Germanic Kingdoms: Military History and Notable Events

113 BCE - 101 BCE - Cimbrian War (All Facts) 

• War in which the two large namesake Celtic groups were ultimately defeated by Gaius Marius and Quintus Catulus and the Romans

• War which

  • Began when the the namesake Celtic subtribe and the Teutones, another Celtic subtribe, left their homes at the time and went looking for new homes in Southern Gaul / northern Italy

    • The Romans sent several armies north to deal with them

  • In 109 BCE, the namesake subtribe and Teutones requested land to settle on in exchange for military service

    • However, Rome refused their offer and thus took a loss at one of its armies being destroyed as a result and then another army later on

• War which marked the end of the Germanic threat to the Roman Republic

113 BCE - Battle of Noreia (All Facts)

• Battle in which the Romans were defeated by the Cimbri and Teutones, it began the Cimbrian War

105 BCE - Battle of Arausio (All Facts)

• Battle in which the Romans were defeated by the Cimbri, Teutones, and Ambrones, during the Cimbrian War

• Battle regarded as the worst defeat in the history of ancient Rome surpassing the Battle of Cannae, in terms of Romans killed

102 BCE - Battle of Aquae Sextiae (All Facts)

• Battle in which Gaius Marius and the Romans defeated the Teutones and Cimbri, subtribes of Celts that were advancing into Italy and southern Gaul, during the Cimbrian War

  • 200K Teutones were killed

  • 90K Teutones were taken prisoner

101 BCE - Battle of Vercellae (All Facts)

• Battle in which Gaius Marius and Quintus Catulus and the Romans defeated the Cimbri and Teutones, subtribes of Celts that were advancing into Italy and southern Gaul, thus ending the Cimbrian War

  • 140K Cimbri were killed

  • Many Teutones women were enslaved after this battle

• Thus, the invincible barbarians from the north who had Italy at their mercy were invincible no more when faced, for the first time, with the toughened Volunteer Army of Marius

• Battle which marked the end of the Germanic threat and defeat of the Cimbri to the Roman Republic

9 CE - Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (All Facts)

• Battle in which Varus and the Romans were defeated by Arminius and the Cherusci tribe of the Germans, also known as the “Varian Disaster”

  • Was caused by the need to pacify a region that was neglected to revolts elsewhere

  • Varus had trusted Arminius’s loyalty to Rome, which he was initially loyal to despite being German

  • However, he was led into an ambush where he and three Roman legions were slaughtered, hemmed in by forests and marshes

  • Varus, who had deluded himself into thinking the tribesmen were grateful for Roman rule, killed himself with his sword after which his head was cut off and sent to Rome by the victorious Germans

• Battle which thus proved to be a damaging blow to Roman prestige and its hold in Germany

  • Emperor Augustus was so overcome by the defeat that he

    • Refused to cut his beard or hair for several months

    • Abandoned the attempted conquest of Germany

16 - Battle of the Weser River (All Facts)

• Battle in which Germanicus and the Romans defeated Arminius and the Germans

• Battle which was the latest victory in a series of campaigns organized by Rome to avenge Varus and themselves for the crushing defeat they suffered at the hands of the Germans in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

• Battle which made Germanicus popular, so much so that it aroused jealousy in Tiberius who had him recalled to Rome so he could keep a close watch of him

16 - Battle of the Angrivarian Wall (All Facts)

• Battle in which Germanicus and the Romans defeated Arminius and the Germans

• Battle which was the latest victory in a series of campaigns organized by Rome to avenge Varus and themselves for the crushing defeat they suffered at the hands of the Germans in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

• Battle which made Germanicus popular, so much so that it aroused jealousy in Tiberius who had him recalled to Rome so he could keep a close watch of him

69 - Batavian Revolt / Revolt of the Batavi (All Facts)

• Revolt in which Quintus Cerialis (a general under Vespasian) and the Roman legions defeated Gaius Julius Civilis and his Germanic army

• Sometimes referred to as the “War of Liberation”

• It began under the pretext of providing support for Vespasian, and was joined by Gallic tribes such as the Treveri and the Lingones

166 - 180 - Marcomannic Wars (All Facts)

