The Battle of Alesia (52 B.C.E.)

[@pckrfan93]

What's really impressive about this is how the Gauls seemed to do everything right.

[@jack633]

The gauls should've built ANOTHER set of walls around the roman set of walls.

[@Grivian]

After this you can understand that Caesars soldiers would follow him everywhere

[@TheRhinehart86]

Sigurd Torvaldsson Because the punishment for desertion was summary beheading.

[@AudieHolland]

*TheRhinehart86* Much too easy. Deserters were usually crucified.

[@robertjack4329]

too bad we don't get this kind of stuff on 'history channel'. just conspiracy theories and pawn stars marathons.

[@SirRyanScarff]

The other positive side of building walls around his army, the roman's couldn't route. There was nowhere for them to run so they had to fight to the death.

[@MrFishman55]

This literally boggled my mind. In literally ANY OTHER SITUATION, under ANY OTHER CONDITIONS, with ANY OTHER COMMANDER, these men would have been dead meat. This was a one in a million battle. Damn Caesar.

[@nmn335]

What the actual fuck. That is magic. Caesar was a fucking magician.

[@GrandMoffTarkinsTeaDispenser]

He was.

[@JoseRodriguez-oj4sp]

It's amazing how the Romans managed to build two layers of defensive walls in a matter of weeks.

[@1menarmy38]

there should be a movie about this battle

[@man_in_the_van2566]

+naim bayrak there is a movie: Vercingetorix

[@jayo3074]

theres plenty

[@Fufflunsify]

This was really interesting. Thank you so much for these videos!

[@HistoriaCivilis]

Fufflunsify Golly, thanks so much. I'm glad that people enjoy them.

[@abberss]

Fufflunsify thanks daddio

[@rpgreseller]

There was a bit more to this battle. Ceasar used trenches lined with spears to great advantage.

[@ericconnor8251]

+klancy kennedy I would call them stakes instead of spears, but good point.

[@leeboi222]

Marc Antony is a legend. It's hard to think how experienced and just generally good at combat the Roman soldiers must have been. Nice video!

[@mikeworld39]

Perky Bellsprout I was wondering just what could the Gauls have done to defeat the Romans?

[@SomeBlackIRose]

mikeworld39 it was too late when they united

[@mikeworld39]

THEREALONE I'am who would you pick in Caesar vs. Alexander the Great?

[@SomeBlackIRose]

If with the same army : caesar , legionnary just too strong and he wouldn't get baited like most of Alexander enemy lol

[@Dantick09]

+mikeworld39 they should have done what they did at 7:29 as soon as the Romans encircled them and stared building the wall. They waited way too long. Even if they are barely escaped the Gaul reinforcements would have cleaned up the remaining Romans.

[@PbThunder]

shows just how effective the cohort system was in self sustaining.

[@squamish4244]

I have the high ground!

[@citylightsish]

You can't build giant walls in rome 2 like that.... :(

[@z4inz]

+citylightsish In Rome 3 maybe :)

[@bukopie3906]

+Neo Invicta I tried beating this certain level in Rome 2 but I always ended up on losing my entire cavalry

[@MsSirAndy]

+Hazard Games In RTW 3 romans will have firearms xD but only with the DLC,remeber :D

[@blacktee31]

This shit is strategic brilliance on both sides. Incredible.

[@croisaor2308]

Holy shit that was intense. Great video.

[@billder999]

I has been 20 years since I read Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series, one of my favorite historical series ever... I learned much about why Rome still lies at the heart of Western Civilization. She was great at describing battles and tactics, but this video shows the whole process in a condensed fasion. Julius Ceasar is without question one of the great generals of history, certainly Rome's greatest general... a brilliant, hard man. Thanks for producing this excellent video.

[@MrMaximkozin]

yo dawg, I heard you like forts

[@izuxiria]

Asterix anyone? WHAT ALESIA? NEVER HEARD OF IT! DIDN'T HAPPEN!

[@sancho6059]

+izuxiria i fell you mate ;)

[@Sanderus]

Nowadays you can get better education on KZbin than on many universities.

[@irrelevant12]

Some people are saying he was just "lucky" and can´t even grasp the concept. If you rolled a dice and getting 1 would mean you win and it happens, that is luck. If you create the circunstances in which you win by rolling 1,2,3,4 or 5. Then... well yea you are lucky to have a brain that works unlike the ones writing those comments.

