In the 3rd century BC, the Celtic peoples
were still the masters of continental Europe. A hundred years earlier, Gaulish warriors
had set Rome ablaze, marking the lowest point in the history of the young Republic, but
it would soon recover and as the eagle spread its wings, the sun had begun to set on the
Celtic world. Welcome to the third video on our series of
the ancient Celts, where we will cover the Roman conquests that brought an end to the
independence of the Gauls from Iberia in the west, to Anatolia in the east. The sponsor of this video Endel is a uniquely
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week of audio experiences! This will also support our channel! After winning the second Samnite war, the
Roman Republic had expanded its territory and become the hegemons of central Italy. In 298BC, the third Samnite war began, with
the Etruscans, the Samnites, and the Gallic Senones tribe all trying to curb the growing
power of Rome. The Senones had been the terror of the Republic
since they sacked Rome two generations earlier, and in 295, they massacred a Roman army outside
the Etruscan city of Clusium, with Livy claiming that the heads of legionaries were mounted
on the Gallic spears as they sang their triumphant war songs. Yet, the tides turned later that year, when
the Senones and their Samnite allies clashed with the Romans outside Sentinum, where they
were crushed. Taking advantage of their victory in the third
Samnite war, the Romans pushed north, conquering the lands of the Senones by 283BC, where they
established a military colony called Sena Gallica. The sack of Rome had finally been avenged. This was a critical junction in the Gallo-Roman
story, for the Gallic illusion of invincibility had begun to dim. But what had changed since the sack of Rome
to allow the armies of the Republic to finally be able to go toe to toe against the most
terrifying warriors in the ancient world? After being humbled by their Italic cousins
during the beginning of the second Samnite war in 315BC, the Romans realized that the
phalanx they had inherited from the Etruscans and Greeks was not a versatile fighting formation,
especially on uneven terrain, or against a particularly malleable foe. With the goal of developing a more dynamic
standing army, they created the innovative manipular system. Under this system, the standard Roman legions
were organized into three rows, each one comprised of a checkerboard-like pattern of titular
maniples, a basic unit of soldiers containing 120 heads. Compared to a Phalanx, which consisted of
single, conjoined rows of men, the dynamic maniples were able to maneuver about more
effectively by virtue of being separate units. The Manipular legions were organized into
three standard rows. The frontlines were made up of hastati, fresh
recruits. Behind them were the principes, who were battle-hardened
soldiers. Finally, the back row was made up of triarii,
the most veteran elites, and the last resort in battle. Originally manufactured to battle the mounted
Samnites, the Manipular system soon proved effective against the Celts. As you will recall, Gallic warfare revolved
around using fear tactics to plummet enemy morale before utilizing a single ferocious
charge aimed to break their lines. This had worked in 390 BC, but the new Maniples
were far better equipped to weather the Gallic onslaught. Their three-line reserve system meant that
no single charge could rout a Roman legion, as even if the front line of hastati broke,
there were fresh, experienced principes and triarii to replace them. Moreover, the general maneuverability of the
Manipular Legions allowed them to counter the effectiveness of more mobile Gallic units
like the war chariot. It should, however, be noted that these innovations
did not make the Romans invulnerable to Gallic warfare. As the protracted, centuries-long invasion
of the Celtic world continued, many tribes would adopt styles of battle better suited
for countering the professional Roman war machine, scoring many victories that delayed
the Imperial advance into Gaulish lands. In the decades after their conquest of Senones’
territory, Rome would become entangled in several other wars, first locking horns with
Pyrrhus and his lumbering war elephants, then with Carthage for the first time. By the end of these wars, Rome had become
the undisputed master of peninsular Italy, and the way into the Celtic lands of the Po
Valley was now open. In 232BC, the Senate began parcelling off
former Senones territory to their poorer citizens. The other Celtic tribes in the area assumed
that this policy of Roman policy of aggressive frontier settlement meant that expansion into
their lands was next. Thus, the Boii, Insubres and Taurisci spearheaded
