Enemies of Rome 7.7 - VERCINGETORIX - “Alesia End Game”

herverisson (70)in #history • 7 years ago

Trapped in Alesia after suffering an unexpected defeat, Vercingetorix had all reasons not to panic. He was still unchallenged among his troops. The best he could hope was to pin down the troops of Caesar in a hopeless siege and crush them with a wave of reinforcement coming from all over Gaul. All he had to do, it seemed, was to sit tight and wait.

ALESIA

Alesia was the perfect town to retreat and lick its wounds:

The town itself was situated on the top of a hill, in a very lofty position, so that it did not appear likely to be taken, except by a regular siege. Two rivers, on two different sides, washed the foot of the hill. Before the town lay a plain of about three miles in length; on every other side hills at a moderate distance, and of an equal degree of height, surrounded the town.

Caesar had not enough men to storm the place but was adamant not to let the same thing happen as in Gergovia and this time, he ordered a ring of fortifications to encircle the city:

The circuit of that fortification, which was commenced by the Romans, comprised eleven miles. The camp was pitched in a strong position, and twenty‐three redoubts were raised in it, in which sentinels were placed by day, lest any sally should be made suddenly; and by night the same were occupied by watches and strong guards.

It must be said that the Romans took advantage of the geography, and didn’t build a continuous all. Where there were jagged hills and rocks, the geography was deemed sufficient to contain the Gauls, who, watched from their ramparts the work progressing at an amazing rapidity. They sally forth in order to hinder the work but are constantly repulsed by vigilant Romans and their German allies.

Soon, Vercingetorix sees that he has no choice, and sends away his cavalry, to save supplied and to ask for help:

Vercingetorix adopts the design of sending away all his cavalry by night, before the fortifications should be completed by the Romans. He charges them when departing ʺthat each of them should go to his respective state, and press for the war all who were old enough to bear arms; he states his own merits, and conjures them to consider his safety, and not surrender him who had deserved so well of the general freedom, to the enemy for torture; he points out to them that, if they should be remiss, eighty thousand chosen men would perish with him; that upon making a calculation, he had barely corn for thirty days, but could hold out a little longer by economy.

The cavalry escapes through a part of the fortifications still incomplete.

THE ENEMY WITHOUT

When the messengers of Vercingetorix reach the assembly of the Gauls, all tribes promise troops and the chiefs are declared:

the supreme command is intrusted to Commius the Atrebatian, Viridomarus and Eporedirix the Aeduans, and Vergasillaunus the Arvernan, the cousin‐german of Vercingetorix.

Then, the troops start to walk towards Alesia. Some say as far as 250.000 men answered the call to arms. Of these, not all were fighters, a lot were slaves and families of the Gauls.

But a surprise awaited them at their arrival: Caesar was aware that he would not have time to conquer Alesia before the arrival of the rescue that’s why he ordered to build A SECOND RING to face the future enemy coming to the rescue:

After completing these works, saving selected as level ground as he could, considering the nature of the country, and having inclosed an area of fourteen miles, he constructed, against an external enemy, fortifications of the same kind in every respect, and separate from these, so that the guards of the fortifications could not be surrounded even by immense numbers

Meanwhile, in Alesia, the mood had turned bleak, and the bellies turned empty and growling, and it took all the power of persuasion of the wisest Gauls to maintain the Gauls in their confidence, recalling them what was at stake there, nothing less than freedom or slavery:

For they never have carried on wars on any other terms. But if you know not these things which are going on in distant countries, look to the neighboring Gaul, which being reduced to the form of a province, stripped of its rights and laws, and subjected to Roman despotism, is oppressed by perpetual slavery.

Arrival of the Rescue army

Eventually the arrival of the rescue army restored faith in the besieged army:

The besieged run together when these auxiliaries were seen; mutual congratulations ensue, and the minds of all are elated with joy. Accordingly, drawing out their troops, they encamp before the town, and cover the nearest trench with hurdles and fill it up with earth, and make ready for a sally and every casualty.

But Caesar was ready to all eventuality and took the initiative of the attack:

Caesar, having stationed his army on both sides of the fortifications, in order that, if occasion should arise, each should hold and know his own post, orders the cavalry to issue forth from the camp and commence action

The battle rages all day, but eventually the enemy is repulsed in its camp, where the Gauls started preparing for a fresh attack by building ladders, hooks, siege engines, and all that was needed to breach the walls built by the Romans.

The battle rages again the following day, supported by a sally of Gauls from Alesia, but once again, the solidity of the defenses are impenetrable:

After receiving many wounds on all sides, and having forced no part of the works, when day drew nigh, fearing lest they should be surrounded by a sally made from the higher camp on the exposed flank, they retreated to their countrymen.

A third attempt is organized a few days later: this time, the rescuers decide to attack through the northern mountain, where the defenses are weaker, while Vercingetorix bring out all his men out to attack at the same time, and they almost succeed:

They engage on all sides at once and every expedient is adopted. They flocked to whatever part of the works seemed weakest. The army of the Romans is distributed along their extensive lines, and with difficulty meets the enemy in every quarter. [...] . Our men have no longer arms or strength.

This is when Caesar sends his second in command Labiernus with 6 cohorts to patch things up, and he follows himself very closely behind. With the help of the German cavalry, the Romans eventually manage to close the gaps and even to trap the Gauls: thousands are killed on the spot and even one of the chief, Vergasillaunus the Arvernian, is captured.

The besieged, beholding from the town the slaughter and flight of their countrymen, despairing of safety, lead back their troops from the fortifications. A flight of the Gauls from their camp immediately ensues on hearing of this disaster, and had not the soldiers been wearied by sending frequent reinforcements, and the labor of the entire day, all the enemyʹs forces could have been destroyed.