[@adamschneider4143]

I have been looking for something like this for a very long time. Don't update your graphics, the simplicity makes it easy to follow. History channel had a show like this and used very advanced graphics that distracted from what was important, the information and the thought process behind each move, for this reason it was short lived. The only critical thing I could say is maybe for Caesars forces use different shades of red or a red and brown offset to make different tiers of troops, the X and / worked fine, but what I am saying requires less mental gymnastics for the viewer, and please, please, please include sources in the description, it makes you more credible. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed this video. You have been subbed my good sir.

[@chezbizo]

71 Gauls still mad

[@loganmacinnis8675]

this battle is great example to use when u feel hopeless in a situation

[@user-xr2nu9jf4l]

The Gauls falling (in a sense) to fear being the greatest enemy, not realizing that the romans were stretched so thin.

[@benk7773]

That's fucking ridiculous. I can't believe he pulled it off LOL

[@kingenfuuken]

I would love to see you do more of Caesar's battles, the man was incredible. The battle of Pharsalus would be great. Love these videos, just subbed

[@owostub5399]

Julius was all about the advantages

[@proteinkinazaA]

Nice video. Will you make more videos about Roman battles?

[@HistoriaCivilis]

diviticusmaximus Definitely. What surprised me about this video was how much fun it was to animate. I'd love to do another battle.

[@jayinfosec]

Historia Civilis man this was awesome definitely make more of these

[@incrediblymediocrevideos3053]

Historia Civilis This was amazing. It was like watching a movie somehow. keep it up! :)

[@Carbocats]

Oh this explains that mission in age of empires 1 where Caesar had a wall around the enemy base.

[@pettermoland]

For you people who wonder, Marc Anthony was really called Marcus Antonius. Historians have just translated his name to sound more... American

[@Bomstep]

5:45 How did Vercingetorix coordinate this?

[@HistoriaCivilis]

***** Very perceptive of you to ask this question. I was wondering if anybody would notice. I had a bit written about this, but I had to cut it in favour of time. You're right, the two armies had no way to coordinate between them. When the the outside army launched its surprise attack, it was the middle of the night, and the inside army was dead asleep. As soon as they heard the fighting they assembled and attacked the inside wall, but they were late to the battle. Apparently Marc Antony had just enough time to repel a wave from one direction, turn his men around, and then repel a wave from the other direction. I read some historian - I forget who - that argued that if Vercingetorix had been able to get to the inside wall a few minutes quicker, the Romans would have been completely overrun. That might be true. Then again, when the Gauls finally did breach the walls the next day, the Romans were able to successfully hold the line against them. So I'm not sure. Either way, it was a damned close call, and Marc Antony deserves a lot of credit for mounting such a quick defense.

[@stray_dog3960]

***** I am guessing he just saw where the main attack was coming from and acted according to the situation

[@AudieHolland]

*+Nolza!* I think Marc Anthony disliked Octavian because Anthony had earned his position by fighting bravely while Octavian received his position by simply being adopted by Julius Caesar as his son and heir and he never did any fighting or commanding himself. For that job, Octavian trusted on his ally and friend, Marcus Agrippa.

[@coleford738]

this should be shown in classrooms!

[@spanishinquisition7623]

A great victory, Caesar was my favorite general. Anyways, my favorite victory of Caesar's was his over Pompey. It felt like it could be turned into a poem, and proved that Caesar's men were well disciplined and expierenced.

[@Grivian]

Honestly, I think that Caesar is one of the greatest people who have ever lived

[@jonsouth1545]

He later tried the same technique against Pompey and got defeated and was very lucky to escape but sue to pressure within Pompey's camp from Cato that led to Pompey giving battle in unfavourable circumstances allowing Ceasar to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the civil war

[@IsaacCarmichael]

Mind blown. I never realized how good he was

[@donfolstar]

It is a shame you aren't making these videos anymore, apparently. They are great. If you threw some information bubbles (names, dates, elsewhere in the world, etc...) on the screen these would be classroom worthy.

[@nuno99s]

I still don't understand how Vercengetorix lost this battle, this should have been a crushing defeat for the Romans.

[@monsieurlaguillotine3481]

Rael His opponent was Caesar. That's why he lost.

