Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War

by Handy Literal Translations

A direct and literal translation of Caeser's commentaries on the Gallic War, with explanatory notes.

Genres: Nonfiction

226 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2010

Reviews

[Conor Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion the most incredible thing about reading is the insight it gives into the mind of the writer. To read this then is to get an understanding of Caesar as a person, and when a persons name echoes through history you cannot help but feel curiosity as to their personality, beliefs, day-to-day actions. Though Caesar makes small reference to himself, being far more concerned with describing in meticulous detail the nature of Gaul and its various tribal allegiances, his personality still leaks through into the work, and his brilliance is perhaps increased by his unwillingness to heap praise upon himself, preferring to write instead in a very clear and matter of fact manner.
If you are worried about the language being dated and hard to understand don't be, it has been carefully translated so that a new reader with not even a layman's understanding of history can jump right into it and start reading.
If you are a fan of the tactics of warfare, especially regarding divide and conquer, siege warfare, and using hastily constructed defenses to defeat larger but less discipled forces then this book is worth its weight in gold.
Different people will come away from this book with vastly different opinions of Caesar. Many will be shocked by the cruel punishments sometimes meted out on the unfortunate Gaul's, others, myself among them, were shocked at the leniency he often showed. With every new season, a tribe that had previously surrendered and sworn holy oaths of allegiance to the Roman cause would time and time again betray him often the moment he turned his back. I was shocked by how many times in a row he would accept surrender from a tribe, often multiple times per campaign/year. When he felt that an example truly had to be made for the success of his campaign it would be carried out with ruthless efficiency, in two examples that spring to mind a whole city of 80 thousand was slaughtered, and from another smaller city every male had their hands cut off. Caesar would describe these events in an almost reluctant manner, as if he saw them as distasteful but absolutely necessary for the success of his campaign and survival of his own troops.
Morality is never simple in war, especially the higher up in rank you go. I feel like I am coming dangerously close to excusing the behavior of a Dictator with a very high death count so I am going to wrap things up. Caesar was likely not a great man in terms of morality, but in greatness of achievement, in his understanding of tactics and human nature, he was truly exemplary. He died over two thousand years ago but his name will continue to live on so long as there are people. And regardless how you feel about his actions, that has to pull at your heart-strings a little.

[Jim Kilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great history lesson (even with its flaws) from one of the greatest figures of history.

[Adhoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient well written propaganda, an interesting read.

[Rob Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“All Gaul is divided into three parts” is the famous beginning of these commentaries. They are remarkable in being written by Caesar himself and give an excellent insight into ancient Gaul and Roman strategy and tactics. It also provides commentary on Germany and Britain. What I found most fascinating was Caesar as a leader. His rallying his armies and moving quickly and decisively. Here was a Roman’s Roman.