Caesar on the Siege of Alesia

Gaius Julius Caesar (13 July 100 - 15 March 44 BCE), Roman statesman, general, author, famous for the conquest of Gaul (modern France and Belgium) and his subsequent coup d'état. He changed the Roman republic into a monarchy and laid the foundations of a truly Mediterranean empire.

The siege of Alesia (52 BCE), discussed on this page, was one of the most important battles during Caesar's conquest of Gaul. After he had captured this Gallic town, only mopping-up operations remained. Caesar described the siege in his Commentaries on the war in Gaul, book 7, chapters 63-90. The translation is by Anne and Peter Wiseman.

Book
7
Chapter
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
63
64
Section
4-5

[7.65.4-5] I was aware that the Gauls were superior in cavalry, and that if they blocked all the roads I had no chance of getting reinforcements from the Province or from Italy. I therefore sent across the Rhine to the German tribes I had subdued in previous years, asking them to send cavalry and the light armed infantry who regularly went into battle with them.note When these arrived, their own horses were not really suitable, and so I took the horses from my military tribunes, the other Romans of equestrian rank, the re-enlisted veterans, and gave them those to ride.