This latest volume in the Roman Conquests series deals with some of the
best known Roman campaigns of all. Indeed, due to the involvement of
Julius Caesar and the commentaries he wrote upon them, these are some of
the most studied of any ancient campaigns.
Before Caesar, however, Rome had already established a foothold across
the Alps in Gaul (the Province, modern Provence) and Michael M Sage
starts with these early acquisitions which were largely reactive and
defensive. The Gauls were one of the great warrior societies of ancient
Europe and some of Rome's heaviest defeats were suffered here at the end
of the second century BC.
This context makes all the more remarkable the dazzling success of the
audacious campaigns, just half a century later, by which Caesar rapidly
completed the initial conquest of the rest of Gaul. The subsequent
revolts that soon occurred, culminating in the great unified rising
under Vercingetorix, are also covered in detail, with the epic siege of
Alesia as the dramatic climax.
Michael Sage narrates and analyses all these campaigns, showing how the
Roman war machine was ultimately able to overcome vastly superior
numbers of Celtic warriors, to extend Rome's rule from the Mediterranean
to the English Channel.
