So I’m studying the de bello gallico and translating it from Latin (I thank joves capitolinus for not having to translate Ovid) and when he was talking about the Germans I smelled something fishy. The de bello gallico as we all know was heavily influenced by it’s writer, and some motifs and descriptions are definitely biased. When describing the celts in Gaul he describes how the celts become more civilized (as they were congregating in cities, as I used that version of the term from civitas) and “democratic” the closer they were to Rome and it’s influence. The farther away you go from borders consequently, the more feudal and monarchical they became. Also the scarier and less “organized” (as in logistics and discipline) they became. When he describes the Gauls he tries to show the Roman public ( I have also read other books on the subject which now escape my mind) how they can be civilized. Instead he classifies the people over the Rhine as a different people that are not worth ones time. And yet the way they are described by the Gauls and that scare the romans are the exalted characteristics that some celts like the Belgae posses (bigger, scarier, etc...) and they also seem to have this monarchical system. Now as I understood it the kelts once inhabited most of France, spain, Britain, Germany and the lands of Pannonia and beyond. Now my question is how did the celts dissapear from those lands (Germany and beyond Pannonia) and Germans immediately taking their place like the goths, alemanni and quadians. As I understood, the Germans derived originally from Scandinavia (one of the wombs of nations, together with the altai mountains). And yet they managed to drive away all the Kelts from these areas immediately? That doesn’t sound right considering that the celts had the advantage of better lands and trade, at least to me. Is there an explanation?
The Celtic speaking peoples became German speaking people. The Treveri for instance, a Belgic tribe that spoke Gaulish, occupied the region of Luxembourg and the city of Trier which is named after them. At some point they changed from Celtic speakers to German speakers, much like the Celts in Britain and Ireland did.
When it comes to major population upheavals, look at how a relatively small group of hunter gatherers on horseback were able to set up a domino effect that led to the world's most destructive genocide. The mongols plowed through several major civilisations at the time killing millions.
Im not the best to answer and hopefully someone with more sources for Gallo Germanic Border interactions can better explain this.
But... from an historical/anthropological perceptive pre modern people have always been more fluid with their ethnic ties. For various reason Germanic tribe were able to project through:
*Confederation *Conquest *Assimilation
Celtic tribes east of the Rhine over time trickling their culture down to the general population be being their elites.
Also during Caesars Time Celtic tribes were migrating as were the Germanic tribes. Such as Ariovistus and his shenanigan. He was a Germanic leader that Caesar fought, because his germans kins men were flooding into roman's allied Gaulish lands.
While at the same time celtic groups were migrating out of the Czech republic and Austria into Anatolia (the region Galatia is named after the Hellenized Celts).
So there as a lot going on at the time and things were more fluid to allow for a gradual german expansion and acculturation
Also Celts and Germans probably did not see them selves as celts or germans and were prone to cross tribal warfare.