Gauis Julius Caesar: The Siege Of Alesia

Before gaining an understanding towards the "Siege of Alesia", we must recognize the leader which led the legions during the Gallic Wars, named Gauis Julius Caesar. Gauis Julius Caesar was born on the 13th of July, 100 BC. Julius Caesar was a Roman politician and general who played a vital role in the events of destroying the idea of a Roman republic resulting with the rise of the Roman Empire. During his early life, Caesar was born to one of Rome's leading families, which came from a senatorial class. Rome was divided into two broad classes, the Patricians, which were a small group of aristocratic families having relations to the upper class societal level, and the Plebeians, which represented everybody else resembling the lower class societal

Julius served in both the army and the Senate , upon Caesar's return to Rome, he was elected a military tribune, which was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion, and their duties were to protect the common people, the Plebeians. As elected for military tribune, this was his first step in entering a political career. In 69BC, he was elected a quaestor, a public official, defined as one of the lowest ranking magistrate in Ancient Rome. In 63BC, he won the election for the post of Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the Roman state religion, despite the other two senator's great power and experience. In 62BC, he served as praetor, and after that he was appointed to govern Hispania Ulterior, which is now known as modern south – eastern Spain, as propraetor. However, Caesar was in debt, and need to satisfy his creditors before he left. For financial needs, he approached Marcus Licinius Crassus, who was known to be one of Rome's richest men. Crassus paid some of Caesar's debts, and acted as a guarantor for

Faced with these two choices, Caesar chose the consulship over the triumph. In 59BC, Caesar won as consul, which was one of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic. Caesar was already in Crassus' political debt, but he also made overtures to the General Pompey. Pompey and Crassus had been at odds for decades, leading to Caesar trying to reconcile them. This was a way of dominating Roman politics through alliance, enough wealth and political influence to control public business. This alliance was known as the First Triumvirate. After a year as consul, that included getting the senate to pass laws largely because of intimidation by Pompey's troops, Caesar landed the governorship of Gaul, specifically the areas of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy) Illyricum (south eastern Europe), and Transapline Gaul (southern France), which gave him commands of four legions. He conquered a number of territories in Gaul, with the legions becoming his source of power and while conducting wars, in 53BC, Crassus was killed, resulting with Pompey appointed as consul and the triumvirate