Celtic 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

58 BCE - 49 BCE - Gallic Wars (All Facts)

• Series of wars and battles in which Julius Caesar and the Romans defeated and conquered the Gauls and Celts

  • Wars which began when Gauls revolted against their Roman overlords by murdering Roman merchants who had set up business in Orleans

  • 58 BCE - Won control of the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, and Illyricum

  • 58 BCE - The Helvetii (Ancient Swiss-Gaul immigrants) and the Suebi (Germanic people who settled in northern Gaul) were defeated

  • 57 BCE - The Belgae and Nervii were defeated and the Belgic League in Alsace and Belgium was defeated

  • 56 BCE - Western Gallic peoples, including the Veneti and peoples of Brittany and Normandy, were defeated

  • 55 BCE - Caesar raided across the Rhine River against the Suevi and “Germans” building a bridge there to impress Germanic peoples with Roman engineering and burning a few villages to show the force of the Romans

  • 55 BCE - England failed to be invaded after the Romans had crossed the Channel, having withdrawn after failing to secure a firm foothold there, in which the Belgic people there defeated Caesar and his army

  • 54 BCE - England was invaded but failed to be occupied

    • However, many of its British tribes were defeated, such as Cassivellaunus of the Catuvellauni, commander of the southeastern Britons, who, along with his army, was defeated by Caesar and the Romans

    • Permanent client kings of the Romans were installed there

    • Set the precedent for future Roman intervention there

  • As a result of these wars and campaigns, Caesar built up not only a massive amount of wealth but also a battle-hardened army and many clients of the namesake

  • 53 BCE - Ambiorix and the Eburones revolted against their Roman overlords, but were defeated

  • Vercingetorix tried using scorched earth tactics to drive out Caesar and his legions, who were wintering at Ravenna

  • However, he failed because Caesar eluded him and the Gauls refused to burn their crops

  • 52 BCE - Vercingetorix and the Gauls defeat Julius Caesar and their Roman overlords at the Battle of Gergovia

  • 52 BCE - Julius Caesar and the Romans defeated Vercingetorix and the Gauls at the Battle of Alesia

• Wars in in which Caesar made effective use of the Roman maxim “divide and conquer” by playing off one Celtic people against another

• The Roman victory in the namesake event ended the Gauls and Celts’ threat to Rome in which Gaul (and Celtic tribes) were decisively conquered

58 BCE - Battle of Bibracte (All Facts)

• Battle in which Julius Caesar and the Romans defeated the Helvetii, a subtribe of Celts, during the Gallic Wars

• At this battle, Vercingetorix of the Averni was declared supreme commander of the Gauls for the remainder of the Gallic Wars against Rome

53 BCE - Ambiorix’s Revolt (All Facts)

• Battle in which the namesake chief leader of the Eburones, a subtribe of the Gauls, revolts against Rome, during the Gallic Wars

• The namesake leader and his army

  • destroyed one Roman camp and killed its troops

  • massacred a legion and a half of Romans

  • persuaded the Belgic Nervii to besiege another Roman camp in their territory

• Was brutally suppressed by Caesar, especially after he had received reinforcements following the massacre

52 BCE - Battle of Gergovia (All Facts)

• Battle in which Caesar and the Romans were defeated by Vercingetorix and the Gauls, during the Gallic Wars

• Battle which led some of Rome’s allies defected to the Gauls

52 BCE - Battle of Alesia (All Facts)

• Battle in which Julius Caesar and the Romans defeated Vercingetorix of the Arverni and the Gauls, after they had revolted against Rome, during the Gallic Wars

• Battle in which

  • Caesar drove the Gauls into the namesake hill-town and laid siege to them with a double row of fortifications, with strong points protected by pits studded with sharp stakes

  • Caesar’s inner ring faced the namesake hill-town, the other pointed outward to hold off the warriors who were gathering to raise the siege

  • Despite attacking in great strength with 250K troops, Caesar and his men were initially beaten off and dispersed

  • Vercingetorix tried to break out in which his man advanced with great courage but, under the cover of darkness, fell into the pits previously dug by Caesar and his army

  • Vercingetorix and his army sustained many casualties from spears thrown from Caesar’s ramparts

  • When it grew light again the Gauls tried again, this time filling in the pits with brushwood, but they took too long

  • The Romans eventually got amongst them with their swords and they forced them to retreat into the namesake town

  • Vercingetorix then had chosen 60K of his best fighters to creep out at night and hide themselves, ready to attack the most vulnerable point in the Roman lines

  • Then, they rose from their hiding places and attacked at midday

  • Then, Vercingetorix led his main force out and fighting raged all along the line

  • Although at times it seemed the Romans would be broken, Caesar, distinctive in his scarlet cloak, conducted the battle brilliantly and drove off the Gauls

