Alesia 52BC - Fighting Caesars Legions
Alesia 52BC - Fighting Caesars Legions
Transcript
00:00The history of human conflict is littered with stories of bloody battles and awe-inspiring
00:12leaders, incredible victories and crushing defeats.
00:17But one element of warfare perhaps captures the popular imagination more than any other
00:21– the drama of siege warfare.
00:27This series tells some of the remarkable stories of military ingenuity, fortitude and adversity,
00:33and dogged determination of both the besieged and the besiegers throughout history.
00:40We begin in Europe, more than fifty years before the birth of Christ, with the siege
00:47that signalled the final defeat of the rebellious Gallic forces at the hands of the all-powerful
00:53Roman legions.
00:57Alesia, 52 BC
01:23This is the statue at Elise-Sainte-Reine, erected by Napoleon III in 1864, which stands
01:45in honour of Vercingetorix, chieftain of the Arverni tribe, who somehow united the war
01:52and led them in their great fight against their Roman enemy.
02:13The quiet provincial town of Alesia-Sainte-Reine is now a pleasant stop on the tourist trail
02:18at the heart of rural Burgundy.
02:23But in 52 BC, it was the site of one of the most extraordinary sieges in the history of
02:29warfare.
02:31It saw two remarkable military leaders go head-to-head in a monumental battle of wills.
02:41Within four months, it was a siege within a siege that absorbed hundreds of thousands
02:46of men.
02:48The two opposing commanders, Julius Caesar and the Celtic warrior Vercingetorix, and
02:54the battle that they fought, have all found a place in the cultural and military history
02:59of France.
03:04We are extremely fortunate that a powerful description of the siege was left to us in
03:09De Bellico Gallico, Julius Caesar's remarkable account of the Gallic Wars.
03:15It details the events of the siege, and describes the complex siege works that the Romans constructed.
03:24However, Caesar's account should certainly be viewed with some caution.
03:32It was written for an audience, and was as much political manifesto as battlefield diary.
03:38Indeed, Caesar's original title for the work is thought to have been Gaius Julius Caesar's
03:42Notes on his Achievements.
03:46He writes these accounts of his campaigns, and probably has them published back in Rome
03:51annually.
03:52And we know from other politicians that everybody was eagerly awaiting each year the publication
03:59of Caesar's latest account of what's been going on in Gaul.
04:05So he's very successful in presenting his campaigns with himself as the hero, himself
04:12as the principal character, and Caesar as the conqueror of Gaul.
04:20While political spin may have been at work on some, the events that Caesar recounts have
04:25been borne out by excavations at the Alesia site, the first of which took place in 1861.
04:35Yes, I think that globally we can say that, yes, Caesar's account is a circumstantial account,
04:43much more circumstantial than most of the stories of ancient battles.
04:46It remains, of course, that we have at the Alesia a very particular case, since we can
04:52confront the reality of the field with that of the literary account.
04:58And this is a very exemplary case of school.
05:01We can see, of course, that in the reality, in the detail of the reality, Caesar's works
05:10are slightly different from those he describes, even if the description he makes is a real
05:15description, because it corresponds, in fact, to a generality of the field and of the battle.
05:21Having already secured the governorship of Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul, Gaius Julius
05:31Caesar had also become pro-consul of Transalpine Gaul in 59 BC.
05:36With a view to increasing his political influence in Rome through the acquisition of further
05:44provinces, he had been campaigning in Gaul since 58 BC.
05:50Caesar was so confident with the way things had gone, that by 55 BC he proclaimed that
05:56the whole region was conquered.
05:58However, the Gauls remained defiant, and between 55 and 52 BC there had been rumblings of revolt.
06:08In 52 BC this dissent erupted into open rebellion in central Gaul.
06:16What was different about the 52 BC rebellion was that it saw the most coordinated and united
06:26force the region had offered in opposition to the might of Rome.
06:34The uniting of a usually disparate and factional group of Gallic tribes had formed a formidable
06:39alliance, one capable of mounting a concerted attack on their Roman enemy.
07:04The leader who had orchestrated this united force was Vercingetorix, chief of the army
07:34of the Averni tribe.
08:04Caesar was in Italy, furthering his political ambitions, when news of the rebellion reached
08:22him in early 52 BC.
08:25He responded quickly, so as to prevent the rebellion spreading, and to arrange for the
08:30protection of the province, his main base in southern Gaul.
