Julius Caesar spent two full years preoccupied
with an expedition of Britain. While this was happening, the political situation
back in Gaul was in a state of flux. Leaders from rival Gallic tribes were holding
secret meetings behind Caesar's back. At these meetings, they openly complained
about the Roman presence in Gaul, and expressed concern that it was all just a prelude to
full blown annexation. Over time, a consensus emerged. Gallic independence was non-negotiable. From now on, the leaders agreed to secretly
coordinate when dealing with the Romans. A conspiracy was born. But Caesar didn't know any of this. Before the snows came, he divided up his eight
legions and sent them to winter with different tribes all over Gaul. One group of 15 cohorts, which was one and
a half legions, went to Belgae territory, near the Rhine river. At full strength these 15 cohorts would have
been equivalent to like 7,000 soldiers, but after years of campaigning it was more like
5,000. These cohorts were under the joint command
of two legates, named Sabinus and Cotta. The cohorts arrived in the region and built
their camp, settling in for the winter. Only a few days later, some soldiers were
attacked by the locals while they were out gathering wood. The camp quickly mobilized and chased the
attackers off. This incident was relatively minor, but it
took everybody by surprise, and the Romans didn't quite know what to make of it. Then, a Gaul approached the Roman camp. He said that Ambiorix, the leader of the local
Gallic tribe, wished to speak with the Romans. Intrigued, Sabinus and Cotta sent a delegation
to go and find out what he had to say. When the Romans met with Ambiorix, he put
all his cards on the table. He told them that the Gauls were secretly
conspiring against the Romans. He said that he had been pressured by other
Gallic tribes into participating in a coordinated attack. He said that although honour demanded that
he stay true to his word and carry out an attack, he had made sure that it was small,
and symbolic. Ambiorix continued: any day now, other Gallic
tribes were going to rise up and attack a Roman legion stationed nearby. If Sabinus and Cotta wanted to march to this
legion's aid, Ambiorix could guarantee safe passage through his territory. Let's just pause here, and just take a breath. This story is bananas. These Gauls kill a few Romans, and then claim
to be loyal, and then claim that the other Roman legions are in danger, and then offer
to help? Talk about whiplash. The delegation returned to the Roman camp,
and told Sabinus and Cotta what they had heard. The legates were understandably stunned and
confused. They decided to invite a handful of high ranking
centurions to a meeting, to discuss their next move. The majority of the centurions argued that
they shouldn't consider abandoning the camp until first consulting with Caesar. These men had risen through the ranks under
Caesar's leadership, and many were die-hard loyalists. Furthermore, they argued, why were they trusting
the Gauls? Sabinus responded. To his mind, he said, there were two possible
scenarios. If the story was true, then they should move
with haste to assist the nearest Roman legion while there was still time. If the story was false, that would become
clear once they reached the nearest Roman camp. In that case they could just turn around and
come back, no big deal. The other legate, Cotta, disagreed, and sided
with the centurions, arguing that their first duty was to fulfil Caesar's orders, and Caesar's
orders had been to build a camp and stay there for the winter. Imagination wasn't exactly one of Cotta's
strong suits. This set Sabinus off. He raised his voice so that nearby soldiers
could hear. If they insisted on staying in camp, he said,
and some disaster befell the nearest legion, they would all have blood on their hands. Sabinus's outburst shamed everybody into an
awkward silence. Cotta relented, and the rest of the centurions
followed suit. They agreed to break camp at first light,
and march to the aid of the nearest Roman legion. The next day, all 15 cohorts marched off. One of the first things they had to do was
pass through a small valley. As they were midway through, Ambiorix appeared,
with an army of Gauls. The whole thing had been a trick to get the
Romans to leave their camp. The Gauls blocked the Romans in by cutting
off both ends of the valley. Then, more Gauls appeared on the hills. They started hitting the Romans with projectiles. Cotta immediately started issuing orders,
and had some nearby soldiers charge straight up the hill. It didn't go very well. When the Gauls saw them coming they started
hitting them with javelins and arrows, and after some time, the Romans had to pull back. While this was going on, Sabinus was at the
front of the column issuing orders that contradicted what Cotta was trying to do. It's hard to tell exactly what was going on
