#Battle of Alesia

[oneapatheticwinter]

no hate to Vercingetorix (love u bestie), but if i were at the Battle of Alesia 52bc, i would simply ask Caesar to Chill™

[you-were-meteowrong]

anyway whats everyone's favorite ancient battle? im quite fond of the battle of alesia

[satan-conduit-le-bal]

[avoider-net]

The Battle of Alesia Continues to Inspire Me

Maybe I should write more about military history every now and then just to mix things up a bit.

I’ve written a good bit about military history on this blog, comparing generals to martial artists and professional gamers. Since I’ve been learning more about them and their battles, perhaps it’s time I specifically focus on them to expound on what made them tick and what interests me about their motivations and leadership. Each has their own motivations and styles of leadership, but there was…

[boygirlswag]

it hurts to accidentally reference things nobody knows or cares about

[inky-duchess]

Actual history is so much weirder than fiction could ever be.

This is why Julius Caesar is my favourite historical figure. The dude:

Tripped on his face while landing in Africa only to exclaim "Africa I embrace you"

Once let Cato read out a message he received, which was a smutty letter from Cato's own sister

The fucking battle of Alesia ppl????

Once got kidnapped by pirates and was offended at their ransom demand, telling them to up the price.

Speaking of those pirates, he forced them to quiet down when he was sleeping, practised his oratory with them and jokingly promised to come back and crucify them all. He did.

[fab-bladesmith]

A Schlachtschwert, early XVIth century.

Spring steel blade of flat hexagonal section for most its length, mild steel fittings with hollow brass ball finials on the cross. Leather over thread over wooden core for the grip, and leather over wood for the sleeve (more about that below). This is a tentative reconstruction of what a "proper" Landsknecht Greatsword could look like, such a they appear on period artwork, be it paintings like the Siege of Alesia by Melchior Feselen (1533) or the Battle of Pavia kept at the Royal Armouries (or the tapestries depicting that same battle, now at the Museo Capodimonte, made after sketches by Bernard van Orley), the Victory of Charlemagne over the Avars near Regensburg by Albrecht Altdorfer (1518), or the many drawings, prints and woodcuts by artists such as Reinhart von Solms, Jörg Breu, the great Hans Burgkmair, Niklas Stör, Hans Holbein (both Elder and Younger), Virgil Solis, Hans Sebald Beham, the legendary Urs Graf, Daniel Hopfer, Erhard Schön, Hans Schäufelein and others...All of them combined to give this result.

Such swords would be seen not only in the hands of a Doppelsoldner, but also carried by your Feldwaybel or an Edelman. And it would be called a Schlachtschwert in the very captions of the illustrations I mentioned earlier (see Erhard Schön). *Not* a "two-handed Katzbalger", though the cross obviously echoes the S/8-shaped guard of the latter. We clear on that ? Good.

Very few of such swords are kept in museums out there, with a lot of them leaving me dubious regarding their authenticity. The one in Berlin seems to me to be the most genuine of all, and it is on its proportions that I based this piece, though the Berlin sword shows a fancy, diamond-pattern decoration on the quillions very much recalling the Katzbalger kept in the Museum of London. Most if not all period illustration do not show such fancy details on the crossguards though ; they are actually rather plain, without even the ribbing/threading/filework you can find on Katzbalger crosses. Hence I kept this one rather plain, with a square cross section with rounded corners, and some light filework at the center. I also bent the quillions into an offset 8-shape rather than a symmetrical one, to be more consistant with the earlier examples visible in period artwork.

The main questioning was that sleeve at the base of the blade, present on a lot of the period artwork; its obvious function was to provide a spot on which to put the other hand - as can be deduced from Marozzo's teachings for fighting against polearms - but the main issue was how was it made/what was it made of. Elaborating on my previous experience and studies of such things on later Schlachtschwerter, I went for a basic construction of leather glued/stitched over a wood core made of two flat slabs, and force-slid down the blade. There is more than enough friction to keep it well in place, but it is still possible to take it off albeit with some effort. The end of the leather is cut according to period artwork, and flares out to accommodate the mouth of a scabbard if needed. A simple decoration of plain lines on one side, and checkered on the other makes it also consistant with the artwork.

