-58 BC- Caesar is governor in Gaul now.
-Besides Cisalpine and Trasalpine Gaul, non-Roman Gaul was packed full of savage barbarian hordes.
-Around this time, a huge migration of Gauls were moving into the Roman Gallic lands due to being pushed out of their own territories by Germanic hordes.
-These Gauls were the Helvetii tribe (numbering anywhere from 100,000-350,000).
-They wanted to pass through Roman lands, but Caesar wouldn't let them and walled off the entrances they wanted to pass through. He was also looking for an excuse to agitate them in order to invade their lands.
-Thus, the Helvetii attacked, but couldn't break through Caesar's defenses.
-Caesar then raised an army to attack the Helvetii.
-When a rival Gallic horde asked for Roman help to crush the Helvetii, the Romans agreed and attacked! They then began to systematically destroy the Helvetii army.
-After they were crushed completely, Caesar showed mercy and allowed the Helvetii to return north to set up a buffer region between Rome and the advancing Germanic hordes.
-After this, various Gallic tribes began to fight each other and asked for Roman help to vanquish their enemies.
-The Germans also began to cross into Gaul, so the Romans sent envoys telling them to back off. Caesar then marched his men to go fight the encroaching German hordes.
-The Germans during this time were fighting with the Suebi and other Gallic tribes, and were united under a leader named Ariovistus.
-Caesar, however, was able to crush the Germans and drive them back.
-It was now obvious that the Romans were here to stay in Gaul.
-Caesar began to dig into the occupied territory by constructing wooden forts.
-He also began to make alliances with various tribes and played them against each other.
-57- Belgian Gallic hordes formed a confederation to attack Rome.
-Caesar was still able to secure an alliance with one of these Belgian tribes, however, so when this Roman-allied tribe was attacked by the others for selling out to Rome, Caesar used this as an excuse to invade.
-A huge barbarian horde formed to fight off the Romans, and Caesar knew he wouldn't be able to beat them, so he instead spread out his army to attack the different individual settlements of each tribe.
-This caused the horde to dissolve because they went back to protect their own respective homes from invading Roman legions.
-Winter, 57 BC- Caesar had conquered almost all of Gaul!
-He returned to Cisalpine Gaul to attend to governmental affairs there, and met with Pompey and Crassus., who were to be co-consuls again.
-Caesar was to be pro-consul of Gaul, and Pompey was to be pro-consul of Hispania, with Crassus governing Syria.
-Meanwhile, a Gallic tribe (the Veneti) in Brittany began to resist Roman rule, so Caesar invaded them and crushed them.
-Had to build a navy to do this since the Veneti were a seafaring people with a strong navy.
-Caesar then began to look to Brittania to invade since the barbarians there had aided the Veneti in their resistance.
-Also wanted to do this for political reasons, as it would look amazing for him if he was to expand the Roman Empire to what they considered to be "the ends of the earth!"
-55 BC- German hordes began to invade Gaul.
-Caesar decided to march into Germania and strike back!
-He quickly built a huge bridge across the Rhine River. The Germans panicked and fled back into the forest. Satisfied, the Roman legions returned back across the Rhine.
-Caesar then sent a small fleet to scout Britannia.
-They landed on a beach, but were surrounded by British hordes- then a storm destroyed their fleet.
-They were pretty fucked. Caesar quickly repaired what ships he could and fled back to Gaul.
-Caesar then planned a full invasion, and landed with 800 ships this time!
-Was met with a fierce guerrilla resistance.
-Caesar found their leader and crushed him and his forces and then left a puppet ruler to rule the region in Britannia conquered by Rome.
-Caesar then returned to Gaul, but found that back in Rome his daughter had died while giving birth.
-Uh-oh...she had been married to Pompey!
-Meanwhile, the Gauls were rising up in rebellion against the Romans.
-53 BC- Caesar brought a huge army into northeast Gaul, slaughtered their hordes, and sold their women and children into slavery.
-Caesar then offered his grand-niece, Octavia (sister of Augustus), to Pompey for marriage.
-Pompey declined and married a daughter of one of Caesar's rivals. Uh-oh...
-Crassus then died invading the Parthian Empire.
-The Triumvirate was dead.
-52 BC- Rome fought its final wars against the Gauls.
-It was a brutal fight against almost all of the Gallic hordes united under a dude named Vercingetorix, in one final desperate resistance.
-Finally ended with the siege of Alesia.
-The Gauls were completely conquered.
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