Posted on 11/18/2018 9:49:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv
The Battle of Alesia took place in September, 52 BC around the Gallic oppidum of Alesia, a major town centre and hill fort of the Mandubii tribe... To guarantee a perfect blockade, Caesar ordered the construction of an encircling set of fortifications, called a circumvallation, around Alesia. The details are known from Caesar's Commentaries. About 18 kilometres of 4 metre high fortifications were constructed in about three weeks (Wikipedia). This line was followed inwards by two four-and-a-half metre wide ditches, also four-and-a-half metres deep. The farthest from the fortification was filled with water from the surrounding rivers. These fortifications were supplemented with mantraps and deep holes in front of the ditches, and regularly spaced watch towers equipped with Roman artillery. Vercingetorix's cavalry often raided the construction works attempting to prevent full enclosure. Caesar ordered the construction of a second line of fortifications, the contravallation, facing outward and encircling his army between it and the first set of walls. The second line was identical to the first in design and extended for 21 kilometres (Wikipedia)... V-cross-section ditches more than a meter or so deep have long been recognized as especially defensive. Their surface width, depth, steep sides, and narrow bottoms make them difficult for attackers to negotiate. This was well recognized by the Romans... When Julius Caesar's army built siege fortifications (a contravallation) in A.D. 52 surrounding the Gallic hillfort of Alesia, the Romans dug two 2.4-2.7-m deep ditches in front of their curtain wall. The innermost (i.e., closest to Gallic Alesia), a water-filled moat, was trapezoidal in section, while the dry ditch just below the Roman palisade was V-sectioned (Keppie, 1989, pp. 181-183).
(Excerpt) Read more at thecivilengineer.org ...
Vercingetorix - "The besieger has become the besieged! You are doomed!"
Caesar - "Hold thou my beer and watch this."
Three weeks to build a wall eleven miles long and 12 feet high. President Trump, please take note.
Caesar had some set of stones on him.
Unbelievable!! “About 11 MILES of 13 FOOT high fortifications were constructed in THREE WEEKS” in 52 AD.
And we can’t do jack sh!t in YEARS on our southern border. What a pathetic commentary.
Oops...52 BC. Off by a hundred years.
No unions or OSHA regulations back then...
I don’t think Caesar had to worry about environmental impact reports or unions or labor laws. You order 10,000 men to build a wall with the incentive that if you get hurt or tired your body will be ground up for mortar then you can accomplish a lot in a short time.
Caesar didn’t have the GOPe Congress and Paul Ryan to deal with.
Or Environmental Impact Statements.
Look at the Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam, etc for examples of what we used to accomplish pre-EIS.
Where there’s no will, there’s no way.
Or environmental assessments - that takes a LONG time. I was just reading about some light-rail into our town - the initial assessments started in 2000. (Too bad they couldn’t have taken 100 years. F-ing light rail will bring the gangs right here!)
It’s as simple as that, isn’t it?
Yes, it has been identified. IIRC, Napoleon was the first to send engineers out to find the various sites identified by Caesar in his Commentaries. Subsequent archaeology proved the site as Alesia.
Reminds me of the Tenth Legion at Madada. Subtlety was not their strong suit.
Madada?
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