Challenge: Gaul, the font of Western Civilization

Premise: Ceasar is defeated and killed. The Romans avenge him in some fashion like they did Varus in the OTL but does not conquer. Eventually, in a generation or two, internal Roman squabbleing removes the threat.

As a result, Druidism remains a major religion. The Germanic neighbors of the Gauls build on Gaulish craftsmanship and pick up ideas. from Gaulish merchants. Alesia is remembered in the same way Salamis, Platea, and Marathon are in our TL.

Describe this world, both long term and short.
 
Alright, so this assumes Gaul is a single centralized state. Which it is not. It is a region inhabited by a lot of warring chiefdoms which banded together in confederations. Vercingetorix tried to unite them against Caesar, but they failed.

And it also assumes the Romans were not already active and in Gaul in the time of Caesar. Which they were. They ruled the richer southern parts of Gaul, which were called Narbonensis. One reason they went up north was to secure it from the raids of the aforementioned warring chiefdoms.
 
Alright, so this assumes Gaul is a single centralized state. Which it is not. It is a region inhabited by a lot of warring chiefdoms which banded together in confederations. Vercingetorix tried to unite them against Caesar, but they failed.

And it also assumes the Romans were not already active and in Gaul in the time of Caesar. Which they were. They ruled the richer southern parts of Gaul, which were called Narbonensis. One reason they went up north was to secure it from the raids of the aforementioned warring chiefdoms.

That's an alternate history, I mean Kerney mean WI the best case scenario for the Gauls.
If I remember correctly Italy was a place where everybody fought everybody for centuries and Italy did not show any slightest inclinations to get united, but a little town of Rome changed the situation.
If we look at the Gauls this place is much more homogenous and have in common than Italy before Rome.
And Julius Caesar before Alesia made a great effort to make the Gauls feel like they are one entity - these famous all-Gaullish gatherings of Caesar.
If Alesia is a Roman disastrous defeat, Caesar will be remembered for centuries like the guy who united the Gauls (against himself).

But this unity might stick, Vercingetorix would be renowned as the greatest man alive and given that he was quite young and not assasinated, he might make the foundations of the Gaullic unity.
It must not be necessarily the Celtic Empire like centralised unified state. It might be something like Medieval Holly Roman Empire. Not too much of unity but able to gather a big army in time of emergency.

Being between the Roman Empire and the ferocious Germanic tribes begs for some sort of coordinated military effort and unity.

So why not?
I mean, there is no such thing as "these tribes are not able to unite at all under any circumstances".

I don't have in mind the united Gaul conquering the Roman Southern Gaul and burning Rome to the ground. No, they stay in their part of Gaul and having in mind the Germanic threat, may be there is some place for coordinated effort of Rome and Gaul against some Germanic invasions.

p.s. I just remembered that good part of Spain had been united by the Barcids (from Carthage). So sometimes what you need is good circumstances and an able man in charge.
Dacian tribes had not been too united before, but at Julius Caesar time they surprised their neighbors by creating some sort of a united polity.
 
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Premise: Ceasar is defeated and killed. The Romans avenge him in some fashion like they did Varus in the OTL but does not conquer. Eventually, in a generation or two, internal Roman squabbleing removes the threat.

As a result, Druidism remains a major religion. The Germanic neighbors of the Gauls build on Gaulish craftsmanship and pick up ideas. from Gaulish merchants. Alesia is remembered in the same way Salamis, Platea, and Marathon are in our TL.

Describe this world, both long term and short.

Maybe Massilia, the Hellenic-Gaul merchant city state maintains its full sovereignity and somehow becomes the leader of a literate Celtic sphere ?
 
Maybe Massilia, the Hellenic-Gaul merchant city state maintains its full sovereignity and somehow becomes the leader of a literate Celtic sphere ?
Why would that be the case? Massilia isn't as significant as the Arverni or the Aedui, and the Gauls beyond the Hellenic city-state weren't totally illiterate, and by Caesar's time I think the Latin alphabet was predominant among them anyways rather than the Greek which was more commonly used in the past.
 
Germanic migration was also playing a key role in internal conflict in Gaul. One tribe wanted to cross the Rhine to resettle so they allied with one Gaulish tribe to beat up another and Rome's allied tribes were worried what that displacment would do and cause more displacement so they asked Rome to defend then.
 
That's an alternate history, I mean Kerney mean WI the best case scenario for the Gauls.
If I remember correctly Italy was a place where everybody fought everybody for centuries and Italy did not show any slightest inclinations to get united, but a little town of Rome changed the situation.
If we look at the Gauls this place is much more homogenous and have in common than Italy before Rome.
And Julius Caesar before Alesia made a great effort to make the Gauls feel like they are one entity - these famous all-Gaullish gatherings of Caesar.
If Alesia is a Roman disastrous defeat, Caesar will be remembered for centuries like the guy who united the Gauls (against himself).

But this unity might stick, Vercingetorix would be renowned as the greatest man alive and given that he was quite young and not assasinated, he might make the foundations of the Gaullic unity.
It must not be necessarily the Celtic Empire like centralised unified state. It might be something like Medieval Holly Roman Empire. Not too much of unity but able to gather a big army in time of emergency.

Being between the Roman Empire and the ferocious Germanic tribes begs for some sort of coordinated military effort and unity.

So why not?
I mean, there is no such thing as "these tribes are not able to unite at all under any circumstances".

I don't have in mind the united Gaul conquering the Roman Southern Gaul and burning Rome to the ground. No, they stay in their part of Gaul and having in mind the Germanic threat, may be there is some place for coordinated effort of Rome and Gaul against some Germanic invasions.

p.s. I just remembered that good part of Spain had been united by the Barcids (from Carthage). So sometimes what you need is good circumstances and an able man in charge.
Dacian tribes had not been too united before, but at Julius Caesar time they surprised their neighbors by creating some sort of a united polity.

Pretty close. But I also am getting at long term cultural development. The Gauls had cities, trade networks, sophisticated engineering, a court system, and a religious and philosopical system. They are much more sophisticated than their German neighbors, at least in the 1st century.

So what you have is Classical civilization ending at the Alps, much like Persain civilization ended in Asia Minor vis a vis the Greeks. Instead of Classical civilization being transmitted into Northern Europe, you have Gallic Civilization being transmitted north.

My question is this is different, but what does it look like.
 
This is a concept that really interests me , as all of my ancestry is northern European, and it was always disheartening to see how great the Romans and Greeks were and how they had the tools to preserve their myths and culture so beautifully , I only wish my ancestors both Germanic and Celtic were able to do the same.

I'd like to think that there statues and wall frescoes would have been similar but different from the Romans , which are the closest thing Northern Europe has to advanced civilization. I have been studying Roman Gaul focusing mostly on syncretic elements within the culture such as the building of Celtic temples in the Roman design etc. I really wanted to illustrate a northern civilization but my art skills aren't so great but I have some good ideas.

The whole Asia minor thing makes sense ,and then of course the Celts would invade and take the Roman and Greek areas similar to Alexanders invasion of Persia ? and we would have a Celtic era instead of a Hellenistic one.

Of course that's just a reversal , I had other ideas from reading about ancient Middle Eastern History specifically the power struggle between Egypt and the Hittites as well as the successive Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires seem to be a good model for an earlier POD for Northern Europe so we could see a "cradle" of civilization rise in the Northern Europe of course you might have to have a geological POD which is considered ASB, however I came across an article that the climate was warmer in Northern Europe and they even were able to grow grapes in Scandinavia during the Bronze age , however the planet changed and the population grew smaller so in this case a geological POD might be entirely feasible.
 
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