It is 139 cm long, the blade is 1083 mm long, 45 mm wide with a thickness of about 7 mm at its base, tapering down to 3.4 mm near the point. The span of the crossguard is about 21 cm, though from one ball end to the other there's about 73 cm of steel. Weight is 2547 grams, point of balance 13.5 cm from the cross.

Twenty-eight hundred EuroUnits and it's yours.

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

"What do you know about losing loved ones?"

Another random SVE one-shot because why not lol

Warning: Mentions of death, angst.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At exactly five in the morning, when the Church of Yoba had just opened its huge doors to visitors to the Castle Village, Isaac immediately stepped inside, bowing politely to the attendants who let the local protector inside. The monk, closing the door behind the man, gave the adventurer and hero a sympathetic glance before returning to his duties and prayers.

Everyone else, who had managed to already be awake this early, left Isaac alone, not preventing him from approaching the huge Statue of Yoba. They all knew that Isaac would not want to talk or open up to the ministers about what was bothering him right now.

They already knew what's bothering him.

For the fourth year now, on the 23rd of Fall, he had come to the church exactly at five in the morning, to stand in silence at the statue and pray for the soul of his lost love, and the friends who had fallen from that day.

A date that became a tragedy for the world of swords and magic: a routine mission involving a group of adventurers, mages and witches of 13 people ended in the death of all the young defenders of the human race against monsters. Seven adventurers and two twin witches from the Castle Village, the other four were members of other Guilds and Clans, fell from the fangs and claws of an unseen and terrible monster, later christened by the name "Apophis".

The light from the stained glass windows fell on the tall statue. Isaac gazed at her in silence, but before his eyes were blurred memories of the last time he had seen her...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Isaac, are you worried?"

"What makes you think that?" His love saw right through him, but he was too stubborn to admit it.

"This will just be another patrol mission of the western part of the Crimson Baldlans, nothing serious. We're not going into battle and we'll teleport right away if things gets nasty," she walked over to the dark haired man and kissed his cheek, giving him the most gentle smile. "I'll be back soon, darling. Wait for me."

"...I'll be back soon.... "...wait for me...." Those words echoed in Isaac's head as he sobbed over the bloody corpse of his lover.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There you are," Lance's voice immediately pulled Isaac out of the trance state he'd been in for over half an hour. "Alesia said I'd find you here."

The pink-haired man approached the statue, and he and Isaac stood for a full minute in silence, remembering the fallen comrades who had given their lives in defence of the village.

"What does Camilla want this time?" Isaac didn't want to talk to anyone at all today, but apparently fate had decided otherwise.

"Not here, my friend."

Once outside in the fresh air, both men began to walk slowly towards the Castle Village Guild.

"Camilla is calling all the adventurers to a meeting. It seems the problem with Apophis was much more serious than we thought."

Apophis, how many times had Isaac cursed that name, the culprit of all misfortunes, the vile thing that would never die!

"The Order of Pythagoras and the Ministry of Magic believe that our only option to kill this monster is to ambush it. Lure Apophis to the right place, and then launch a series of attacks."

"And what exactly do they want me to do?" The scarred adventurer stopped and crossed his arms, waiting for an answer. Lance frowned, and Isaac realised he wasn't going to like what his colleague was about to tell him.

"One of the squads should be the decoy. They want your squad to do this."

"What?"

He couldn't believe his own ears. There were various rumours that the main organisations in Castle Village weren't shy about making such... decisions to achieve a goal for the "common good".

But Isaac's squad, the young, still very green recruits... They won't be able to stand up to the monsters of the Crimson Baldlans!

"Camilla, Magnus and Marlon protested about the idea, or at least asked to replace your squad with a group of professionals," Lance shook his head disapprovingly, he himself still in shock at the Order and Ministry's cold-blooded plan. "We don't know what the verdict will be yet-"

"My recruits are still too inexperienced."

"We tried to explain to the heads of the Ministry, but-"

"I don't care what the fucking Ministry says!" Isaac's voice was already starting to speak in a raised tone.

"I understand that, but-"

Isaac grabbed Lance sharply by the collar and hissed venomously:

"What do you know about this? What do you even know about what it's like to lose loved ones?! When bloody incompetent idiots send your friends and family to certain death!"