here, but it looks like Sabinus was trying to keep pushing foward, while Cotta wanted
to turn and fight. After a time, Sabinus's push at the front
of the column fell apart under some heavy fighting, and they were totally overrun by
Gauls. Sabinus formally surrendered to Ambiorix. He was executed on the spot. Cotta had no idea that Sabinus had surrendered,
and continued to organize a defence near the centre of the column. The Gauls slowly closed in, and Cotta eventually
died in combat. All 15 cohorts, consisting of at least 5,000
soldiers, were killed on that day. It's worth saying that the ancient sources
treat Sabinus like a bumbling villain, which in my opinion isn't fair. When something like this happens it's easy
to find a scapegoat, but we should all remember that Sabinus was the only person with a proactive
plan to deal with the revolt. Nine times out of ten, this kind of thing
would be celebrated. But nevertheless, this time it ended in disaster,
and for the moment, nobody knew that it happened. Not very far away there was another legion,
under the command of a legate named Quintus Tullius Cicero. This was the younger brother of Marcus Tullius
Cicero, the politician we all know and love, who was still down in Rome. Imagine Quintus's surprise when, without warning,
Ambiorix's army showed up and besieged his camp. Ambiorix informed Quintus that his two colleagues
were dead, and their 15 cohorts had been destroyed. He asked Quintus to surrender. To Quintus, this was a shocking revelation. They needed to get a message to Caesar, immediately. Quintus sent a rider on horseback, but they
were captured before they could slip through the Gallic line. The Romans watched from their camp as the
Gauls tortured their man to death. Ambiorix ordered the Gauls to attack, but
the Romans fended them off. Barely. When the sun fell, a big portion of the Roman
garrison had to remain on duty repairing the walls and repelling nighttime raids. Quintus refused to sleep. The next day, the same thing happened. Quintus sent out another rider, who, again,
was captured and tortured to death. There was another attack, and again, the Romans
repulsed it. Then the same thing happened the next day. And the next day. Quintus was very hands on with the defence,
and his men eventually had to stage an intervention just to get him to sleep. After more than a week of this, a messenger
disguised in Gallic clothing managed to sneak through the siege without being detected. Now, all he had to do was find Caesar. Luckily, Caesar was still in Gaul getting
ready to head south for the winter. It didn't take long for the messenger to reach
him. Quintus's letter informed Caesar that Sabinus
and Cotta's 15 cohorts had been annihilated, and that Quintus himself was now besieged
by a Gallic army. Caesar was stunned. As far as he was concerned, this was the worst
case scenario. Everything that he had spent years working
for was beginning to unravel. He wasted no time. Ignoring the snow, he immediately grabbed
the nearest legion and marched off. He also sent messages to two other legions,
instructing them to meet up with him on the march if at all possible. One legion answered the call, but the other,
lead by his right hand man Labienus, wrote back saying that there was another Gallic
army mobilizing near his location. This was probably Caesar's first indication
that the revolt was bigger than any one tribe. Caesar, in command of only two legions, marched
as fast as he could to Quintus's aid. Back behind the Gallic siege, Quintus's men
were in rough shape. The entire garrison was running on minimal
sleep, and had to rebuff Gallic raids on a daily basis. Virtually every soldier had sustained some
kind of injury. One day, one of the soldiers looked up and
noticed a funny looking javelin sticking out of a Roman defensive tower. He brought the javelin down to have a look
at it. It had a note attached to it. He unrolled the note. It was written in Greek. The soldier took the note to Quintus, who
was able to decipher it. The note simply read: Caesar is on his way. Stay strong. Finally, some good news. A few days later, they could see smoke rising
in the distance. Caesar was close, and his legions were setting
fire to Gallic villages. Now, my first thought when I read this was
that this was a mistake on Caesar's part, since the Gauls now knew that he was coming. But now I'm not so sure, because Ambiorix's
reaction was to immediately break the siege, and march off to meet this new threat. I'm not sure, but that might have been the
plan. As soon as the coast was clear, Quintus sent
a rider to Caesar, informing him that the Gauls were on their way. Some time later, Caesar came upon the Gallic
army. They were hunkered down on a hill, with a
small stream in front of them. This was a very strong defensive position. On the first day, each side sent its cavalry
forward to skirmish, but that was it. Caesar had no interest in attacking a larger
