribes, especially the Bituriges, whose capital was Avaricum (Bourges). Caesar hurried back from Italy, slipped past Vercingetorix and reached Agedincum (Sens), the headquarters of his legions. Vercingetorix saw that Caesar could not be met in open battle, and determined to concentrate his forces in a few strong positions. Caesar first besieged and took Avaricum, whose occupants were massacred, and then invested Gergovia (near the Puy-de-Dôme), the capital of the Arverni, but suffered a severe repulse and was forced to raise the siege.

Hearing that the Roman province was threatened, he marched westward, defeated Vercingetorix near Dijon and shut him up in Alesia (Mont-Auxois), which he surrounded with lines of circumvallation. An attempt at relief by Vercassivellaunus was defeated after a desperate struggle and Vercingetorix surrendered. The struggle was over except for some isolated operations in 51 B.C., ending with the siege and capture of Uxellodunum (Puy d'Issolu), whose defenders had their hands cut off.

Caesar now reduced Gaul to the form of a province, fixing the tribute at 40,000,000 sesterces (£350,000), and dealing liberally with the conquered tribes, whose cantons were not broken up.

Break Up of the Coalition

Julius Caesar

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