preview

The Battle Of Alesia On The Roman Republic

Decent Essays

My essay is about the Battle of Alesia that took place in 52 BC, by the Roman dictator Julius Caesar. Rome went to war with the Gallic tribes from 58 BC to 50 BC, these wars ended with the win in Alesia in 52 BC. The Romans had a lot of victories and that made the Roman Republic expand over all of Gaul. This battle win in Alesia made Julius Caesar head ruler of the Roman Republic.
The background of the battle started in 54-53 BC when the Carnutes killed the pro-Roman ruler Tasgetius. After that incident Caesar sent some troops to Gaul to get rid of any possible threats. After sending his troops there they were attacked and after getting ambushed they were then defeated. Caesar lost a quarter of his troops, he tried to get help from Rome …show more content…

To create a good defense, Caesar had his men make a set of fortifications around Alesia. It was about 18 kilometers round. It did not take long to build these walls they were set up by two four and a half meter wide ditches and they were four and a half meters deep. There was one ditch close to the wall and they filled it with water and set up traps. By the ditches the Romans had watch towers filled with ammunition. Vercingetorix 's cavalry often attacked the construction sites trying to prevent full enclosure. The Roman troops fought back and kept them away. Because it was taking long, some of the Gallic troops managed to escape from areas that were not finished. Caesar was not happy with just the one wall and wanted more protection so he had the men build another one. He had it pointing outward in order to surround his army. The second wall was the same as the first and it was able to include four troops of men. These walls were put in place to help protect the Roman troops from the Gallic troops, who were strong and determined to win the Romans.
At the time, living in Alesia was very bad. With about 80,000 soldiers and the civilian population there were too many people that were inside the country for the tiny amount of food that they had. The Gauls decided to get rid of the children and the women from the city to save the remaining food for the warriors. The Gauls were hoping that Caesar would allow the women and children an opening to let them go. Caesar did

Get Access