The Gallic Wars (58-53 BC): Julius Caesar's Conquest of Gaul 🇫🇷

For educational purposes<br /><br />The Gallic Wars tells the story of the campaigns from 58 BC to 53 BC in which Julius Caesar and his Roman legions conquered Gaul and the mysterious island of Britannia. <br /><br />Caesar portrayed this invasion as genuine concern for Italian security but as the campaign developed, Rome's greatest commander began to hatch plans for the full conquest. <br /><br />This documentary sketches the conflict between Rome and Gaul, specifically Caesar's campaigns of 58–53 BC, culminating with the defeat of Vercingetorix at Alesia. <br /><br />The programme uses clips of actors dressed as Gauls and Romans, one of whom poses as Julius Caesar reading extracts from his De bello Gallico, and these re-enactment scenes are interspersed with academic talking heads. <br /><br />It's all standard classroom stuff that gets the facts across without much in the way of frills or style, but doubtless of value for students. <br /><br />Much time at the beginning of the programme is spent looking at the Celtic way of life in an attempt to redress the bias of the written Roman sources. <br /><br />Although the identification of Stonehenge as a druidic monument is highly contentious, as is the idea that Caesar's conquests were in some way retribution for the Gallic sack of Rome back in 390 BC.<br /><br />Caesar was far more interested in the current political scene to care about what was, for him as much as for us.[