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Chronology of warfare between the Romans and Germanic peoples

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The Varus battle by Otto Albert Koch, 1909
Warfare between Romans and Germanic peoples
Cimbrian War (113 BC – 101 BC)

Gallic Wars (58 BC – 57 BC)

Clades Lolliana (16 BC)

Roman campaigns in Germania (12 BC – AD 16)

Marcomannic Wars (166–180) (participating Roman units)

Roman campaigns in Germania during the 230s

Gothic invasion of the Balkans (250–251)

Gothic invasion of the Balkans (254)

Gothic invasion of the Balkans (267–268)

Roman–Alemannic Wars

Gothic War (367–369)

Gothic War (376–382)

Visigothic Wars

Vandalic Wars

Anglo-Saxon Wars

Vandalic War (533–534)

Gothic War (535–554)

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.

List of campaigns

Chronology

Second century BC

Cimbrian War
Noreia – Arausio – Aquae Sextiae – Vercellae
The Defeat of the Cimbri by Alexandre Gabriel Décamps

First century BC

Vercingetorix Throws Down His Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar by Lionel Noel Royer, 1899

First century

  • 1–4 AD, Rise of the Chatti and Bructeri (immensum bellum) suppressed by Tiberius, who reaches the Elbe. Canninefates, Chattuarii, Cherusci are again subdued. Lombards, Semnones, Chauci and other tribes who dwelt on both sides of the Elbe are subjugated.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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., Roman Empire is forced to strategically withdraw from Germania. Pro-Roman Germanic coalition led by Maroboduus and Segestes turns against Arminius. The resistance of the Roman garrison of Aliso and the arrival of Roman reinforcements on the Rhine prevent Arminius from invading Gaul.
  • 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.

Battles of Idistaviso and the Angrivarian Wall.

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

Second century

Third century

Rome against the Alemanni and the Juthungi
Rome against the Goths
250–251

254

267–269

Gothic War (323–332)
Gothic War (367–369)
Gothic War (376–382)

Gothic War (401–403)

Radagaisus' invasion

Visigothic Wars

Gothic War (535–554)

  • 213–214, Emperor Caracalla's successful campaign against the Alamanni, fortifications of Raetia and Germania Superior strengthened.
  • 235–284, Crisis of the Third Century.
    • The area (Agri Decumates) between Main and Rhine was evacuated in 259 AD, dozens of Roman camps were abandoned.

    Fourth century

    Barbarian Invasions
    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.
    Empire of the Huns, pushing the Germanic tribes over the Limes into the Roman Empire.

    Fifth century

    For the timeline of events in Britannia after its abandonment by Emperor Valentinian III, see Timeline of conflict in Anglo-Saxon Britain.

    Fall of the Western Roman Empire
    Rome against the Visigoths
    Rome against the Anglo-Saxons
    Kingdom of the Vandals (yellow) and their allies the Sarmatian Alans before the invasion of Roman Africa, c. 418
    During his four-year reign Majorian reconquered most of Hispania and southern Gaul, meanwhile reducing the Visigoths, Burgundians and Suevi to federate status.
    Europe in the late fifth century (476–486).

    Sixth century

    Rome against the Vandals
    Gothic War
    Kingdom of the Visigoths (orange), Kingdom of the Suebi (green), Kingdom of the Burgundians, Kingdom of the Franks (purple), Kingdom of the Vandals (yellow), c. 490.
    The Byzantine Empire at the end of Antiquity in 555 AD.

    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. 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. 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.

    See also

    References

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