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Gallic tribal rivalries made the Romans' job
very much easier. And when at last they were able to unite under
Vercingétorix in 52 BC, the occasion was their total and final
defeat by Julius Cæsar at the battle of Alésia .
This event was one of the major turning points in the
history of France.
Roman victory fixed the frontier between Gaul and the Germanic
peoples at the Rhine. It saved Gaul from disintegrating because of
internal dissension and made it a Roman province. During the five
centuries of peace that followed, the Gauls farmed, manufactured and
traded, became urbanized and educated - and learnt Latin. Roman
victory at Alésia laid the foundations of modern French culture and
established them firmly enough to survive the centuries of chaos and
destruction that followed the collapse of Roman power.
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Augustus
and Claudius were the emperors who set the process of
Romanization going. Lugdunum (Lyon) was founded as the capital of
Roman Gaul as early as 43 BC. Augustus founded numerous other cities -
such as Autun, Limoges and Bayeux - built roads, settled Roman colonists
on the land and reorganized the entire administration. Gauls were
incorporated into the Roman army and given citizenship; Claudius made it
possible for them to hold high office and become members of the Roman
Senate, blurring the distinction and resentment between colonizer and
colonized. Vespasian secured the frontiers beyond the Rhine, thus
ensuring a couple of hundred years of peace and economic expansion.
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