Commentaries On The Gallic Wars Summary

A) My primary source is Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic Wars). This primary source is a series of eight books, looking at firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written in a first and third-person narrative. The eighth of these books was written after Caesar’s death by Aulus Hirtius. The search for this primary source was short and sweet due to it being one of the first things to pop up when I Googled “Primary source of the Roman Gallic Wars”.

B) In the first book, Caesar talks about a conflict with a Gallic tribe, Helvetti. This tribe was dealing with overpopulation at the time, so they needed some room for expansion. What better land to take than the Romans, right? When Caesar learns about the Helvetti’s plan to journey into Roman territory, there is a conflict, and the Helvetti return to their homeland with significantly fewer numbers. Hurray for no more overpopulation! This is one of the first things that I noticed about the primary source because this was
I am not really sure why Caesar wrote this book, most likely it was to provide insight to what happened, or possibly to help preserve “fame” throughout the times? I assume that the audience for this source was Caesar himself, so he could look back on previous conquests. The reason this source is so important is because it is literally written record from the guy who lead Rome in the fight against the Gauls. What I have learned from this source, although it may be one-sided, was that there was some provocation from the Gauls towards the Romans. The first four books talk about how countries were trying to expand their land into the Roman Empire territory, or how other countries were building up their armies so they would be ready to attack Rome. Eventually, it seems, Caesar had enough of these small altercations so he decided to launch a campaign against the