This is a chronology of warfare between the Romans and various Germanic peoples. The nature of these wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings, later Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire that started in the late second century BC, and more. The series of conflicts was one factor which led to the ultimate downfall of the Western Roman Empire in particular and ancient Rome in general in 476.
55 BC, Caesar's intervention against Tencteri and Usipetes, Caesar defeats a Germanic army then massacres the women and children, totalling 430,000 people, somewhere near the Meuse and Rhine rivers, Caesar's first crossing of the Rhine against the Suevi, Caesar's invasions of Britain. Archaeologists with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam claim they've found the first physical evidence that the battle took place in what is now the Netherlands, near the city of Kessel, North Brabant.[8]
16–13 BC, Emperor Augustus on the Rhine, Reorganization of the Three Gauls (capital Trier), Decision to fortify the left bank of the Rhine and conquest of Germania to the Elbe, Rome pays tribute to the Frisii, Begin of invasions east of the Rhine by Rome, Construction of the modern city of Mainz begins.
8–7 BC, Construction of military forts on both sides of the Weser, Deportation of 40,000 Sicambri and Suebi west of the Rhine.[19][20][21]
6–2 BC, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus leads a Roman army across the Elbe. Construction of military roads, called the pontes longi, amid the vast swamps between the Rhine and the Ems.[22]Hermunduri subdued and forced to flee into the territory of the Marcomanni.[23]
5, The Roman navy reaches the Cimbrian peninsula for the first time. Cimbri, Charudes, Semnones and other Germanic tribes who inhabit the region declare themselves friends of the Roman people.[28][29]
6–9, Uprising in Illyricum, which cancels the major Roman project of war against Suevic Marcomanni. Romans forced to move eight of eleven legions present in Magna Germania to crush the rebellion in the Balkans and Pannonia.[30]
6, Varus succeeds Saturninus as governor of Germania with the mission of peacekeeping and the implementation of tax and judicial administration.
9, clades Variana, Destruction of the legions XVII, XVIII and XIX by Arminius in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, Suicide of Administrator Varus, Loss of military camps east of the Rhine.,[31][32][33] Roman Empire is forced to strategically withdraw from Germania. Pro-Roman Germanic coalition led by Maroboduus and Segestes turns against Arminius.[34] The resistance of the Roman garrison of Aliso and the arrival of Roman reinforcements on the Rhine prevent Arminius from invading Gaul.[35]
10–13, Military command of Tiberius in Germania and interventions in the valley of the Lippe, replaced by Germanicus, Construction of Limes Germanicus begins.
14, Mutiny of the legions of Germania.
14–16, Roman retaliation against Cherusci, Chatti, Bructeri and Marsi, capture of Thusnelda, recovery of two legionary standards lost in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
Campaigns of Tiberius and Germanicus in the years 10/11-13 CE. In pink the anti-Roman Germanic coalition led by Arminius. In dark green, territories still directly held by the Romans, in yellow the Roman client states
17, Cessation of military offensives east of the Rhine by Tiberius, Civil war between pro-Roman and anti-Roman Germanic tribes ends in a stalemate.[36][37]
20, In a series of actions backed by Rome, Vannius came to power following the defeat of the Marcomannic king Catualda by the Hermunduri king of Vibilius, establishing the kingdom of Vannius (regnum Vannianum). Vannius was a client king of the Roman Empire and ruled from 20 AD to 50 AD.[38]
277–278, Emperor Probus's successful campaigns against Goths, Alamanni, Longiones, Franks and Burgundians.[56] Reportedly, 400,000 barbarians were killed during this campaign, and the entire nation of the Lugii were extirpated.[57]
286, Campaign against the Alamanni, Burgundians, Heruli and Chaibones under Emperor Maximian.
287–288, Salian Franks, Chamavi and Frisii surrender and become subjects of the Roman Empire. Maximian move them to Germania Inferior to provide manpower and prevent the settlement of other Germanic tribes.[58][59]
292, Constantius defeat the Franks who had settled at the mouth of the Rhineand and deport them to the nearby region of Toxandria providing a buffer along the northern Rhine and reducing his need to garrison the region.[58]
306–310, Emperor Constantine the Great drives the Franks back beyond the Rhine and captures two of their kings, Ascaric and Merogaisus. The prisoners are fed to the beasts of Trier's amphitheater in the adventus (arrival) celebrations that followed.[61] Constantine crosses the Rhine in 308 and 310, devastating the lands of the Franks and the Bructeri.[62]
332, Roman invasion north of the Danube under Emperor Constantine the Great. Capture of Gothic Prince Ariaricus. Nearly one hundred thousand Goths die before submitting to Rome.[63][64][65][66][67][68]
The northern and eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire in the time of Constantine, with the territories acquired in the course of the thirty years of military campaigns between 306 and 337.
357, Roman invasion of Alemannic territory led by general Barbatio and Julian, Attack on Lugdunum (Lyon) by Laeti, End of coordinated operation against the Alemanni, Battle of Argentoratum, Capture of Alemannic King Chnodomarius, Julian crosses the Rhine at Moguntiacum and forces three Alamannic kingdoms to submit, Franks expelled from the basin of the Meuse.[74]
358, Raid in the province of Raetia by AlemannicJuthungi, Destruction of Castra Regina (Regensburg) by Alemanni, Julian forces the Salian Franks into submission and expel the Chamavi back to Hamaland.
359, Execution of Roman General Barbatio, Recapture of Moguntiacum by Julian, Emperor Constantius II crosses the Danube at Brigetio (Komárom) and devastates the Quadian lands.[75]
382, Peace between Rome and the Goths, Large Gothic contingents of Thervingi, Taifali and Victohali settle along the southern Danube frontier in the province of Thrace.
