An episode of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History (podcast) I’ve been thinking about lately is called “The Celtic Holocust”. In it Carlin tells a story about a caravan of Celtic migrants travelling from Switzerland across Europe seeking refuge in Rome.
In 60BC Caesar was a politician with a thirst for power and control of the military, the only thing standing in his way was the Roman Senate and the rule of law. The Celts probably heard tales of Caesar, that he had brought some jobs back from abroad and required more workers to make Roman goods, to make Rome great again, I don’t know I can’t remember all the details.
Carlin tells that in 55BC these 350,000 Celtic migrants from across 400 villages, sought a better life in the empire. They burned their homes to the ground before they set off on their journey, this was to ensure they’d never return. But Caesar didn’t see a caravan of migrants full of hope; he sees a weak and frail people as a personal opportunity. He reacts by demonising the caravan as an invasion and sets about building a 16 mile long fortification. Caesar convinces the Senate to give him an army to protect the border. Some journalists speak out against him, they say what he’s doing is wrong, but he has them silenced, and their friends silenced, and anyone who defends them silenced.
Of course when the migrants arrive at Rome’s borders he refuses them entry because he wants them to come in legally, he wants them to come in through a process, but none of them have completed the Visa forms. With no homes to return to and having traveled by foot all the way across Europe in search of a better life, many having lost loved ones along the way, a feeling of disbelief descends amongst the refugees. Some react by hurling rocks and stones at the border wall and Caesar reacts with the sword, ordering his army to slaughter the migrants.
By all accounts this was genocide, of course Caesar has a different point of view, he sees it as an attempted invasion of Rome and considers the whole affair a military victory, he even declares himself a genius (probably). Caesar then takes his army and sets about to raise war on the Celts all across Europe before returning to Rome to take power by force and becomes a military dictator, and a name everyone recognises 2000 years later due to his conquests and the military power of the Roman Empire.
It only takes one war to turn a politician into a dictator, it only takes the demonising of a foreign people looking for help to unleash the unthinkable. Keep this in mind, because if it happens again it might not happen exactly the same way, but if you hear someone say “We will open fire on them” be afraid, because last time it happened just like this it resulted in war after war, civil war, and it killed global democracy for 30 years.
In 60BC Caesar was a politician with a thirst for power and control of the military, the only thing standing in his way was the Roman Senate and the rule of law. The Celts probably heard tales of Caesar, that he had brought some jobs back from abroad and required more workers to make Roman goods, to make Rome great again, I don’t know I can’t remember all the details.
Carlin tells that in 55BC these 350,000 Celtic migrants from across 400 villages, sought a better life in the empire. They burned their homes to the ground before they set off on their journey, this was to ensure they’d never return. But Caesar didn’t see a caravan of migrants full of hope; he sees a weak and frail people as a personal opportunity. He reacts by demonising the caravan as an invasion and sets about building a 16 mile long fortification. Caesar convinces the Senate to give him an army to protect the border. Some journalists speak out against him, they say what he’s doing is wrong, but he has them silenced, and their friends silenced, and anyone who defends them silenced.
Of course when the migrants arrive at Rome’s borders he refuses them entry because he wants them to come in legally, he wants them to come in through a process, but none of them have completed the Visa forms. With no homes to return to and having traveled by foot all the way across Europe in search of a better life, many having lost loved ones along the way, a feeling of disbelief descends amongst the refugees. Some react by hurling rocks and stones at the border wall and Caesar reacts with the sword, ordering his army to slaughter the migrants.
By all accounts this was genocide, of course Caesar has a different point of view, he sees it as an attempted invasion of Rome and considers the whole affair a military victory, he even declares himself a genius (probably). Caesar then takes his army and sets about to raise war on the Celts all across Europe before returning to Rome to take power by force and becomes a military dictator, and a name everyone recognises 2000 years later due to his conquests and the military power of the Roman Empire.
It only takes one war to turn a politician into a dictator, it only takes the demonising of a foreign people looking for help to unleash the unthinkable. Keep this in mind, because if it happens again it might not happen exactly the same way, but if you hear someone say “We will open fire on them” be afraid, because last time it happened just like this it resulted in war after war, civil war, and it killed global democracy for 30 years.
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