• Series of wars in which Marcus Aurelius and the Romans fought the namesake Germanic tribe and the Quadi and Sarmatian Iazyges

• 166 - German tribes poured across the upper and lower Danube River and invaded northern Italy

• 167 - Claudius Pompeianus and the Romans halted the German invaders in Pannonia

• 168 - At Aquileia, Aurelius and Verus reach peace terms with the German invaders who entered northern Italy in 166, in which the region is freed from foreign interference

• 169 - The namesake tribe and the Quadi get as far as the plains of north Italy, in which they cause panic in Rome

• 172 - Aurelius imposed a peace on the namesake tribe and the Quadi, in which a strip of land almost five miles wide to the north of the Danube River became forbidden to them

• 173 - Avidius Cassius crushed the insurrections of the shepherd brigands known as the Boukoloi

• 175 - Aurelius imposed a peace on the Sarmatian Iazyges in the Danubian region

• 177 - The namesake tribe and the Quadi declare war on the Roman Empire again

• 179 - Tarrutenius Paternus and the Romans won against the Marcomanni on the Danube River in the Battle of Vindobona

• 180 - Commodus, after consolidating his power and retaining the sole emperorship, abandons plans for Roman conquest of the German tribes’ lands and makes peace with the namesake before returning to Rome

212 - 305 - Barbarian Invasions of the Third Century (All Facts) 

• Uninterrupted period of raids within the borders of the Roman Empire, conducted for purposes of plunder and booty, by armed peoples belonging to various populations

• Notable Raids include

  • 233 / 235 - The Alamanni raided the frontier of the upper Rhine and an area called the Agri Decumates 

    • They withdrew after they were bribed or paid tribute by the Romans 

  • 238 - The Goths and the Carpi took possession of land north of the Black Sea, crossed the Danube River and invaded the province of Moesia 

    • Despite the Romans paying them tribute, they could not persuade these two groups to withdraw from the province of Moesia 

  • 250 - The Carpi invade Dacia

  • 250 / 251 - The Goths invade Moesia, penetrating Dacia

  • 253 - The Franks invaded Gaul

  • 253 - The Alamanni invaded Gaul

  • 260 - The Franks invaded Gaul again, having swept into Spain

  • 260 - The Goths and Vandals invaded Italy and Greece

  • 260 - The Berbers attacked Roman land in Africa

  • 267 - The Goths pillage Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece

  • 271 - Romans are forced to evacuate Dacia

  • 275 - The Franks pillaged Gaul 

  • 275 - The Alamanni pillaged Gaul 

• This period roughly corresponds with the “Crisis of the Third Century”

251 - Battle of Abrittus (All Facts)

• Battle in which Cniva and the Goths and Scythians defeated Decius and his son and led to Gallus’s emperorship

• Battle which began as a result of the disloyalty of Gallus, the governor of Moesia 

357 - Battle of Strasbourg (All Facts)

• Battle in which King Chnodomar and the Alamanni were defeated by Emperor Julian and the Romans in which they were driven back behind the Rhine River after initially crossing it

378 - Battle of Adrianople (All Facts)

• Battle in which King Fritigern of the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths (their calvary) and the Alans (of Iran) defeated Emperor Valens and the Romans  

• Battle in which 

  • Emperor Valens did not wait for Gratian and the Western Roman army, and was wounded and carried into a house which the Visigoths and Ostrogoths had then burned down shortly afterwards, burning him alive and killing him along with it 

  • Panic was caused in Constantinople that led to the massacring of many Gothic troops that had served in the Roman army as a precautionary measure lest the join the Goths again

• Battle that was considered the worst Roman defeat at the hands of the Goths since the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE

382 - Roman-Gothic Treaty of 382 (All Facts)

• Treaty signed between the Visigoths and Emperor Theodosius the Great of Rome which 

  • Provided the Visigoths land and political autonomy 

  • Provided Rome with military service by the Visigoths 

• This was the first time in Roman history and Theodosius was the first Roman Emperor to accept undefeated barbarians (Germanic Tribes) into the empire and recruit them into the army for Roman military service