383, Failed raid in the province of Raetia by Alemannic Juthungi.
387, Failed Invasion of Thrace and Moesia by Gothic Greuthungi led by chieftain Alatheus, Greuthungi chieftain Alatheus dies in battle.
During his four-year reign Majorian reconquered most of Hispania and southern Gaul, meanwhile reducing the Visigoths, Burgundians and Suevi to federate status.
428 or 435, Fourth sack of Trier by the Franks.[101]
459, Seizure of Trier by Franks, Roman reconquest of southern Gaul and most of Hispania under Emperor Majorian.
460, Roman victory over the Suebi at Lucus Augusti, Roman fleet is destroyed by traitors paid by the Vandals, Attack on the kingdom of the Vandals cancelled.
461, Seventeen Vandal ships destroy forty Roman ships in a surprise attack.
541–542, Bubonic plague wipes out most of the farming community of the former Roman Empire and leaving dead an estimated 25 million people across the world, Begin of territorial decline until the ninth century.
541–544, Recapture of Northern Italy by Ostrogoths.
552, Justinian sends a force of 2,000 men, led by Liberius, against the Visigoths in Hispania. Conquest of Cartagena and other cities on the southeastern coast and foundation of the new province of Spania.[108]
568–c. 572, Invasion of Italy by a confederation of Lombards, a Germanic people that had been previously allied with the Byzantine Empire from Pannonia and Bavarians, Gepids, Suebi, Heruls, Thuringians, Saxons, Ostrogoths and Rugii.[111] Longbeards (Lombards) establish kingdoms in Northern Italy (Langobardia Major) and in Southern Italy (Langobardia Minor).
585, King Autari, led the Byzantines to ask, for the first time since the Lombards had entered Italy, for a truce. The territories which remained under Byzantine control were called "Romania" (today's Italian region of Romagna) in northeastern Italy and had its stronghold in the Exarchate of Ravenna, including Rome.
Eighth century
751, the Lombards conquer Ravenna, but Pope Stephen II controlled the territories of Rome, Sicily, Sardinia and others.
751–756, just when it seemed Aistulf was able to defeat all opposition on Italian soil, Pepin the Short, the old enemy of the usurpers of Liutprand's family, finally managed to overthrow the Merovingian dynasty in Gaul, deposing Childeric III and becoming king de jure as well as de facto. The support Pepin enjoyed from the papacy was decisive. Because of the threat this move represented for the new king of the Franks, an agreement between Pepin and Stephen II settled, in exchange for the formal royal anointing, the descent of the Franks in Italy.
In 754, the Lombard army, deployed in defence of the Locks in Val di Susa, was defeated by the Franks. Aistulf, perched in Pavia, had to accept a treaty that required the delivery of hostages and territorial concessions, but two years later resumed the war against the pope, who in turn called on the Franks. Defeated again, Aistulf had to accept much harsher conditions: Ravenna was returned not to the Byzantines, but to the pope, increasing the core area of the Patrimony of St. Peter; Aistulf had to accept a sort of Frankish protectorate, the loss of territorial continuity of his domains, and payment of substantial compensation. The duchies of Spoleto and Benevento were quick to ally themselves with the victors. Aistulf died in 756, shortly after this severe humiliation.
In 772 CE, the Roman pope Adrian I, of the opposite party of Desiderius, reversed the delicate game of alliances, demanding the surrender of the area never ceded by Desiderius and thus causing him to resume the war against the cities of Romagna.[112] Charlemagne, though he had just begun his campaign against the Saxons, came to the aid of the pope. He feared the capture of Rome by the Lombards and the consequent loss of prestige that would follow.
Between 773 and 774 Charlemagne invaded Italy. Once again the defence of the Locks was ineffective, the fault of the divisions among the Lombards.[112] Charlemagne, having prevailed against a tough resistance, captured the capital of the kingdom, Pavia. Charles then called himself Gratia Dei rex Francorum et Langobardorum ("By the grace of God king of the Franks and the Lombards"), realizing a personal union of the two kingdoms. Thus ended the Lombard Kingdom in Latin Italy, led by the Roman Pope Adrian I.
^ abcdMossman, Theodor (1908). History of Rome. New York: Charles Scribner's SOns. p. 71. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
^Caesar. In: Hans Herzfeld [de] (1960): Geschichte in Gestalten (History in figures), vol. 1: A-E. Das Fischer Lexikon [de] 37, Frankfurt 1963, p. 214. "Hauptquellen [betreffend Caesar]: Caesars eigene, wenn auch leicht tendenziöse Darstellungen des Gallischen und des Bürgerkrieges, die Musterbeispiele sachgemäßer Berichterstattung und stilistischer Klarheit sind" ("Main sources [regarding Caesar]: Caesar's own, even though slightly tendentious depictions of the Gallic and the Civil Wars, which are paradigms of pertinent information and stylistic clarity")
^Roller, Duane W. (2006). "Roman Exploration". Through the Pillars of Herakles: Greco-Roman Exploration of the Atlantic. Taylor and Francis. p. 119. ISBN978-0-415-37287-9.
^Grane, Thomas (2007), "From Gallienus to Probus – Three decades of turmoil and recovery", The Roman Empire and Southern Scandinavia–a Northern Connection! (PhD thesis), Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, p. 109
^Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 29; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 41; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 63; MacMullen, Constantine, 39–40; Odahl, 81–83.
^Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 34; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 63–65; Odahl, 89; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15–16.
^Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina, V.385–440 and A. Loyen, Recherches historiques sur les panégiriques de Sidonine Apollinaire, Paris 1942, pp. 76–77 and note 5. Cited in Savino, Eliodoro, Campania tardoantica (284–604 d.C.), Edipuglia, 2005, ISBN88-7228-257-8, p. 84.
