ALESIA

FRANCE

A major Gaulish oppidum (town) and fortress of the Mandubii tribe; it was the stage set for the decisive event in the Roman conquest of Gaul.

Developed on a hill surrounded by river valleys, Alesia was strongly defended. In 5 2 BC, it was the scene of a remarkable siege, which marked a turning-point in Julius Caesar’s campaign in Gaul.

Caesar had subdued the Eburones tribe under their chief Ambiorix in 54-53 BC. Then they rose up again, surprising the Roman army in an ambush in which Caesar lost a great many men; this was his first clear defeat in Gaul.

On the initiative of the Aedui, a general council of the tribes of Gaul was called at Bibracte. Only the Remi and Lingones decided to maintain their alliance with Rome: the rest decided that the time had come to rebel. The council appointed Vercingetorix, chief of the Arverni tribe, as the commander-in-chief (or war leader) of the Gallic armies.

The first indication of this new concerted resistance to the Roman conquest was the massacre of all the Roman settlers in Orleans by the Carnutes tribe. This was followed by massacres of Roman citizens in other major towns in Gaul.

Caesar was encamped in northern Italy at the time, but understood the seriousness of the revolt, rallied his army in haste, and crossed the snow-covered Alps into Gaul to try to retrieve the situation. He was in command of the Roman army and was supported by cavalry commanders Mark Antony, Titus Labienus, and Gaius Trebonius. Four legions were sent under Labienus to deal with the Senones and Parisii in the north, while Caesar, with five legions, pursued Vercingetorix.

The Roman and Gaulish armies met at the hillfort of Gergovia: a strong defensive position to which Vercingetorix had made a tactical withdrawal. It was such a strong position that Caesar decided to retreat in order to avoid defeat.

There were several skirmishes during the summer of 52, and Vercingetorix withdrew to the fortress town of Alesia, trying to avoid a formal pitched battle against Caesar’s troops.

Caesar could see that a direct attack on Alesia would be unwise and decided instead on a siege. There were 80,000 Gaulish warriors garrisoned there, in addition to the civilian population, and Caesar hoped to starve them out fairly quickly. To prevent escape and foraging, Caesar had his own encircling fortifications built: a circumvallation consisting of 29 miles (47km) of earthworks 13 feet (4m) high. This was followed inward by two ditches 15 feet (4.6m) wide and 15 feet (4.6m) deep, filled with water from nearby rivers. Caesar added man-traps and evenly spaced watch towers. It was a masterpiece of large-scale Roman military planning, and indeed Alesia is seen as one of Caesar’s greatest triumphs.

Gallic horsemen came out to raid the fortification works, hoping to keep gaps open through which they might escape. In fact one cavalry detachment did manage to escape, and Caesar guessed that it would seek reinforcements from elsewhere. Anticipating that more Gauls would arrive, he constructed a second line of fortifications, the contravallation, this time facing outward. He was laying plans for a siege, but he was also preparing to be besieged himself.

Inside Alesia, conditions were worsening. The Mandubii decided to send their women and children out, hoping to save some food for the warriors and anticipating that Caesar would take pity on them and open a gap to let them out. But he didn’t. He ordered that nothing should be done. The women and children were cruelly left to starve to death in the no-man’s-land between the Gauls and Romans. This inhumane act was a devastating blow to the Gauls’ morale. Vercingetorix tried to keep their spirits up, but some of his warriors were ready to surrender.

Then a Gaulish relief force arrived and the Gauls inside Alesia decided that they would fight on. The relief force, under Commius, attacked Caesar’s contravallation wall, while Vercingetorix directed the Gauls inside Alesia to attack Caesar from within. This tactic was at first unsuccessful, but when repeated Caesar was forced to give up some of his fortifications; only quick action by Antony’s and Trebonius’s cavalry saved the Romans.

By this stage living conditions had become difficult for the exhausted Roman troops. Rationing was introduced. On October 2 a cousin of Vercingetorix, Vercassivellaunus, led 60,000 Gauls in an attack on one of the weak points in Caesar’s fortifications. This huge onslaught threatened to overwhelm the Romans, and Caesar rode around the perimeter in person to rally the legionaries and keep them in position. It looked as if the massively outnumbered Roman army would be annihilated. In desperation, Caesar ordered a force of 6,000 Romans to attack the relief force from the rear. This so surprised both the relief force and the Gauls inside Alesia that they fell apart in panic and began to retreat. Once they started to retreat, it was easy for the merciless Romans to hew them down. Caesar had turned imminent defeat for Rome into victory.

When, the next day, Vercingetorix surrendered, he did so to save his warriors from being forced into a fresh battle that would destroy them—and to save his horses. Addressing an assembly, he said that he had not undertaken the war for private ends, but in the cause of national liberty. And since he must now accept his fate, he placed himself at their disposal to make amends to the Romans as they thought best, either by killing him or handing him over alive. He solemnly offered himself to save his army; it was the Roman formula of devotio, a rite that Caesar would have recognized and respected.

The garrison force and the relief force were taken prisoner and sold into slavery, apart from the warriors of the Aedui and Arverni tribes, who were pardoned and released; this was done in order to secure the alliance of those two important tribes.

ALKBOROUGH

See Symbols: Labyrinth.