Transalpine Province — Spring, 58 BC
In Rome, wars didn't always begin with swords.Sometimes, they began with speeches.And with debt.
Gaius Julius Caesar, consul just the year before, was not a general by tradition. He was one by necessity.
He had finished his consulate without military glory, and without glory… power didn't last. He had enemies in the Senate, debts to moneylenders, and a reputation still far behind that of Pompey or Crassus.
Gaul offered him a way out. And an opportunity.
As proconsul, Caesar had been granted control of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum.But soon, through political maneuvering, he added Transalpine Gaul to his command.With that move, he controlled the entire northern frontier of Rome.
It was only a matter of time before he found a reason to push further.
That reason came with the Helvetii.
The Helvetii — a tribal confederation from modern-day Switzerland — had decided to migrate westward. Over 300,000 people, armed, with wagons and cattle. Their path ran close to the Roman province. Their numbers posed a threat.
Caesar saw it clearly: it was his perfect justification.
He summoned the legions. He gathered the newly formed Thirteenth Legion, young but disciplined.He raised camps, secured bridges, sent messengers to allied tribes.
And while the senators debated legality, he was already moving troops.
But Gaul was more than the Helvetii. It was a puzzle of divided tribes, proud, betrayed by Rome and by each other time and again.Caesar planned to use them.Ally with some, defeat others, and gradually present his conquest as a campaign of order against tribal chaos.
With each victory, his glory grew.With each defeated enemy, his political power solidified.
He wasn't fighting for Rome alone.
He was fighting for his name.And for a future in which he would set the rules.
Meanwhile, in the camp of the Thirteenth Legion, no one knew all these details.
But they knew something big was coming.And that if they followed Caesar… they would not return the same.