Julius Caesar

A translation that captures the power of one of the greatest war stories ever told—Julius Caesar’s account of his brutal campaign to conquer GaulImagine a book about an unnecessary war written by the ruthless general of an occupying army—a vivid and dramatic propaganda piece that forces the reader to identify with the conquerors and that is designed, like the war itself, to fuel the limitless political ambitions of the author. Could such a campaign autobiography ever be a great work of literature—perhaps even one of the greatest? It would be easy to think not, but such a book exists—and it helped make Julius Caesar a legend. This remarkable translation of Caesar’s War for Gaul captures, like never before in English, the powerfully concise style of the future emperor’s dispatches from the front lines in what are today France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland.

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

The Gallic Wars is one of the earliest examples of a military science manual, detailing arms technology, tactical maneuvers, battlefield politics, espionage, intelligence and even the role played by luck in ground and sea campaigns.

The Gallic Wars is one of the earliest examples of a military science manual, detailing arms technology, tactical maneuvers, battlefield politics, espionage, intelligence and even the role played by luck in ground and sea campaigns.

A new translation that captures the gripping power of one of the greatest war stories ever told—Julius Caesar’s pitiless account of his brutal campaign to conquer GaulImagine a book about an unnecessary war written by the ruthless general of an occupying army—a vivid and dramatic propaganda piece that forces the reader to identify with the conquerors and that is designed, like the war itself, to fuel the limitless political ambitions of the author. Could such a campaign autobiography ever be a great work of literature—perhaps even one of the greatest? It would be easy to think not, but such a book exists—and it helped transform Julius Caesar from a politician on the make into the Caesar of legend. This remarkable new translation of Caesar’s famous but underappreciated War for Gaul captures, like never before in English, the gripping and powerfully concise style of the future emperor’s dispatches from the front lines in what are today France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland.While letting Caesar tell his battle stories in his own way, distinguished classicist James O’Donnell also fills in the rest of the story in a substantial introduction and notes that together explain why Gaul is the “best bad man’s book ever written”—a great book in which a genuinely bad person offers a bald-faced, amoral description of just how bad he has been.Complete with a chronology, a map of Gaul, suggestions for further reading, and an index, this feature-rich edition captures the forceful austerity of a troubling yet magnificent classic—a book that, as O’Donnell says, “gets war exactly right and morals exactly wrong.”

First published just before the end of the Roman Republic by that legendary country's most immortalized leader, "The Gallic War", also called "Commentarii de Bello Gallico", is an account of Julius Caesar's capture of Gaul in the first century. Beginning with the Helvetian War in 58 B.C., Caesar uses his exemplary Latin prose to explain how his forces were protecting Provence, and how they were later drawn out in campaigns against the Veneti, the Aquitani, numerous Germanic peoples, the Belgae, the Gauls, and the Bretons. Caesar, perhaps in defense of his expensive and geographically vast wars, explains the methods of his campaigns, from the timing of the seasons to provisioning and defense. This autobiographical work is both a concise reckoning of forces and an informative wartime narrative, consistently revealing the author as a brilliant military commander and a leader politically unrivaled by his contemporaries. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper, follows the translation of W. A. MacDevitte, and includes an introduction by Thomas De Quincey.