06-12-2008, 07:37 AM
Quote:Good old Germanicus ~ it does make you wonder what would have happened if he'd not been recalled after his successes, and had instead been encouraged to conquer the rest of Germania ~ one wonders even if he may have eventually been able to subdue Magna Germania in the same way Caesar had done with Gaul?I think he would have failed. Gaul belonged to the La Tene culture, which had hill forts; the Germans had not. They lived in small villages, all over the country. This does not mean that they were backward, but that Rome's attacks could not be concentrated. The Roman armies needed a target, and an opponent that saw the benefit of living in a great settlement. Where a target was missing -Caledonia, Germania- the Romans were unsuccessful.
A strategy that might have worked, was to have merchants go into Germania and sell their stuff on one site. Next year, visit that site again. And again. And again. Buy German products, only on that site. Within a generation, that site would have started to grow. The local leaders would have taken his residence over there. Make sure that the Germans get acquianted to this, that they start to think they can not live without it. Once a hierarchy has grown, you have your target.
In other ways: those bloody savages were to barbarous, so first civilize them, so that they know how to be defeated properly.