The one-eyed adventurer wanted to yell even louder, when suddenly he felt a not-so-subtle pain all over his body, as if invisible needles were pressing into his skin, causing him to freeze in place.

"I advise you not to swear and shout, dear friend. We still are on church grounds, after all."

Bastard, probably takes great pleasure in using magic on him, doesn't he?

Threatening a mage, especially a battle mage like Lance, wasn't the wisest decision, but Isaac's thoughts were clouded with rage and pain.

Except that when Isaac's anthracite eyes met Lance's violet ones, he didn't see the usual mockery or laughter, no hint of mirth or mischief in them. Only emptiness Isaac had seen in his own reflection after...

...after her funeral.

"You're not the only one who lost dear ones in that massacre..."

Lance dispelled the spell, allowing Isaac's body to relax.

"You're in full power to challenge their decision. Besides, no one pretty much agrees with their plan, so clearly they'll be looking for an alternative."

The pink-haired man turned his back to Isaac and headed for the Guild while Isaac stood still, pondering his colleague's words...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lance?"

"Yes, my love?"

"You're not mad that I asked you to keep... us both a secret?"

'No, but you do realise we're going to have to tell them sooner or later."

"Yeah I know, I know! It just... I don't know, scared that my father and mother wouldn't accept you."

"They're very nice and kind people."

"Yeah, but you're an adventurer, and they're not usually very trusting-"

"I know."

"I promise I'll tell them everything tomorrow. After my mission."

"A mission?"

"Mm-hmm. Just a routine recon in Crimson Baldlans with the others, but it's my first mission outside the Village! Finally, I've got a real mission! And when I get back, we're going straight to my parents. Oh, I'm nervous."

"Don't worry, I won't leave you."

"I know you won't. Lance?"

"Hmm?"

"Love you."

"I love you, too, my soul. Go to sleep. We got a lot to do tomorrow..."

...Lance would never forget the twisted in anger and sadness faces of his lover's parents, who, on receiving the sad news of their only son's death, were cursing Lance and all the adventurers and mages who had brainwashed their son into becoming an adventurer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[theantonian]

The Antonian Reading List

Mark Antony: A Life by Patricia Southern (Highly recommended!)

Mark Antony: A Biography by Eleanor Goltz Huzar (Highly recommended!)

The Life and Times of Marc Antony by Arthur Weigall (Recommended)

Marc Antony: His Life and Times by Allan Roberts (Recommended)

Marc Antony by Mary Kittredge

Antony & Cleopatra by Patricia Southern

Antony & Cleopatra by Adrian Goldsworthy (By far the most negative book on Antony by a modern historian, the Cleopatra portion is better)

Mark Antony: A Plain Blunt Man by Paolo de Ruggiero (Recommended)

Mark Antony and Popular Culture: Masculinity and the Construction of an Icon by Rachael Kelly

Mark Antony's Heroes: How the Third Gallica Legion Saved an Apostle and Created an Emperor by Stephen Dando-Collins

A Noble Ruin: Mark Antony, Civil War and the Collapse of the Roman Republic by W. Jeffrey Tatum (Highly recommend!)

Mark Antony & Cleopatra: Cleopatra's Proxy War to Conquer Rome & Restore the Empire of the Greeks by Martin Armstrong

Actium and Augustus: The Politics and Emotions of Civil War by Robert Alan Gurval

The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme (Recommended)

Octavian, Antony and Cleopatra by W. W. Tarn

Fulvia: Playing for Power at the End of the Roman Republic by Celia E. Schultz

Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley (Highly Recommended!)

Cleopatra by Michael Grant (Highly Recommanded!)

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff (Highly Recommended!)