08:34He crossed the Alps and the Civennes mountains in very heavy snows, and arrived in central
08:39France far earlier than expected.
08:43Caesar's return sent a loud and unmistakable message of intent, not only to the rebellious
08:47Gallic tribes, but also to his own troops.
09:02Having reunited his forces north of the Loire, Caesar recaptured Cenabum, modern day Orleans,
09:09where the rebellion originated, then turned to fight his way south to the heart of the
09:14As Caesar advanced, capturing town after town, Vercingetorix retreated in front of him, fighting
09:24what amounted to partisan warfare, and in an attempt to hold Caesar's unconquerable
09:29army.
09:30Vercingetorix ordered a scorched earth policy, to prevent the Romans from seizing vital supplies
09:35from Gallic towns, and any areas under cultivation.
10:05The scorched earth policy also meant that the Gauls could avoid meeting the Romans in
10:17pitched battles.
10:20Their previous heavy defeats had taught the Gauls that the rebellion was more likely to
10:24succeed if they could attack Caesar's supply lines.
10:27In the early stage of the campaign, during the winter months, when forage is actually
10:32very, very hard to come by, the scorched earth policy adopted by the Gauls and by Vercingetorix
10:37is extremely effective.
10:39It forces Caesar to run around trying to find corn, and according to Caesar, Vercingetorix
10:46is so effective at bending the Gauls to his will and getting them to burn their own communities
10:51that on one day the Bitterriges, a powerful tribe in the central of Gaul, burnt down 20
10:57of their townships.
11:00However, Vercingetorix's policy ran into opposition when it came to destroying the
11:04town of Avaricum, modern day Borges, which was said to be almost the finest in Gaul.
11:11Vercingetorix relented, spared the town, and was forced to become its defender as Caesar's
11:16army advanced in search of fresh supplies.
11:22It was in March 52 BC that the Romans lay siege to Avaricum.
11:30The Gauls defended their town with desperate courage.
11:37Caesar, in his account of the Gallic War, writes of the bravery of his Gallic father.
11:44One Gaul stood in front of the gate, throwing tallow and pitch into the fire opposite one
11:49of our siege towers. He was pierced in the right side by an arrow from a catapult and
11:53fell dead. Another Gaul, standing nearby, stepped across the body and did the same job.
12:00When he too was killed in the same way, another man took his place, then a fourth. The post
12:06was not abandoned by the defenders until a fire had been put out, the enemy pushed back
12:11at every point, and the fighting brought to an end.
12:16After 27 days, Caesar's siege towers breached the Gallic defences and Avaricum was taken.
12:23The resupplied Roman army moved on to their next objective, Gagovia, Vercingetorix's capital.
12:31This time, however, there was to be no triumphal entry into the town, and the attempts to capture
12:36it would cost Caesar dear.
12:39Gagovia had been something of a setback for Caesar. He'd started off his campaign to put
12:45down the revolt very successfully at Avaricum, capturing that with a sensational siege, and
12:51he was probably attempting to do the same at Gagovia. Caesar ordered his soldiers to
12:56capture a hill that was adjacent to the main hillfort, and he claims that was all he intended
13:02them to do, but that they were so enthusiastic about capturing the first hill that they went
13:07on to try to capture the whole hillfort. Perhaps inevitably, with the troops that they had,
13:13they were repulsed by the Gauls, and Caesar lost a lot of men, a lot of his officers.
13:19Caesar's account seems to differ from the actions of his men, because his men seem to
13:22be quite happy to attack the city, but Caesar says that they are exceeding their remit and
13:28their orders in doing so, and Caesar, I think, is trying to get out of a defeat. He's trying
13:36to minimise his role in this defeat by claiming that the troops have exceeded his orders and
13:42fought on unfavourable ground against superior numbers, and so it's a get-out clause, essentially,
13:49his account seems to rub away at the reality of the events.