[@RaduP66]

Amazing victory! It's all about hard work and "failure is not an option" mix. And great leaderhip and "situational awareness". After all, what other option would have been available to him? And yes, off course, a lucky day. As, allways!!! Thank you for sharing this great concise and expressive presentation!

[@jackstouffer3912]

You should really keep making videos! These are fantastically well done, you have a wonderful ability to communicate what happened in these battles concisely and make it very interesting!

[@jellejanwillie]

Hey Historia Civilis, I just came across a few videos of yours. I myself never looked into ancient battles and roman tactics. However I think your videos are extremely interesting and cover a lot of important ground, from tactics to cultural points. I'm impressed by the quality of your videos and I will watch more. Thank You for these amazing videos!

[@christianwiese5512]

this was a brilliant vizualisation of this battle. thank you SO much! It really made me understand it for once, it never made sense before.

[@tomwoodthorpe5790]

It feels wrong hearing it pronounced ver-kin-jet-or-ix when I'm so used to ver-sin-get-or-ix

[@bingersblends7800]

I just wish Caesar did not kill the enemy leader, he faught well, he was smart, fought for what he believed in til the end...i know this is wierd, but i would of thought they would of had alot of respect for each other and they would of had a good fair fight.

[@amegdon1]

one of my favourite battles ever!!!

[@medqua]

The music was awesome!!!!

[@nebojsagalic4246]

So wait, all that happened was that the Gauls got terrified of the Roman cavalry? Did they have any cavalry of their ow to counter it?

[@yoyojo010]

MORE BATTLE VIDEOS I love these, their awesome!

[@BrotherRanceGwynne]

You should make a video about the last battle of the Teutantic Knights

[@xberman]

Maybe I'm too late to join the discussion. I loved the video but I kinda disagree on the "conclusion". It seems almost impossible to even define advantage when you are "caged in" with vastly inferior numbers, in a battlefield that is liquid and stretches around miles! I can imagine that by the time someone would "lap" around the siege, the situation could potentially be changed. Julius Cesar seems to be a maniacal micromanager, always assessing the situation, taking personal charge during battles and probably before them too. The level of discipline and trust his soldiers must have had on him to agree to come to this impossible suicidal situation, risking a complete defeat which would have been remembered throughout the ages, maybe even worse than Teutoburg forest, is amazing. It's not like the Gauls did something wrong either. One could argue that they did everything right. But years of Roman training, discipline and organization, on the hands of a brilliant commander, turned the day for the Romans. In short, it was the attention to detail, over years, that made Julius Cesar stand out

[@christianlw5252]

Can you make more a about Caesar? I'm amazed at his tactical genius...

[@Tavorath]

An awesome example of the real power of having a unit of command; If this hard situation would have been solved by making a decision democratically the roman army would have just retired. Great channel.

[@jupiter7795]

"the Gauls...didn't realize this was the last card Caesar had to play" Somehow I doubt this was the last card up Caesar's sleeves. (Did Romans have sleeves?)

[@Mattes50A05]

Thank you for these videos! This one has the best presentation of them all so far.

[@henrykingfire6236]

I like the tune in the video

[@negvey]

THIS IS SO LEGIT, IM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS CHANNEL

[@Eckendenker]

The genius lies in the execution. The numbers in this video are Caesars (he wrote De Bello Gallico himself), so they are exaggerated. He outnumbered Vercingetorix besieged forces in Alesia and Alesia had a large host of civilians. So the Gauls weren't better supplied, but had to let their wives and children starve between fortifications. It basically came down to a 1:1 battle and the though thing was to coordinate troops along the walls to defend 40km of fortification and keeping moral high enough to withstand attacks on all fronts even when breached.

[@Chasing100]

The points you made at the end are just like sports people today. Good planners know that when you're against a stronger opponent, looking for a weakness won't help, nullifying the strengths will beat them

[@marathonmonk5262]

then he got shanked by a bunch of salty senators

[@chrissawyer3862]

This was nice! But, you should have elaborated more. Like, the 'hilltop fort' was actually a city. And Vercingetorix didn't send out messengers, but his entire cavalry force. Forces that if he'd deployed against the romans, would have likely carried the day.

[@zhbvenkhoReload]

Very nice video, man!!! Keep on it!

[@timotg91]

this was incredible. thank you for sharing this knowledge and creating it in this way!

[@M_Faraday]

This is great! Thanks for this.