a campaign to push the Republic back to Latium. They also paid a company of particularly wolfish
Gallic mercenaries from the far side of the Alps - the Gaeseti to join their cause. If you recall from our last chapter when we
talked about how some Gallic warriors fought completely naked, that was these guys. At the head of 70,000 footmen, horsemen and
charioteers, the Boii and their allies quickly overran Roman Etruria by 225BC plundering
their way south. Near the town of Faesulae, the Celts were
finally confronted by a Roman army, and by now they knew better than to charge the Roman
maniples head on. They made clever use of decoy fires and the
cover of darkness to ambush their enemy from behind, massacring 6,000 Roman soldiers and
forcing them to retreat. The Gauls were not a mob of blood-drunk barbarians,
but dynamic, cunning, and adaptable warriors who refused to underestimate their foe. Nevertheless, upon hearing that a much larger
relief force led by Roman consul Aemilius Papus was on their tail, the Gallic allies
decided to quit while they were ahead and return home with their plunder, an inauspicious
decision. In the narrow hill valley outside the town
of Telamon, the Gauls were caught and pincered between two consular armies. What followed was a massacre, outnumbered
two to one and sandwiched on two fronts, the lightly armoured and in some cases fully naked
celts were culled by a hail of Roman javelins, before being cut down by the seemingly tireless
lines of the Roman maniples. Ancient sources claim over 40,000 Celts were
massacred in this battle. The defeat at Telamon shows us another disadvantage
that hamstrung the Gauls: disunity. Celtic leaders systematically prioritized
the needs of their own tribe, and even when different tribes worked together, it was always
a temporary measure. Before the campaign, the Romans had paid off
Boii’s tribal rivals, the Cenomani and Veneti, to invade Boii lands, forcing the Boii to
keep a significant portion of their warriors north to defend their borders rather than
bear the full brunt of their army down upon Rome. Celtic disunity also played a major role in
the disparity in the quality of equipment between the Roman and Gallic warriors. As we covered in the last chapter, the Celts
were incredibly skilled metallurgists, but their fragmented tribal society prevented
them from pooling their resources together to arm everyone equally. Rome, on the other hand, was a single united
polity with advanced infrastructure and central administration, able to churn out professional
legions equipped with standardized gear. After their victory at Telamon, the Romans
pushed deep into the Celtic alps, occupying much of northern Italy. Not that they would be able to savour the
sweetness of victory long, for only a few years later, round two would erupt between
the Republic and Carthage, which this time was led by Hannibal Barca. In one of the most iconic military maneuvers
in history, Hannibal aimed to surprise the Romans by marching through the treacherous
Alps. There he was hailed as a liberator by the
Boii and Insubres, who joined the Carthaginian army en masse. However, some tribes like the Cenomani declared
their loyalty to Rome and thus had to be defeated by Hannibal’s forces. Nevertheless, at the battle of Cannae, where
30,000 Romans were slaughtered, much of the Carthaginian army was composed of Gallic mercenaries,
as well as Celtiberians, who we will get to later. Since we all know how Hannibals’ story ends,
let's fast forward a little bit. As Rome emerged out of the second Punic war
bloodied but victorious, they shifted their attention back northwards, where the Boii
and Insubres continued to resist Roman expansion. Even the Cenomani, who had benefited little
from their friendship with Rome, turned against their former allies. Nevertheless, Rome had put down these insurrections
by 191BC, and finally conquered all the Gauls of northern Italy. Now, let us move westward, and explore a lesser-known
theatre in which the Roman Eagle clashed with the Celtic boar-head. Since the dawn of recorded history, the Iberian
peninsula had been a highly cosmopolitan land. By the 3rd century BC, it was home to a variety
of Celts, and non-Celtic peoples like the Lusitanians, Turdetani, Aquitani and Iberians,
whose languages and cultures probably pre-dated the arrival of the Celts in the region. The Celtiberians, who lived in northwestern
Spain were a divergent Celtic culture probably created from intermixing between Celtic migrants
and the native Iberians. They spoke a Celtic language that was very
different from the Gaulish languages of the rest of continental Europe. Much like in Italy, the story of Celts in
Iberia is tied to the eternal struggle between Rome and Carthage. The North African empire had had colonies