  • After the Romans laid siege to Vercingetorix, the fighting took only a day, but it was quite fierce

  • By its end, Vercingetorix surrendered as he was anxious to save his men, and was taken prisoner by Caesar

• The Roman victory in the namesake battle ended the Gauls and Celts’ threat to Rome in which Gaul (and Celtic tribes) were decisively conquered

21 CE - Florus-Sacrovir Revolt (All Facts)

• Revolt led by the namesake Romanized Gallic noblemen, both named Julius, that was suppressed

  • Revolt caused by the namesake leaders who capitalized on local grumbling within Gaul concerning

    • High taxation

    • The Roman government’s ban on Druidism

  • Thus, they persuaded a number of the Aedui and Treveri, subtribes of the Gauls at the time, to revolt

    • The (second) namesake even held a number of Aedui students hostage in Augustodunum to force their parents to join the revolt

    • The (second) namesake thus assembled a motley army of 40K men, including some “crupellarii” (troops with heavy body armor)

  • However, they were soundly defeated by Gaius Silius and the Romans

  • Both namesake leaders committed suicide after their defeat at the hands of Gaius Silius and the Romans

43 - 87 - Roman Invasion of England (All Facts)

• Invasion which took place under the rule of Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian and their respective and infamous generals including Scapula, Paulinus, Cerialis, Frontinus, and Agricola

• 48 - Scapula disarmed the Iceni and attacked Wales

• 51 - Scapula defeated Caratacus

• 60 - 61 - Paulinus suppressed the Iceni and Boudicca’s Revolt

• 74 - Cerialis subdued the Brigantes in the north

• 77 - Frontinus subdued the Silures in Wales

• 83 - Agricola subdued the Caledonians in the Grampian Mountains

• 83 - Agricola subdued the Picts

43 - 46 - Invasion of England, under Claudius (All Facts)

• Invasion which took place under the rule of Claudius

• Invasion which began when Roman war galleys hovered off the harbor at Rutupiae (Kent) and discharged thousands of legionnaires

• The Romans met little resistance until they crossed the Medway River where they were confronted by Caractacus and the English army

51 - Caractacus’s Revolt (All Facts)

• Revolt in which the Romans, under Claudius, defeated the namesake leader of the English resistance to Roman occupation of England

  • During the Roman invasion of England under Claudius, the Romans met little resistance until they confronted the namesake and his revolt after crossing the Medway River

• For two days, the namesake and the Britons put up a determined fight, but they were heavily outnumbered and were eventually forced to retreat to the west where they regrouped to continue the resistance fighting which was eventually effectively extinguished by the Romans

• The namesake leader was taken prisoner at Ludlow

  • He had sought refuge with Cartimandua, queen of the Yorkshire Brigantes, but she handed him over to the Roman enemy while most of his family went into captivity

60 - Boudicca’s Revolt (All Facts)

• Revolt in which Gaius Paulinus and the Romans, under Nero, defeated the namesake Queen of the Iceni (Celts) and the united Celts of England

  • The Queen was supposedly tall and grim-faced in appearance with piercing eyes and a harsh voice

  • Partly caused due to Paulinus’s stamping out of Druidism in Anglesey

• Revolt which consisted of 80K+ Britons, many of them women spectators who had joined their men

• Revolt which saw the namesake Queen of the Iceni and the united Celts of England

  • Seek to avenge her being flogged by the Romans her two daughters being raped by the Romans

  • Take advantage of Seutonius’s absence to wreak the namesake queen’s revenge on the Roman garrisons at Colchester, St. Albans, and London

  • Burn the Roman-occupied London and St. Albans to the ground

  • Completely destroy the city of Colchester, which Claudius had established

  • Kill 70K+ Romans, largely scatter Roman forces, and even force one Roman leader to flee to the relative safety of Gaul

• Revolt which ultimately failed in which

  • 80K of the 100K Celts (Britons) were killed, slaughtered by the javelin-wielding Roman army

  • 20K of the 100K Celts were accommodated to Roman rule

  • the namesake Queen of the Iceni had poisoned herself to prevent capture

  • the defeated Iceni warriors carried their queen to her burial place

83 - Battle of Mount Graupius (All Facts) 

• Battle in which Julius Agricola and his Roman forces defeated the Caledonians

142 - 143 - Revolt of the Brigantes (All Facts)

• Anti-Roman revolt which breaks out in Yorkshire among the namesake most populous tribe in England

• Suppressed by Quintus Lollius Urbicus, the Roman governor of England at the time

• Following their incursions into Rome, they forced the Romans to abandon the Antoine Wall of 143 and retreat to Hadrian’s Wall

208 - 211 - Roman Invasion of Caledonia (All Facts) 

• War in which Septimius Severus and the Romans invade Scotland 

• Having suffered heavy losses since the start of the invasion, Severus and the Romans make peace with the Scots