13:58Forced to retreat from Gagovia, Caesar marched to join the army of his comrade Labienus,
14:03who was fresh from his capture of Lutetia, modern-day Paris. This new combined force
14:10now began to march south towards the province, modern-day Provence, during the summer of
14:161552 BC. Vercingetorix, with an army of some 80,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry, now attempted
14:26to intercept and destroy Caesar in central Gaul. However, after an indecisive skirmish
14:33near the river Sone, Vercingetorix, in a move more consistent with his scorched earth policy,
14:39withdrew his forces into the hilltop fortress town of Alesia, believing that Caesar's pursuing
14:45troops would eventually run out of supplies. It was here that the siege, one of the most
14:52crucial of the Roman period, and the action that broke the back of the Gallic insurrection,
14:56was to be played out. The stronghold of Alesia lay on an oval-shaped,
15:02elevated plateau that rose some 150 metres above the surrounding valleys. It was just
15:08over 2 kilometres from east to west, and 800 metres in width. It was situated at the
15:15confluence of two small streams to its north and south, the Aux and the Aux-Rhin. To the
15:21west was a great plain, now called Plan de l'Homme, which was bisected by the river
15:27Bren. The position was overlooked on the northern, southern and eastern sides by a line of hills,
15:34which was about 1,600 metres from the plateau itself. It was here that Vercingetorix chose
15:41to establish what amounted to a last line of defence, and awaited the arrival of a relieving
15:46army. The city of Alesia was very well provisioned.
15:52It had enough corn for 30 days to feed Vercingetorix's army. It was also well watered. There were
15:58two rivers that ran either side of the citadel. By accepting siege there, Vercingetorix could
16:05feed his men for a month, but it also fixed Caesar and stopped him from foraging, and
16:11meant that Caesar was going to consume the local environment's food very quickly with
16:17his very large army. It increased Caesar's supply problems, having to besiege Vercingetorix
16:23there. And while he was doing that, of course, the Gauls were gathering a relief force to
16:28come and hopefully, from Vercingetorix's perspective, hammer Caesar while he was still
16:34trying to find food. Vercingetorix, seeing that the easternmost
16:38position of the plateau was weakest, built a two-metre defensive wall that ran between
16:43the Aux and the Auxerrain. The Roman army approached Alesia from the direction of Dijon,
16:51and Caesar set about reconnoitering the position to assess his options. Caesar decided that
16:57an assault on the position was out of the question, and as Vercingetorix had predicted,
17:02his Roman opponent decided to besiege the town.
17:21Taking position on the northern, southern and eastern hills, the Romans began to construct
17:40lines of circumvallation that were designed to surround Vercingetorix. Caesar writes...
17:51The siege works we were beginning to build formed a circuit of 11 miles. Camps were to
17:59be constructed at strategic points, along with 23 redoubts. Pickets were stationed in
18:05these at night to guard against any breakout from the town. At night, they were occupied
18:10by strong garrisons with sentries placed on watch.
18:14The siege lines that Caesar built, the physical defences, took advantage of the topography
18:21of the ground. Alesia itself, the hillfort itself, was situated on a diamond-shaped plateau,
18:28protected on two sides by rivers. He made use of the contours of the terrain to ensure
18:34that the line of siege works completely encircled Alesia, but without putting any of his defences
18:42under particular danger. Caesar's men began by digging a deep ditch on the plain to hamper
18:50attacks from Vercingetorix's cavalry. Two more trenches were dug in front of a four-metre
18:55high earth rampart. On top of the rampart was a wooden palisade, and along the rampart,
19:03towers were placed every 25 metres. In addition to that, there were seven camps and 23 redoubts
19:11that were all garrisoned to provide bases for the various legions. In front of the trenches,
19:17Caesar had his men build lines of booby traps. First, the galls were to come up against the
19:22sharpened stakes fastened into the ground, which Caesar's soldiers called tombstones.
19:29Behind these were what they called lilies, pits with sharpened stakes placed in them,
19:34then covered in brushwood and leaves, a deadly trap for any attacker. The whole system of
19:41defence was designed to slow down the Gallic warriors, making them choice targets for the
19:46Roman soldiers on the ramparts. These elaborate defences afforded Caesar's men great mobility,
19:54which made communicating with the different camps far easier than if they had been in
20:01open ground. However, Caesar's siege works differed from previous sieges in one crucial
20:09aspect, which meant that this was not going to be a repeat of Avaricum.
20:23The way that Caesar besieged Alesia was unusual, not just for Caesar's sieges, but for Roman
20:42siege warfare more generally. Alesia was a passive siege. Caesar's aim was simply to
20:49blockade Alesia and force the defenders into starvation. He was not going to attempt to
20:54take the hillfort by assault. That's unusual. The majority of Roman sieges combined both
21:01holding up the defenders through circumvallation, combined with attempts at assault.
