The Battle of Bibracte - 58 BC

**abou** · 03-08-2007, 02:41

The Battle of Bibracte was Caesar's first major military action in Gaul. It was fought on behalf of Celtic tribes allied to Rome against the Helvetii, who were a migrating Germanic tribe. Even though Caesar commanded armies in Iberia as a propraetor, it was not of the same size as this battle. In fact, in order to inspire his men to trust him, Caesar dismounted and commanded on foot.

The primary source for the battle is Book I of De Bello Gallico, but I imagine there are several secondary sources available. It will take a lot of searching for the ideal hillside and research, but any help from Germania specialists will be much appreciated.

Caesar is my idol and so expect much more Caesar from me if you wanted something else, but this will prove to be a very interesting place to start.

**Anthony** · 03-08-2007, 05:46

The Helvetii weren't German, they were Celts from the Alps. They were migrating due to pressure from Germans. The movement was planned by the Helveti king Orgetorix, who died before the migration began, while raising an army to fight a revolt. The revolt was spawned by his conspiring with Dumnorix and Casticus to split Gaul between the three of them; the people didn't like the plan, and plotted to arrest him, try him, and have him executed if found guilty. He discovered that, rose an army of 10,000 men, but died while they were massing, likely due to suicide. The Helvetii went ahead with the migratory plan though.

**abou** · 03-08-2007, 06:13

Hunh, my bad on that. Because they were from what is now Switzerland, I assumed they were German. Since they are Celtic, my new assumption is that they would use Celtic troops, but were there any Germanic influences? What about the Boii and Tulingi?

**Anthony** · 03-08-2007, 07:01

'Switzerland' was all Celts and demi-Celts at the time, though Germans had begun pressing in. The Boii were all Celts, but they sometimes had Germanic allies or vassals. Germans didn't inhabit that much of Europe at the time. Their tribes had only begun spreading out of Scandinavia a few centuries earlier, and it was a pretty slow slog till they controlled as far as the Rhine, and something southern territories, but early Germans simply don't inhabit much outside of north-central Europe. Celts inhabited an awful lot of Europe though that would later be Germanic due to successive waves of invasions and migrations.

**abou** · 03-08-2007, 07:06

Thank you greatly, Anthony. That would have been quite embarrassing to have put all this effort into making the battle only to find out that I used a completely wrong group for those forces.