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Throughout its history Roman civilization had many enemies, but none
of them were as fierce as the Germanic peoples, and no other ethnic group fought
the Romans for so long. The Romans and Germanic tribes started their bitter
fight on first contact and the conflicts between these two peoples decided the
fate of Rome. The Cimbrian War of 113-101 BC was the first engagement and its
results influenced the history of Rome for the next 6 centuries.
By the mid-2nd century BC the Roman Republic was in control of most of the
Mediterranean directly or via its allies. Rome won the conflicts against the
Seleucids, Macedon and the Greek leagues and that allowed the Republic to take
control of Greece. To the west the Romans defeated a number of Gallic tribes in
the 120s BC and created the province of Gallia Narbonensis. However, new
enemies were already on their way.
Between 120-115 BC the Jutland peninsula suffered some kind of catastrophe. The peninsula was either flooded or extreme
colds made it virtually unlivable. In any case, the proto-German tribe
populating modern day Denmark called the Cimbri had to leave these lands. By 115 BC
they began migrating to the South. They were joined by their neighbors and
relatives Teutones in Northern Germany. The tribes, now 200 thousand warriors
strong moved into the modern day Czech Republic but were defeated there by the
Celtic Boii and were forced to change their route. In 113 BC the Cimbri and
Teutones crossed the Danube into Pannonia and then moved to Noricum.
The region was populated by the Celtic Taurisci, who weren’t able to repel the
invaders and asks their ally Rome for help
invaders and asked their ally - Rome for help.
At the time the Roman society was showing the first signs of the crisis that will end the republic in the next century: their conquests made the elites richer,
while the poor lost their lands. The landless were not allowed to join the legions.
This was weakening the army in terms of leadership, morale, and numbers,
and that became the central theme of this war.
Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo answered the call and moved his legions
to block the North-Eastern Alpine passes into Italy. The Cimbri send emissaries
promising that they were not going to attack Taurisci anymore. Carbo
seemingly agreed to peace and gave the tribes guides to show the route away
from Roman territory, but at the same time he laid an ambush for them.
The tribes learned of this and attacked Roman ambush near Norei, crushing the legions.
The Romans lost more than 20 thousand soldiers in this battle.
For reasons unknown, the Cimbri and their allies did not attack Italy immediately
and moved to the west through Noricum to Raetia. Celtic tribes called Tigurini and
Tougeni joined them here and all these tribes moved into Gallia.
We don’t know much about their time in modern day France, but we know that they
raided and looted Gallia and the Gauls were not able to stop the invaders. Rome
was content not to have to deal with the invaders anymore, as they had been
fighting the Jugurthine war of 112-106 BC in Numidia. This war underlined
the problems in Roman society: military and civilian leaders were bribed by the
Numidian leader Jugurtha multiple times and the Roman army became so
disorganized it failed to win against a much weaker enemy.
In 109 BC the Cimbri and their allies decided to move into Roman controlled Gallia Narbonensis.
Roman consul Marcus Junius Silanus attempted to negotiate with them.
The tribal alliance demanded lands in the Rhone valley and promised to defend the
Roman borders, but Silanus declined. In the ensuing battle, the Romans were
defeated yet again. Most of the tribes returned to Gallia Transalpina, while the
Tigurini stayed to roam Narbonensis and in 107 BC they ambushed a newly
formed Roman army near Burdigala, modern day Bordeaux. The Roman leaders
were killed and there were almost 10 thousand casualties.
The Romans now understood that the Germanic threat was real.
An 80 thousand strong army was formed to be sent to Gallia Narbonensis. As their
most talented general Gaius Marius was leading the African army at that moment,
a commoner Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was to lead the army and Quintus Servilius Caepio
was his second-in-command. Caepio, a patrician from one of the oldest
families of Rome, was not happy that Novo Homus – new man with no aristocratic blood, will be the one in charge.
In 105 BC Mallius arrived to Gallia Narbonensis and positioned his troops on
the west bank of the Rodan river near the city of Arausio, while Caepio stayed
with his troops on the eastern side despite orders to cross the river.
He forced the river only after the direct order from the Senate, but even then
insisted on a different camp and ignored order from Mallius. The king of
Cimbri Boiorix decided to negotiate with Mallius and asked him to
let tribes pass into Hispania. Caepio did not want a commoner to get the
credit for stopping the Germanic threat and ordered his troops to attack the Cimbri.
His smaller force was easily stopped by the Germans and was
slaughtered after being surrounded.
Mallius was not prepared for the swift counter-attack of the enemy, his
legionaries were basically encircled. 80 thousand legionaries died on this day –
the biggest Roman defeat since Hannibal crushed them at Cannae.
