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==The leadership of Caesar ==
One of the reasons for Caesar's success was his great leadership. He was a charismatic leader and he could persuade his men to do anything and to do the impossible. This can be seen time and time again. Caesar was able to rally his men at Alessia and persuade them to attack numerically superior forces on many battlefields. Caesars ability to motivate his men and galvanize them into action was unmatched and even his enemies acknowledged this. His men were devoted to him and they loved their general. They obeyed him and unlike many contemporary Roman armies they were very-well disciplined<ref> Roth, p. 116</ref> Caesar reputedly could quell any dissent in the ranks with the sheer force of his personality. Once he ended the threat of mutiny by referring to his legionnaires as mere civilians. Caesar was fortunate to have at his disposal some of the finest soldiers in the ancient era, this and his leadership skills meant that his army was forces were often invincible even in the most difficult of circumstances. Perhaps the key to Caesar’s leadership skills and his ability to inspire men was that he led by example. Like Alexander the Great, he was his own best soldier<ref> Plutarch, 43 7</ref>. He led from the front and if the line threatened to break he would personally fight there, thus inspiring his legions to victory<ref> Barry Strauss, Masters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, and the Genius of Leadership (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), p. 137 </ref>. He was also able to inspire his men because he promoted men on merit. While his officers were mainly nobles he usually promoted them only on merit. A good example of this was Mark Anthony, who became his commander of his cavalry and proved to be fearless in battle. Caesers belief in merit was unique and this meant that he was supported by many gifted officers who can could execute his orders effectively <ref> Roth, p. 189</ref>.
==Use of Artillery==
Artillery was a regular feature of the ancient battlefield. Artillery in the ancient World referred to large equipment that could fire bolts, stones or projectiles. These were very effective, and they were routinely used in sieges by both the defenders and the attackers. They were mainly used for defensive purposes because they were bulky and not very mobile. Caesar in his campaigns in Gaul brought these weapons in his train, for sieges. These included the ballista which could fire bolts and catapulta, that could hurl rocks a great distance. Caesar in Gaul began to use these not as defensive weapons but as offensive weapons. He was able to integrate these weapons into his offensive strategies and used them in conjunction with the legionnaires and cavalry. Caesar recognized that catapulta and ballistas could break up the massed formations of the Gaul’s. This allowed the Roman general to attack much larger forces and defeat him. Caesar also used these heavy weapons very successfully in the invasion of Britain. He skillfully used the ballistas on his ships to break the British formations that were preventing him from landing on the shore of southern England. He was a pioneer in the offensive use of this weapons and employed them on the battlefield and not just in sieges<ref> Hans Delbrück, Warfare in Antiquity, trans. Walter J. Renfroe, Jr., History of the Art of War 1 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), p. 541</ref>. The only other ancient general who deployed artillery in this way was Alexander the Great. Caesar’s use of artillery was imitated by generations of future Roman commanders. However, Caesar was also able to use artillery in a conventional way and he was a master of siege warfare. He stormed many Celtic hill forts in Gaul by using ballistas and catapulta, such as at the siege of Siege of Uxellodunum, in Gaul <ref> Caesar, p. 221</ref>.
