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86 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterpiece, October 8, 2000
This is a genuine historical treasure. Rarely are we fortunate enough to have historical accounts written by eyewitnesses. Caesar was not only an eyewitness, but the lead player. It's as though we had accounts of Alexanders campaigns written by Alexander, himself. Or Charlemagne's life in his own words. And, not only is it a firsthand account, but it is brilliantly written. Caesar's commentaries, whether of the Gallic campaigns or of the Civil War that followed, are considered masterpieces of Latin prose. The writing is concise and straightforward. Caesar's writings are still used today to teach Latin. All the brilliance aside, however, this is also lively and interesting to read. "The Conquest of Gaul" covers the ten-year period of Caesar's proconsulship of Gaul. During those ten years he carried out a series of military campaigns that subdued all of Gaul (Europe west of the Rhine and south to the Pyrenees and Mediterranian), bringing it under Roman rule, while also leading expeditions across the Channel into southeastern Britain. Caesar writes not only of his battles, but also of the tribes he encountered and details of how his own men lived. We see Caesar as the consummate leader, sharing the hardships of his men. He fights in the front lines with them, he marches with them, he eats the same food they eat, and they will follow him anywhere. Caesar's success as a general is a product of several factors. His speed of movement, his effective use of terrain, the absolute loyalty and confidence of his troops, and the relatively advanced engineering skills of the Romans are all used effectively by Caesar. Written to publicize Caesar's Gallic successes among the people back in Rome, these accounts remain as readable today as they were intended to be 2,000 years ago. Given the great bulk of ancient writings that have been lost over the centuries, we are extremely fortunate that these are among those that survived. This is really great stuff. Read it. You'll be glad you did.
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69 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A spectacular book, September 6, 1999
By A Customer
Amazingly well written and easily readable personal account of the war in Gaul by Caesar himself. Caesar would write these memoirs each year at the end of the Campaign season when in his Winter camp and they have an enormous level of detail. For example, during his first campaign season there is a very detailed account of how the Celts/Gauls built their city walls that made me feel like running out and building a minature reproduction with Lincoln Logs, stones and dirt in the back yard (my wife would have loved that). Clearly, Caesar is recording this for future Roman armies so they know how the Gallic walls are built and how they can be destroyed. At one of the first cities in Gaul that Caesar lays siege to, the defenders gather on the walls and call the Romans names and throw things down at them, reminiscent of a scene from a Monty Python movie where a Gallic defender hurls epithets and other objects down at soldiers in front of a castle. However, when Caesar's troops begin to slowly wheel a massive, multi-story siege engine out of the woods and up to the walls, the occupants throw open their gates, run out, and surrender without a fight. The Romans usually faced lopsided odds in their battles and were frequently outnumbered 3:1. They overcame these odds by the incredible disipline and physical conditioning of the Roman troops who would march up to 50 miles per day with armor and weapons. The battles would usually be lost by the first side whose men panicked and fled the field. Caesar's accounts of battle give you an idea of how critically important discipline and physical strength and conditioning were to the military success of Rome. There are also hints at the possible causes of the later downfall of Rome to the Germanic invasions since Caesar is clearly impressed by the Germanic tribes ability to fight and their physical size and strength. However, it is also clear that Caesar was a great general and would choose the location of his battles very carefully. In multiple instances Caesar retreats to a more favorable location before offering battle. With the better Gallic generals, this would lead to a game of cat and mouse to see who would pick the terrain and therefore fight from a position of advantage. In nearly all instances, Caesar was able to fight on his terms through his own patience and discipline as well as that of his troops. All in all, this is a fascinating historical account that really comes alive and one which I have gone back to several times to re-read.
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50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To Conquer the World, First Conquer Yourself, June 28, 2002
Julius Caesar was one of the truly pivotal people in recorded history. Most non-historians know him as the one who was stabbed by Brutus on the Ides of March. It is almost as if Caesar sprang full-grown to grab the reigns of power from the Senate in Rome. Yet Caesar had a fairly long life before he became First Citizen of Rome. He was a successful general and a talented historian who saw world events with the dispassionate eye of one who felt supremely confident that his tenure as an army general was but the last stop before his ascension to ultimate power. In his CONQUEST OF GAUL, Caesar uses the third person point of view to punctuate his tacit assumption that unfolding events ought to be divorced as far as possible from the one witnessing them. This writing technique also served to symbolize his stated goal: to conquer Gaul. To him, Gaul was a land of barbarian tribes, with each possessing formidable numbers and fierce fighters. These tribes and their leaders were enormously emotional, wildly unpredictable, and more dangerous as individuals than as organized units. Caesar knew that to beat them, he could not be as them. They were emotional, he coldly calculating. They were not efficient in massed groups, his legions had to be. Caesar was the ultimate practitioner of the divide and conquer school. He picked off his enemies one at a time, like bobbing heads on a shooting gallery. The Atuatucii, the Nervii, the Helvetians all fought ferociously, sometimes winning minor victories, but it was Caesar who won the ones that counted. He transformed his legions into extensions of his personality. They fought well as masses against overwhelming odds, not for their pay, or hope of plunder, or even for glory, but for their commander. Caesar's iron will and resolve filled his legions with hope and his enemies with despair. It was only when Caesar was recalled to Rome that the Gauls decided that now was the time to seek a new leader to strike down the Roman eagle. During this battle against Vercingetorix and his earlier ones against lesser chiefs, Caesar sees each battle as the logical working out of a master plan, that when combined with the bravery and training of his troops in co-ordinated combat, could crush a loud but awkward foe. As he writes, one can visualize his intended audience, not the reader of this review, but the purple-robed senators back in Rome sweating out the increasing victories of a man who seemed fated to return to the Capitol to tell them their business. His calmness in battle was matched only by his calmness with a stylus. It is truly ironic that it was this same calm that led him to discount the excited warnings of a Mark Antony, who tried to tell Caesar of plotters, that led to his downfall.
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