But it is granted neither to the most eminent of men to create in one day an army, nor to popular insurrection, however general, to form suddenly a nation. The foreigner has not yet quitted the territory of their country before the chiefs become jealous of each other, and rivalries break out between the different states. The Burgundians obey unwillingly the people of Auvergne; the people of the territory of Beauvais refuse their contingent, alleging that they will only make war at their own time and in their own manner. The inhabitants of Savoy, instead of responding to the appeal made to their old independence, oppose a vigorous resistance to the attacks of the Gauls, and the Vivarais shows no less devotedness to the Roman cause. As to the Gaulish army, its strength consisted chiefly in cavalry; the footmen, in spite of the efforts of Vercingetorix, composed only an undisciplined mass; for military organisation is always a reflection of the state of society, and where there is no people there is no infantry. In Gaul, as Cæsar tells us, two classes alone were dominant, the priests and the nobles.[771] It is not surprising if, then as in the Middle Ages, the nobility on horseback formed the true sinew of the armies. Accordingly, the Gauls never incurred the risk of resisting the Romans in the open field, or rather everything was confined to a combat of cavalry, and, when their cavalry was defeated, the army retired without the infantry being engaged at all. This is what happened before Sancerre: the defeat of his cavalry had forced Vercingetorix to make his retreat; he had allowed Cæsar to continue his route undisturbed towards Bourges, and take that town, without ever daring to attack him either during his march or during the siege. It will be the same at the battle of the Vingeanne. Cæsar directed his march from Joigny towards Franche-Comté, across the country of Langres. His aim was to reach Besançon, an important fortress, from whence he could at the same time resume the offensive and protect the Roman Province; but when he arrived at the eastern extremity of the territory of Langres, in the valley of the Vingeanne, at about sixty-five kilomètres from Alesia, his army, in march, is brought to a halt by that of Vercingetorix, whose numerous cavalry have sworn to pass three times through the Roman lines; this cavalry is repulsed by that of the Germans in Cæsar’s pay, and Vercingetorix hastens to take refuge in Alesia, without the least resistance offered by his infantry.