But as Hannibal before them, the tribal alliance didn’t attack Rome after this battle.
Most of the tribes moved into northern Hispania and pillaged it, so the Romans
got one more chance to catch their breath and prepare for the inevitable invasion.
In 106 BC Marius finally finished the Jugurthine war and despite
the law prohibiting it, was elected consul for the second time in 104 BC.
Marius recognized the problems of the Roman army. His reform is one of the
focal points of the Roman military and political history and we will cover it
in our Armies and Tactics series. In short, the landless were allowed to join
the legions. The army became professional, training and equipment were standardized
and those serving were promised lands. The legionaries started carrying all of
their supplies, weapons, and rations themselves, which improved the mobility
of the army, and the stamina of the soldiers. The traditional manipular
organization of the legion was scrapped, for a more agile formation based on the
cohort, a group of 400 soldiers. All these allowed the organization of the
strongest Roman army in history, with the best-trained legionaries.
By the time Cimbri and their allies decided to turn their attention to Italy
in 102 BC Marius was ready to stop them. The tribal army was divided into two halves:
The Teutones led by the king Teutobud moved via the Mediterranean
coast in order to attack western part of Italy, while the Cimbri moved
from Gallia into Noricum to move into North-Eastern Italy. In the summer of 102 BC
Marius was waiting for the Teutones in his well-fortified camp close to
the Rhone river. The Germans tried to assault this camp, but their 3-day
long attack failed and they lost thousands. That strengthened the morale of the legionaries.
The Teutones decided to bypass the Romans to the north, but Marius moved
parallel to them and forced them to fight in the location called Aquae Sextiae.
Marius had 40,000 soldiers and his opponents outnumbered him 2-to-1.
The Romans positioned themselves on the hill, with 4 thousand legionaries as an
ambush in the nearby forests. To provoke the Teutones Marius led his cavalry
in an attack, but retreated on contact behind the line of the legionaries.
The Germans run swiftly uphill and were met by the Roman pilae and then the shield wall.
The Romans had a clear advantage in training and equipment and soon the Teutones
had to start a retreat to the base of the hill but were followed
by the legionaries. By this point in the battle, Teutobud’s forces were tired and battered.
They tried to create a shield wall of their own but the combined
attack of main Roman forces from the front and ambushing group from
the rear broke their lines. More than 50 thousand Teutones were killed, while the Romans lost
few thousand soldiers and continued the massacre in the Germanic
camp, where tens of thousands were killed and enslaved.
But the Cimbri were still strong and Marius’ co-consul Quintus Lutatius Catulus
was tasked with the defense of the Alpine passages.
Under the Cimbri pressure he had to abandon Brenner Pass. His second attempt
to mount a defense on Adige river also failed, when Cimbri tried to
encircle his positions and forced him to retreat beyond the Po river, which was more defensible.
That allowed Cimbri to loot rich territory between the Alpes and Po river.
By that point, they had been traveling for almost a year from Spain
to Italy and were exhausted, so they were not so eager to attack Roman positions in winter.
Marius used that opportunity to move back into Italy. He was elected the consul yet again.
In the spring of 101 BC Marius moved into Po valley,
where his 32 thousand legionaries were joined by 20 thousand of Catulus.
Modern historians believe that Cimbri led by Boiorix had up to 60 thousand warriors,
while Roman historians claim that the Germanics were 200 thousand strong.
The Cimbri continuously avoided Marius throughout spring and early summer.
Marius was pushing Boiorix to the North-West in an attempt to entrap them
along the Alpes. The Cimbri were not able to avoid Romans anymore.
By the end of July, both armies reached the place called Vercellae. The Romans led
by Marius and Catulus had more than 50 thousand legionaries, while Cimbri were
able to field between 60 and 80 thousand warriors.
Marius’s army had an advantage in cavalry, as most Cimbri fought on foot.
As soon as the battle started the Roman cavalry on both flanks of the legions
moved swiftly to attack their counterparts. The Cimbri line moved to
attack the legionaries. While the infantry lines clashed, with Romans on
the defensive and being pushed back, Marius’s cavalry was able to win their
engagement against Boiorix’s horsemen in short order. The Roman cavalry then
turned and attacked the rear of the Cimbri line. The Germanic forces were
surrounded and almost all of their army was killed. The battle took few hours
and all of the Cimbri were either killed or enslaved. That was the end of the Cimbrian war.
The Romans were able to defeat this threat, the biggest since Hannibal.
But new cracks formed in the Roman society and they would eventually lead to a series of civil wars that we are planning to cover in future.
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