As many people from my generation, the first time I heard about the Gallic Wars was through the Astérix comic books - Vercingétorix laying his arms at Caesar's feet, the Roman garrisons in the occupied Gaul, etc. Of course the genius work of Goscinny and Uderzo was mostly a satire about the modern world, but still it planted a seed of interest for Roman times. And now, many years and many readings about Roman history later, I finally read the famous Caesar's comments on the Gallic Wars.
It's a fascinating read. The tone is so vivid and real one can follow the events as a mixture of an adventure story and a journalistic tale. It's an extremely lively depiction of war in those times - and of strategy, politics and cunning. One cannot be but overwhelmed by the Roman's war machine, the way they accomplished astonishing engineering feats with their limited technology, their tactics and speed. No wonder so many of their works are still around, be it bridges, roads, temples or amphitheatres. Rome shaped the Western world as we know it. Reading the history of the Gallic Wars, one is reminded of the multiplicity of the celtic tribes, whose names one can hardly remember today, that became Romans; and the same applies to the Iberian peninsula. The Romans were such a powerful changing force. And Julius Caesar was really a remarkable character, one of the few people one can say it changed History.
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