The Conquest of Gaul

By Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar!!) 

First of all, it's amazing to me that I can read (after someone else's work translating it) a book written by someone more than two thousand years ago. Not only can I read it, but the writing is persuasive, clear, and descriptive. To top off my amazement, it is written by Caesar - who I knew for his military prowess not his writing ability. The last chapter of The Conquest of Gaul is written by Caesar's friend Hirtius, and he notes that Caesar "not only had the gift of writing with consummate elegance, but also knew how most exactly to convey what his intentions were." I couldn't agree more. The whole book is basically one big propaganda piece, and I know that, but while reading about the latest Gallic tribe that Caesar massacred I at least didn't disagree with his justifications. 

This book is also an awesome look into early Roman Empire style warfare. Caesar gives seriously detailed accounts of the war preparations and numbers, although the numbers are likely exaggerated. He claimed the annihilation of 40,000 at Avaricum in one night, and in his final siege against Vercingetorix the enemy has like 500,000 troops. Modern historians seriously doubt these numbers. Still, Caesar's accounts of the wars can be very accurate. At Gergovia, the Roman army built a rare double trench around the city, to facilitate the movement of their many troops. Amazingly, excavations in the 1860s by Napaleon III revealed this double trench. 

Caesar also confirms my belief in his military genius. There are many examples of his ingenuity: quickly building bridges in rivers thought not crossable, building circular ramparts 10+ miles in circumference. Most of it is smart building. My favorite example is in the capture of Uxellodunum. The Romans had surrounded the city but it's natural defenses left it hard to attack, and the people had huge stores of provisions so waiting them out didn't seem viable. Typically, as he did elsewhere in the book, Caesar would try to divert the river before the city, leaving the people without water. At Uxellodunum, the river was big and fast flowing meaning diversion was not an option, so Caesar decided to build a guard around the river where the Gauls went out to get water. Once this was completed, the Gauls resorted to the natural spring present within their city. Now, unable to block off the spring, Caesar ordered the building of huge mantlets and ramparts, which engaged the enemy at Uxellodunum while covering and hiding the important operation: digging. The Romans dug until they found the source of the spring, and diverted it. Uxellodunum was captured shortly after.

The Conquest of Gaul is a must read for any fan of Roman history. I gave a few examples here, but the book is filled with ingenious ploys and obvious but interesting propaganda, and it is just straight up cool to read a book written by Caesar. (12/20/20)