05-03-2020, 01:54 PM
There has been quite a lot of work on this topic, much of it, unsurprisingly, in French. One problem is definition: Latin sources use the word oppidum (pl. oppida) to describe a range of settlements, ranging from hill forts to unfortified villages and towns. Even before Caesar, individual settlements might be in a state of flux, as social, economic and military conditions shifted. Already, it seems that some hill forts were being abandoned before the conquest, and this process continued with Caesar, sometimes by Roman fiat, but mostly because the Roman conquest put an end to intertribal warfare. While some centers developed into Roman cities, often it was the case that small centers blossomed based on interactions with Roman power, take Lugdunum, a small community that exploded after the Romans established a colony and used it as a major administrative center.
There is every reason to believe that Gaul before Caesar had a rapidly developing economy, that was increasingly integrated with the Mediterranean. These were societies that while still mostly sub-state in nature, engaged in complex interregional politics and diplomacy, in part through the institution of the Druids, minted coins on a substantial scale (a huge hoard was recently unearthed in Jersey, probably moved there during Caesar's conquest), and had numerous economic, diplomatic and military contacts with the Mediterranean. The fact that the Gauls were so developed is also one reason why Caesar is able to conquer them with relative ease. One reason he could move around Gaul so rapidly was that in many places the Gauls had built roads and bridges that his army could use (compare to the lack of infrastructure that hampered Roman armies in Germany). And the fact that they were economically advanced societies, with lots of surplus to appropriate, also undergird Caesar's logistics.
There is every reason to believe that Gaul before Caesar had a rapidly developing economy, that was increasingly integrated with the Mediterranean. These were societies that while still mostly sub-state in nature, engaged in complex interregional politics and diplomacy, in part through the institution of the Druids, minted coins on a substantial scale (a huge hoard was recently unearthed in Jersey, probably moved there during Caesar's conquest), and had numerous economic, diplomatic and military contacts with the Mediterranean. The fact that the Gauls were so developed is also one reason why Caesar is able to conquer them with relative ease. One reason he could move around Gaul so rapidly was that in many places the Gauls had built roads and bridges that his army could use (compare to the lack of infrastructure that hampered Roman armies in Germany). And the fact that they were economically advanced societies, with lots of surplus to appropriate, also undergird Caesar's logistics.
