Battle of Bibracte
| date | June 58 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | Saône-et-Loire , France |
| output | Victory of the Romans, surrender of the Helvetii |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Mainly Helvetier , |
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| Six Roman legions plus auxiliaries, a total of 50,000 men |
According to Caesar: 92,000 warriors, 368,000 people in total
|
| losses | |
|
Unknown |
According to Caesar: 238,000 (a total of 130,000 Helvetii remained)
|
The battle of Bibracte was fought between the Helvetians and six Roman legions . The Romans were under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar . The battle took place in 58 BC. In the first year of the Gallic War , under Caesar (then governor of Gallia Cisalpina, Narbonensis and Aquitania).
The course of the battle
prehistory
According to Caesar's comments on the Gallic War , Orgetorix was the most powerful man of the Helvetii. He devised the plan to subdue Gaul . To do this, he persuaded his tribe to move out of their area in what is now the Swiss Central Plateau, at the same time he conspired with powerful princes of the Haedu and Sequani . Together they wanted to bring Gaul under their control if the Helvetii invade Gaul with a large number of warriors after their departure. However, this plan was betrayed and Orgetorix had to answer to the tribal meeting of the Helvetii. Orgetorix intimidated the gathering with the help of his 10,000 clients (according to Caesar) and was able to break free, but afterwards he came under pressure and committed suicide.
The desire to emigrate remained, however: Caesar reports that the Helvetii burned their cities, villages and all grain and moved to Gaul. A wandering avalanche of Helvetiern, Tulingern , Latobrigern , Raurakern and Boiern is said to have formed with a total of 368,000 people, a quarter of them (92,000) capable of weapons. This version of Caesar was still being taught in Swiss schools in the early 1980s, but recent research is increasingly casting doubt on it. There is much to suggest that the “emigration” of the Helvetii is more likely to be seen as a campaign by smaller tribal groups, while the settlements and places of worship of the Helvetii showed an unbroken continuity and vitality.
The Helvetii wanted to pass through the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis , but Caesar refused their request. The Romans erected a wall that connected the Rhone , which flows from Lake Geneva , with the Jura ; it was 27.5 kilometers long. The Helvetii quickly gave up their plan to cross the Rhône. So the Helvetii had to look for another way: through the mediation of the Dumnorix , they got the Sequani to tolerate the passage through their area. So the Helvetii came into the Haeduer area and devastated it. The Aedu - ancient allies of Rome - called Caesar for help. At the beginning of June, Caesar reached the Saône with three legions, when three quarters of the Helvetii had already crossed the river. Caesar attacked the unfit final quarter and cut down most of them. Then Caesar had a bridge built over the Saône, crossed it and followed the Helvetians on the heels. The Helvetii sent Divico as an envoy to Caesar, who made a boast and diatribe about the defeat of the Romans against the Helvetii in 107 BC. Remembered.
After a few minor skirmishes, around June 20, Caesar was forced to give up the pursuit of the Helvetii and turn off to Bibracte in order to secure supplies for his legions. Now the Helvetii pursued the Romans and began to attack the Romans' rearguard.
The decision at Bibracte
When Caesar noticed the attacks of the Helvetii, he sent his troops to the next hill. This hill is probably the Bois de Jaux near Montmort ( Saône-et-Loire department ), 22 kilometers south of Bibracte . A trench was discovered there during archaeological investigations, which was probably dug by the legionnaires of Caesar.
Caesar sent the cavalry forward to intercept the attack by the Helvetii. Meanwhile, halfway up the hill, Caesar set up his four experienced legions in triple battle lines . At the top of the hill he lined up all the auxiliaries and the two legions he had recently raised in the province of Gallia Cisalpina. You should guard the luggage.
The Helvetii brought their entourage to one place and threw back the Roman cavalry in a tightly packed battle position. They formed a phalanx (that is, a deep order of battle; the shields of the first link were placed with the edges one above the other) and advanced from below towards the first meeting of the Romans.
To make an escape impossible, Caesar had his horse and then the officers' horses led out of sight.
The legionaries threw their pila from above into the phalanx of the enemy and blew up the phalanx. Then they attacked the Helvetii with drawn swords . The Helvetii were hindered by their shields: Many Pila the Romans had thrown several Helvetii shields through and pinned them together. The Roman spear bars were forged in such a way that they tapered after the point that entered the shield and were so soft at this point that they bent instead of breaking. The iron tip of the Pila could not be torn out, so that many Helvetians threw away their shields and fought with their bodies uncovered. The Helvetii began to give way and retreated to a mountain about 1.5 kilometers away.