21:08From within the walls of the fortress, the cunghetrix watched as work on the lines began,
21:14and he decided once more to try and seize the initiative by sending out his cavalry,
21:19who advanced onto the western plain outside Alesia to make a lightning attack.
21:26The fighting was savage and bloody, but the Gauls were eventually beaten back. Most fled
21:33towards the town, pursued by the Roman forces, and the cunghetrix was forced to order the
21:38closing of the gates in the town wall. As they slammed shut, those Gauls left outside
21:46were abandoned to their fate.
21:50It was now that Vercingetorix decided to send away his entire cavalry, with orders to recruit
21:56warriors from all of the rebellious Gallic tribes, and to march them to the aid of his
22:01besieged army, an army of 80,000 that had supplies for only 30 days.
22:08Caesar had got some way with his line of circumvallation. Vercingetorix sent away his cavalry. He really
22:17had no choice in doing this, because he couldn't afford to feed them. Horses eat an enormous
22:23amount of supplies, and he needed those supplies for his soldiers, his infantry. Once the circumvallation
22:30was complete, there probably wouldn't have been a great deal of room for manoeuvre for
22:34the cavalry in the enclosed spaces. So they were probably much better off being sent out
22:39to gather the relieving army, to join up with the relieving army, and to harry any foraging
22:45parties.
22:47Caesar soon became aware of the Gallic plan, and was suddenly forced to contemplate the
22:51prospect of a combined attack by two armies. His response during the late summer of 52
22:58BC was to order the construction of some of the most extensive and extraordinary siege
23:03works in the history of warfare.
23:07The circumvallation was the first line of defences that Caesar built. Now they were
23:12designed to encircle Alesia and keep Vercingetorix and the Gallic army in Alesia penned in. He
23:20then decided to build a line of contravallation. That was an identical set of defences, but
23:27this time facing outwards into the general countryside. That was to protect the Roman
23:33army against the expected Gallic relieving army, so that when the Gallic relieving army
23:39arrived we'd kind of have a sandwich of sieges with the Gauls being besieged in Alesia, and
23:46then Caesar's army both besieging and being besieged within their own fortifications.
23:54This second defensive line was over 20 kilometres in circumference, and may have taken a month
23:59to construct. Not only was the building of a second line of defences a major undertaking,
24:06but it must have struck a huge psychological blow to the Gallic force shut up inside the
24:11walls of the town.
24:13The whole complex of siege works that Caesar has put round Alesia have a primary function
24:19of intimidation. They intimidate both the relieving force and also the besieged, and
24:25dissuade them from attempting to attack this, and just shows off the sophistication of the
24:30Roman army at its peak.
24:34As the weeks wore on, the position of the Gallic defenders within the town of Alesia
24:38grew more and more desperate. With food supplies running dangerously low, Vercingetorix called
24:45the council of his chieftains to consider their options.
24:50It was decided to lessen the number of hungry marauders at Alesia by offering the young
24:55and old to the Romans as slaves. However, when these non-combatants presented themselves
25:00at the Roman lines, Caesar refused to accept them, and they were driven back inside. Trapped
25:08between the opposing armies, they eventually starved to death.
25:15In early October, however, it appeared that salvation was finally at hand. One can only
25:20imagine the delight of the starving defenders of Alesia to see the arrival of an enormous
25:25Gallic army, an army thought to number over a quarter of a million warriors.
25:32When the relief force arrived, I think that the second stage of Vercingetorix's strategy
25:36came into play, and that was to try to sandwich Caesar's besieging force between the large
25:43relieving army that had gathered and Vercingetorix's own force in Alesia.
25:51With the arrival of the relief army, the battle that would either crush the Gallic rebellion
25:56or scatter the Roman legions was about to begin. Caesar's account tells us that the
26:02combined Gallic armies hugely outnumbered his own force, for despite sending away his
26:08cavalry, Vercingetorix still commanded 80,000 men. The relieving army totaled an incredible
26:15250,000 troops, meaning that some 330,000 men were massed against Caesar's army of
26:23just 65. It was obvious that the leadership skills of the opposing commanders were going
26:30to be crucial to the outcome of the battle. These were two very different armies, equipped
26:36with different weapons, employing different strategies, and commanded by two very different
26:41leaders.
26:44Caesar's always regarded as one of the great military commanders of the whole ancient world,
26:48and in many respects that must be true. He was extraordinarily successful. He was a bold
26:56commander. He was a commander who was willing to take risks, sometimes considerable risks.
