Julius Caesar in Gaul and Germania : strategy, tactics, and the use of aggressive diplomacy as a tool for war
While Caesar and his writings have been thoroughly studied for the past two centuries, it is time to make use of a new approach pioneered by Arthur M. Eckstein to study him. In his Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome Eckstein argues that Rome opportunistically conquered Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean through a series of defensive wars or “invitations”. What is novel about this approach is its use of political science paradigms, with a heavy emphasis on the concept of the realist anarchy. As such, using Eckstein’s framework and applying it to Caesar’s Bellum Gallicum this thesis shows that Caesar, contrarily to traditional historiography, did not conquer Gaul out of sheer bellicosity and personal ambition, but rather, as a result of a direct invitation from Rome’s Gallic allies to defensively interfere on their behalf in an act of bellum iustum. To do so, we will demonstrate that a state of anarchy exists in Gaul in accordance to Eckstein’s wider Mediterranean system. After which, a detailed analysis of Caesar’s De Bello Gallico will outline the specific instances in which Caesar opportunistically used this pre-existing anarchy to his advantage, before finally delving into the specificities of the “invitations” along with an analysis of Caesar’s use of aggressive diplomacy. To achieve this, we used first and foremost, Caesar’s commentaries as the primary sources, while Eckstein’s aforementioned work gave us the interpretative concepts and theoretical basis we needed; additionally, we drew on multiple supplementary primary sources and the surrounding relevant scholarship. After we demonstrated that Gaul was an anarchic system, we successfully applied Eckstein’s model, and its results clearly showed that the Gauls’ bellicosity against each other blinded them to the Roman danger, which Caesar used to systematically intervene, filling the power vacua left behind in his wake. This model is important because it provides us with an alternate explanation to the Roman conquest of Gaul, using one of history’s sister disciplines, political science. With this approach’s viability proven, it opens the door for vast other studies, in this as of yet, unexplored direction.
relations diplomatiques Anarchism Diplomatic relations Rome Foreign relations (510-30 B.C.) Caesar. Julius Gaul Politics and government