The Boier and Tulinger formed the end of the Helvetic army with 15,000 men (according to Caesar's information). They arrived on the battlefield when the Helvetii had occupied the mountain and the Romans were advancing from below. The Boier and Tulinger attacked the Romans on the uncovered (right) side. When they saw this, the Helvetii, who had withdrawn to the mountain, advanced again and renewed the struggle. The Romans split their army into two groups: the first and second meeting offered resistance to the Helvetians, who had withdrawn to the mountain, the third meeting was supposed to stop the Tulingers and Boier. This double battle was long fought, overall the battle lasted from the 7th hour (around noon) until towards evening. Eventually the Helvetii withdrew: some to the mountain they had fled to before, others to their luggage and their carts.
With their carts, the Helvetii had built a wagon castle on a raised place , where the fighting continued until late at night. The Helvetii hurled their javelins and javelins at the Romans from the spaces between the carts and wheels. But finally the Romans managed to conquer the wagon castle. There the daughter of Orgetorix and one of his sons were captured.
After the battle
After the battle, the Helvetians were left with 130,000 (according to Caesar's information), and they moved on during the night without stopping. The Romans did not follow them because they had to care for their wounded and bury the fallen. On the fourth day the Helvetii entered the Lingon area . Caesar sent messengers to the Lingons with the request that they not support the Helvetii with grain or anything else. After three days, Caesar followed the Helvetians with all their troops. For want of everything, the Helvetii were forced to submit to Caesar unconditionally. Caesar asked for hostages, their weapons and the slaves who had defected to them. Caesar ordered the Helvetians to return to their homeland, which they themselves had devastated, so that this land would not fall to the Germans . The Boier were accepted by the Haeduern with the permission of Caesar .
The information in Caesars De Bello Gallico
With his comments on the Gallic War, Caesar wanted to justify his campaigns as "just" wars and to increase his own fame. That is why Caesar greatly exaggerated the number of his enemies, the 368,000 Helvetians mentioned by Caesar are likely to be far too high. The number of men capable of weapons (92,000) and the number of survivors (130,000) appear more realistic. If one assumes that the losses in such campaigns amounted to about a third, one comes to an original size of the Helvetian campaign of almost 200,000 people.
Another presumed propaganda maneuver by Caesar consisted in his victory over the Helvetii as revenge for the defeat of the Romans against the Helvetii in the year 107 BC. To represent. According to Caesar, the Roman army was then sent under the yoke by the Helvetians - a particularly great humiliation. When Caesar's troops on the Saône destroyed the last quarter of the Helvetian march , Caesar noted that the defeated part of the Helvetii were people from the Tigurin district . The Tigurines were of all things the district that the Romans 107 BC. As Caesar wrote: So either by chance or according to the advice of the immortal gods, that part of the Swiss population who inflicted a serious defeat on the Roman people had to atone first. (Gaius Iulius Caesar, De Bello Gallico , Book 1, XII).
Under the aspect of revenge for the 107 BC The disgrace suffered in the 4th century BC can also be seen the appearance of Divico , who has Caesar hold a boast and diatribe. This Divico is said to have existed as early as 107 BC. Were leaders of the Helvetii. Assuming that Divico dates back to 107 BC. When a military leader must have been over twenty years old, one comes to the year 58 BC. To an age of approx. 70 years. It is thus not impossible, but unlikely, that the Helvetii embassy was actually headed by that Divico.
The description of the Helvetian procession by Caesar will have awakened memories of the Cimbri and Teutons in Roman readers of the time , who destroyed several Roman armies in the Cimber Wars . These peoples, too, had left their homeland and brought war to the Roman provinces. For Caesar, this parallel offered the ideal reason for war: his aim was to prevent a war campaign that was as destructive as that of the Cimbri. Caesar's victory against the Helvetii placed him in line with his uncle Gaius Marius , who once defeated the Cimbri.
swell
- Caesar, De Bello Gallico . I, 2-29.
Web links
- Laurent Flutsch: Bibracte, Battle of. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
literature
- L. Flutsch, G. Kaenel: Helvetier. 1991, p. 32.
Remarks
- ↑ L. Flutsch, G. Kaenel: Helvetier. 1991, p. 32.