27:00He himself was a sound tactician. He knew what his aims were in both the overall campaign
27:07and in individual battles, and he had the field skills to bring success on most occasions.
27:25Rather less is known about Vercingetorix, and what information there is, comes from
27:33Caesar himself.
27:54Caesar recognises that Vercingetorix has very good military judgment, has sound sense. Vercingetorix
28:00is able to adopt a number of Roman techniques in warfare. He's able to make his Gallic forces
28:06encamp for the first time, it says Caesar, that the Gauls actually encamped in a semi-Roman
28:10fashion. He also adopts logistic warfare, which is what Caesar had been very effectively
28:15using, particularly in the early part of his conquests. Now it's turned against him by
28:20Vercingetorix and his men.
28:25Vercingetorix had been very successful in his uniting of the tribes and averting internal
28:30power struggles. His coalition of warrior tribes was certainly very different from the
28:36organised professional legions under Caesar's command. Vercingetorix raised an army from
28:42all of the different tribes in Gaul, and each of these tribes was ordered to provide a set
28:47number of soldiers. Some of those would be hardened warriors, aristocrats for whom fighting
28:52was a way of life. They were experienced warriors who had probably fought against the
28:57Romans before. However, many of the soldiers were also peasants, who were not professional
29:03soldiers, but who were swept up in this revolt to provide manpower for the army. While a
29:09warrior tradition existed amongst the tribes, this culture was based on very different principles
29:15from the Roman army.
29:17The Gauls, in terms of the way that they fought, were individualists. They were very, very
29:24concerned and almost obsessed with prestige and with prowess and demonstrating prowess,
29:30not to the enemy so much as to their peers. And so they were inclined to acts of bravado
29:36and individual glory and heroism on the battlefield. They very much had a heroic culture. And therefore,
29:43when it came to fighting, they were very, very individualistic and very, very gung-ho
29:48in a way. The various tribal leaders are competing against each other for the place of honor
29:52on the battlefield and for, you know, any slight of honor they will contest. And it
29:58makes it very difficult to control an army like this, and Vercingetorix does very well.
30:04Caesar's army, however, was a professional standing army whose trade was warfare, recruited
30:09and administered by Rome. Roman soldiers served for long periods within the highly
30:14structured military order. The majority of the troops were legionaries recruited from
30:20the Roman population, and the remainder were non-Romans who would sign treaties or agreements
30:25with Rome, and fought alongside the Roman legions as scouts, skirmishers with slingshots
30:30and bowmen. These units retained their own fighting techniques and leaders, and often
30:36proved very offensive. The two opposing sides were also separated by their weaponry.
31:06Many of the wealthy Gauls, many of the Gallic warriors were probably equipped in a way quite
31:17similar to ordinary Roman legionaries, with a shirt of male armor, a helmet probably very
31:24similar in design to the Roman helmets, again a large shield and a long slashing sword which
31:31suited the individual style of the Gallic warrior. That's the warrior, he's very well
31:36equipped, but the majority of Gallic peasants would probably have turned up with perhaps
31:43a spear and a shield, they wouldn't have had body armor, they probably wouldn't have had
31:50helmets. Roman legionaries were very well equipped. Most of them would have had a male
31:55shirt made of iron rings, which provided a very good defence, particularly against the
31:59large slashing swords that the Gauls used. They were a bronze or iron helmet, with additional
32:05neck and cheek guards to protect the head, and carried a large scutum or shield, a gladius,
32:12the short sword, a pudio, a small dagger, and pilum, the javelin. Many of these weapons
32:19were found during the various archaeological digs that have taken place at the Alesia site.
32:25We have found many weapons at the Alesia, and it's even the largest collection of weapons
32:31of this era that we have today in the world. These weapons were found in three stages.
32:37The first stage is the digs of the Second Empire, that is, 1861-1865. At that time, we collected
32:45in the ditches, because we opened them over long distances, weapons in quite large numbers,
32:52such as Celtic swords, Celtic shields, but also Germanic, Celtic helmets,
33:02many Roman jet weapons, that is, pilum points, Celtic and Roman arrowheads,
33:11Roman catapult traits, Roman front bullets, etc., etc. So a lot, a lot of material.
33:20So a lot of amazing stuff was found on the other side of the battle,
33:24amongst this helmet, for instance, which is a Gallic helmet from a horseman.
