Gallic
tribal
rivalries made the
Romans' job very much
easier. And when at
last they were able to
unite under
Vercingétorix
in 52 BC, the occasion
was their total and
final defeat by
Julius
Cæsar at the
battle of
Alésia.
This event was one
of the major turning
points in the history
of France. Roman
victory fixed the
frontier between Gaul
and the Germanic
peoples at the Rhine.
It saved Gaul from
disintegrating because
of internal dissension
and made it a Roman
province. During the
five centuries of
peace that followed,
the Gauls farmed,
manufactured and
traded, became
urbanized and educated
- and learnt Latin.
Roman victory at Alésia
laid the foundations
of modern French
culture and
established them
firmly enough to
survive the centuries
of chaos and
destruction that
followed the collapse
of Roman power.
Augustus and
Claudius were
the emperors who set
the process of Romanization
going. Lugdunum (Lyon)
was founded as the
capital of Roman Gaul
as early as 43 BC.
Augustus founded
numerous other cities
- such as Autun,
Limoges and Bayeux -
built roads, settled
Roman colonists on the
land and reorganized
the entire
administration. Gauls
were incorporated into
the Roman army and
given citizenship;
Claudius made it
possible for them to
hold high office and
become members of the
Roman Senate, blurring
the distinction and
resentment between
colonizer and
colonized. Vespasian
secured the frontiers
beyond the Rhine, thus
ensuring a couple of
hundred years of peace
and economic
expansion.
Serious disruptions
of the Pax Romana only
began in the third
century AD. Oppressive
aristocratic rule and
an economic crisis
turned the destitute
peasantry into gangs
of marauding brigands
- precursors of the
medieval jacquerie
. But most devastating
of all, there began a
series of incursions
across the Rhine
frontier by various
restless Germanic
tribes ; first
came the Alemanni, who
pushed down as far as
Spain, ravaging
farmland and
destroying towns.
In the fourth
century the reforms of
the emperor Diocletian
secured some decades
of respite from both
internal and external
pressures. Towns were
rebuilt and fortified,
an interesting
development that
foreshadowed feudalism
and the independent
power of the nobles
since, due to the
uncertainty of the
times, big landed
estates or villae
tended to become more
and more
self-sufficient -
economically,
administratively and
militarily.
By the fifth
century, however, the
Germanic invaders were
back: Alans,
Vandals and Suevi
, with Franks
and Burgundians
in their wake. While
the Roman
administration
assimilated them as
far as possible,
granting them land in
return for military
duties, they gradually
achieved independence
from the empire. Many
Gauls, by now
thoroughly Latinized,
entered the service of
the Burgundian
court of Lyon or
of the Visigoth
kings of Toulouse
as skilled
administrators and
advisers.
