By the Spring of 57 BC, Caesar had successfully dealt with the Helvetii and Suebi threat.
The Gallic tribes in the area had either been vassalised or their lands were occupied by
the Roman Legions. However in the north of Gaul, a group of tribes was forming an alliance
to oppose the Romans. These were the Belgae, and they would prove to be one of Caesar’s
fiercest enemies.
This video is sponsored by ExpressVPN. This service provides Fastest speeds and is consistently
faster than other VPN providers and is very easy to use, connecting with just one click.
ExpressVPN has the best-in-class encryption, thus protecting your privacy and anonymity.
If Youtube is blocked in your country, ExpressVPN will allow you to circumvent this block and
access our content, as its app is available on every OS.
And it costs less than 7 a month, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. We use ExpressVPN, as
it provides a quick and simple way to make your internet activity private.
Take back your Internet privacy TODAY and find out how you can get 3 month free, go
to EXPRESSVPN.com/kingsandgenerals. That’s E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N.com/slash kingsandgenerals
for 3 months free with a 1-year package. Take back your privacy today.
The Belgae were a loose collection of various tribes and had fought constant wars with the
Germanic tribes across the Rhine which had fostered a strong and experienced warrior
culture. They knew of how successful Caesar had been in Gaul already and were justifiably
suspicious of his intentions. To counter the rising Roman threat, the Belgae formed a confederation
led by the king Galba of the Suessiones. Labienus sent word of this coalition to Caesar
in Cisalpine Gaul, who immediately took action. Caesar raised a further two legions and moved
straight to the Belgae border. It is worth noting that Caesar now had eight legions under
his command, approximately 44,000 men including auxiliaries, double the amount he had initially
been allocated by the Senate. Furthermore, while the Belgae raising an army could certainly
be seen as a potential threat, Caesar made no efforts to get the Cassus Bellis he had
when fighting the Helvetii and Suebi. The Republic had less and less control over Caesar,
and many in Rome were beginning to talk about these conquests not being in Rome’s best
interest, but in Caesar’s. Nevertheless, Caesar marched his legions quickly
into the territory of the nearest Belgic tribe, the Remi, who were completely taken aback
by the speed at which the Romans had been able to mobilize and surrendered instantly,
swearing to Caesar that they had never been a part of the Confederation. The Remi even
provided Caesar with all the information they had on the alliance, including which tribes
were involved, how many men each tribe was contributing and that they were currently
marching towards the Remi’s territory. With this information, Caesar convinced his
Gallic allies, the Aedui, led now by Divitiacus, to invade the lands of the Bellovaci, a powerful
Belgae tribe, to open a second front while he marched towards the Belgic alliance’s
main army. Caesar crossed a bridge over the Axona River and encamped in a strong position
on a hill on the other side. The river provided protection from the rear, and marshy land
at his front made a frontal assault difficult. Furthermore, Caesar had learned his lesson
from fighting Ariovistus and left six cohorts in a well-fortified position on the other
side of the bridge, securing his supply line. With no chance of being starved out from his
position, Caesar waited for the Belgae to make their move.
Meanwhile, the Belgae had marched to the Remi town of Bibrax, just eight miles from where
Caesar was camped, and besieged it. Caesar gives the total number of the Confederation
as 300,000. However, it is unclear how much this number is exaggerated and how many of
these men were currently in the army. A more realistic estimation would be somewhere around
80,000 men - still a force to be reckoned with, almost double that of Caesars. In the
face of such a large force, the Remi sent messages to Caesar saying that they would
be unable to hold the town without his help. Caesar, however, was reluctant to give up
his defensive position, as he thought that that the attack on Bibrax was a trap designed
to force him to do that. Instead he kept his legions in camp, but sent a substantial contingent
of auxiliaries, composed mainly of Cretan archers and Balearic slingers, to sneak into
Bibrax to help the Remi. With Bibrax thus reinforced and Caesar not taking the bait,
Galba instead marched his army to meet the Romans, encamping just two miles from the
Roman camp. Caesar was reluctant to engage Galba straight
away and instead focused on cavalry skirmishes to test the strength of the Belgae. While
this was going on, he further reinforced his position, digging long trenches and constructing
defensive towers on the flanks of his position. Realizing that attacking such a strong position
would be suicidal, Galba instead sent roughly 15,000-20,000 men to ford the river and attack
the six cohorts on the other side, hoping either to draw Caesar from the hill or to
cut off his supply line and starve him out. Seeing this, Caesar gathered all his light
infantry and cavalry and marched quickly to oppose the crossing, leaving his legions in
their defensive position. The Roman cavalry arrived just in time and fell upon the few
Belgae who had made it to the other bank, killing many and forcing them back into the
river. At the same time, the Roman missile troops peppered the Belgae still in the water
with stones, javelins, and arrows. They doggedly tried to continue their crossing despite taking
heavy casualties, but Galba had no choice but to pull his men back.
