There was contact and then there was contact. The tribes in what is now Provence had been Romanized for quite some time by 58 BC and the tribes across the border in Transalpine Gaul doubtlessly benefited from the proximity. Whereas the Belgae were considered to be fierce and warlike.
So, generalizations about Gaul are like generalizing about American Indian tribes. Some were civilized to a degree some were semi-nomadic some were horsemen and some hunted in the woods.
The Romans did not give a rat's ass about their degree of urbanization. They had their own plan which they imposed. Bibracte was abandoned and there is still argument about the site of Alesia.
The military crisis of the mid 3d century AD ( c 250 ) would have ended any hope of expansion in the north. The division of the empire into Eastern and Western halves doomed the West which did not have the financial capability without Eastern subsidies.
Add in a serious plague and a series of political revolts and it is almost amazing that the Roman empire survived long enough for Constantine to fuck us all over with xtianity.
So, generalizations about Gaul are like generalizing about American Indian tribes. Some were civilized to a degree some were semi-nomadic some were horsemen and some hunted in the woods.
The Romans did not give a rat's ass about their degree of urbanization. They had their own plan which they imposed. Bibracte was abandoned and there is still argument about the site of Alesia.
The military crisis of the mid 3d century AD ( c 250 ) would have ended any hope of expansion in the north. The division of the empire into Eastern and Western halves doomed the West which did not have the financial capability without Eastern subsidies.
Add in a serious plague and a series of political revolts and it is almost amazing that the Roman empire survived long enough for Constantine to fuck us all over with xtianity.
