Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Alesia (Gallic War).

Siege was laid to the town by the Romans under Cæsar, B.C. 52, and it was defended by the Gauls, numbering 80,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry under Vercingetorix, the Romans being about 50,000 strong. An attempt was made by the Belgi, with an army of 260,000 warriors, to relieve the town, but they were met and routed by Labienus with terrific slaughter. This disaster so discouraged the garrison that the town immediately surrendered, Vercingetorix being sent a prisoner to Rome, where five years later he was beheaded as a rebellious subject of Rome.