FranceHistories

The Peoples of the Gallic Wars: Who's Fighting Whom?

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The Gallic Wars · ANTIQUITY

Between the Aedui and the Sequani of the previous chapter, and the Nervii, the Veneti, or the Aquitani of this one, César faces or allies with more than a dozen different peoples within six years. Caesar himself puts the total number of Gaulish peoples or states of his time at around sixty. This zoom offers a quick reference to help keep track of the main players already encountered across these two chapters.

🏛️ The centre and the east: the founding rivalry

The Aedui, settled around their capital Bibracte (Mont Beuvray), are Rome’s privileged allies, the only Gaulish people honoured with the title of fratres consanguinei. Facing them, the Sequani, around Vesontio (Besançon), embody the rivalry that had precipitated Ariovistus’s Germanic intervention. Further south, the Arverni, weakened since their king Bituitus’s defeat in 121 BC but still wealthy and populous, remain a secondary power during this period — their hour will come in the next chapter, under the leadership of a new chief.

⚔️ The north: the Belgic confederation

The so-called “Belgic” peoples form, in 57 BC, the most formidable coalition Caesar has encountered so far. The Remi, around Durocortorum (Reims), instead choose the Roman alliance and keep to it faithfully throughout the war. The Suessiones, led by their king Galba, dominate the coalition for a time before capitulating after the Aisne. The Nervii, renowned for their warrior discipline and their refusal to trade with outsiders, form the core of the resistance at the battle of the Sabis, alongside the Atrebates and the Viromandui. The Atuatuci, finally, descended by tradition from a Cimbric and Teutonic contingent left behind in Gaul after the great Germanic migration of the previous century, close out this campaign with their brutal submission.

🌊 The west and the south: sea and mountains

In Armorica, the Veneti dominate maritime trade between Gaul and the island of Britain thanks to a fleet of massive ships built for the Atlantic — an asset that does not save them from Roman hooks in the Gulf of Morbihan. Further north, the Unelli and the Lexovii join the Armorican revolt under Viridovix’s leadership. In Aquitania, the Sotiates, led by Adiatuanus and his bodyguard of soldurii, embody a distinct cultural area, more shaped by Iberian influences than the rest of Celtic Gaul — a difference Rome itself will later recognize by administratively distinguishing Aquitania from the rest of Gaul.

🧠 Key points

  • In his Commentaries, Caesar distinguishes three major Gaulish areas: Belgica in the north, Celtica in the centre, Aquitania in the southwest — a division that largely overlaps with this chapter’s campaigns.
  • The Aedui and the Sequani, rivals at the centre, remain the diplomatic keystone of the whole period, even when the war is fought elsewhere.
  • The Belgic confederation (Suessiones, Nervii, Atrebates, Viromandui, Atuatuci) forms, in 57 BC, the most organized resistance Caesar has yet faced in Gaul.
  • The Veneti and the Sotiates show that “Gaul” during this period remains above all a mosaic of distinct worlds, united by geography more than by any shared identity.