Commentarii de Bello Gallico

[Franconicus]

„Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam, qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur ...“

Gallia is divided into three parts, Belgae, Aquitani and Celtae. In former time a realm ruled by a Celtic King, it now resolves into hundreds of tribes and clans. Each tribe or clan has several noble families competing for the reign. Every leader depends on his support base, which grows or decreases depending on his personal skills, for example his sense for justice, his strength, his financial power, his visions and so on. Is this base eroding, another nobleman may gain the support of the tribe and the former leader will loose his office – and maybe his life.
But even as long as he is chief, his power is limited. There is no such thing as a standing army. To repel an invasion, the warriors of the tribe have to be called to arms. If the chief wants to invade foreign territories, he has to motivate the warriors, as the service is voluntary. So it is plain to see that a chief should be inspirational.
Celtic warriors are known for their fighting furore, often causing panic amongst their enemies. They are wild and strong men, but you should not expect things like discipline, steadfastness or patience. The chance for easy prey may enthuse them, but hunger may dispirit them rapidly.
Between the tribes there is a system of patronage: clans and smaller tribes try to get under the patronage of a mighty tribe, which protects them and supports their interests. The stronger a tribe is, the more smaller tribes gather under his patronage and more grows his power base.

During the last decade, the three strongest tribes tried to dominate Gallia: the Aedui, the Arverni and the Sequani. The Sequani, allied with the Arverni, needed help in their fight against the Aedui and found allies on the other side of the River Rhenus. A king of the Germanic Suebes and his followers crossed the river and helped them to reprehend the Aedui. However, they had to give almost one third of their territory to reward the Suebes, and today many Sequani wonder how to get rid of these allies.

The Aedui were allied with the small Roman colony in southern Gallia, called “The Province”. However, the Romans did nothing to help them in their struggle against the Sequani, Arverni and Suebes. Romans were mainly known as traders, especially on the route to the British Islands. Romans were smaller than then the Celtics and weaker. Their soldiers normally did not dare to fight man against man, they preferred to hide in close formations. Nevertheless, Romans are hard to fight. But during the last years, conflicts were rare, as the Romans did not care what was going on in the north.
This changed, when Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus and Aulus Gabinius were Consuls at Rome and the Province got a new proconsul named Gaius Julius Caesar. The Helvetii decided to leave their home in the Alps and to move to Gallia. For some reason Ceasar decided to prevent this, he followed them. After a military victory he slaughtered many of the Helvetii and sent the rest home.
All augurs agree that this campaign will have big impact on the balance of power at Gallia. However, the intentions of the Roman proconsul are still uncertain.