Celtic overpowered!

[Power2the1]

Damn straight. Caeser's invasion was really just the last chapter for the continental Celts. Before that Celtic tribes conquered much of Europe, from Iberia all the way to Anatolia, they sacked Rome, and according to new evidence they may have sacked Delphi too. (The Greeks claim they stopped the barbarians in the nick of time, but just recently rich Greek objects like those that would have been deposited at Delphi have turned up in French rivers and lakes.) As for the Germans, they were blocked from expanding south for centuries by Celtic tribes such as the Volcae.
Im guessing the perception of Germans wiping the floor with Celts comes from the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, which happened much later (and was by no means a walk over for the Saxons - read the Mabinogion).

I agree. I mentioned in an earlier post the Germans, on the whole, had to fight against failing, soon to fall empires and lands (Western Romans Empire & Gaul) and invaded lands that were robbed of their defenses and Legions on the edges of Empires (Britannia).

What accounts for the absence of Gauls elite warriors?

I think the Celtic Civil War had robbed Gaul of its best troops in the war between the two main tribes, Aedui and Arverni. I feel theres no way Caesar would have been able to take down Gaul otherwise.

Each tribe had its elite, well trained warrior classes. If Gaul was united behind resisting Caesar, where were these elite warriors? I do not believe Caesar fought against a professional Celtic force, even once, in Gaul. The only logical reason I can imagine is that Gaul's professional armies, and their most experienced troops were already gone and dead through Civil War.

Imagine the siege of Alesia with the relief army composing of professional, seasoned warriors from Gaul from each tribe? Caesar would have been hard pressed to hold out against them.

No doubt this will be taken as downplaying Germanic wonder conquests. It would be admirable if they fought against vigorous, powerful empires in their prime, but that never really happened...\

Feel free to disagree though. Just my 2 cents...