Making of Greatness: Julius Caesar

Caesar's most important battle

You’re a betting man. On one side of the ring, stands Vercingetorix, a Gallic king who has, for the first time in history, united the feuding tribes of Gaul into a disciplined, cohesive army. He is under siege—yes—but he has every advantage in his favour. He outnumbers his opponent nearly two to one. He has the high ground, strong stone walls, and around three times the cavalry, which are also better trained and more maneuverable. Reinforcements three times the size of his current army are en route to break the siege. The only problem: his opponent is Julius Caesar. So, who are you betting on?

To give a bit of context, for nearly a decade, Julius Caesar had been tightening his grip on Gaul, extending the borders of the Roman Republic further and further north. He had allied himself with certain tribes, used them to subdue others, and rinse and repeat. A similar strategy that Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés would employ against the Aztec tribes more than a millennium later. In 53 BC, Caesar declared Gaul a Roman province, subject to Roman law and—critically—Roman religion. This caused concern about Roman expansion to rise to a boiling point, and the day came that the Romans had long feared; the Gallic religion was now at stake. 

These were not Christians, meek souls pining for deliverance in the next life, ready to flee for some Promised Land across the sea. The Celts were tough, if times were bad, they would slice the nipples off of their King, and cut him in half. (If you’re intrigued by the nipple cutting, the justification was that in Celtic culture, sucking the nipples of the King was a gesture of submission, and by cutting them off, the King was officially dethroned.) 

These were not the Christian men of France a millennium later. Facing religious persecution, they would not take a boat over to Quebec, or like the English, take the Mayflower over to New England. The threat against their religion was the Schelling point the Gauls needed to finally unite. Over the winter of 52 BC, Vercingetorix, a charismatic King, assembled an unprecedented alliance of Gauls. Caesar was in Rome at the time, and promptly marched to meet him. Vercingetorix, knowing Caesar would be on the offensive, maximized his chances of victory by withdrawing to the small walled town of Alesia, and it was there that Caesar met him, and began the siege. After years of battling Gallic tribes, Caesar knew this was the battle he would be remembered for. He put everything on the line, for this would either end the Gallic wars, or potentially Caesar's life.

Now we return to the scene of the battle. Caesar’s besiegement was already an unorthodox move. Vercingetorix had more men, and the high ground, yet Caesar was putting him under siege. If Caesar tried to attack him, he would be cut to pieces. Also, Caesar was deep in enemy territory, so reinforcements could come at a moment’s notice, smashing his host against the walls of the town like Tywin Lannister did to Stannis outside the Red Keep. Vercingetorix made the right move again, and called for reinforcements to perform this exact pincer move. You can see how Vercingetorix has made all of the right decisions so far. ¹

This should be an easy bet, how can Caesar possibly win?

Caesar, aware of the vulnerability of his situation, began building. He began by constructing a set of inward-facing walls, 11 miles in length. This encircled the fort, cutting off any means of escape for Vercingetorix. Of course, Vercingetorix tried to harass the builders by sending out cavalry, but these were easily repulsed. 

The walls weren’t just thrown together either. They were two stories tall, equipped with ladders, watchtowers, mantraps, ditches, and anti-cavalry spiked barriers. Caesar at this point became aware of a massive Gallic army on its way, around 250,000 strong. Up until now, Caesar this had been a pretty standard siege. The walls were exceptional, but the general plan would not stand out in the history books. What happened next is where you see the genius of Caesar. If Caesar broke the siege and attacked the incoming army, then Vercingetorix would attack his flank, but if he continued the siege, then 250,000 men would attack his flank. Either way he would be encircled. Most generals would retreat, and try to fight in more favourable circumstances. Caesar is not most generals. What he did was absolutely ridiculous, and is one of the craziest things a general has done in military warfare. ²

He built another wall.

He constructed a set of walls facing outward, and this time the line was followed by two four-and-a-half metre wide ditches, which were four-and-a-half metres deep. The farthest from the fortification was filled with water from the surrounding rivers. He left a wide enough gap between the walls to hold his entire army, (around 45,000 men) and he accomplished all of this in just a few weeks. Feats like this are where the Romans became famous for their engineering skills. 

Just ridiculous

Are you starting to see the genius of Caesar? He could have attacked the reinforcements, or attacked Vercingetorix, or simply could’ve retreated. And we know neither of these three options would have resulted in victory. So Caesar made a fourth option. Now, he doesn’t need to attack Vercingetorix, he could starve him out until Vercingetorix had to assault Caesar’s fortified position. Now, Caesar didn’t need to attack the reinforcements on neutral ground. Let them come to him and attack his well-defended position. Vercingetorix may have done everything right, but Caesar has masterfully minimized every advantage he created.

So the reinforcements arrive. And they are huge. Caesar is outnumbered more than three to one.  On the very first day, the Gallic armies attacked. They placed their heavy calvary in front, with their archers behind. They began the advance on the wall. Caesar sent out his own calvary to meet the enemy. Intense calvary-on-calvary fighting took place all day. The two forces went back and forth, until Caesar’s calvary then regrouped, and charged down the hillside, finally routing them. This time they reached the lines of the archers, and massacred them. Somehow Caesar was able to hold the superior Gallic army off for a day. Both sides retired for the night.

