Roman–Germanic wars: A Visual History

The Roman-Germanic wars span from the migration of the Cimbri and Teutones, who destroyed Roman armies at Noreia (113 BC) and Arausio (105 BC) before Marius annihilated them, to the deposition of the last western emperor by the Germanic general Odoacer in 476. Caesar fought Ariovistus and crossed the Rhine; Augustus's attempt to conquer Germania to the Elbe ended when Arminius destroyed three legions in the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD); the Rhine-Danube limes held for two centuries, breached by the Marcomannic Wars (166-180). Third-century invasions by Goths, Alamanni and Franks, the Gothic victory at Adrianople (378), the Rhine crossing of 406, the sack of Rome (410) and the settlement of Goths, Vandals, Burgundians and Franks inside the empire ended with the West's dissolution.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Roman-Germanic wars. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Roman legions destroyed by Germanic peoples

Timeline of the Roman-Germanic wars

1. 105 BC
   ArausioRome's worst defeat since Cannae.
2. 101 BC
   VercellaeCimbri destroyed.
3. 58 BC
   Caesar defeats Ariovistus
4. 9
   Teutoburg Forest
5. 166
   Marcomannic Wars begin
6. 251
   Decius killed by the Goths at Abritus
7. 378
   Adrianople
8. 406
   Rhine crossing
9. 410
   Sack of Rome
10. 476
    Odoacer deposes the last western emperor

Republic and early Empire

The Cimbri and Teutones wandering from Jutland shattered five Roman armies before Marius's reformed legions destroyed them at Aquae Sextiae (102) and Vercellae (101 BC). Caesar defeated Ariovistus in 58 BC and made the Rhine the frontier. Augustus's stepsons Drusus and Tiberius pushed to the Elbe, but in September 9 AD Arminius, a Romanised Cheruscan, ambushed Varus's three legions in the Teutoburg Forest; Augustus cried 'Varus, give me back my legions' and Rome settled on the Rhine. Germanicus's revenge campaigns (14-16) recovered the eagles but not the land.

The limes and the crisis

For 150 years the Rhine-Danube limes, a fortified line 550 km long, held. Marcus Aurelius fought the Marcomanni and Quadi for 14 years (166-180) after they crossed the Danube and besieged Aquileia. In the third century Goths killed the emperor Decius (251) and raided the Aegean, Alamanni reached Italy and Franks Spain; Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus (Naissus, 269) and Aurelian restored the frontier and Dacia was abandoned. Rome recruited Germans into its army wholesale; the walls of Rome date from this crisis.

The migrations

Driven by the Huns, the Visigoths were admitted across the Danube in 376, mistreated, and destroyed the eastern army and Emperor Valens at Adrianople in 378. Alaric's Goths sacked Rome in 410; Vandals, Alans and Sueves crossed the frozen Rhine on the last day of 406 and reached Africa; Burgundians settled the Rhone, Franks northern Gaul, Angles and Saxons Britain. The Vandal sack of 455, the failed African expedition of 468 and the Germanic soldiery's demand for land ended with Odoacer's deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476, and Theodoric's Ostrogoths took Italy in 493.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Roman Empire (27 BC to 476)
• Western Roman Empire (395 to 476)
• Huns (370 to 469)
• Hunnic Empire (370 to 469)
• Visigothic Kingdom (418 to 720)
• Francia (Frankish kingdoms) (481 to 843)
• Byzantine Empire (395 to 1453)

Wars of the same era and region

• Gallic Wars (58 BC to 50 BC)
• Roman conquest of Britain (43 to 84)
• Social War (91-87 BC) (91 BC to 87 BC)
• Jewish-Roman wars (66 to 136)
• Roman-Greek wars (214 BC to 148 BC)
• Third Punic War (149 BC to 146 BC)

8 surprising things about the Roman-Germanic wars

1. The Teutoburg battlefield was located at Kalkriese in 1987 by a British officer with a metal detector who found Roman coins and slingshots.
2. Arminius, 'Hermann', became a German national hero in the nineteenth century with a 53-metre statue near Detmold.
3. Rome's word for the Germanic peoples, Germani, is of uncertain meaning; the peoples themselves had no common name.
4. The Marcomannic Wars are shown on the column of Marcus Aurelius, including a 'rain miracle' that saved a legion.
5. The Vandals, Alans and Sueves reportedly crossed the Rhine on 31 December 406 over the ice, though this detail is disputed.
6. Adrianople is often called the beginning of the end for Rome, though the western empire lasted another century.
7. The Goths who sacked Rome in 410 were Christians and spared the churches.
8. Odoacer sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople, saying the West no longer needed an emperor.

Sources

• Germanic peoples: Relations with Rome Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Roman-Germanic wars Wikipedia
• Battle of the Teutoburg Forest World History Encyclopedia
• Peter Heather, Empires and Barbarians (2009) Macmillan

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