33:31You can see here a shot, that is an old one. We have also a lot of swords. This one is Gallic,
33:41and it was carried by the people on horses during the final battle.
33:50The huge relief force, made up of warriors from 43 tribes, encamped on a hill a mile outside the
33:58Roman outer lines. Perhaps the greatest strength of this force was its cavalry.
34:04These formidable horsemen fought with large spears and used long swords against the foot soldiers.
34:12The first large battle involving the relieving army took place on the plain to the west of
34:17Alesia. It was a brutal and bloody affair and typified the savagery of battle in the ancient
34:23world. As the ferocious fighting took its toll, things began to look bleak for the Roman army.
34:30But Caesar's loyal German cavalry gathered itself for a desperate final rally and somehow fought
34:36off the larger Gallic force, driving them back to their own lines. Seeing the carnage before them,
34:43and realizing that the relieving force was not about to carry the day,
34:47the defenders of Alesia retired into the town. Despite the terrible bloodshed and heavy losses,
34:53the first attempt to relieve Alesia had failed. But after a day's rest,
34:59the Gauls were ready to try again, only this time under the cloak of darkness.
35:06It's clear that Caesar's superiority in cavalry, even though the Gauls were about much larger
35:12numbers of cavalry, clearly are very important to him in this battle. Caesar is able to rout the
35:19Gallic cavalry in the relieving force in a very large battle that is fought in the plain in front
35:25of the city. And this breaks the morale, to a certain extent, of the Gauls themselves. And
35:32they have to resort to a knight attack in order to try and break through the defences.
35:37Knight engagements were comparatively rare in the battles of the ancient world.
35:42But now both the relieving army and Vercingetorix's force inside the town
35:47made a concerted and coordinated attack under the cover of darkness. Armed with grappling
35:53hooks and ladders, and fuelled with fierce determination, the Gallic attackers simply
35:58hurled themselves at the fortifications. Those who managed to clear the obstacles
36:03were met with a barrage of Roman missiles. Javelins, slingshots, arrows and artillery
36:09rained down on the attacking forces. The result was confusion and the attacks floundered.
36:16Many Gauls died in the deadly trenches and pits that protected Caesar's lines.
36:21The relieving army actually was in danger of being outflanked and so had to withdraw entirely,
36:27and at that point Vercingetorix also withdrew. I think the Gauls had not carried out proper
36:32intelligence. I think they were attempting simply to swamp the Roman siege lines with numbers.
36:39They hadn't worked out where the vulnerable spots were in the Roman lines, and they weren't going to
36:44make that mistake again. They made sure next time that they'd done their intelligence work.
36:49So the Gallic armies had been beaten twice, and had sustained terrible losses during their
36:54attacks on Caesar's positions. The Roman siege works were proving to be virtually impregnable.
37:02The increasingly desperate Gauls now sent out scouts to assess the strength of Caesar's
37:07entire defences. They discovered that at one point, to the north-west of Alesia,
37:13close to the Ose river, at an elevation known as Mount Re, the Roman circumvallation was not
37:20quite complete. So a special force of 60,000 men, moving again under the cover of darkness,
37:28made their way around to the north of the Mount Re heights and lay in wait.
37:33The following day saw the most coordinated of all the Gallic attacks at Alesia.
37:38The 60,000 troops, commanded by Vercas of Alornas, fell upon the Roman camp near Mount Re,
37:45while the relieving Gallic army moved against the entrenchments and encampments on the western
37:49plain, and Vercingetorix's army at last attacked the fortifications beyond the six-metre trench.
37:56Caesar now had to confront three large attacking forces at different points in his defences.
38:02A major attack on the camp near Mount Re was helped by the fact that the Gauls were on higher
38:07ground and could fire down on the defenders. And by the afternoon, the sheer weight of numbers
38:13began to tell, and the camp was in danger of being overrun. Meanwhile on the plain,
38:20wave after wave of Gallic troops attacked the siege walls, scaling the defences by scrambling
38:26up huge mounds of earth that they had pushed against them. Once again, the Gauls came up
38:32against the Roman slingers and heavy siege spears, which took a terrible toll.
38:39However, the Gauls succeeded in pinning down the Romans, leaving Caesar with a stark and
38:45Leaving Caesar with a stark and simple choice. He could retreat further behind his defences,
38:51or try to regain the initiative by breaking clear and attacking.
