Massacre at the river Maas
When the Germanic people invaded Gaul in 55BC, Caesar saw this as an opportunity to present himself as the 'protector' of the Gauls. He sent eight legions and the upcoming battle would result in the biggest slaughter of the entire Gallic war which I briefly wrote about in my post about the Tencteri last September.
The Tencteri and the Usipetes crossed the Rhine in 55BC searching for new lands to settle. The tribes appealed to Caesar for asylum but it was refused. The two parties met for negotiations during which the Germanics asked for three days time in order to send envoys to the nearby Ubii. Caesar however believed that the Germanics were only buying time to regroup their cavalry.
Caesar decided to attack the Germanic camp instead to the great surprise of the Germanics. Chaos ruled in the camp as the Romans attacked the unaware Germanics, they stood no chance to win so many started to flee towards the river. The Romans chased them down and killed as many as they could.
Caesar even seemed proud in his work when he described how his men killed every woman and child that they could find. Some fled into the river Maas but the current was strong so they got either killed by the river or by Roman troops.
The exact amount of people killed is unknown but we do know that Caesar's numbers are way too exaggerated. He claimed that he destroyed a population of 430,000 people. This however seems unlikely since there weren't that many people living in the low countries around 55BC. An estimated guess of the amount of people killed now lies around 150,000 people. A true genocide that took place in the Netherlands.
Napoleon III wrote a book about Julius Caesar in 1865 and mentioned that this particular battle must have taken place around fort Sint Andries near Heerewaarden, the Netherlands. This fort was strategically placed between the rivers Maas and the Waal which agrees with Caesar's comment on how the battle took place on the spot where the Maas and the Waal flow together.
In 1975, during dredging work, several artifacts were found at this spot which date from Caesar's time. This only seemed to confirm the suspicion that the battle took place here. But because not all found objects date from this time period, many archeologists had their doubts.
Another more possible location is the Dutch place of Kessel. Several belt hooks, swords, spearheads, a helmet and human remains were dredged out of the river Maas that belong in the same time period as the battle took place. According to Roman sources, Kessel lies 80 Roman miles away from the North sea, the same distance that is also mentioned by Caesar.
The human remains found at Kessel belonged to 70 individuals, 8 of these bones show signs of trauma, per example a skull with a hole near the left eye socket caused by a spear, this skull belonged to a 40-60 year old woman. Another skull shows an axe injury and a third skull has a sword injury. Many of the remains belonged to women and children which fits the narration of Caesar.
Here are photos of: Human remains found Drawings of the found helmet and Germanic cavalry swords A depiction of the battle by an unknown artist Kessel in the 21st century
