Summary of Bellum Gallicum Book 4

Book 2 of de Bello Gallico covers Caesar's attempts to pacify the Belgae in the northern region of Gaul. Book 3 sees Caesar expand that pacification to the coast of the Atlantic in the far north and west.

Book 4 (55 BCE) found Caesar focusing on keeping Germans from crossing over and taking advantage of the chaos in Gaul. At one point, Caesar crosses the Rhine in a move that terrified the Germans. Caesar had begun to learn that many forces were simply sailing away to Britannia to avoid the Roman forces, then coming back to the continent once the coast was clear. Realizing he needed to at least attempt to control both sides of the English Channel, Caesar got his fleet together and sailed across. The Latin readings begin at chapter 25.

The British sent out cavalry and chariots (currus), the latter being an ancient form of fighting the Romans were unaccustomed to seeing, in order to prevent a Roman foothold on the beach. The ships were too big to be safely brought to the shore, while the troops themselves were in armor too heavy to swim to shore. The enemy on the other hand was used to this type of semi-aquatic fighting. Morale among the Romans, for all these reasons, was particularly low. This sets the stage for the First Caesarian Invasion of Britain.

Caesar brought out his war ships, which were an unusual sight to the Britons, to serve as a platform from which missiles could be launched against the enemy flank. This pushed the Britons back enough to offer a opening for the Romans. Seeing the opportunity, an aquilifer of the tenth legion shouted out an encouragement to not let the eagle fall into enemy hands, swore to fulfill his duty, and lunged off the boat. The troops, terrified of dishonor, followed.

The fighting was fierce on both sides. The Romans landed in disarray, with no time to get into proper formation, while the Britons took full advantage of their familiarity with the coast to pick off individuals or small groups. Caesar put the spy ships to work transporting larger numbers of troops onto the beach to support those struggling in the shallows. Finally, the Romans held a portion of the beach and made a proper assault. The British retreated, but the Romans could not pursue because the cavalry transport vessel had gone off course. Caesar comments that the transport ship was the only major failure of his good luck in the proceedings.

The Britons sent ambassadors to Caesar to negotiate a peace and promised to send him hostages and carry out any other terms requested by Caesar. Commius the Atrebatian, who had been sent by Caesar to diplomatically prepare for the Roman arrival, came with these ambassadors. Commius had been imprisoned by the Britons upon his first arrival, and was now being returned to Caesar as part of the peace negotiations. The Britons further promised to send more hostages later, and blamed travel times for the delay.

With a peace established, the eighteen cavalry transports began to sail to the Roman camp, but just as they were within sight of the camp, a storm came that pushed some back to their original port and nearly capsized others. This sudden violent sea surge was caused by an extraordinarily high tide during the new moon--an effect unknown to the Romans. The unforeseen tide also affected the ships anchored on the shore, damaging all of them to the point where they were were not seaworthy.

With the Romans stranded on a hostile island with an insufficient grain supply and a small expeditionary force, the Britons held a conference. The Britons decided to cut the Romans off from any supplies coming in. If the Britons could defeat the Romans soundly enough, it would decrease the likelihood of another invasion in the future. The Britons began assembling forces in secret.

Caesar did not know about this conspiracy, but he was smart enough to predict it would exist. He put his men to work gathering grain in the area, repaired some ships using parts of others to create a small navigable fleet. After all the work, twelve ships were lost, but the rest could reasonably sail.

During a regular foraging party outing, the soldiers on sentry duty noticed a large cloud of dust indicating troop movements in the same area as the foraging party. Caesar suspected this was the Britons coming to assault the weakened Roman troops and took the roughly 960 men (2 cohorts worth) to save them. He found the men under attack from all sides, ambushed by British troops who had waited overnight to strike. The Romans were surrounded by cavalry and chariots.

Caesar pauses the narrative here to describe the way in which chariots fight. After throwing missiles and causing troop formations to scatter, the chariot drops off a foot soldier. The chariot can move quickly out of harm's way, and can retrieve the foot soldier if he is overwhelmed. This gives them the speed of cavalry and the ability of infantry to hold a position. They can also climb around on the chariot itself, allowing them to hop on the chariot regardless of how it is facing or where it is going.

With that description over, Caesar states this strange form of fighting left his troops startled, but Caesar's arrival made the enemy hesitate, giving Caesar time for a tactical retreat. Weather kept battle from occurring for several days, but allowed the Britons to send out messengers to gather forces for the fight against the Roman, and soon an army of Britons assembled.

Caesar prepared for another battle, but while previous battles had resulted in the Britons retreating unchecked, Caesar had thirty horse from Gaul led by Commius Atrebas. The battle was fought, the Britons retreated, but the cavalry chased them down. The Romans punitively torched everything they could find over a wide area before returning the camp. This action led to the Britons suing for peace once again.

From there, Caesar demands more hostages, takes them back to the continent. He sailed a little after midnight. A group of 6,000 enemy Morini launched a surprise attack but were quickly repulsed. Caesar sent Labienus on a punitive attack. The Britons largely fail to send the promised hostages now that Caesar was back on the continent. Twenty days of thanksgiving were declared.