Alternative history: Vercingetorix

[Karl Marx's Camel]

What do you believe would've happened if Vercingetorix and his men broke out from the Roman encirclement and united with the men of Commius?

[chebol]

I think by that point it was almost a decided fact. The victory at Gergovia had provided the Gaulish resistance with the necessary momentum to defeat Caesar and Rome in their offensive.

However, the ongoing lack of cohesion amongst the Gauls - with the Aedui and others remaining loyal to their Roman allies - and the strategy of using German forces against the Gauls left the resistance greatly weakened.

Even if they had defeated Caesar, they would have likely fallen to the next offensive - or the one after. There was little likelihood of a coherent Gaulish state formation, and the Roman terror gallicus of the previous centuries meant - with the expansionist nature of Rome - that Gaul would never survive without a major cultural and political change. It can only remain speculation whether or not Vercingetorix would have provided that - I doubt it, althought the effect of such a victory might have stiffened British resistance the more, and also damaged the German-Roman alliance earlier.

If your question relates to the effect on Rome of the defeat of Gaius Julius, well, once again I can't help you there. Such speculation is largely useless, as there are too many variables and too many of the laws of social evolution have come into being as a result of this history, making a review of it somewhat impossible to undertake honestly, or without revisiting my PhD thesis - whch I'm not planning on doing anytime soon.

[chebol]

And Commius was entirely untrustworthy anyway...

[Janus]

I agree with chebol, I don't think that this would've marked the end of Roman intrusion into Gaul but that it would only prolong the defeat of the Gauls for a short while. Rome was still in the early stages of its expansionist phase and anything short of a cataclysmic defeat wouldn't have stopped it at this point.