army from a weaker position, but he also didn't really bring any food with him. This had to be resolved quickly. On the second day, Caesar sent his cavalry
forward again, but this time he told them to retreat when the Gauls charged. That's exactly what happened. The Roman horse fell back all the way back
to the Roman camp, with the Gauls hot on their heels. When the Gauls got close, they could see Roman
soldiers abandoning the walls. They sent word to Ambiorix that the Romans
might be on the verge of breaking, and in response, Ambiorix ordered his army forward,
across the stream. Actually, the Romans were fine. They were huddled behind their walls, waiting. The whole thing had been a trick. When the Gauls got close they encircled the
Roman camp, and offered terms of surrender. The Romans responded by bursting through the
gates in all four directions, taking the enemy completely by surprise. The Roman infantry charged, but many Gauls
simply broke formation and fled. Those that held their ground were easily defeated. Caesar just let the rest of the Gauls escape. Now that the siege had been lifted, there
was no reason to act recklessly. When news of Caesar's victory spread, the
other Gallic army pestering Labienus faded away. Historians are kind of split on how to evaluate
Quintus's leadership during this siege. Some say that the only reason Quintus had
the job in the first place was because of his famous older brother, and that the whole
incident was the story of a political appointee in way over his head. According to this argument, Caesar could not
openly criticize Quintus, because doing so would alienate his older brother. Others say that Quintus was a mediocre soldier
and a mediocre politician who really distinguished himself during a crisis. I guess I'm kind of in this camp. When I read Caesar's account of this whole
thing, I see somebody pleasantly surprised by Quintus's conduct. Once the dust had settled, Quintus wrote a
letter to his brother back in Rome, telling him all about the siege and his near-death
experience. The elder Cicero wrote back, telling his brother
to stop whining. In light of recent events, Caesar decided
to stay in Gaul for the winter. There was lots to do. First, he needed soldiers. He'd lost 1 of his 8 legions, and there might
be more losses coming. He wrote to Pompey in Rome, who, as a favour,
agreed to loan him 2 legions from Hyspania. He also started the recruitment process for
a new legion in Cisalpine Gaul, which, once completed, would bring his grand total up
to 10. At full strength would have been around 50,000
men. Second, the revolt had done some damage to
Caesar's prestige, and he needed to reassert himself. I won't bore you with the details, but Caesar
spent the winter going from tribe to tribe demanding hostages, and attacking Gauls that
had shown disloyalty. When the snows melted, he ruthlessly attacked
Ambiorix's tribe on three separate occasions, enslaving civilians and burning down villages. He also crossed the Rhine, chasing down rumours
that the Germans had supported the revolt. Nothing really came of this, he just marched
around for a while and then came back. For the entire summer that followed, it was
kinda like that. Lots of marching around, lots of busyness,
but nothing really changed. As winter approached, Caesar returned to Roman
territory for the first time in almost two years. Everything had nearly fallen apart, but after
a full year of hard work, he was finally convinced that Gaul had been stabilized. But he was wrong. The conspiracy was alive and well. The Gauls were just waiting for their moment
to strike.
One of my favorite YouTube channels
Ambiorix has become a real legendary figure here in Belgium. We have a statue of him in our oldest city and he was voted the 4th greatest Belgian of all time.
I love Caesar. He's like a kid: "Why don't we pretend to be scared and run away and hide and then jump out and murder them all?"
"Is that established military doctrine sir?"
What a absolutely fantastic fucking channel. This shit is so fascinating and presented in a way that's effortless to digest.
How come the top comment on Youtube is 22 hours old if this was just uploaded an hour ago?
At 3:50 why can I see circles in between the squares in my peripheral vision? When I go to look at them they disappear. Talk about a mindfuck.
I would watch the shit out of a movie of those events, and especially the one event starting @ 11:50. Tricking the Gauls into thinking they were pussying out to have them besiege them and then open up the doors just to fuck shit up, god damn!
I really like those videos, thanks man!
This guy is the best. Good post.
If you're interested you can read Caesar's account of his conquest here. It's an interesting read especially if you keep in mind that he was exaggerating things and trying to make himself look better to the people who read it.