war and conquest: Europe During the Roman conquest of Europe the Romans lost an entire legion near Belgium when a group of Celtic tribes under unified leadership fought them The charismatic Celtic leader Vercingetorix (d 46 b.c.e.), who had recently become chief of the Averni tribe, persuaded tribes from all over Europe to join into one army under his command He lost battles to the Romans but kept his alliance intact, and he switched to guerilla warfare, which the Romans were ill equipped to handle The Celts burned their farms so the Romans would not find food, and they killed Roman units that were sent away from their main army to forage Vercingetorix’s crucial mistake was to take his army to Alesia, a fortified city in central Europe It is likely that he did not know enough about Roman tactics to grasp that Roman engineers would build a fortification to surround Alesia to starve him out He probably hoped that the Romans would be caught between relief forces from the north and his army in Alesia The fractiousness of the Celts contributed to their downfall Some refused to help and were later overwhelmed by the Romans Others refused to send all their warriors Three times the Celts attacked the Roman fortifications simultaneously from inside and out, twice nearly penetrating Roman lines and overwhelming the Romans More warriors might have been enough for success, but the Celts were forced to surrender Vercingetorix was imprisoned and later executed in 46 b.c.e Another able leader undone by Celtic customs of war was Queen Boudicca (d 60/61 c.e.) She was the widow of a king of the Iceni, a tribe in eastern Britain The Romans governed the Britons harshly, but her tribe had managed to keep the peace The spark that touched off a firestorm was the rape of two Iceni girls by Roman soldiers How old Boudicca was is unclear She was old enough to have had a 12-year-old daughter, but she could still have been in her late 20s She is usually imagined as middle-aged She was described as big, but Celtic women in general looked big to the Romans Nonetheless, she was either imposingly tall or heavy or both Her blazing red hair down to her waist In battle she painted half her body green and wore a large robe She was said to be a sorceress In western Britain 10,000 Roman troops were slaughtering Druid priests Perhaps as many as 10,000 marched to suppress Boudicca’s rebellion She had drawn to her about 100,000 warriors from homesteads across Britain Instead of their usual frontal charge, the Celts quietly surrounded the Romans in a forest and then attacked from all sides at once They killed nearly every Roman soldier Their attacks on Roman towns and fortifications were similarly disciplined They seemed unconcerned with taking trophies but fought the Roman way, totally destroying the enemy The Roman governor fled London with his troops, leaving it to Boudicca’s army By the time Boudicca brought her army to bear on the 10,000 Roman soldiers marching from the west, having exterminated the Druids, she had more than 200,000 warriors, along with supply wagons and fierce Celtic women to defend them The Romans were holed up in a small valley Boudicca arrayed her forces in a line to face them Charioteers put on 1143 traditional Celtic shows of skill and bravery The Romans stepped forward in a jagged line of V formations designed to break up the Celts’ solid line, allowing Roman soldiers to hack at their foes from the front and the sides The Celtic mistake was to allow themselves to be provoked They charged as a mass, making a din so frightening that the Romans nearly panicked Then the Celts pressed in on each other, trying to get at the Romans Chariots overturned Warriors suffocated The Roman line held, and the Celts panicked Following a longstanding tradition for Celtic war leaders, Boudicca committed suicide when it was clear the battle was lost THE GERMANS By Caesar’s era the Celts were beleaguered not only by the Romans from the south but also by the Germans from the north and east In fact, Caesar began his campaign to conquer Gaul by first driving away Germanic invaders These Germans came primarily from the north but were conquering their way through northeastern Europe and would eventually threaten Roman Europe from both north and east Their motivations for conquest varied Sometimes a tribe’s population grew so much that the tribe chose to expand its territory to accommodate its growth Sometimes a natural disaster or an invasion of its territory drove a tribe from its homes and into territory claimed by someone else Often the conquest was inspired by a desire for loot At other times a leader wanted glory War chiefs tended to serve only while a war lasted Customs varied among Germanic tribes, with some choosing one leader while others chose two One reason for choosing two might have been to prevent either one from using his power to make himself the permanent king In early campaigns against Germanic armies the Romans noted that the Germans seemed wild and ill equipped A German warrior was expected to supply his own weapons and armor This meant that German armies of the first century b.c.e often featured warriors wearing only breechcloths (loincloths), without even protection for their heads Often they had no shields They just carried spears and rarely axes or swords In the close hand-to-hand combat that both Romans and Germans favored, the Romans cut the Germans to pieces The Germanic fighters differed from the Celtic warriors in an important way: They knew how to fight as units and were accustomed to having a long-term strategy Like the Celts, they liked to show off their courage, toughness, and prowess In the dead of winter men would ride naked and bareback on horses to display their contempt for discomfort They were used to being cold, tired, and uncomfortable, and in the long run they would prove to be formidable opponents for other Europeans The basic Germanic fighting unit was the family Family members stayed together during marches and battles and were responsible for each other’s well-being If a war chief failed to satisfy his troops with his leadership, families could desert, choosing to return to protect their homes rather than serve someone they did not trust An army could disintegrate