Vercingetorix was a chieftain of the Arverni tribe; he united the Gauls in a revolt against
Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars.
Vercingetorix came to power in 52 BC: he raised an army and was proclaimed king at Gergovia.
He immediately established an alliance with other Gallic tribes, took command and combined
all forces, and led them in Gaul's most significant revolt against Roman power. He won the Battle
of Gergovia, in which 46 centurions and 700 legionaries died and more than 6,000 people
were injured, whereupon Caesar's Roman legions withdrew.
However, a few months later, in the Battle of Alesia, the Romans besieged and defeated
his forces and captured him. He was held prisoner for five years. In 46 BC, as part of Caesar's
triumph, Vercingetorix was paraded through the streets of Rome and then executed. Vercingetorix
is primarily known through Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War.
Name The generally accepted view is that Vercingetorix
derives from the Gaulish ver-, cingeto-, and rix, thus literally either "great warrior
king" or "king of great warriors". In his Life of Caesar, Plutarch renders the name
as Vergentorix. History
Having been appointed governor of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis in 58 BC, Julius
Caesar proceeded to conquer the Gallic tribes beyond over the next few years, maintaining
control through a careful divide and rule strategy. He made use of the factionalism
among the Gallic elites, favoring certain noblemen over others with political support
and Roman luxuries such as wine. Attempts at revolt, such as that of Ambiorix in 54
BC, had secured only local support, but Vercingetorix, whose father, Celtillus, had been put to death
by his own countrymen for seeking to rule all of Gaul, managed to unify the Gallic tribes
against the Romans and adopted more current styles of warfare.
The revolt that Vercingetorix came to lead began in early 52 BC while Caesar was raising
troops in Cisalpine Gaul. Believing that Caesar would be distracted by the turmoil in Rome
following the death of Publius Clodius Pulcher, the Carnutes, under Cotuatus and Conetodunus,
made the first move, slaughtering the Romans who had settled in their territory.
Vercingetorix, a young nobleman of the Arvernian city of Gergovia, roused his dependents to
join the revolt, but he and his followers were expelled by the nobles of the city, including
Vercingetorix's uncle Gobanitio, because they thought opposing Caesar was too great a risk.
Undeterred, Vercingetorix raised an army of the poor, took Gergovia and was hailed as
king. He made alliances with other tribes, and having been unanimously given supreme
command of their armies, imposed his authority through harsh discipline and the taking of
hostages. He adopted the policy of retreating to natural fortifications, and undertook an
early example of a scorched earth strategy by burning towns to prevent the Roman legions
from living off the land. Vercingetorix scorched much of the land marching
north with his army from Gergovia in an attempt to deprive Caesar of the resources and safe
haven of the towns and villages along Caesar's march south. However, the capital of the Bituriges,
Avaricum, a Gallic settlement straight in Caesar's path, was spared. Due to the town's
strong protests, naturally defendable terrain, and apparently strong man-made reinforcing
defenses, Vercingetorix decided against razing and burning it. Leaving the town to its fate,
Vercingetorix camped well outside of Avaricum and focused on conducting harassing engagements
of the advancing Roman units led by Caesar and his chief lieutenant Titus Labienus. Upon
reaching Avaricum however, the Romans laid siege and eventually captured the capital.
Afterwards, in a contemptuous reprisal for 25 days of hunger and of laboring over the
siegeworks required to breach Avaricum's defenses, the Romans slaughtered nearly the entire population
of ~40,000 leaving only ~800 alive. The next major battle was at Gergovia, where Vercingetorix
tactically defeated Caesar, inflicting heavy losses. However, the victory cost Vercingetorix
many men, including many noblemen. Because of these losses he retreated and moved to
another stronghold, Alesia. Battle Of Alesia
In the Battle of Alesia, Caesar built a fortification around the city to besiege it. However, Caesar's
army was surrounded by the rest of Gaul, and Vercingetorix had summoned his Gallic allies
to attack the besieging Romans, so Caesar built another outer fortification against
the expected relief armies. The relief came in insufficient numbers: estimates range from
80,000 to 250,000 soldiers. Vercingetorix, the tactical leader, was cut off from them
on the inside, and without his guidance the attacks were initially unsuccessful. However,
the attacks did reveal a weak point in the fortifications and the combined forces on
the inside and the outside almost made a breakthrough. Only when Caesar personally led the last reserves
into battle did he finally manage to prevail. This was a decisive battle in the creation
of the Roman Empire. According to Plutarch, Vercingetorix surrendered
in dramatic fashion, riding his beautifully adorned horse out of Alesia and around Caesar's
camp before dismounting in front of Caesar, stripping himself of his armor and sitting
down at his opponent's feet, where he remained motionless until he was taken away. Caesar
provides a first-hand contradiction of this account, describing Vercingetorix's surrender
much more modestly. He was imprisoned in the Tullianum in Rome for five years, before being
publicly displayed in Caesar's triumph in 46 BC. He was executed after the triumph,
probably by strangulation in his prison, as ancient custom would have it.
Memorials
Napoleon III erected a seven-meter-tall statue of Vercingétorix in 1865, created by the
sculptor Aimé Millet, on the supposed site of Alesia. The architect for the memorial
was Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The impressive statue still stands. The inscription on the
base, written by Viollet-le-Duc, copied by the famous statement of Julius Caesar, reads:
La Gaule unie Formant une seule nation
Animée d'un même esprit, Peut défier l'Univers.
Gaul united, Forming a single nation
Animated by a common spirit, Can defy the Universe.
Many other monumental statues of Vercingetorix were erected in France during the 19th century,
including one by Bartholdi on the Place de Jaude in Clermont-Ferrand.
See also Vercingetorix in popular culture
Viriathus Notes
References Primary sources
Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico Book 7
Dio Cassius, Roman History 40:33-41, 43:19 Plutarch, Life of Caesar 25-27
External links A reconstructed portrait of Vercingetorix,
based on historical sources, in a contemporary style.
Curchin, Leonard A. Lingua Gallica. Retrieved January 23, 2010 from Uwaterloo.ca
Paul Marius Martin, Vercingétorix : le politique, le stratège. Paris : Perrin, 2000, 260 p. ISBN
2-262-01691-7.