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The Battle of Bibracte was fought between the
Helvetii The Helvetii ( , Gaulish: *''Heluētī''), anglicized as Helvetians, were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Juliu ...
and six Roman legions, under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar. It was the second major battle of the
Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...
.


Prelude

The Helvetii, a confederation of Gallic tribes, had begun a total migration of its peoples in March of 58 BC. This alarmed the Romans and began the
Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...
. Julius Caesar was the governor of
Transalpine Gaul Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the ...
, and by the time of battle had between 24,000 and 30,000 legionary troops, and some quantity of auxiliaries, many of whom were themselves Gauls. He marched north to the river
Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name d ...
, where he caught the Helvetii in the middle of crossing. Some three-quarters had crossed, but he slaughtered those who had not. Caesar then crossed the river in one day using a
pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow- draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry ...
. Next, he followed the Helvetii, but refused to engage in combat, waiting for ideal conditions. Negotiations were attempted, but Caesar's terms were draconian (likely on purpose, as Caesar may have used it as a delaying tactic). Caesar's supplies ran thin around 20 June and he was forced to travel towards allied territory in Bibracte, as while his army had easily crossed the Saône, his supply train had not. Bibracte was approximately 18 miles away from their camp to obtain the supplies promised by his allies, the Aedui, in whose lands the Helvetii were crossing. Dumnorix, an Aedui chieftain opposed to the Romans, had been delaying supplies from reaching Caesar's army. The Helvetii used this moment to attack Caesar's rearguard.


Battle

Informed by deserters from the allied auxiliary cavalry of Lucius Aemilius (the commander of the cavalry), the Helvetii decided to harass Caesar's rear guard. When Caesar observed this, he sent his cavalry to delay the attack. He then placed the Seventh ( Legio VII Claudia), Eighth ( Legio VIII Augusta), Ninth ( Legio IX Hispana), and Tenth legions ( Legio X Equestris), organized in Roman fashion ( triplex acies, or "triple battle order"), at the foot of a nearby hill, the top of which he occupied himself, along with the Eleventh (
Legio XI Claudia Legio XI Claudia ("Claudius' Eleventh Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The legion was levied by Julius Caesar for his campaign against the Nervii. XI ''Claudia'' dates back to the two legions (the other was the XIIth) recruit ...
) and Twelfth ( Legio XII Fulminata) Legions and all his auxiliaries. His baggage train was assembled near the summit, where it could be guarded by the forces there. Having driven off Caesar's cavalry and with their own baggage train secured, the Helvetii engaged "In the seventh hour", approximately noon or one o'clock. According to Caesar, his hilltop battle line easily threw back the onslaught by using pila (javelins/throwing spears). The Roman legionaries then drew swords and advanced downhill wading into their opponents. Many Helvetii warriors had pila sticking out of their shields and threw them aside to fight unencumbered, but this also made them more vulnerable. The legions drove the Helvetii back toward the hill where their baggage train sat. While the legions pursued the Helvetii across the plain between the hills, the
Boii The Boii ( Latin plural, singular ''Boius''; grc, Βόιοι) were a Celtic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul ( Northern Italy), Pannonia ( Hungary), parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia (after whom ...
and the
Tulingi The Tulingi were a small tribe closely allied to the Celtic Helvetii in the time of Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Their location is unknown; their language and descent are uncertain. From their close cooperation with the Helvetii it can be de ...
arrived with fifteen thousand men to assist the Helvetii, flanking the Romans on one side. At that point, the Helvetii returned to the battle in earnest. When the Tulingi and the Boii started circumventing the Romans, Caesar regrouped his third line to resist the assault of the Boii and Tulingi, keeping his primary and secondary committed to chasing the Helvetii. The battle lasted many hours into the night, until the Romans finally took the Helvetic baggage train, capturing both a daughter and a son of Orgetorix. According to Caesar, 130,000 enemies escaped, of which 110,000 survived the retreat. Unable to pursue on account of battle wounds and the time it took to bury the dead, Caesar rested three days before he followed the fleeing Helvetii. These, in turn, had managed to reach the territory of the Lingones within four days of the battle. Caesar warned the Lingones not to assist them, prompting the Helvetii and their allies to surrender.


Aftermath


Casualties

Caesar claimed that of the 368,000 Helvetii and allies, only 130,000 got away, of whom 110,000 returned home.
Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in ''Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), t ...
, probably drawing on the works of Caesar's general
Asinius Pollio Gaius Asinius Pollio (75 BC – AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Poll ...
, gave an original strength of 157,000 for the barbarians, adding that 47,000 died during the campaign.
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...
states an even lower figure, with only 8,000 escaping the battle, an estimate assessed as plausible by Hans Delbrück. Historian David Henige takes particular issue with the supposed population and warrior counts. Caesar claims that he was able to estimate the population of the Helvetii because in their camp there was a census, written in Greek on tablets, which would have indicated 263,000 Helvetii and 105,000 allies, of whom exactly one quarter (92,000) were combatants. But Henige points out that such a census would have been difficult to achieve by the Gauls, that it would make no sense to be written in Greek by non-Greek tribes, and that carrying such a large quantity of stone or wood tablets on their migration would have been a monumental feat. Henige finds it oddly convenient that exactly one quarter were combatants, suggesting that the numbers were more likely ginned up by Caesar than outright counted by census. Even contemporary authors estimated that the population of the Helvetii and their allies were lower,
Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
surmised that there were 157,000 overall. But Henige still believes this number inaccurate. Hans Delbrück estimates that there were at most 20,000 migrating Helvetii, of whom 12,000 were warriors. Gilliver thinks that there were not more than 50,000 men in the Gallic army. Also according to Caesar the census totals of the tribes at the start of the war were:


References


Bibliography

*Caesar's Gallic War – direct translation from Latin *Delbrück, Hans. History of the Art of War Vol I. *Goldsworthy, Adrian. ''Caesar: Life of a Colossus.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. 220-223. * * {{Authority control Bibracte Boii Helvetii Bibracte Bibracte History of Saône-et-Loire 58 BC Bibracte