April–May 52 BC · Arverni territory (near Clermont-Ferrand) Theater
April–May 52 BC
Gergovia was the capital of the Arverni and Vercingetorix's personal heartland — a great oppidum perched on a volcanic plateau nearly 750 meters above the plain, its steep slopes defended by a chain of camps. Caesar invested it with his six legions but faced an impossible position: the Gauls held the high ground, were being fed from behind, and Vercingetorix's army camped on the plateau above. The Aedui, Caesar's most important Gallic ally, defected in the middle of the siege. In a rash assault intended as a limited operation to seize some lower defenses, the legionaries — contrary to Caesar's orders — charged directly up the steep main slope toward the oppidum walls. They were met by a hailstorm of missiles and driven back downhill in disorder, losing 46 centurions and 700 men in the retreat. Caesar called it a retrograde movement; his soldiers called it a defeat. He raised the siege and marched north to reunite his forces.
Commanders