How much, if anything, do we know about how the Gauls camped and marched when facing Caesar?
Did they have tents, mules, wagons, camp followers?
Can we infer anything about their rate of march? Was it faster or slower than the legions?
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1Is there any particular campaign/region that you are interested in? Caesar vs the Gauls is extremely broad. Perhaps a more particular query would have a much better chance of giving a specific and accurate answer.– user17382Sep 20, 2016 at 1:27
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@Thomo Let me phrase it slightly differently. Apart from Caesar's book on the Gallic wars (which doesn't say much about these particular things), what other evidence is there that can tell us about the Gauls in the period 58-50BC– RaviSep 27, 2016 at 14:49
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1 Answer
This question is fairly generic and broad as logistics of a people or entity are researchable easily through any public domain or internet search. Look up any history of the Gauls or a European history textbook and you will find details on this.
I don't have my sources handy but from what I can recollect from my knowledge of the Republic..
As far as we can tell from historical record, while the Gauls did not have the benefit of the structure and organization of the Post Marian legions or even the Republic forces, they were considerably more powerful in direct comparison. Caesar's strength in the routing go to the fact that the roman system of resting troops outlasted the short-burst, panic intent rage attacks of the Gaulish skirmishers.
One of the things that we can infer is that they were more mobile than the Romans. The Romans had extensive armor and heavy equipment that while superior to the Gaulish arms made marches long and tedious which is why the legionnaires required such extensive training.
We can infer from the recovered armor and style of weaponry we have from the Gauls that they were skirmish warriors- meant to attack in a short wave of fury and rout the enemy using surprise and the terrain to their advantage. Example of this( albeit not the Gauls but their similar barbaric cousins, the Germanic peoples) is the Battle of Teutoberg Forest.
You should look into the information we have on Celtic Warriors for the supplies brought during war and also look into the revolt led by Boudicca. These all give a good idea of the war tactics and the style of camp used by the Celts and Gauls.
