Julius Caesar’s Triumph in Gaul

By Adrian Goldsworthy | MHQ  | one comment  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

Avaricum was spared after its population begged to be allowed to defend it, confident in its strategic position and the strength of its walls. Caesar’s eight understrength legions—probably some twenty-five to thirty thousand men plus a few thousand auxiliaries—settled down to besiege the town, beginning work on a massive assault ramp they would use to bring a battering ram up against the wall.

Avaricum owed much of its prosperity to nearby iron mines, and the miners among the population began tunneling in an effort to collapse the Roman ramp. Other defenders launched sallies to burn it. Caesar tells of how one Gaul stood on the wall, hurling lumps of tallow and other combustible material down onto the ramp. A bolt fired from one of the immensely powerful, highly accurate Roman torsion catapults killed him. Another Gaul took his place, and then another and another, as fresh bolts shot down each in turn. This brave, almost suicidal effort continued until the sortie was repulsed.

The fighting was bitter, but Caesar’s bigger problem was the desperate shortage of supplies. He had sent repeated requests to the Aedui, asking them to provide him with grain, but virtually nothing had arrived. The Boii had shown more willingness to comply but lacked the resources to satisfy the army’s demands on their own. Vercingetorix remained nearby, harrying the Roman foraging parties but refusing to fight except from positions too strong for Caesar to attack.

There were still some cattle available, and for a while the legionaries had to subsist on a minimal ration of meat alone rather than their normal balanced diet. Caesar constantly toured the siege works, encouraging his men and even offering to withdraw if they felt that the shortages had become too severe. Their pride stung, the legionaries supposedly told their officers to tell the general that they could cope with any privations.

In twenty-five days, the ramp was nearing completion. The Gallic mine failed to bring the structure down, and the Romans blocked a subsequent attempt by the defenders to break out and escape. The ramp was finished on the twenty-seventh day, and Caesar ordered an immediate attack, believing that the heavy rain then falling would only add to the element of surprise. Storming a fortified position was always a dangerous enterprise, but in this case, the legionaries were in an especially grim mood. Reportedly: “Remembering the massacre at Cenabum and the labors of the siege, they did not spare the elderly, the women, and the infants. In the end from the whole number—about 40,000 people—little more than 800 who had fled the town at the first shout escaped to join Vercingetorix.”

The Romans would not have condemned Caesar if he had ordered this savagery to frighten other towns into immediate surrender, so it seems reasonable to believe that it was a spontaneous outburst from the troops. Normally the Romans took prisoners, since all would share in the profits from their sale as slaves.

As there was enough grain stored in Avaricum to meet the army’s immediate needs, the soldiers were given a few days’ rest to recover, and to allow the two legions and the baggage train to rejoin the main force. Spring had arrived, offering more opportunity to forage, and Caesar’s instinct was to press his advantage and continue the counterattack against Vercingetorix. An internal dispute among the Aedui threatened to split the tribe, however, and he was forced to ride to their lands to resolve it.

The lull gave the Gallic leader time to recover, while the failure of Avaricum to hold out helped convince his followers of the wisdom of avoiding direct fighting with the Romans. When Caesar returned he divided his army, sending four legions under his ablest subordinate, Titus Labienus, north to harass the tribes in the area of what is now Paris.

The proconsul himself took the remaining six legions and led them into the lands of the Arverni. Vercingetorix hovered nearby, sticking to his plan to harass the enemy but avoid battle. A deception plan sent the Gauls marching in the wrong direction and allowed Caesar to cross the Allier River and close the distance with the enemy. Vercingetorix immediately drew away, retiring to camp outside the hilltop town of Gergovia. He held a strong position and Caesar did not have the forces or supplies to mount a concerted siege. Withdrawing with the enemy so close would inevitably be dangerous, however, and even worse would involve a huge loss of prestige that would encourage more tribes to join the rebels.

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Tags: Ancient-Medieval, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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