The Battle of Alesia

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THE BATTLE OF ALESIA
The Battle of Alesia was the last battle of the Gallic Wars between the Roman Republic and the Gallic tribes of Gaul, modern day France, united in confederation under Vercingetorix of the Arverni tribe. The battle is considered one of Julius Caesar's greatest military victories and resulted in the Roman Republic annexing all of Gaul.

In 52 BC, the Gallic leaders met at Bibracte, a settlement in Gaul, and declared that Vercingetorix of the Arverni would lead the united Gallic army. Launching a wave of violence across Gaul, Roman soldiers, settlers, and merchants were killed in large numbers by Vercingetorix and his army. Mobilizing his own army, Julius Caesar moved across the snow-covered Alps to strike at Vercingetorix's forces.

Gaius Julius Caesar was a master of tactics and one of the greatest generals in history. After confronting Vercingetorix, he initially lost some battles but had recently been winning battle after battle. Now, the Gallic forces had retreated to the fortified settlement of Alesia on a high hill. Vercingetorix, their leader, had set a trap. He had sent word through the Roman lines to his comrade Commius and a Gallic relief army was on the way.

If Caesar attacked Alesia, he'd have to go up the hill and would suffer massive casualties. However, if he tried to starve them out and surround the hill, the Gallic relief army would come and wipe out Caesar's army. Caesar, however, utilized his genius and created a third option. He had his men dig a trench between the two rivers on either side of the forward base of the hill.

The Roman soldiers then began to construct a defensive wall around Vercingetorix's entire position and prepared themselves to defend its entire length. This way, they would be able to siege Alesia as well as defend themselves from the Gallic relief army. Caesar had his men create rows of metal spikes, sharpened stakes and circular ditches as well. These were designed to weaken any attacks coming in and subsequently/thusly decrease the power of the enemy's forces.

An artist's impression of the Roman fortifications at Alesia

Vercingetorix sent out Gallic raiding parties to stop the workers, but each time they were repulsed; and eventually the wall was completed, along with a second wall outside the first; allowing the Romans a space in between to use as their home base. The first wall; the circumvallation, and the second wall; the contravallation, would keep the Gallic relief army out and Vercingetorix's army in. Caesar's trump card had been played and Vercingetorix's tactical advantage was stolen right out from under him.

Vercingetorix knew now that he needed as much food as possible. The food supply of the population of Alesia and the soldiers it hosted could not last long. He held a council and it was decided that some people should leave the town to lighten the load. The inhabitants of the town sent out their wives and children to save food for the fighters, hoping that Caesar would take them as captives and feed them. Caesar refused, so the women and children tried to return to Alesia, however Vercingetorix would not let them back inside. For the rest of the battle, these women and children were stuck in the great killing field between the Roman walls and Alesia; and most starved to death.

Just around the time the second wall, and thus, the Roman fortifications, were completed, the Gallic relief army began to arrive and Caesar's forces became severely outnumbered. The Romans had 70,000 men while the Gallic forces numbered at 258,000. The Romans took up defensive positions and the Battle of Alesia began. Commius encamped the Gallic relief army southwest of Alesia and then sent men to attack the Roman contravallation.

A map of the Battle of Alesia

Seeing the attack on the Roman contravallation, Vercingetorix tried to attack the portion of the circumvallation directly across from it in order to "squeeze" the wall and break through it. However, by sunset, they had failed and so withdrew for the night. The following day, no attack came. The Gallic relief army instead attacked under the cover of night. This attack had greater success, and the Romans had to abandon parts of the outer wall.

Due to the trenches, however, Vercingetorix's attack on the inner wall was not going nearly as well. The swift responses of Caesar and two of his subcommanders had helped the Romans hold their ground. These two were Gaius Trebonius and Mark Antony, the latter of whom would be very important to Roman history later on.

At this point, the Romans were weak. Food had started to be rationed and the men were nowhere near in physical or emotional prime shape. Amidst all this, Vercassivellaunus, a cousin of Vercingetorix, launched a massive attack with 60,000 men, focusing on a weakness in the Roman fortifications which Caesar had tried to hide, but had been discovered by the Gauls. Caesar simply responded by telling his men to hold the line. His charisma was extremely potent and as he ran around the fortifications cheering on the soldiers, they held firm.

Eventually, Caesar sent Labienus, another of his subcommanders, with some cavalry to help defend the section of the wall under attack, but even with Labienus' cavalry it was near total collapse. In a stroke of desparation, Caesar turned the battle around dramatically by ordering Labienus to exit the Roman fortifications and charge Vercassivellaunus' forces from the rear. The cavalry smashed into the Gallic line, and the Gallic relief army suddenly began to panic.

Once the retreat had began, the Romans went in hot pursuit, and the Gallic relief army was no match for the Romans' discipline. All that was left now was Vercingetorix and his army in Alesia. Facing starvation, terribly low morale, and the Romans on all sides with their relief force defeated, Vercingetorix had no choice but to surrender. He threw down his arms before Caesar and was subsequently arrested by the Romans. Vercingetorix languished in agony at Rome in prison for five years before being publicly beheaded as part of Caesar's triumph in 46 BC. Gaul was annexed by the Roman Republic as a province soon after the victory at Alesia.

Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar

The impact of this battle was enormous. It cemented who was going to be the dominant figure in Europe for centuries to come. The only other major forces on the Mediterranean was the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, and it would fall to Octavian in the waning days of the Republic, before Octavian finally cast down the Roman democracy and seized the power of powers, proclaiming himself Emperor. Alesia was the last stand of the Gallic tribes, and when the Battle of Alesia was lost, the Gallic Wars were lost.
 
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