To make matters worse, word had now reached him that the Aedui were rampaging through
the Bellovaci lands. With the Romans to his front so heavily dug in and with another army
now threatening his flank, Galba decided to withdraw. The tribes would all disperse to
their respective homelands, but all agreed to reassemble if the Romans marched further
into Belgae lands. As the Confederation’s army dispersed, Caesar
cautiously pursued with his cavalry and three legions under Labienus, harassing the Belgae.
Due to their lack of coordination, the Belgae suffered heavy casualties in this retreat.
The battle had cost the Confederation approximately 10,000 men and had forced the tribes to divide,
making them easier for Caesar to conquer. Many tribes simply surrendered in the face
of the Roman Legions, including the Bellovaci and Galba’s Suessiones.
However deeper in Belgae territory, the Nervii did have time to organize and were not going
to give up so easily. They were outraged by Caesar’s foray into Belgae territory and
alongside their neighbours the Viromandui, Atrebates, and Aduatuci, were able to gather
an army of approximately 50,000 men, led by the Nervii king Bodougnatus. Caesar, hearing
that this force was gathering against him, marched for the River Sabis on the edge of
Nervi territory. Bodougnatus had learned the lesson from Galba
and knew that he could not allow the Romans the chance to fortify their position and so
he positioned his men in ambush on a hill on the other side of the river. He also had
his troops construct hedge-like obstructions, which were placed on the other side of the
river to disrupt the Roman formations and cavalry.
Caesar marched his army in two groups; his veteran six Legions who marched in the front
were the first to reach the river and began constructing a camp on a hill with the river
in front, while the two newer legions marched behind with the baggage train. Caesar sent
his cavalry and light infantry across the river, which was only 3 feet deep, in order
to scout the opposite bank. They were met by some Nervii cavalry, and a brief skirmish
broke out. However, the Belgae cavalry fell back drawing in the Romans until the entire
Nervii force broke cover and fell upon them. The Roman cavalry and light infantry broke
and ran back across the river to the Roman camp, the Nervii army in hot pursuit. Thus
started the battle of the Sabis river. The Belgae moved from the woods and across
the river so fast that the legions had almost no time to prepare. However, their experience
and discipline kicked in; rallying to the nearest cohort and legionary standards, they
were able to put together a coherent battle line. But as the legionary engineers did not
have time to clear the campsite as they usually would, the legions were divided by the hedge-like
obstructions laid down by Bodougnatus, which prevented them from forming a cohesive formation.
As a result, the legions were almost fighting 3 separate battles: the 10th and the 9th on
the left against the Atrebati, the 11th and 8th in the centre against the Viromandui and
the 12th and 7th on the right against the largest group, the Nervi with the two remaining
legions, the 13th and 14th still with the baggage train, yet to join the battle.
The fighting was brutal, with Caesar himself going from group to group, encouraging his
men. Eventually, the Roman left was able to push their enemy back enough to hurl their
javelins into their ranks and charge. They were able to force the Atrebati back across
the river, even making it into the Belgae camp. The Roman center was also finding success,
pushing the Viromandui down to the banks of the river.
However, the Roman right was having a hard time. With the center pushing forward, the
Nervii poured into the gap, almost surrounding the 12th and 7th legions and falling upon
on the auxiliaries who had retreated to the camp. The remaining auxiliaries, including
most of the Roman cavalry who had been marching in front of the baggage train, saw this and
fled, assuming the Roman right had been completely destroyed and the battle lost.
They were not without reason: the 12th had lost their standard, their chief centurion,
most of the other centurions and the Romans were beginning to break. Seeing this disaster,
Caesar knew he would have to do something or risk losing the whole campaign. Snatching
up a shield, he pushed himself to the front line of the legion, bolstering the morale
of the men. With the 7th legion under heavy pressure as well, Caesar ordered them to form
a defensive square with the 12th and hold their ground.
At this point, the battle began to swing in the Romans’ favour. Labienus, in charge
of the 10th and 9th Legions, saw what was happening from the other side of the river
and sent the 10th to relieve the Roman right, while the remaining two Legions had finally
joined the battle and were attacking the Nervii in the Roman camp. The Roman auxiliary cavalry
also returned to the battle seeing this change in fortune, and it was now the Nervii who
faced disaster. The Viromandui had fled upon seeing the Roman reinforcements, and the Nervii
were now surrounded. They fought bravely, and Caesar even commended them later, but
their defeat was now inevitable. The Belgae casualties were devastating, Caesar
saying that just 500 survived the battle. The Roman losses had also been high, with
perhaps as many as 5,000 Romans dead. Without Caesar’s personal leadership and the timely
interventions of the legions, it is likely that the battle would have been lost, Caesar
killed, and the campaign ended. But the battle was over, and Caesar was once again victorious.
The Nervii surrendered, becoming a vassal of Rome, and the Atrebati were conquered soon
after. Rome was now in control of most of Gaul.
New videos on Caesar’s campaign in Gaul will be released soon, so make sure you are
subscribed to our channel and pressed the bell button. We would like to express our
gratitude to our Patreon supporters and channel members, who make the creation of our videos
possible. Now, you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the
description. This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch you on the next
one.