Chapter XIII - The Gaul War (199 - 197 BC)
A. Gaul history (280 - 200 BC)
In the beginning of the 3rd Century BC, a large part of today`s France showed a considerable low level of population density and societal structure. On the other hand, about a dozen tribes had managed to organize themselves into an early civilization with hierarchical structures and first cities.
During the next decades, a concentration process took place similar to the one in Italy in the 5th / 4th Century BC, when these Tribes strived to gain a dominant position and to subdue their neighbors. Around 250 BC, three major Tribes were left.
To the north, in today`s Belgium, the Eburones. Their southern neighbors, dominating the Paris Basin, were the Parisii
(46). Further to the south, in the Massif Central and to the southwest of it, lived the Arverni.
The next decades were shaped by the massive struggle between the Parisii and the Arverni. At the end of the Century, around 220 BC, the Parisii had conquered all settlements of the Arverni and ruled over most parts of northern and central Gaul.
Fig. 12: Gaul in 200 BC
In the course of the Sequani-Campaign, the Parisii came in touch with Rome, and this neighbourship seems to have been tense from the start. There are reports about small border incidents during the first Tylic War, but the situation escalated during the Second Tylic War, when a massive Parisian force entered roman territory
(47).
B. The early conflict
During the year 199 BC, Rome seemed to have taken no offensive steps and had their focus on defending the roman territory. Sutonius, the most believable Annalist for this campaign, reports about two large battles in central and southern Gaul, that were won by Rome, although probably at great cost.
In early 198, after the end of the Second Tylic War, Rome decided to take the initiative. The Legio II. and Legio IV. advanced into enemy territory.
C. Midar
"...Phyleus Zoticid advanced along the Midar with a mountain range to his right. After a week he reached a ford, that was defended by a small Gaul troop. Zoticid decided to push across the ford with the 3rd and 4th Cohort
...(battle description with the roman Cohorts defeating the Gauls)...against the advice of his Tribunes and the primus pilus Tertius Secundus he decided to pursue the enemy. He dissolved the marching order and let the vanguard depart too far ahead
...(the vanguard and the baggage train are ambushed, the terrain and bad weather hinder effective countermeasures and the Cohorts begin to disband)...the remnants of the Legion in order to make their way back to the friendly territory, but the Gaul Leader pursued them and they faced repeated attacks and ambush while retreating
...(the Legion is completely wiped out, the few survivors arrive in Ruteni, the Legate among them)...and so the infamy of the Gauls and the wrath of the Gods destroyed the bloom of roman youth and the Republic suffered its most dreadful catastrophe."
(48)
The destruction of the Legio IV Martia, an unit with a history of 50 years, in the south of France is one of the most debated and best-known events throughout roman history. The first problem was to locate the scene of the battle. Several rivers in southern France were identified as Midar, until a fortunate discovery revealed the probable location.
(49)
The second thing was to reconstruct the events. As far as we know today, Zoticid wanted to march toward Cadurques
(50). It is still a debatable fact, if Sutonius was right, that Zoticid dissolved the marching order. But the findings of the last 20 years lead to the conclusion, that there was indeed a large battle with two focus areas around Arcambal. Further findings were made eastwards along the Lot, who seem to indicate, that the survivors of the Battle tried to retreat. A final large place of discoveries is near Cajarc. Probably the Legion disbanded there and the retreat turned to a rout, but most Legionaries didn`t made it back.
(51)
D. End of the conflict
After the catastrophe at the Midar, Rome deployed the Legio I to Gaul in order to resume the Offensive
(52).
The new commander, Marcus Fabius Buteo, decided to slowly wear down the Gaul Leader
(53). There were several battles, when the Gaul Leader tried to adopt a hit-and-run-tactic. Although he suffered no decisive defeat and caused casualties for the Roman troops, Marcus Fabius limited his room to move.
A further unfortunate development for Gabinius was, that the tribe of the Senones
(54) pushed into the Massif Central and seized former Parisian territory, while the Tribe of the Aulerci seized the opportunity to dissolve its union with the Parisii. Being outnumbered, Gabinius finally abandoned southern Gaul and retreated to the north, while the Roman troops occupied the area of the Arverni, Cadurci and the Lemovices.
Fig. 13: Gaul in late 197 BC
E. Result
The "Celtic menace", always a trauma in Rome`s collective consciousness, was suddenly urgent with the defeat and destruction of the Legio IV. In the aftermath, Rome developed a concept for rationalizing such a catastrophe, that was further applied in the future.
Although he probably had to be blamed for this, Phyleus Zoticid faced no serious penalty in order to not discredit the military leadership per se
(55). Instead, topoi as weather, terrain, deceit of the enemy and lacking grace of the gods were listed as key reasons.
Throughout the Republic, massive sacrificial rituals were held to appease the gods (and the population). A more this-worldly effect of the War was the immediate deployment of the new Legio VIII Gallica to southern Gaul.
Finally, this War shattered the Parisian territory, the largest unified Gaul realm so far.
(46) Their largest village was Lutetia, today`s Paris.
(47) There is a theory, that Parisii and Tylis had contacts, since these coincidences of roman engagement in the southeast and Parisian aggression in Gaul are very conspicuous. LeClaire refuted it in his impressive study "Decline of pre-roman cultures in Gaul" and refers to the impossibility of coordinated actions due to lack of communication tools, cultural and language barriers and the complete absence of any evidence for such a link between Gaul and the Balkans. However, he admits, that it is possible that the Parisii tried to exploit the situation, since they could have learned that Rome was engaged in a distant part of their territory and thus maybe weak in Gaul.
(48) Sutonius, "Annals", Vol. XXXI
(49) Two hobby archaeologists discovered the today well known site of Arcambal near the Lot-River in 1991.
(50) The capital of the Tribe of the Cadurci. Today Cahors.
(51) Estimations amount to a maximum of 500 soldiers with Zoticid among them.
(52) This was an act of desperation and a Vabanque-Game as well. With the Legio IV being destroyed and the Legio I in Gaul, the whole Iberian and Germanic border was more or less unguarded.
(53) Sutonius calls him Gabinius, but his real name is unknown.
(54) The Senones were originally a gaulish tribe in middle Italy, who were driven out of their territory by Rome in the early 3rd Century. A branch of them migrated to Gaul and settled down at the mouth of the Loire, before they invaded the Massif Central in 198/197 BC.
(55) Zoticid was of greek/massilian descent and this campaign his first command. In the aftermath he was assigned to an insignificant post and he died two years later, maybe due to a suicide.