Recent work on the Gallic Wars?

[Marja]

Hi, what are some good recent works on the Gallic Wars and related topics?

Personally, I'm looking for one which addresses population, logistics, and army sizes. Delbrück is a good start, aside from his belief that any given number of anachronistic Germans could always outfight the same number of Gauls and Romans, and I'm wondering if there are more recent works which take into account archaeological work, better understandings of Gallic social structure, settlements, trade, etc.?

[John W Davison]

There has been a volume in the "Roman Conquests" dealing with Transalpine Gaul (except for the first chapter) which is a recent book, but not especially concerned with social structures, demographic details etc, but still probably worth a look:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roman-Conquests-...8&sr=1-4#_

Also, another slightly older title might be of interest. This deals with the earlier interactions between Romans and Gauls (i.e. in Cisalpine Gaul), but it might be of help. There is a review from Bryn Mawr which will give you a clearer idea of the contents of the book:

http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2002/2002-07-31.html

Being an Oxford UP title, it is a little dearer than Pen & Sword, although it is at least still available (published 2002):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Rubicon-R...458&sr=1-1

I thought both were pretty decent reads.

It may also be worth looking at general histories of "the Celts". Shopping for a book with "The Celts" in the title is always a bit fraught with danger - there's lot's out there but the focus is variable and then there is the whole "Celtic identity" thing. However, after much consideration, I purchased the following on the basis that it offered a decent looking narrative history from the perspective of the Iron Age peoples known as "Celts". I have not got around to reading it yet but found a review here:

http://celticscholar.wordpress.com/2011/...dith-hgin/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celts-History-Da...898&sr=1-7

Regards, John

[S. Marcer]

About the roman army during the Gallic Wars you can find interesting in the book of Y. Le Bohec: "L' armée romaine en Afrique et en Gaule” (Stuttgart : F. Steiner, 2007) the part named:

-L’ armée romaine et la Gaule: Stratégie et tactique dans les livres V et VI du De bello gallico

Also the older title, even if maybe it is not available (published 1996), “L'armée romaine en Gaule” might be interesting …

From the other side, a nice (still French) book on the Transalpine Gauls at war (structures, weapons, tactics etc…) during the 2nd – 1st C. BC is:

"Les Gaulois en guerre. Stratégies, tactiques et techniques. Essai d’histoire militaire (IIe-Ier siècles av. J.-C.)" (Éditions Errance 2009)

A good historic synthesis of ‘all’ the wars between Gauls and Romans is the book of G. Zecchini “Le guerre di Roma” (Carocci 2009). He deals with Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul,but it is in Italian…

Hope can be useful...
Very Best!

SM