Page 62 - History of War - Issue 10-14

THE ROMAN WAR MACHINE

WAR ENGINES & SIEGES

If a settlement stood in the way of the Roman juggernaut, the
true power of the empire’s siege machines would be unleashed

As the Roman war machine swarmed across The siege would begin with the construction
Europe, it would occasionally come into contact of a series of forts and guard towers around the
with heavily fortifi ed enemy forts and towns. By city. This would prevent any enemy reinforcements This reconstruction shows the
destroying these centres, the Romans could deal a reaching the city and cut off the water and food extent of the walls that the
Romans had to breach to gain
sizeable blow to the enemy forces and plunder the supply to the defenders. If the settlement still
access to Vercingetorix’s camp
city of its resources and riches. resisted, the full force of a siege would begin.

FAMOUS SIEGES

Perhaps the most-important of all the Roman sieges was
Carthage. The centre of the Carthaginian Empire, it was
sacked in 146 BCE ending the third and fi nal Punic War.
Another famous event was the siege of Alesia, which
signaled the ending of Gaul’s resistance after Julius Caesar
surrounded Vercingetorix’s camp and successfully defeated
the leader of the Arveni Gauls. There were also sieges at sea,
with Syracuse being the most prominent example.

After a successful
siege, the city
would be razed
to the ground in
order to prevent
any future
uprisings and to
send a message
to other enemies.
This image shows
the once great
city of Carthage

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