402 - Siege of Asti (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Alaric and the Visigoths invade northern Italy from the Balkans and take the namesake city from the Romans 

402 - Battle of Verona (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Alaric and the Visigoths were defeated by Stilicho and the Romans

• Battle in which Alaric and the Visigoths were forced out of Italy by Stilicho and the Romans

406 - Battle of Fiesole (All Facts)

• Battle in which Radagaisus and the Vandals and Goths were defeated by Stilicho and the Romans after Radagaisus and the Vandals and Goths had pillaged the namesake city near Florence, Italy 

406 - Crossing of the Rhine River (All Facts)

• Action taken by hordes of Vandals, Burgundians, Suebi, and Alani in which the tribes took advantage of the freezing cold winter to perform the namesake action while the namesake place was frozen and expose the final frontier of the Romans

• Event which was the beginning of the end for Western Rome and is considered to have contributed significantly to the decline and sack of Rome by the Germanic Kingdoms

• From the Rhine River, they pillaged in 

  • 406 - Gaul 

  • 409 - Spain 

410 - First Sack of Rome (All Facts)

• Event in which Alaric and the Visigoths defeated the Romans and take the namesake heart of the Roman Empire, burning and pillaging it 

• Event which marked the first time in 800+ years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy

• Event triggered by Emperor Honorius refusing Alaric’s demands for gold and honors, including the “Master of Soldiers” honor

  • Event in which Emperor Honorius’s sister, Galla Placidia, was taken hostage by Alaric and the Visigoths and eventually married Athaulf

• Event whose psychological destruction was of far greater detriment to the Roman Empire than the material destruction

  • Although the capital of the empire was moved by Emperor Honorius to Ravenna, its sack was quite significant despite Roman optimists pointing out that it was not militaristically significant, but was rather spiritually significant

  • Throughout the empire, there were many who blamed Christianity and the neglect of the old gods for Rome’s decline and weakness, however realists knew that Romans had abdicated responsibility for defending themselves, transferring the position to the Goths fighting for them, with them, and/or against them on their frontiers  

• As a result of this event, Emperor Honorius ceded Aquitania, the Roman province in modern-day southwestern France to the Visigoths, from which they soon established their own independent “successor” kingdom

430 - 431 - Siege of Hippo (All Facts)

• Battle in which King Gaiseric and the Vandals seize and capture the namesake Roman city from Bonifatius and the Romans

439 - 442 - Vandal War (All Facts) 

• War in which King Gaiseric and the Vandals defeated Flavius Aetius and the Romans, in which they took Carthage and North Africa from Rome 

• War which ended when King Gaiseric and the Vandals signed a peace treaty with Valentinian III and the Romans, with the approval of Theodosius II

  • It granted Gaiseric full rights to be an independent ruler over most of the Roman province of Africa (Tunisia and Western Libya), leading to the formation of the Vandal Kingdom 

  • In exchange, Gaiseric and the Vandals agreed to give Sicily, Numidia, and Mauretania (Morocco and Algeria) back to Valentinian III and the Roman Empire 

451 - Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (All Facts)

• Battle in which Flavius Aetius led a coalition of Romans, Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks and defeated Atilla and the Huns 

• Battle which definitively prevented Atilla and the Huns from conquering Gaul 

• Battle in which Aetius allowed Attila to retreat to Pannonia (Hungary)

• Battle which began when Atilla the Hun demanded that he marry Emperor Valentinian III’s sister Honoria (who was willing to marry him) but Valentinian III denied his request so Atilla invaded Gaul in response

• Battle in which Theodoric, 5th King of the Visigoths, died heroically

454 - Battle of Nedao (All Facts)

• Battle in which King Ardaric and the Gepids, alongside other peoples that were in the Hunnic Empire, revolted against and defeated the sons of Atilla the Hun and their allies in Pannonia, leading to the dissolution of the Hunnic Empire

455 - Second Sack of Rome (All Facts) 

• Event in which Gaiseric and the Vandals defeated the Romans and take the namesake heart of the Roman Empire, pillaging it for two weeks straight, upon the death of Valentinian III

  • Gaiseric and the Vandals agreed not to burn Rome after Pope Leo pleaded them not to

