ALESIA, the Broken Alliance

What will you do, Caesar, after Gergovia?

You flee, forced to leave the land of the Arverni with all haste. The bridges over the Loire have been destroyed. You must cross a difficult ford to head further north, skirting the Aeduan territory, to rejoin your other legions. The legionaries are weary and wounded, and your convoy must climb ever more difficult hills. The wagons carrying baggage and the wounded follow rutted tracks, and your rearguard is harassed through the passes.

You have arrived, however, in friendly territory, among the Lingones. Labienus, the celebrated general and conqueror of Lutetia, has joined you. Your legions can now set out again for the Provincia… Just when you thought yourself safe, your convoy is suddenly and seriously attacked by the Gallic coalition led by Vercingetorix. You owe a great debt to the Germanic troops who recently joined you and who catch the Aeduan cavalry from behind.

Eporedorix, a young nobleman who admires you, is captured during this engagement. Just a few weeks ago he was at your side. What does he tell you? It must surely be important, for you release him a few moments later. And then, against all expectations, you decide to pursue Vercingetorix, who has taken refuge at Alesia.

A fresh, vivid and richly illustrated vision of the large-scale campaign led by Caesar during the Gallic Wars: the authors have succeeded in both dramatising history and remaining as close as possible to the textual and archaeological sources.

It is in this sense that the graphic novel Alésia, the Broken Alliance is exemplary. A historical graphic novel, Alésia, the Broken Alliance was produced with the foremost specialist archaeologists and historians of the Gallic Wars, including the director of the Franco-German excavations (1991–1997) and an excavation supervisor on the site for 23 years.

This historically unassailable work remains a graphic novel that also brings the smaller story within the greater one to life.