It is widely known that at the time of Caesar's conquest of Gaul, the region was highly developed and well on its way to develop into its own civilisation. Suppose two centuries earlier Carthage consolidates its Sicilian holdings before the Romans can intervene, thus butterflying away the Punic Wars and the rise of Rome, giving enough time for Gallic civilization to emerge. What is it going to be like? We can really only guess but I suppose there may be a few imaginative people on here who could share a thought or two regarding the issue, being well versed with the place and time, etc.
AHC/WI Gallic Civilisation
- Thread starter Sperglord
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- civilisation gallic
@LSCatilina is making a TL with roughly the same premise as you described, if you want to check it out.
As to the political nature of such a state, we have to take into consideration that the Gallic tribes were diverse in this aspect. We must also take into consideration that a country's political frame will inevitably change as it grows in territory.
As to the political nature of such a state, we have to take into consideration that the Gallic tribes were diverse in this aspect. We must also take into consideration that a country's political frame will inevitably change as it grows in territory.
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It's difficult to be entierely certain about what would happen, giving the really important influence Rome had on Gaulish civilisation since the IInd century BCE. What would happen would be definitely tied to Mediterranean events.
Still, I think it's safe to take in consideration the existance of strong tendencies of an already existing Gaulish civilisation, distinct from the meta-Celtic ensemble.
Decentralisation of power, regardless the scale, marked the political and social management of Gaul : urban and proto-urban centers were relatively important but tended to act more as chief towns than capitals on their own right, meaning local centers centered on a tribe. Tied together in a relationship network dominated by a people, the very rough model of organisation looked more or less like this : pagii were the territorial "atom" of Gaulish organisation (gathering more than one tribe in its strictest sense) centered on such a chief town -> What Caesar called "civitas" which is not about a chief city than the gathering of enough pagii (generally 3 to 5) into a political (more than territorial) entity defined still by its borders (finis, possibly taken directly from a transliteration of Gaulish) -> then probably the existence of pan-regional / pan-Gallic assemblies such as the "Council of All Gaul" or councils of Celtica that we can observe during Gallic Wars.
Even with this PoD, we'd end up with a pretty much regonizable concept of Gaul divided into 3 to 4 elements : Celtica forming most of it, Belgica formed out of relatively recent newcomers (from Central Europe?) takeover, Aremorica (mostly formed out of common lineage and interest on NW Gaul) and Aquitaine which was always the odd number in Gaul and probably not having assemblies of its own. While these social-territorial definitions would be vague enough, they not only pretty much definied the general aspect of Gaul as in between Rhine and Pyrenees, but also by their existence played a major role into the political life of the great peoples fighting over regional dominance (such as Arverni in Celtica)
Furthermore, you'd still have pan-Gallic features, such as Druidic "councils".
I think that this important stress on decentralisation wouldn't be butterfliable away, and might pretty much define Gaulish civilisation as it did IOTL, altough reginal build-up is to be considered : indeed, whole network of patronage/clienteleship were rather existing crosswise to these institutions (even if important coalitions/unequal confederations were generally supported trough a dominant regional and institutional role).
ITTL, I think it's likely we'd see Arverni maintaining their dominating role in Celtica (Romans not being there to challenge their position in southern Gaul and to propell Aeduioi in this role), with their mediterranean tropism being largely unchallenged by this PoD, and then taking a large influence over Languedoc's harbors such as Latera or Narbo (which preexisted, into a form, before Roman takeover).
Socially, the absence of a Roman conquest would prevent the emergence of a strictly militarized elite among Gauls : not that they didn't exist IOTL of course, but at least in urban centers and several southern peoples, you had a relatively more equal-footing among elites with mercenariate and militarisation being only one way of social ascencion, rather than marking social predominance systematically. Now, the tradition of mercenariate is largely going to survive, but not necessarily representing a basic tool of political life : which would be possibly less dominated by big families with a lot of wealth to redistributate for local assemblies to ensure clients and influence.
We'd be talking of likely of a lesser importance of slave trade in Gaul, this really appearing as far as it can be told with Roman influence and economic needs. I think main exports of Gaul would remain grain and metals, which made it an important economic region since the First Iron Age.
Druidism will have an interesting change, in the way that it might survive longer than IOTL in Gaul. Indeed, historically, the deep influence Rome had in Gaul wasn't just political but also a matter of material culture (exportation of a Roman way of life, we could say) that pretty much challenged Druidic influence as a public organisation of religion and practices, at the benefit of more private cult structures corresponding to the emergence of familial clientele; to the point Druidism was significantly weakening during the IInd and Ist centuries already. There is not the only reason, as the Cimbric-Teutonic migration might have played a destructurating role.
Speaking of whuch, while Iwouldn't see such migrations being butterflied away, it's extremely likely that it would be importantly changed ithout a massive social-economic behemoth in Mediterranean Basin, and being possibly more diffuse in Northern and Central Europe. Let's keep in mind that if Gaul was rather defined, Germany wasn't (more probably tought as an open, borderless entity) while importantly Celtized (strictly Germanic feature being more localized to the North, essentially Celtic in the South, mixed in the between).
There are but possibilities and immediate changes, the topic being really vast : maybe you have some particular interests or ideas about it that we could discuss?
Thanks : it's a bit on hold because I'm struggling with making a good basemap for people to orientate themselve among various names. I'll try to make an update this coming week.