Caesar's Gallic campaign was not exactly viewed with enthusiasm by his contemporaries. This must be taken into account when estimating its ‘long-term effects’, whose ‘inevitability’ is often teleologically overestimated. There is doubtless a risk of adopting a colonialist view. The campaign was unprovoked and there was no real menace; it led to the destruction of the old civilisation, which was gradually replaced by a Romanised one; and Pliny and Plutarch agree that it was an act of genocide of monstrous proportions. It was all for one end: it is clear that the protagonist and instigator of the venture cynically used the genocide in the political struggle at home. Part of his objective was also to capture a huge number of slaves (according to Plutarch, one million), who were useful for demagogic purposes (one thinks of Caesar granting at least one slave to each of his soldiers). Caesar knew well that, without a counter to Pompey's military glory, an equal division of power with him would be impossible, especially after Crassus' death.