Cleopatra - A Biography by D. Roller

Cleopatra and Antony by Diana Preston

Cleopatra by Alberto Angela (Recommended)

Cleopatra by Jacob Abbott

Cleopatra the Great by Joann Fletcher

Cleopatra and Egypt by Sally-Ann Ashton

Cleopatra and Rome by Diana E. E. Kleiner

Cleopatra Her History Her Myth by Francine Prose

Cleopatra Histories, Dreams, and Distortions by Lucy Hughes Hallett (Recommended)

Cleopatra’s Daughter Egyptian Princess by Jane Draycott

The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard (Good for beginners)

The Last Assassin: The Hunt for the Killers of Julius Caesar by Peter Stothard

Robicon by Tom Holland

Alesia 52 BC: The final struggle for Gaul (Campaign) by Nic Fields

Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra (Campaign) by Si Sheppard

Pharsalus 48 BC: Caesar and Pompey – Clash of the Titans (Campaign) by Si Sheppard

Philippi 42 BC: The death of the Roman Republic (Campaign) by Si Sheppard

Mutina 43 BC: Mark Antony's struggle for survival (Campaign) by Nic Fields

The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium by Barry Strauss

The Battle of Actium 31 BC: War for the World by Lee Fratantuono

Rome and Parthia: Empires at War: Ventidius, Antony and the Second Romano-Parthian War, 40–20 BC by Gareth C Sampson

Rivalling Rome: Parthian Coins and Culture by Vesta Curtis

Classical sources:

Plutarch’s Lives

Cicero: Philippics, Ad Brutum, Ad Familiares

Appian, The Civil Wars

Dio Cassius, The Roman History

Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars

Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War

Livy, The Early History of Rome

Tacitus, Annals and Histories

Friction:

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra by Willian Shakespeare

All For Love or The World Well Lost by John Dryden

The Siren and the Roman – A Tragedy by Lucyl

Caesar and Cleopatra by George Berbard Shaw

Cleopatra (play) by Sardou

Antony by Allan Massie

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

I, Cleopatra by William Bostock

Cleopatra by H. Rider Haggard

Cleopatra by Georg Ebers

Kleopatra (Vol I & II) by Karen Essex

Last Days with Cleopatra by Jack Lindsay

The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

When We Were Gods by Colin Falconer

The Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough

Caesar's Soldier: Mark Antony Book I by Alex Gough (Ongoing series)

The Antonius Trilogy by Brook Allen

The Last Pharaoh series by Jay Penner

Throne of Isis by Juith Tarr

Hand of Isis by Jo Graham

Woman of Egypt by Kevin Methews

The Ides of Blood 01-06 (Comics)

Terror - Antonius En Cleopatra (Erotic yet pure love, Dutch comics)

Cleopatra - Geschiedenisstrip (Dutch comics)

Les Grands Personnages de l Histoire en Bandes Dessinees – Marc Antonie (French comics)

Les Grands Personnages de l Histoire en Bandes Dessinees – Cleopatre (French comics)

Les Grands Personnages de l Histoire en Bandes Dessinees – Julius Caesar (French comics)

Cléopâtre (French Manga)

 Ils Ont Fait L'histoire - Cléopâtre (French Graphic Novel)

[filosofieke]

The timing of the Asterix series is messing with my brain, because Alesia happened in 52BC, Vitalstatistix fought in it, Asterix and Obelix were kids at the time… but Julius Caesar dies in 44BC. And Asterix is 35 by the time they get well acquaintanced.

SO. That’s impossible.

The only way to solve it really, is to antidate the entire Gergovia battle (and make Caesar a lot younger when he leads it)

Not that I am writing a story that happens in between instead of cleaning the house or something …

[mapsontheweb]

Battle of Alesia,52 BC.

by LegendesCarto

[autumngravity]

During my most recent Puppet History drought rewatching of Ruining History, I got to thinking and couldn't turn it off, so I present to you:

In the alternate universe where Ruining History was actually Puppet History - Who Would Be the Puppet Musical Guest?

Was Ben Franklin in a Smooching Cult?: Either Medmenham Abbey Castle or the Baboon that was dressed as a demon.

The Bizzare Life of Johnny Appleseed: It would either be the stack of multiple hats Johnny would wear or a barrel of Applejack made from one of the apple trees he planted.

The Most Insane Battle History: Pretty obviously Alesia with the double circumvallation around it but if I had to choose something else it would be the gladius sword or the turtle shield tank.

The True Story of the Pirate Queen: Either the pieces of a broken egg shell or the mannequin Anne painted red and dismantled.