along the peninsulas’ south coast for centuries, but during the interbellum between the first
and second Punic wars, Hamilcar Barca and his young son Hannibal had pushed deep inland. Celtiberian tribes like the Carpetani put
up fierce resistance but were soon subdued. Iberia would consequently become one of the
most crucial theatres of the second Punic war. When Rome won, it replaced Carthage as the
local hegemon. This put the Celtiberians on their frontier,
and border skirmishes began almost immediately. Tensions reached a boiling point in 181BC
when the Romans began importing thousands of Latin colonists, much to the locals' chagrin. In response, an alliance of Celtiberian tribes
mustered some 35,000 men and faced off a consular army led by Proconsol Quintus Fulvius Flaccus
near Aebura, but despite putting up a dogged resistance, they were defeated. Two years later, a campaign spearheaded by
Roman Praetor Sempronius Gracchus grinded his way across Hispania’s many ardently
defended hillforts, eventually bringing much of Celtiberia to heel. Gracchus imposed order through the taking
of noble hostages, the founding of Roman towns, and the encouragement of Celtiberians to enlist
in the Roman army. This worked for a time, but in 153BC, war
broke out again when the Celtiberian Titti tribe rose up in revolt alongside their Lusitani
allies. This insurrection was eventually put down
too, but not before the Iberians had inflicted thousands of Roman casualties, including a
Teutoburg-esque victory where 6,000 legionaries were massacred by ambush in a thick forest. Another great revolt would erupt in the following
decades, but in 133BC, the great fortress of Numantia, which had long been the heart
of Celtiberian resistance, had fallen into Romans hands. After this, most of Hispania fell under Roman
control. Nevertheless, insurrection and rebellion remained
endemic in the region. The entire peninsula didn’t come under the
Empire’s dominion until after the Cantabrian wars in 19BC, rounding out a mind-boggling
200 years of struggle. Paradoxically, one of the first territories
the Romans conquered outside Italy was also the one it struggled the longest against to
completely pacify, a testimony to the valor of the Iberians. It is now that our story shifts east, to the
sun-baked highlands of central Anatolia. Here dwelt the Galatians, a collection of
Celtic tribes who had been transplanted into the region as a byproduct of King Brennos’
failed invasion of Greece in 279BC. Living amidst a sea of Greek-speaking successor
states to Alexander’s Macedonian Empire, the Galatians had adopted many of the trappings
of classical Greek culture. They primarily made their fortunes as career
mercenaries, as their Gallic ferocity made them the ideal shock troopers in any ambitious
Macedonian Kings’ army. For a century, the Gauls of Anatolia earned
a fortune pillaging the fortunes of Greek rulers on behalf of other Greek rulers. At the turn of the 2nd century, the Galatian
tribes attached themselves to the army of the Hellenic worlds’ mightiest King, Antiochus
III of the Seleucid Empire. One has to imagine that the Gauls assumed
this would be a contract like any other. They were wrong, Antiochus was engaged in
a struggle for hegemony over the Greek-speaking world with none other than the Roman Republic. Inevitably, the Seleucid King’s ambitions
would turn to ash in his mouth when his cataphracts, war elephants, scythed chariots, and Gallic
mercenaries were decisively defeated by the Romans and their Pergamene allies at the battle
of Magnesia in 191BC. With the Seleucids humbled by the Scipio brothers,
the Roman consul Gnaeus Manlius Vulso proposed that the Republics should expand into the
highlands of Galatia. The official pretext for war was that the
Galatians had fought alongside the Seleucids, but in truth, Rome was probably lusting after
the rich plunder that the Anatolian Gauls had accumulated over their century of mercenary
work. In 189BC, a coalition of 50,000 Galatians
from the Tolistobogii and Trocmi tribes faced off against the legions at the foot of Mount
Olympus. Like their kinsmen in Europe, the Galatians
also fought with little armour, and were thusly shredded by a shower of Roman javelins. In the aftermath, 40,000 Galatian men, women
and children were captured and sold into slavery. Anatolian Gauls remained nominally independent,
but increasingly bound to the will of Rome. After the Republic absorbed Pergamon in 133BC,
the Galatians became a useful buffer state, who the Romans used to wage a proxy war on
their Cappadocian and Pontic enemies. During the Mithridatic wars, the Galatians
were faithful allies to Pompey the Great in his struggle against the Pontic King Mithridates. In 25BC, after nearly 150 years of gradual
