First Invasion: the Senones, 390-283 B.C. Conquest of Cisalpine Gaual, 232-194 B.C. Third Invasion: the Averni, 495-455 B.C.
Most of Rome's neighbors were of Italian or Mediterranean descent, and were approximately as civilized as the Romans themselves. The Gauls (also known as Celts), who had settled in northern Italy were different. The had crossed over the passes of the Alps from the unknown lands of northern Europe and were ferocious, and relatively uncivilized warriors. Hostilities between the two nations began in about 400 BC and continued for several hundred years, during which time Gauls often joined forces with Rome's other enemies. Eventually Julius Caesar pacified the Gauls by conquering their home territories in Western Europe, and these wars, referred to as the Roman Conquest of Gaul, are treated elsewhere. The following are some of the major campaigns against Rome, between the fourth and first century B.C. in which the Gauls figured prominently.
After this incident, the Gauls settled down in Northeast Italy, and were a constant source of threat and nuisance to the Roman republic. They frequently joined with enemies of Rome, during her wars of Italian unification, and were especially prominent in the Samnite Wars. In 283 B.C. they served as mercenaries in an Etruscan War, and at Arretium destroyed a Roman army with over 13,000 casualties. Revenge was soon taken. At the Battle of Lake Vadimon, the Romans defeated the Etruscans and their Gallic allies, and then marched into Gallic territory, destroyed all of the Gallic towns, killed the men and enslaved the women. This remainder of the Senones tribe, having no homes to return to, migrated north, probably into the Danube area.
Date | Battle Summary | |
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Battle of the Allia
(First )
Gauls victory
Fought July 16, 389 B.C., between the Romans, 40,000 strong, under Quintus Sulpicius, and the Gauls, about equal in numbers, under Brennus. The Romans took post on the Allia to check the advance of the Gauls on Rome. Here they were attacked by Brennus, who routed the right wing, where the younger soldiers were posted, and then broke the Roman centre and left, putting them to flight with enormous loss. | ||
Siege of Rome
(Second )
Gauls victory
The first siege of Rome by the Gauls, under Brennus, took place B.C. 389. No attempt was made to defend the city, which was seized and burnt by the barbarians, the greater part of the population fleeing to Veii and other neighbouring cities. The Capitol, however, was held by the leading Patrician families, and it is said withstood a siege of six months, when Brennus accepted a heavy ransom and withdrew his army. | ||
Battle of Arretium (Etruscan War )
Etruscans and Gauls victory
Fought B.C. 283, when the consular army of L. Caecilius Metellus, marching to the relief of Arretium, which the Etruscans were besieging, met with a disastrous defeat. Thirteen thousand, including Metellus, were slain, and the rest made prisoners. | ||
Battle of Lake Vadimon (First )
Romans victory
Fought B.C. 283, between the Romans, under P. Cornelius Dolabella, and the Gauls and their Etruscan allies. Dolabella attacked the Etruscans as they were crossing the Tiber close to the lake, and destroyed the flower of their army. He then fell upon the Gauls, whom he also defeated with heavy loss, with the result that in the following year they made peace and withdrew from Italy. |
Leader of the Gauls who sacked Rome in 390 B.C. | |
Great military leader; conquered Veii, saved Rome from Gauls, organized legions. | |
Defended the capitol from the Gauls. | |
Led the Roman army against the Gauls and Etruscans at the disastrous Battle of Arretium. | |
Defeated a large Gallic army at Lake Vadimon. |
Day of Allia in | Helmet and Spear by Alfred J. Church |
Rome and the Gauls in | Stories From Livy by Alfred J. Church |
Rome and the Gauls continued in | Stories From Livy by Alfred J. Church |
Great Disaster in | Stories from Ancient Rome by Alfred J. Church |
Second Founder of Rome in | Tales of the Romans: The Children's Plutarch by F. J. Gould |
Invasion of the Gauls in | The Story of the Romans by H. A. Guerber |
Camillus in | Famous Men of Rome by John H. Haaren & A. B. Poland |
Camillus in | Our Young Folks' Plutarch by Rosalie Kaufman |
Battle of Allia in | The Story of Rome by Mary Macgregor |
Sacred Geese in | The Story of Rome by Mary Macgregor |
Gauls at Rome in | Historical Tales: Roman by Charles Morris |
Back to Rome Again in | On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Synge |
Their relief however, was short lived. The Gauls were terrific fighters, but had lacked good generals, and in 218 BC Hannibal, one of the greatest generals of all time and Rome's most implacable enemy, crossed over the Alps from Spain. He joined forces with the Gauls, and for the next fifteen years, ravaged all of Italy and threatened Rome. The Gauls continued to fight Rome even after Hannibal was driven out of Italy, this time during the Roman-Macedonian War. The most significant battle during this period was Cremona, when the Romans defeated with heavy slaughter a Gallic army led by a Carthaginian General. Eventually, however, the Cisalphine Gaul was pacified enough so that Rome could freely move armies about in the region, as required for its subsequent campaigns in Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor, and many of the remaining tribes settled peacefully under Roman control.