The 2nd day passed in tense quiet, but that night, a focused surprise attack was launched from both directions. Vercingetorix and the relief forces threw everything they had at one specific point of the wall. A young man named Marc Antony heroically commanded this section of the wall. The Romans teetered on the brink, but Caesar called troops over from the far side of the wall, and Antony’s leadership kept them from collapsing. By dawn, the wall held, and the enemy had been repelled. In Caesar’s eyes, Antony single-handedly saved the Romans from defeat. Caesar, a good judge of talent, would keep Antony as his right-hand man for the rest of his life.³

On the 3rd day, the Gauls gambled with a brave attack. The problem with the last assault was that it didn’t maximize their numerical advantage. Antony and Caesar could pile troops up in the small space they attacked, and turn it into a pressure cooker. This time, the Gauls first began a large attack, with about 1/3 of their army, on a weak point on the wall, near Mount Rea. The Romans had left a gap in their siege lines at the base of the hill. The Gauls hand-picked their bravest 60,000 soldiers, and led the charge down the hill.

At the same time, the rest of the army encircled the fort, launching an offensive at every point along the wall. The main army then thrust down the hill. The small Roman army got stretched thinner and thinner. Caesar took personal command of his men in reserve, micromanaging groups of 500 men, having them reinforce sections of the wall just as they were about to fall. Then, Vercingetorix threw every man he had against the overstretched army at one specific point.

This was by far the best strategy for the Gauls. They had spread the small Roman army thin, and then tried to breach the walls in a specific hot point. Caesar saw this, and threw every man he had in reserve at this section of the wall. Vercingetorix’s breakout was foiled. Vercingetorix then shifted tactics, attacking the entire length of the inside wall. Caesar’s army was now completely surrounded, fighting everywhere all at once. Worse, the Gallic army attacking down the hill finally breached the wall, and Gauls came pouring through the Roman fortifications. Caesar personally rode through the lines, taking any units he thought could be spared. He threw them against the invading force, who formed a shield wall, holding the entire Gallic army in place. ⁴

This led to just one moment of gridlock. That was all Caesar needed. Caesar took personal command of his cavalry. They amazingly managed to break through the Gallic attackers outside another section of the wall. Caesar was pushing all his chips in. He steadied his cavalry, and then charged up behind the Gauls who had led the attack down the hill. The Gauls saw the Roman cavalry charge and panicked, not realizing this was a list-ditch effort by Caesar. Many Gauls tried to flee, but it was too late. The Gallic army had been caught in a pincer between the shield wall and Caesar’s cavalry. Most were killed or captured. The rest of the army along the walls retreated. Caesar now had the men to defend against Vercingetorix’s attack, who then was pushed back into the fort. He surrendered the next day.

This was a one-in-a-million battle. You can understand why Caesar’s men would follow him to the ends of the Earth after this. It seemed like the Gauls did everything right, but Caesar managed to minimize every advantage they created.

This was Roman culture. The guy who was impaled by a Gallic spear, slowly dying by the side of the wall, is quickly forgotten. As Nietzsche said, “A people is a detour of nature to get to six or seven great men.” (Beyond Good and Evil) It seems as though Roman society really did exhibit a culture of master morality one that we find still seductive. Caesar is famous, this battle is undeniably cool. And we still think of Caesar as great, judged on his ability to kill people more effectively than anyone else. That, and his political savvy, is what makes him great in our eyes. And all the other men who died for him, all of it would materialize in this single painting, where Caesar smugly sits while Vercingetorix kneels, a moment that would become famous for two thousand years and going. And all the men who died for it melted away into the ash heap of history. Just statistics, as Stalin would say.

To me, Roman society is what the kids in Lord of the Flies would’ve developed into had you given them a few centuries to accumulate capital. I think of it as a man’s world, selfish, unsympathetic, and aggressively bold. In Scott Alexander’s essay on The Early Christian Strategy, he posits that people, especially women, might have flocked to Christianity for these very reasons. What is Christianity but caring for the little impaled guy, whom Rome would call irrelevant?

I was recently spending time with my younger nephews and one of them bumped his knee as we walked through a forest. He began to cry. But just earlier, he had hit his brother, causing him to cry. I thought to myself, these kids have just not learned empathy yet. In a way, Rome was kind of like a highly sophisticated 5 year old, and Christianity was the gentle parent reminding them of the golden rule. To us moderns, this seems just. But can we get too much empathy? Has Christianity moved the equilibrium point too far in that direction? Some, like Walt Bismarck, would agree. Hierarchy is inevitable and mostly good, and a conflictless society is a society nearing Wall-E levels of vitality. However, others would not, such as Bentham’s Bulldog. In his article on Shrimp charity, he wrote “The reason it seems crazy is because of bias; shrimp look weird and we don’t naturally empathize with them. But that’s not a reason to ignore their plight. Nearly all historical injustice can be traced to an inability to empathize with others.” So have we truly solved for the equilibrium? As Tyler Cowen would say, how can we model this? What does the unnamed, insignificant Roman soldier, dying far away from the spotlight, mean to you?

I'm sure we're taller in another dimension
You say we're small and not worth the mention
You dream of walls that hold us imprisoned
It's just a skull, least that's what they call it
And we're free to roam

Frank Ocean’s White Ferrari

1. https://www.thecivilengineer.org/education/online-historical-database-of-civil-infrastructure/walls-at-alesia

2. http://www.arsbellica.it/pagine/antica/alesia/alesia_eng.html

3. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/caesars-grand-siege-at-alesia/

4. The Battle of Alesia (52 B.C.E.) by Historia Civilis