[@mrsteamie4196]

Hey, I love your videos, could you do one explaining the unit symbols?

[@GeneralOda]

Great job!

[@shorgoth]

In truth it is pretty hard to know what truly happened during these days, the only texts we have from that originate from the man himself. Gauls didn't have a working writing system so he might just have exaggerated a lot of stuff.

[@hypnos2794]

You might not have Dan Carlin's voice but this was greatly interesting ! Subbed.

[@ferdinandvanstrien2821]

Really interesting. Love your channel. Just some constructive criticism: Remember that most information on Caesar's battles comes from..... Caesar. The man wrote his own reviews. This might give a somewhat exagerated view of his heroics. Had Pompey been the writer instead of Caesar, he would probably have been the one to go into history as one of history's most famous and brilliant commanders.

[@cptant7610]

Why didn't Vercingetorix try to break out in force when the romans initially surrounded him? A numerically inferior army has to spread its lines very thin to surround a larger army.

[@TheFancyRoman]

I love these videos, they look like they were made with Paint. Simple. Easy to understand. I like it. SUVSCRIBED

[@Theydotheharlemshake]

i absobloodylutely love these videos, keep 'em up.

[@cheydinal5401]

This kind of video is exactly what I was looking for! great videos!

[@ryanbarrett2953]

Thank you so much for this video. I'm not sure the direction of your channel, given the last several videos. But one thing's for sure - you have an EXCELLENT narrative with supporting visuals for these battles. Would love to see more - you're great at this. Thanks again!

[@pim691]

I'm only 15 but I am obsessed with the Roman army and politics. It was such a good empire

[@andyb1336]

An intractable problem can only be resolved through unconventional measures, all great leaders have understood this.

[@nnava]

holy shiettt he a genius

[@Giulliss]

BEST CHANEL EVER

[@DolphinRadio]

Pronunciation issue: (Vuhr-Sun Jet-or-Ex). not (Verk-on Jet-er-ix)

[@xexkansichi]

Love the content. Just wishing for some sorting and playlists so I can see all the Roman stuff at once.

[@ErikWalle]

Excellent commentary, thanks.

[@VentiVonOsterreich]

We need more historical battle videos like this - they make it very easy for me to understand what the fuck was happening.

[@bobdipietro]

Brilliant analysis. Thank you ...

[@MsErtwer]

That must have been some though battle, made a triarii out of all of them. XD

[@MsErtwer]

vonfrancois Yeah I know but what I meant was that it definitely made some soldiers of them.(vet. soldiers)

[@vonfrancois]

For sure!! Veteran they were, and the whole Gaul campaign brought them to level to be able to face Pompey's legion in the following years!

[@GrandMoffTarkinsTeaDispenser]

+vonfrancois These guys must have been pure killing machines by the time the war ended. I can't imagine a better army than Caesar's veteran legions at the time. The stuff they went through.. unbelievable.

[@zoolister]

I don't subscribe often but this video was so much fun and so informative that I had to. Keep up the amazing work.

[@j045ua]

Thank you for your amazing videos !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Saintphoenix86]

I just have to say, your pronunciation of vercingetorix is different to every other historian i've ever heard

[@AmazingMars]

subscribed after watching that NATO clip. great work, please keep it up!

[@5ithofnov159]

I love your videos .. I would love to see more battles from all over the world like battle of Waterloo or battle of Stalingrad . I really like the explanations and tactic explanations

[@nicolasvatinelle988]

Oui tres bonne realisation, ct orgasmique cette video... Well done , and well presentated.

[@matseg7103]

an excellent video! the best one about Alesia. Just a point: It wasnt really "roman cavalry" who attacked gauls by behind but Cavalrymen from all Gaul and Germania ;) Another question: why didnt you talk about the trahison of Aedui tribe? I think that they are the main cause of Vercingetorix defeat^^ Anyway, amazing video and sorry for my bad english

[@buckyryan2804]

thanks for the video

[@seanmortazyt]

well done & told!

[@joshdrew7261]

Excellent Video

[@karmazon]

I really enjoyed this video, please make more about famous battles.

[@TimGallois]

Excellent video!

[@jahphotographizer]

Great video, I am looking forward to checking out the rest of your channel.

[@jacobyboyer3681]

Ver-Sin-Get-Or-Ix...

[@nickhubert3804]

Brilliant planning and great video