• Event in which Gaiseric and the Vandals seized

  • The remainder of Roman North Africa

  • Sardinia and Corsica 

  • Spoils taken by Titus from Jerusalem back in 70 CE 

  • Thousands of captives 

  • Empress Eudoxia and her daughters 

• Event in which Gaiseric and the Vandals took Rome due to their powerful fleet 

  • Despite being his ally, Gaiseric took Valentinian III’s murder as a sign that all treaty obligations with him were nullified 

  • After this event, the fleet roamed freely throughout the western Mediterranean ready to take more land and booty 

456 - Gothic War in Spain (All Facts)

• War which Emperor Avitus and the Roman Empire instigates in which Theodoric II and the Visigoths fought against and defeated King Rechiarus and the Suebi

  • They are assisted by Romans, Franks, and Burgundians

  • As a result, Theodoric II and the Visigoths seized parts of modern-day Spain to be added to the Visigothic Kingdom

486 - Battle of Soissons (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Clovis and the Franks defeated Syagrius and the Romans and conquered northern Gaul, which led to the foundation of the Frankish Kingdom

489 - Battle of Verona (All Facts)

• Battle in which Theodoric the Great and the Ostrogoths defeated King Odoacer of Italy

• Odoacer fled to Ravenna

490 - 493 - Siege of Ravenna (All Facts)

• Event in which Theodoric the Great and the Ostrogoths besieged Odoacer and his forces in the namesake city

• Event which ended when the two men agreed to peace, in which Theodoric persuaded Odoacer to surrender by offering him a share of the government

• However, shortly afterwards, Theodoric the Great murdered Odoacer at a banquet

• Event which led to the Ostrogothic control of Italy and the start of the Ostrogothic Kingdom 

496 - Battle of Tolbiac (All Facts)

• Battle in which Clovis and the Franks defeated the Alamanni near the Rhine River, in which they were driven back beyond the river

507 - Battle of Vouille (All Facts)

• Battle in which Clovis and the Franks, with help from Gundobad and the Burgundians, defeated Alaric II and the Visigoths

• Battle in which the Franks

  • Took Aquitaine

  • Pushed the Visigoths back into Spain

  • Killed Alaric II

• Battle which Clovis was “theologically justified” in waging against the Visigoths because of their Arianism and denial of the Trinity as he was a recently converted Nicene Christian

• Battle which led to Clovis and the Franks’ control of all of Gaul except for southeastern Gaul

• Battle which took place 10 miles from Poitiers

524 - Battle of Vezeronce (All Facts)

• Battle in which Godomar II and the Burgundians defeated Chlodomer and the Franks

533 - 534 - Vandalic War (All Facts) 

• War in which Gelimer and the Vandals were defeated nu Justinian, Belisarius, and the Byzantines, who retook North Africa (Tunisia) from them

• It was the first in a series of wars instigated by Justinian to try and reconquer Western Rome

• War in which Belisarius led a small force of about 18K troops, 1K of which were Barbarian allies and Belisarius’s own bodyguard, carried in 500 ships

  • They landed in Byzacenum

  • Within a month, the imperial force crushed a large Vandal army at Ad Decinum and the gates of Carthage were opened back up to the Byzantine Empire

  • Belisarius was helped in his attack on the Vandals by the initial absence of their king, Gelimer, who was putting down a revolt in Sardinia 

  • When Gelimer returned to North Africa, he blockaded Carthage in the process, but his armies were defeated within an hour of meeting the imperial army at Tricamarum

  • Gelimer fled

  • The empire recovered all of its lost possessions in the imperial province of Africa (Tunisia)

• Justinian awarded himself the title “Vandalicus” (conqueror of the Vandals) as a result of the Byzantine victory in this war

535 - 554 - Gothic War (All Facts)

• War in which the Ostrogoths were defeated by the Byzantines, thus having ended the Ostrogoth Kingdom

• War in which 

  • 535 - Theodahad of the Ostrogoths has his wife and daughter of his predecessor Amalasuntha strangled, which gave Justinian a pretext for invading Ostrogothic Italy