Date | Battle Summary | |
---|---|---|
Battle of Clusium (Etruscan War )
Gauls victory
Fought B.C. 225, when the Gauls utterly routed a Roman army with a loss said to have amounted to 50,000 men. | ||
Battle of Telamon (Conquest of Cisalpine Gaul )
Romans victory
Fought B.C. 225, when the Gauls led by Aneorestus, marched upon Rome, they found themselves caught between two Roman consular armies, and though fighting desperately, were cut to pieces. | ||
Battle of Clastidium (Second )
Romans victory
Fought B.C. 222, between the Romans under Claudius Marcellus, and the Gauls under Viridomarus. Marcellus slew the commander of the Gauls in single combat, and the Romans won the victory. | ||
Battle of Cremona (Second )
Romans victory
Fought B.C. 198, when the Romans defeated with heavy slaughter an invading army of Gauls under Hamilcar, a Carthaginian. Hamilcar was slain. | ||
Battle of Mutina (Third )
Romans victory
Fought B.C. 194, near Modena. The Romans defeated the Gauls. This was the last encounter between the Romans and Gauls in Italian territory. |
Led the Romans to victory at the Battle of Clastidium. | |
Gallic military leader killed in one-on-one combat by Claudius Marcellus. | |
Gallic mercenary leader who led the Gauls at the Battle of Telemon. | |
Carthaginian general, invaded and laid waste to Italy for sixteen years. |
Romans Conquer the Gauls in | The Story of Rome by Mary Macgregor |
Date | Battle Summary | |
---|---|---|
Battle of The Isara (Third )
Romans victory
Fought August 8, 121 B.C.. between the Arverni and Allobroges, under Betuitdus, and the Romans, under Q. Fabius Maximus. The Gauls were totally defeated, and a bridge breaking down under the press of the fugitives, they suffered enormous loss. | ||
Battle of Vindalium (China )
Romans victory
Fought B.C. 121, between the Romans, under Q. Fabius Maximus, and the Arverni. The Arverni were completely defeated, and compelled to sue for peace. |
Defeated the Arverni at the battles of Isara and Vindalim. | |
Gallic leader of the Arverni. |
Image Links | ||
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The Gauls and the Senators in Stories From Livy |
The old man, wroth at the familiarity, smote the man with his ivory staff in Stories from Ancient Rome |
Just in time to hurl down the foremost of the attacking party in Stories from Ancient Rome |
Brennus and the gold in Stories from Ancient Rome |
The Saving of the Capitol in Augustus—His Life and Work |
The Roman and the Gaul, Maccari in Famous Men of Rome |
The geese of the Capitol, Motte in Famous Men of Rome |
Woe to the Conquered in Famous Men of Rome |
The Geese Save Rome in Greatest Nations - Germany |
Seated in chairs of ivory, sat a number of strange, venerable old men. in The Story of Rome |