That Time Britain Burned Down the White House: It would either be the on fire/burned up White House, the frame that the portrait of Washington was in, the stollen print press Cs, a spared piece of patent paper, or one of the tornados that spawned from the assumed hurricane.

The Deceitful Imposter King of Persia: The bow and arrow that Cambyses used to kill Prexasbis' kid and threaten Croesus or the fake Smerdis' severed ears.

Three Hilariously Terrible Popes: I think it would be a trio. For Benedict: The rope that was going to be used to assassinate him. For Alexander: One of the church offices he sold or the chestnuts that were used at the banquet. And for Stephen: Formosus' severed fingers.

The Adorable Bear that Served in WWII: It would be either be Corporal Wojtek himself, one of Wojteks cigarettes, the sack Wojtek was first brought to the soilders in, Michael, or a ammo shell that Wojtek helped load.

The Horrifying Shipwreck that Inspired Moby Dick: Either be the whale themself, the essex, one/multiple of the tortoises they took from the Galapagos, or the straws they drew to determine who would be eaten.

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

"Being stabbed is serious"

Well, I can't believe I'm saying it, but I wholly agree with Lisa here. To paraphrase a youtube video about the Battle of Alesia

Surgeon General's Warning: Being stabbed is bad for your health.

But I do love Taylor's pain tolerance being on full display, this girl just functioning with absolutely deadened nerves, apparently.

[catos-wound]

has anyone done the a second plane has hit the tower but with gjc's battle of alesia second wall

[reallyghostlypost]

Imagine the adventuring community trying to fight Apophis

After the farmer brings the Void Shard to Magnus an emergency Council meeting is held by the Ministry of Magic where all guild leaders are invited to decide what to do about the Crimson Badlands. Eventually they decide to make mixed teams of experienced mages and adventurers to start exploring different areas of the desert. (This has been avoided up til now because of how dangerous the Badlands are, but at this point they feel like they have no other choice).

The team with the most skilled members is sent in the general direction the farmer mentioned (including Isaac and Alesia, Jadu, Lance and maybe other First Slash members, plus other adventurers). Maybe they weren't expecting to actually meet Apophis, after all the farmer killed it. Or maybe they just assumed it's nowhere near as powerful as the farmer makes it sound like. After all the farmer is just a newbie and was fighting the corrupted serpent alone. They were expecting some slightly bigger serpent at most. (Isaac grumbling that the farmer probably hasn't even encountered a corrupted serpent before, so this terrifying beast is probably just a normal corrupted serpent. They will just risk their lives in the Badlands and waste important time just to report to Camilla that there are corrupted serpents in the Badlands. Which she already knew!)

After a few battles and a few scrapes they reached the giant dragon skeletons and realized that's the area the farmer was talking about (At this point some adventurers are starting to ask questions about the farmer. Even their large group had some trouble traveling this far, how could a single person battle so many monsters on their own?). There were monsters all over the place, some already stalking the group from behind the ancient bones and the cliffs were crawling with void spirits. And what's worse, they were clearly at the edge of a void zone, with strong dark magic empowering monsters and affecting the spells of their mages.

Then someone noticed some shadows shifting behind the ancient bones and a huge pitch black serpent rose up from the sands. In that instant they all knew what the farmer was talking about. The battle goes badly for them. They have trouble hurting Apophis, most of their attacks barely scratching it, but because of the monster's size and speed it's very difficult for them to dodge it's attacks. Plus the way the serpent coils around means they can also get hit by the tail.

They also had to fight the other monsters around who would attack them constantly and the overabundance of void energies in the area is affecting ever magical object they have, including their enchanted cloaks and boots and their elixirs they were depending on. Multiple people start to get injured and eventually they have to retreat. (This could get very dark if some members die and the rest have to live with the fact that they failed to protect their friends, or worse had to abandon the dead or even those injured in order to survive.)

Later on, they have to report to Camilla and explain what happened and cause another wave of desperate meetings and conferences because at this point it's obvious that the situation in the Badlands is getting out of hand.

[porciaenjoyer]

[id: two signs showing metro stops. the first picture shows one called "anatole france" and the second shows "alésia". end id]

anatole kuragin.. the battle of alesia.......... wow