The Ides of March

My friend the Mad Monarchist has posted a blog on the Ides of March and assassination of the great conqueror Julius Caesar. I never thought much about it before but I think I am in agreement with him on that historical event. Julius Caesar was the one who conquered Belgium (Belgica) for the Roman Empire, which I do not really like the defeat but also I am proud too of our history as part of the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar said the Belgians were the most fierce enemy he faced and the only one that ever defeated him (but he won later since we were conquered) and it was also Julius Caesar who angered many of the elite Romans over letting the conquered tribes, including Belgians, have seats in the Roman Senate, so I like that about him also. I include this painting I found of Julius Caesar, victory over the Belgians to remember this historic occasion.

Belgic Chief Ambiorix Defeats Romans

Belgic King Ambiorix

Ambiorix was one of the great Belgic chiefs of our early history. Most of what we know about him comes from the writings of his greatest enemy, Julius Caesar. The Belgae greatly impressed the Roman conqueror because of their courage and ferocity but Gallia Belgica in the end became one of the major provinces of the Roman Empire. However, the name of King Ambiorix was almost forgotten about until the popular movement toward Belgian independence began to grow and prosper. The Belgian people looked for a great figure from the history of their own people to inspire them to resist the rule of the Netherlands and encourage unity among all Belgians. One of the heroes they rediscovered was King Ambiorix who so fiercely resisted Roman domination as a champion for Belgian national pride and the struggle for freedom.

King Ambiorix was the chief of the Belgic tribe known as the Eburones together with Catuvolcus. The Belgica territory at that time encompassed what is now the northeast part of France, all of Belgium, part of the south of the Netherlands to the Rhine and the northwest part of North Rhine-Westfalia in Germany. The various Belgic tribes were having a fine primitive existence, farming, hunting, breeding and fighting each other when the Romans arrived and turned their world upside down. That was in 57 BC when the Romans under Caesar conquered Gallia Celtica and Gallia Belgica. The changes grew over time and in 54 BC the Roman troops began to run out of food and started to force the Belgae to give up their own crops and go hungry to feed the conquerors. Because of a bad crop food was already scarce for the Belgae and the Eburones were starving. When they resisted Julius Caesar built Roman outposts in each village with a centurion in charge of confiscating the food for the Roman soldiers.

King Ambiorix was outraged by this theft and moved by the suffering of his people. Julius Caesar, who had freed Ambiorix from being a tributary of the Atuatuci, was becoming an oppressive ruler and Ambiorix decided to fight back and so he joined with Catuvolcus in the winter and began what might later be called a guerilla war against the Roman occupiers under Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Auruncleius Cotta. Ambiorix and his warriors killed a Roman unit sent out to gather wood and chased the remaining Romans back to their camp. This post was too strong to attack so Ambiorix addressed the Romans as their friend, telling them he appreciated that they had stopped the inter-tribal warfare and warned them, as their concerned friend, that other tribes were preparing to move against them with help from the Germans and that they should retreat to another camp where they would have more soldiers and more time to prepare for the attack.

Sabinus and Cotta did not know what to do. Should they believe the fierce Belgic warrior or not? Sabinus thought that they should trust Ambiorix; they had too much to lose if he was telling the truth. Cotta wanted to stand his ground and fight anyone who attacked them. However, he also wanted no responsibility if they were all killed by the fearsome Belgians. Hearing that, would you like to stay there? Naturally the Romans decided they would retreat, which is just what Ambiorix wanted them to do. While crossing a valley on the march to their next outpost Ambiorix and his Belgic warriors came swarming down the sides of the hills and wiped out the entire Roman command –one legion and five cohorts. This spread a wave of shock across the frontier and all the way to Rome itself where the Senate was horrified and outraged. Julius Caesar stood up and promised to return to Gallia Belgica and crush all of the Belgians as an example of what would happen to those who resisted the rule of the Roman Republic.

Caesar arrived on the scene just in time to stop a Belgic attack on a legion in Nervii territory that included Cicero’s brother. It took a number of years of fierce fighting to subdue Ambiorix and the Belgae but in the end the better organized Romans were successful, also because they came with about 50,000 highly trained veteran soldiers. The Belgae were devastated, as Romans tended to do with their beaten enemies, slaughtering the people, exiling them and burning their villages. Ambiorix fought on to the bitter end, finally vanishing across the Rhine into German territory after which nothing more is known of him. Still, he and his warriors left a lasting impression on the Romans and their great conqueror Caesar who said that, of all his enemies, the Belgians were the bravest. When Belgium was revived as a nation the story of Ambiorix and his victories were rediscovered and celebrated with many stories, tributes and memorials erected in his honor. He had become a celebrated popular figure and was ranked as one of the greatest Belgians in history.

Ancient Belgium

Nothing makes me angry more than the comments of people who say that Belgium is not a real/legitimate/proper country. That is simply untrue. Belgium has been around for a very long time. Just the modern Kingdom of Belgium has been around since 1830 which makes it older, in terms of the government and constitutional monarchy, than the united Germany, Italy, the modern Fifth French Republic, the Russian Federation and many others. However, like I have posted about before, even before there was the modern Kingdom of Belgium there was the United States of Belgium (though it did not last long) from which much of the inspiration for the 1830 Revolution originated. Before that there was still a distinct difference from what was called the Austrian Netherlands sometimes, also called Royal Belgium in contrast to Federal Belgium which was the Dutch United Provinces. But even long before any of that, in ancient times, there was the Belgae.

The Belgae were written about by the Roman conqueror Julius Caesar during his campaign in Gaul (France) when he recorded that the area was inhabited by the Aquitani, Galli and Belgae. During his wars in the region he was impressed particularly by the ferocity of the Belgae and described them as the bravest of his enemies. Julius Caesar thought the Belgae had originated in Germany but no one really knows what their origins were. The Belgae included, according to Caesar, the Eburones, Condrusi, Caerosi and Paemani tribes of the Belgae alliance were Germanic. Other tribes identified themselves in such a way but some Belgae were recorded as having Gaulish names and other evidence shows considerable Celtic influence so, in the end, no one can really say what exactly the ethnic group was. So you see, some things never change. Knowledge of these ancient roots were revived when modern Belgium became independent with the Belgic chieftain Ambiorix becoming a celebrated national figure for his resistance of Roman conquest.
The Romans later made Belgica one of their provinces and later a diocese, as Gallia Belgica. Emperor Diocletian divided the area into Belgica Prima and Belgica Secunda. The Roman province of Belgica was extremely large and at one point covered big portions of what is now France and Germany as well as all of the current low countries. When Roman power began to decline the provinces of Belgica were invaded by the Vandals and the Burgundians and later became the central area of the Carolingian empire established by the Franks. This is when the country was under the rule of King Clovis I and when the Belgians were first converted to Christianity, probably by Irish monks. This is interesting to note since it was the Irish rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I that helped Belgium remain Catholic in later centuries when the English and Dutch were at war with the Spanish and Belgians.