Romanization, Galatia was finally annexed and became a province of the Empire. Now, let us dial the clock back to the 2nd
century BC and return to Northern Italy: With the Alps in Rome’s control, the proverbial
door was open for its legions to march into the region of the Gallic world roughly corresponding
to modern France, the very heart of the Celtic La Tene world. That catalyst for this came in the form of
the Greek city of Massalia, which had a complicated centuries-long relationship with the Celtic
tribes they were surrounded by. By the 2nd century BC, they had also become
close allies and trading partners with the rising star that was Rome, so in 154BC when
the Gallic Salluvii tribe threatened to invade them, the Greeks called for the Roman help. The Republic was happy for an excuse to send
its legions beyond the Alps, and helped defend Massalia from the Salluvii twice, once in
154 and again in 125. After the second bout, the Romans ‘magnanimously’
offered to assume control of Massalia’s hinterlands to protect them from further Gallic
incursions. The Greeks, caring more about trade than territorial
integrity, agreed. Meanwhile, the defeated Salluvii King, Toutomotulos,
had fled north to the territory of the Allobroges, who were closely allied to the Arverni. This gave the Romans the perfect casus belli
to pursue an expansionist campaign into the rich land of these two tribes. Under the pretext of chasing Toutomotulos,
they invaded the territory of the Allobroges and Arverni, and by 121BC had conquered much
of southern France. They incorporated it into their Empire as
the province of Transalpine Gaul, which meant Gaul beyond the Alps, named in juxtaposition
to Cisalpine Gaul, Gaul within the Alps. After the establishment of the Province of
Transalpine Gaul, later renamed Gallia Narbonensis, the frontier between the Celts and the Romans
remained relatively stable, and even friendly, for the better part of a century. One example of this was the Celtic federation
of Noricum, which by the late 2nd century BC had developed a mutually symbiotic relationship
with Rome. The skilled metallurgists of this region provided
the Republic with much of the steel they needed to equip their legions, and in turn, the legions
provided them with military protection. Consequently, when the Germanic Cimbri and
Teutones people invaded Noricum in 113BC, the Romans were quick to defend their Gallic
allies. At the turn of the 1st century BC, trade between
Rome and various Celtic tribes had begun to flourish, with a complex system of trade networks
and treaties existing between them. It can be easy to imagine commerce between
these two as a one-sided relationship whereby the barbarous Gauls coveted the riches of
the Romans, but this was not the case. The Gauls profited greatly off Roman wine,
but Rome also had much to gain in Celtic goods, from their excellent metalwork to other radical
Gallic innovations… like the wooden barrel. And soap. Nevertheless, the relationship between the
Latin and Celtic worlds would deteriorate once more in the 50s BC, when a certain Gaius
Julius Caesar became governor of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, setting the stage for
perhaps the single most iconic campaign of conquest in Roman history. What began, at least on paper, as an expedition
to prevent the migration of hostile tribes into Roman territory soon evolved into the
full-scale subjugation of the entire Gallic heartland, resulting in an immortal duel between
the erstwhile Triumvir and the valiant Arverni Chieftain, Vercingetorix. This is the most famous clash between the
Celtic and Roman worlds, but it is also the one we will devote the least time to in this
video, as we have already made a 90-minute long documentary exhaustively covering it,
which we will make available in the description below. Regardless, we all know how this story ends. When Vercingetorix rode out of Alesia and
threw his arms at the feet of the Roman consul who had defeated him, the independence of
the Gallic world had come to an end. By the year 50BC, the Gallic world of continental
Europe had all but disappeared. The Celtic territories of Eastern and Central
Europe that had not been subsumed by Rome were eventually replaced by waves of migration
by the Dacians, Iranic Sarmatian pastoralists, and early Germanic tribes. The rest, of course, was now under the shadow
of the Imperial Eagles’ wing. Nevertheless, Celtic culture persisted for
centuries under Roman rule, and in one foggy corner of the known world, they even retained
their fierce independence. In the next episode, we will explore the life
of the Gauls under Roman rule, and explore the Empires’ interactions with the free
Celtic peoples of the British isles, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the
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