Forgive me, freres et soeurs, but I was doing some work on my website on this article and was struck - as I am always struck - by what an extraordinary campaign Alesia was. It not only broke the back of the Gallic confederation but has to stand as one of the most extraordinary battles ever fought - on two fronts at once!

What I suppose I do not, and never will understand, is how Vercingetorix, in so many ways a very smart general, allowed himself to be pinned inside a bottle as he did in Alesia. Just look at some of the pictures on the article, including the one showing Alesia's mount in the distance. He couldn't have been unaware of Caesar's war machine and his siege techniques - he'd already proved them beforehand!?

Caesar's own description (Book VII, start at Chapter 68)

The Siege of Alesia

Article from the Livius website on Alesia