Julius Caesar
Dissolved Roman Republic
Created Roman Empire
One of the most famous leaders in history
Almost didn’t make it that far
Governor of several Roman provinces
Northern Italy/Southern France
Supposed to be one year term
Got 5 years instead
Waged Gallic wars
Beat back invasions from Gallic tribes
Expanded the borders of the Roman empire
Holding on to that new territory was tricky
Rebellions sprung up
54 BC The Eburones rebelled and defeated a roman army
First time a Gallic army defeated a Roman one
Inspired further rebellion throughout the empire
Soon, more tribes aligned themselves with the Eburones
Lay siege to the camp of a Roman nobleman
Word was sent to Ceasar
Gauls had learned Roman siege techs
Caesar immediately marched and defeated the Eburones, but the area he left soon rebelled with even more Gallic tribes
This snowballed until almost all of Gaul was in open rebellion
Rome sent more troops into the area and Ceasar was able to crush the rebellion
Some were allowed to surrender, but other groups were annihilated or forced to starve
This inspired a Gallic king, Vercingetorix to rebel
Murdered a bunch of Roman citicens
Despite having a smaller army, Ceasar beat back his army and trapped him in the city of alesia.
Launched a siege.
Alesia is on a tall hill that’s almost impossible to attack
Rivers on two sides of the town, with plain on one side
Siege of alesia
Caesar knew the town was nearly impossible to attack
Vercingetorix still had larger army
80,000 infantry & twelve thousand calvary
50,000 combined
Built a ten mile wall around the town so no one could get out
Vercingetorix did try to stop the construction
Wall included 20-foot trench + two fifteen-foot v shaped trenches & moat
Also built spike pits
Twelve foot wall after that with spikes sticking out of it
During Construction
A large calvary battle took place
Seemed like Gauls might have the upper hand
Caesar sent in German troops
Attacked so ferociously that the Gauls fled and piled up at the city gates, abandoning their horses to climb the wall
Vercingetorix saw this and closed the gates in fear
Vercingetorix saw he had no chance
At night he sent out his entire calvary to search Gaul for someone to help them
The goal was to raise a massive army & finish the war
These men returned with an army of 8,000 calvary & 240,000 infantry
According to Ceasar
What do you do if you’re Ceasar?
Build another wall around your wall
At this point the people of alesia were starving
Vercingetorix allowed the common people of alesia to leave and slip passed Caesars wall. Mostly women and children.
Caesar wouldn’t let them through the wall
Vercingetorix wouldn’t let them back into the city
The people starved to death
Vercingetorix launched another assault on the wall at night
Prepared for fortifications
When wall was scaled, they just got killed by the Romans
Some Roman lossed, but “Unalloyed carnaged overlaid with the stench of blood and entrails, blended with piss and shit. The carefully engineered pits and hedges would have been topped with corpses”
The Gauls were beaten back
The Gallic reinforcements arrived
Discovered a weakness in the wall where the hill had been to steep to build
Created plan to distract Caesar while a smaller force exploited the weakness
The Gauls attacked at midday so Vercingetorix could see the battle from the city and attack from the other side
Final battle
Incredibly brutal and bloody battle
Red mist
Swords dulling after cutting through so many bodies
The smaller Gallic force created a turtle to assault the weakness in the wall
Caesar himself launched a counter-attack against the smaller forces
Sent his calvary outside the outer wall to attack the turtle from the rear
According to some historians, this was the single moment that decided the entire war
The Roman calvary broke through
Gauls, trapped and under siege, panicked
Caused the rest of the army to flee
Vercingetorix surrenderd to Caeser
Gauls were mostly forgiven
Vercingetorix was imprisoned for 6 years before being forced to march in a parade for Caeser
Then strangled to death