Throughout Caesar's campaigns in Gaul, Diviciacus, chieftain of the Aedui, was constantly at Caesar's side, urging his Celtic confederates to submit peacefully to Roman domination. As the Roman war machine rolled on, more and more Gaelic warriors joined its legions. So far, in his march through Gaul, Caesar had had good excuses for his aggression the invitations of the Aedui, the attacks of the Belgae. However, in 57 B.C he sent a detachment under the command of a subordinate to the lands of the Atlantic coast. Their subsequent reduction of this peaceful area was unprovoked and patently revealed Caesar's intention to conquer the whole of Gaul. The next year, recovering from the shock of Roman occupation, the Celts of Brittany, led by the Venetii tribe took up arms. The Venetii were a maritime power, deriving much wealth from their shipping of British tin from Cornwall to Gallic traders. Their strongholds stood on headlands or islands in tidal estuaries, which were cut off from the land for most of the time by the sea.
As the Romans approached the Atlantic coast, the Venetii and Breton forces strengthened their fleet and gathered fellow tribesman, including many warriors from Britain. Caesar was secure in his excuse this time: the quelling of a tribe who had already submitted and the punishment of a terrorist kidnapping of Roman envoys. He again employed the assistance of the friendly Celts who supplied him with Gallic ships built along the Loire. With his land forces, he tried to capture the Breton strongholds. Using all the ingenuity of Roman Seigecraft, he had hugh dykes constructed to the island fortresses of the Celts. However, no sooner had these been completed then the defenders simply evacuated into awaiting ships and moved to another fortress. The lack of natural harbors and rough ocean weather made Roman assaults by sea difficult.
The considerable advantage of knowing the local seaways lay very much with the Venetii. However, as elsewhere, there was no shortage of Celts ready to assist the Romans. Local Gauls presented the Romans with a rapidly-built fleet which cannot have been very different from that of the Venetii.
"They have flat bottoms," wrote Caesar of the Gallic ships, "which enables them to sail in shallow coastal water. Their high bows and sterns protect them from heavy seas and violent storms, as do their strong hulls made entirely from oak. The cross-timbers -- beams a foot wide -- are secured with iron nails as thick as a man's thumb. Their anchors are secured with chains not ropes, while their sails are made of raw hide or thin leather, so as to stand up to the violent Atlantic winds."
These are Caesar's words of the description of the Bretons Gallic warships. Is this where the Vikings, to come 6 centuries later, got their incredible ideas for the longships? Perhaps we will never know, but the description of the Gallic ships is uncannily similar in form, if not construction.
When Caesar's fleet was ready, he confronted the Venetii in the Loire estuary. As the boats crashed into each other, legionaires and their Gallic allies watched the battle from the cliff-tops. The Romans in the boats -- all land soldiers -- were at a loss as to how to tackle the Venetii Gallic seamen. They improvised with scythes attached to long poles and used them to cut the Celtic rigging. With their sails fluttering uselessly and apparently no oars to assist them, the Celtic Bretons and their British Celtic allies, soon lost control. Several Roman boats then locked onto individual Celtic ships and boarded them.
The Celtic sailors were overwhelmed by the armored Romans and the fleet of the Venetii broke up. A fall in the wind prevented many from escaping and the majority of the Gallic Celtic force was captured. This seems a particularly miserable defeat for the Celts. A fleet of expert seamen shattered by landlubber Romans making do with scyths. Caesar's account does not ring true. It seems more likely, as the case had been before, that the fighting on the Roman side was conducted wholly by Gallic Auxiliaries used to shipping and hired by the Romans. Whatever the actual details, this Breton defeat of 56 B.C. was a crushing one for the Atlantic Gauls. Caesar had many of his prisoners executed and the rest sold as slaves to his legionaires and allied Celtic tribes.
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