Julius Caesar Dutch Battleground

Found, where Caesar decimated the Dutch: Archaeologists pinpoint site of battle that left 150,000 dead - Archaeologists claim to have proved that Julius Caesar set foot on what is now Dutch soil, destroying two Germanic tribes in a battle that left 150,000 people dead.

The tribes were massacred in the fighting with the Roman emperor in 55BC, on a battle site now known to be in Kessel, in the southern province of Brabant.

Skeletons, spearheads, swords and a helmet have been unearthed at the site over the past three decades - but until now have not been linked to Caesar's battle.

But now carbon dating as well as other historical and geochemical analysis have proved the items dated to the 1st century, the VU University in Amsterdam said.

'It is the first time the presence of Caesar and his troops on Dutch soil has been explicitly shown,' said Nico Roymans, an archaeologist at the institution.

The two tribes, the Tencteri and the Usipetes, came from an area east of the Rhine and had asked Caesar for asylum.

But the Roman emperor refused and ordered his eight legions and cavalry to destroy them, the university said.
'Today we qualify such action as genocide,' the team said.

'Though Caesar did not explicitly intend pronounce him this Wanted to destroy Germanic tribes, he must have realized that his actions de facto resulted in at least the partial destruction of this ethnic groups.'