The Gauls were a tribe who migrated across Europe through northern Italy, western Germany, Belgium and into France in the 1,500 years before the birth of Christ. Their civilization was primitive compared to the civilization of the Romans, but they posed a genuine threat to the latter because of their fierce warfare tactics.
In 390BC the Gauls completely overran and captured Rome. By the third century BC they were occupying the territory which is today France. When the Romans came to conquer this land around 121BC, they found the Gauls to be the dominant tribe in the area.
The Roman conquest of Gaul was relatively swift. Between 122 and 50BC, the whole of today's France was taken over by the Romans and incorporated into the Roman Empire. The Romans ruled Gaul until the middle of the fifth century AD. Gradually the Gauls became integrated into the administration, which strengthened the Roman hold over Gaul. The Romans also extracted taxes from their conquered subjects to cover the upkeep of the vast Roman Empire.
