Flemish/Belgian military history

[Ambiorix]

- an honorable mention by Julius Caesar. "The Belgians are the bravest of all Gauls". But what did the Belgian tribe(s) do to disserve this?

Caesar had a habit of flattering his opponents in his books, this was used to make his feats all the more impressive. With this said, the Belgae were definitely some of the braver troops he encountered and were not put down nearly as easily as their southern neighbors.

It would take a longer time than I'd like to talk about his whole campaign against the Belgae, but I will talk about one of them in particular... Ambiorix. After some previous successful years by the Romans, Ambiorix, chief of the Eburones, revolted against the Roman presence with the help of the Nervii amongst others. Through some trickery, they were able to gain a huge upperhand against the Romans and destroyed many of their cohorts in the region, the number is around 15 IIRC.

This obviously angered Caesar, and he once and for all put down the revolt, all but destroying the countryside. It is interesting, however, that Ambiorix successfully escaped. He is rumored to have slipped east of the Rhine, to be undefeated against the Romans.

When the Belgians gained independence 19th century they were looking to find national heros to celebrate. They found mentions of Ambiorix, and supposedly he has become a figure of folklore although I'd think you would have heard about him and his military feats if this was true. Anyways there is a statue of him in Tongeren (sp?) .