38:57Caesar chose to attack. He ordered Labienus, his senior lieutenant, to take a legion with him to
39:03relieve the camp at Mount Re, while he himself set about repelling the attack on the plain.
39:10Caesar's renewed effort on the plain succeeded in beating back the Gallic attack.
39:15Gathering further reserves and his largely German cavalry force around him,
39:19he then hurried off to the encampment in the north.
39:25Caesar himself was prominent during the fighting, and made sure he was highly visible by wearing
39:30his scarlet cloak. It was he who personally rallied his exhausted troops at critical and
39:36dangerous moments in the battle. But it was the sudden appearance of the Roman cavalry to the
39:42rear of the Gallic positions that provided the defining moment of the bitter struggle.
39:48With their sudden and unexpected arrival, the Gallic army was at once seized by panic,
39:53and within moments they were in retreat, a retreat that soon became an act.
39:59There was, as so often in battles during ancient times, a terrible slaughter of the fleeing soldiers.
40:06Caesar's view is that his arrival turns the tide of the battle. His infantry are able to repulse
40:13the Gauls. They start fleeing, and he then sends in his cavalry, and they simply cut down the fleeing
40:19Gauls. And not only is that the turn of the tide in terms of that particular attack, it's also the
40:26turn of the entire siege. That's the hinge point, and that's the final concerted attempt that the
40:32Gauls make to relieve Vercingetorix and Alesia.
41:02Seeing that the relief force had been completely defeated,
41:11Vercingetorix had little choice but to recall his forces to the town.
41:17Leaving his fate to his fellow warriors, it was decided that he should surrender himself to the
41:22Romans. So it was that Vercingetorix, the man who had united the Gallic tribes against the
41:29mighty Roman war machine, who had tried all he knew to win victory but had failed, rode out of
41:36the fort and, laying down his sword, presented himself to Caesar. By being in a static position,
41:44a besieged position, he's lost the initiative. He's put himself in a reactive position, and he's
41:49pinning his hopes on the actions of the relief army. If the relief army fails, then he fails.
41:54And, of course, when the relief army is defeated, he has no option but to surrender.
42:00Vercingetorix was taken back to Rome by Caesar as a prize, a sad symbol of the Gallic defeat.
42:08Those that survived the slaughter were distributed to the soldiers of the Roman army as slaves,
42:13one prisoner to every Roman soldier. The most unified force to take part in the Gallic revolt
42:21was defeated.
42:25Caesar's victory at Alesia had crushed the most effective force to oppose Roman domination of the
42:31region. For Caesar, the victor, political glory beckoned. For Vercingetorix, the vanquished,
42:41there was only six years of misery in a Roman prison before he was paraded as part of Caesar's
42:47triumph in 46 BC, and then ritually strangled.
43:17In terms of the history of siege warfare, Alesia is important because of the scale of it. It's
43:45unusual for a siege to be conducted on such a huge scale with so many miles of siege works
43:51constructed. It's also important because it's unusual as a passive siege where blockade is
43:57the principal intent rather than assault. Perhaps most important because we have an
44:04eyewitness account, something that's quite rare from the ancient world. Okay, it's a very biased
44:11account, but it's the account of one of the leaders of one of the armies involved, and for
44:16that reason alone, Alesia is an important episode. One thing, though, is certain. The siege of Alesia
44:24has found a place at the heart of French culture.
44:41Vercingetorix has become a French hero in the same way as Joan of Arc.
44:52The siege, and his image, have been used as a rallying cry for the nation.
45:11And in this context, Alesia has obviously served as a symbol, a symbol of defeat, a symbol of
45:33resistance, a symbol of everything that Gaul and France, assimilated to Gaul, would suffer
45:45for decades. So the figure of Vercingetorix has been very strongly sought after at that time.
45:53We can already see, before the defeat of Sedan, but even more so after the defeat of Sedan,
45:59the multiplication of the statues, the multiplication of the works of art, the multiplication of the
46:04representations of the re-edition of Vercingetorix, and also the multiplication of the myth that calls
46:09for resistance. Caesar's victory at Alesia is still one of the most remarkable feats in military
46:17history. The Roman army that had begun as a besieger had itself been besieged, and by an army
46:24outnumbering it by more than three to one. Not only this, it had defeated a second force at least
46:31equal to itself. It had, by any standards, been a triumph. It was siege warfare, prosecuted with
46:41the highest degree of skill, discipline, and determination.
47:11you