Vercingetorix

Biography

Vercingetorix was perhaps the only Gallic leader who truly understood what Caesar was doing and possessed both the political skill and military talent to stop him — almost. The son of an Arvernian nobleman who had been executed for aspiring to kingship, he was perhaps 20 years old when the revolt of 52 BC began, and he achieved in weeks what no Gallic leader had managed in six years: the unification of nearly all Gallic tribes into a single military command under his personal leadership. His strategic vision was the opposite of the Gallic tradition of individual tribal pride and pitched battle. He adopted scorched earth — ordering towns burned before Caesar could provision from them, positioning his cavalry to harass Roman supply lines, and refusing the set-piece battles where Roman discipline was decisive. At Gergovia he turned Caesar's own tactics against him and inflicted the only significant Roman defeat of the entire war. Had the Bituriges obeyed his order to burn Avaricum, Caesar might have been starved back to the Roman province. Alesia was the trap that closed on him. Forced into the oppidum by the cavalry defeat in the plains, he called the whole of Gaul to his relief — a coalition army possibly 250,000 strong — and coordinated a simultaneous assault from inside and outside. For three days the plan nearly worked. On the final assault, the outer Roman line broke under the pressure of the attack led by his cousin Vercassivellaunus. Caesar personally led the reserve that plugged the breach. Vercingetorix dressed in his finest armor, rode down from Alesia, and threw his weapons at Caesar's feet. Caesar kept him as a prize for six years, then displayed him in chains in his Gallic triumph in Rome in 46 BC, and had him strangled in the Tullianum prison. He was perhaps 26 years old when he surrendered; he died at approximately 26 years in Roman captivity.

Key Battles