Battle of Gergovia

The Battle of Gergovia took place in 52 BC in Gaul at Gergovia, the chief oppidum (fortified town) of the Arverni. The battle was fought between a Roman Republican army, led by proconsul Julius Caesar, and Gallic forces led by Vercingetorix, who was also the Arverni chieftain. The Romans attempted to besiege Gergovia, but miscommunication ruined the Roman plan. The Gallic cavalry counterattacked the confused Romans and sent them to flight, winning the battle.

The site is identified with Merdogne, since renamed Gergovie, a village located on a hill within the town of La Roche-Blanche, near Clermont-Ferrand, in south central France. Some walls and earthworks still survive from the pre-Roman Iron Age. The battle is well known in France as an example of a Gallic victory.

Prelude

As with much of the conflict between Rome and Gaul in the first century BC, information about this battle comes principally from Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War (). There are no surviving Gallic accounts.

Vercingetorix had earlier been expelled from Gergovia, the capital of the Arverni, by its government. In winter 53 BC, while Caesar was gathering his forces for a strike against the Gauls, Vercingetorix came back to Gergovia but was now supported by the Arverni, his people. Caesar states that he was left with a difficult decision. He could have kept his forces safe over the winter, but would have shown Roman weakness in defending its allies the Aedui and thus losing their support. However, he chose to bring Vercingetorix to open battle but risked running out of supplies.

Leaving two legions and all of his baggage train behind in Agedincum, Caesar led the remaining legions to Gergovia. His sieges of Vellaunodunum, Genabum, and Noviodunum en route caused Vercingetorix to march to meet Caesar in open battle at Noviodunum, which Caesar won. Caesar then besieged and captured Avaricum and resupplied there. After resting his forces at Avaricum, he sent his top legate, Titus Labienus, with four legions north; this to keep the northern Gauls from interfering with his campaign against the Arverni.

Caesar then set out in the direction of Gergovia, which Vercingetorix was probably able to guess easily once he had remarked his direction. The heights of Gergovia stand above the plain that they overlook. It is a plateau that is long by wide. It was an advantageous place to hold, as there was only one way in, and a small body of troops could hold the entrance to the place.

Vercingetorix therefore crossed the powerful river Elave (now Allier, a tributary to the Loire) at Nevers, and started marching up and down the bank, mirroring Caesar's movements and destroying all the bridges to keep him from crossing, the purpose presumably being to destroy part of his force as he attempted to cross. Realizing Vercingetorix's plan, Caesar resolved to trick him and cross under his very nose.

The noise of the assault alerted Vercingetorix, who arrived and saw the Romans and Aedui in dissension just beneath the walls of Gergovia. Vercingetorix then led a cavalry charge that crushed the Roman lines. Then the warriors left their horses and joined the infantry in their fight against the Romans, who soon had suffered heavy casualties. Caesar's work records 46 centurions and 700 legionaries as losses. Modern historians are skeptical; the depiction of the battle as a rout, and one where there were 20,000-40,000 allied Roman soldiers deployed, leads to suspicion that Caesar was downplaying the casualty figures, even if his figures were excluding losses among allied auxiliaries.

Aftermath

thumb|The Gergovia plateau seen from the plain

Given his losses, Caesar ordered a retreat. In the wake of the battle, Caesar lifted his siege and retreated from the Arverni lands northeastwards in the direction of Aedui territory. Vercingetorix pursued Caesar's army, intent on destroying it. Meanwhile, Labienus had finished his campaign in the north and marched back to Agedincum, Caesar's base in the centre of Gaul. After linking up with Labienus's corps, Caesar marched his united army from Agedincum to confront Vercingetorix's victorious army. The two armies met in the Battle of the Vingeanne, Caesar won the subsequent victory. Caesar then pursued Vercingetorix and the remnant of his army to Alesia where Caesar laid siege to and eventually won the Battle of Alesia, a decisive victory over Vercingetorix.

Even under Roman control, Gergovia continued to be an influential stronghold for decades. In AD 10–20, the local capital was moved to Augustonemetum, and Gergovia's importance declined.

Legacy

thumb|[[The Defence of the Gauls by Vercingetorix by Théodore Chassériau, 1855]]

Emperor Napoleon III was a patron of archaeology and funded research into France's Gallic past, including the battles of Gergovia and Alesia.

In popular culture

Comics

The Battle of Gergovia is directly referenced in the Astérix comic book series. In Le Bouclier arverne (Asterix and the Chieftain’s Shield), first published in 1967, the protagonists visit Gergovia, and local settings evoke the Arverni region. The Astérix franchise has sold more than 380 million copies worldwide and remains one of the most successful French-language comic series making these historical events well known within the general public.

Film and television

The battle and the figure of Vercingétorix have been portrayed in film and television. The 2001 historical epic Vercingétorix : La Légende du druide roi (released internationally as Druids), directed by Jacques Dorfmann, dramatizes the Gallic resistance to Rome and includes Gergovia among the settings of the campaign. The film received negative reviews and was a commercial failure.

In television, the French historical documentary series Batailles de légende devoted an episode to Gergovia, contextualising the engagement within major battles of antiquity.

Documentaries

Gergovia has also been the subject of archaeological documentaries, notably Gergovie, archéologie d’une bataille (2010), which presents recent research and excavations at the site.