Caesar on the Siege of Bourges

In the winter of 54/53, the tribes of Gaul, which had seemed to be quiet, suddenly revolted. The Belgians started the rebellion. Eburones, commanded by Ambiorix, destroyed the Fourteenth Legion and it took Julius Caesar a whole year before he had restored order. Next year, 52, the Gauls unitedly rebelled under Vercingetorix. It was well-timed, because the situation in Italy was unquiet too, and Caesar could not be reinforced. For the first time during this war, the Romans were was forced to defend themselves. However, Caesar was able to seize the initiative and took Avaricum (modern Bourges), an important Gallic stronghold.

Caesar has described the siege in his Commentaries on the war in Gaul, book 7, chapters 14-30. The translation is by Anne and Peter Wiseman.

[7.14.1] Vercingetorix had now suffered a series of setbacks, at Vellaunodunum, Orleans, and Noviodunum.

[7.14.2] He therefore called his supporters to a council of war, and pointed out to them that the war must be waged in quite a different way from hitherto. They must direct all their efforts towards cutting the Romans off from forage and supplies.

[7.14.3] This would not be difficult, he said, because the Gauls were strong in cavalry and the time of year was in their favor.

[7.14.4] At that season it was not possible to cut grass, so the enemy would have to send out groups of men to get fodder from barns; as these foraging parties went out, the Gallic cavalry could pick them off daily.

[7.14.5] In addition, since their lives were at stake they must forget their rights as individuals. All villages and isolated buildings must be set on fire in every direction from the Romans' line of march as far as foragers seemed likely to be able to reach.

[7.14.6] They themselves, he claimed, had plenty of supplies because they were supported by the resources of the tribes in whose territory the war was being waged.

[7.14.7] Not so the Romans, who would either starve or have to take the great risk of venturing too far from their camp.

[7.14.8] It did not matter whether the Gauls killed them or merely stripped them of their equipment, for without that they could not continue the war.

[7.14.9] Vercingetorix proposed that they must also set fire to any oppida^note[Oppidum was the Roman name for Gallic towns on hill tops.] that were not made absolutely safe by man-made fortifications or natural defenses. This would prevent them being used by Gauls as refuges to escape the fighting, and also by Romans as sources of supplies and plunder.

[7.14.10] If these measures seemed harsh and difficult to bear, they would reckon it much worse to have their wives and children dragged off into slavery, and to be killed themselves: that was the inevitable fate of the vanquished.

[7.15.1] This proposal was approved unanimously, and in a single day more than twenty towns of the Bituriges were set on fire.

[7.15.2] The same thing was done in the other tribes and fires could be seen in every direction. Although it grieved them all greatly to do this, they consoled themselves with the thought that victory was practically theirs and that they would quickly recover all they had lost. There was discussion in a joint council whether Bourges should be burned or defended.

[7.15.3] The Bituriges fell down at the feet of all the other Gauls, begging not to be compelled to set fire with their own hands

[7.15.4] to what was perhaps the most beautiful town in the whole of Gaul, at once the pride and the chief protection of their people.

[7.15.5] They said they would easily defend it because of the strength of its position; it was almost completely surrounded by a river and mar