  • 535 - Belisarius captures Sicily 

  • 536 - Belisarius captures Rome and Naples

  • 537 - Vitiges and the Ostrogoths besiege Rome

  • 538 - Vitiges and the Ostrogoths abandon their siege of Rome

  • 539 - Vitiges and the Ostrogoths capture and destroy Milan, massacring its men and enslaving its women

  • 540 - Belisarius tricks Vitiges into surrendering to him, and takes possession of Ravena, thoroughly reconquering Italy south of the Po River and takes Vitiges with him back to Constantinople

  • 543 - Totila and the Ostrogoths besiege and recaptures Naples, forcing Belisarius to return to Italy

  • 546 - Totila and the Ostrogoths besiege and recapture Rome, in which all but 500 of its inhabitants flee from the city 

  • 547 - Belisarius reoccupies and repairs the defenses of the deserted city of Rome 

  • 550 - Belisarius is recalled from Italy back to Constantinople due to lack of imperial money and reinforcements, and Totila takes advantage and recaptures and reconquers Rome 

  • 551 - Totila and the Ostrogoths recapture almost all of Italy 

  • 552 - Narses and the Byzantines defeated Totila and the Ostrogoths, killing Totila, in the Battle of Taginae

  • 553 - Narses and the Byzantines defeated Teias and the Ostrogoths in the Battle of Vesuvius, having (almost) completely reconquered Italy and ending the Ostrogoth Kingdom 

537 - 538 - Siege of Rome (All Facts)

• Battle in which Vitiges and the Ostrogoths moved onto Rome during the Gothic War

• Within a year, however, Vitiges abandoned it

• Battle which played a significant role in the early development of the Gothic War

539 - Siege of Milan (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Vitiges and the Ostrogoths moved onto Milan during the Gothic War 

• After the battle, Vitiges and the Ostrogoths massacred all of Milan’s men and enslaved all of Milan’s women

539 - 540 - Siege of Ravenna (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Vitiges and the Ostrogoths were defeated by Belisarius and the Byzantines during the Gothic War

• Battle in which Belisarius tricked Vitiges into surrendering to him

• After this battle, Belisarius took Vitiges back with him to Rome, forcing the Ostrogoths to elect a new king to succeed him 

542 - 543 - Siege of Naples (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Totila and the Ostrogoths defeated the Byzantines during the Gothic War, forcing Belisarius to return to Italy from Constantinople 

546 - Sack of Rome (All Facts)

• Battle in which Totila and the Ostrogoths took the namesake city during the Gothic War, in which all but 500 of its inhabitants to flee

• One year after the battle, Belisarius returned to the namesake city to reoccupy it and repair its defenses 

549 - 550 - Siege of Rome (All Facts)

• Battle in which Totila and the Ostrogoths recaptured and reconquered the namesake city during the Gothic War, undoing the repair done by Belisarius previously and wreaking havoc on the male population there

• Battle which was prompted by Totila taking advantage of a situation in which Belisarius was recalled from Italy back to Constantinople due to lack of imperial money and reinforcements

552 - Battle of Taginae (All Facts)

• Battle in which Totila and the Ostrogoths were defeated by Narses and the Byzantines during the Gothic War

• Battle in which Totila is killed, forcing the Ostrogoths to elect a new king to succeed him 

553 - Battle of Vesuvius (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Teias and the Ostrogoths were defeated by Narses and the Byzantines 

• Battle which marked

  • the (almost) complete reconquest of Italy

  • the end to the Ostrogoth Kingdom

  • the end to the Gothic War

569 - Siege of Pavia (All Facts)

• Battle in which Alboin and the Lombards besieged the namesake city and overran (northern) Italy, which led to the foundation of the Lombard Kingdom in Italy

603 - Battle of Degsastan (All Facts)

• Battle in which King Aethelfrith of Bernicia defeated Aedan and the Gaels of Dál Riada

633 - Battle of Hatfield Chase (All Facts)

• Battle in which Cadwallon ap Cadfan of the Gwynedd Kingdom and Penda of the Mercian Kingdom defeated and killed Edwin and the Northumbrian Kingdom, the latter of whom was venerated as a result and due to his baptism