History: History of the Ancient Civilizations that Defined our World: The Gauls (History Books, Roman Empire, Ancient History) (Enemies of Ancient Rome) (Volume 3)

For centuries the empire of Rome dominated the continent of Europe. Its armies patrolled the four corners of the known world, from Africa to the Middle East to the edges of Britain. In the ancient world, Rome was the name that conjured sentiments of fear and dread. But to the Romans, there was an ancient evil that even they feared: The Gauls.

The Gauls were a warrior race, fearful to the Romans with their hairy bodies and thick mustaches, a Celtic group whose sole desire was to demonstrate their valor through combat. As the fledgling Roman Republic was establishing itself on the Italian Peninsula, the specter of Gaul loomed on the horizon.

Before the founding of the Roman Empire, the city of Rome was destroyed by the Gauls. During the Punic Wars, the Gauls allied with Rome’s arch-enemy, the Carthaginians, assisting Hannibal in his crossing of the Alps and his razing of the Italian countryside. Rome would one day become great; to get there, it would have to shake off the persistent nightmare of Gaul.