A Timeless Chorus

 Check out the first post in this series for the background to Caesar's wider struggles . I don't really want to sit here and recount the entire Gallic Wars, because that would be tiresome to say the least. Caesar himself wrote an extensive memoir on his time in Gaul. I admittedly have not read it. Historians agree that it is Roman propaganda as far as battle statistics, but that the general course of events is accurate. We're here to talk about the many  bad things Caesar did. Most of Caesar's conquests cover modern France. His wars lasted for nearly a decade, although they culminated in 52 BCE at Alesia. Here Caesar pulled his famous 'donut wall' tactic, sealing his army in between the city and relief forces. This was the victorious end to Caesar's war on Vercingetorix, 'King of the Gauls' and fighting after that was markedly less intense. Vercingetorix, had been raised as a captive amongst the Romans and so knew their art of war, making him Caesar...

A Growing Divide An important element of the story of Caesar and Pompey is the struggle between the populares 1  and optimates 2 , championed by each of those men, respectively. A lot of historians leave this out, and refer to the factions as Caesarian1 1  and Pompeian 2 . The issue goes far deeper than that and I won't get into the full history here, perhaps in its own series... But suffice it to say that the divide was deep and deepening. The populares  demanded drastic land reform to give power to the people working the farms and to soldiers. The optimates  opposed radical progressivism and favored the 'old way' of things. That they called themselves the 'good men' I think speaks to their general attitude. They were keepers of something sacred, not politicians. An Unlikely Alliance From approximately 60-53 BCE Caesar and Pompey allied with Caesar's wealthy patron, Marcus Licinius Crassus. Crassus, like all Romans of standing, had served in the military, but w...