Germanicus' expedition into Germania was a Roman military expedition from 14 to 16 AD against a coalition of Germanic tribes on the right bank of the Rhine. The campaigns are named after Nero Claudius Germanicus (born 15 BC; died 19 AD), the great-nephew of Augustus. The main opponents were the Cherusci under the leadership of Arminius (born c. 17 BC; died c. 21 AD).
The sources
The Annals of Tacitus
The ancient authors hardly addressed the campaigns of Germanicus and at most reported on the triumphal procession of Germanicus in 17 AD, for example Cassius Dio or Strabo. The campaigns were not considered memorable because they were unsuccessful, contrary to the image that the victory propaganda tried to convey. Publius Cornelius Tacitus (born c. 58 AD; diad c. 120 AD) was also aware of the futility of Germanicus' expedition. Nevertheless, he devoted large parts of the first two books of his Annals to these campaigns and thus left behind one of the most detailed descriptions of ancient military campaigns ever.
The Annals describe Roman history from the death of Augustus (19 August 14 AD) and the accession of Tiberius to power. This literary late work of Tacitus was written around 100 years after the events. The sources that Tacitus used to prepare the Germanicus passages are now lost. He probably had at his disposal the 20-book Bella Germaniae ["Germanic Wars"] by Pliny the Elder, who had served as an officer in Germania in the middle of the 1st century. The Libri belli Germanici ["Books of the Germanic Wars"] by the contemporary witness Aufidius Bassus may also have been included. Tacitus also evaluated Senate records and other official sources. Tacitus was generally well informed. He may also have lived in Cologne for a while and knew the Roman-Germanic border region from his own experience.
The first six books of the Annals are preserved in a medieval copy from the Monastery of Fulda, the Codex Laurentianus. The codex was carefully prepared and probably faithfully reproduces its original. The Annals are generally considered to be a reliable source. The Tabula Siarensis, a bronze memorial tablet found in Spain in 1981, which was made in 19 AD in honour of Germanicus, who died that year and contains a list of his achievements, confirms the reports on the triumphal procession in 17 AD and in important respects proves Tacitus's almost documentary working method.
Tacitus did not create a war report or a retracing of Roman military campaigns, as was the case in Julius Caesar's De bello Gallico ["Gallic War"], for example. Rather, he was concerned with portraying people, their feelings and their fates in powerful images and dramatic actions. He did not provide all the information necessary to understand the course of the war and assumed that the reader had extensive knowledge of the context. Moreover, the enormous literary condensation of the text often prevents full certainty in understanding the passage. This makes the interpretation of the military operations difficult. The description of the campaign in the summer of 16 AD is one of the most discussed passages in the Annals.
The Conflict between Tiberius and Germanicus in Tacitus
The domestic political thread of the description is the growing tensions between the popular Germanicus and the unpopular Emperor Tiberius. Tacitus' sympathies clearly lie with the "young 'hero'". Nevertheless, Germanicus is not glorified in a one-sided way. Tacitus also allows Tiberius to speak at length. The historian must have considered Tiberius' arguments to be reasonable - "Tacitus' head [inclined] to Tiberius and his heart to Germanicus", as the ancient historian Dieter Timpe judges.
Tacitus was influenced by the historiography of the Claudian period of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (41–54 AD). Emperor Claudius was the brother of Germanicus, and the judgment of the Claudian historians, including Pliny the Elder, was accordingly favorable. There were also parallels with the life of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, whom Tacitus admired. Agricola was Roman governor in Britain (77–84 AD) and father-in-law of Tacitus. He suffered similar things under Domitian as Germanicus did under Tiberius.
Historical context
Rise of Tiberius, 4 AD
Tiberius, on his return from voluntary exile, had been adopted by Augustus. The princeps forced him, however, to adopt his nephew Germanicus Julius Caesar, son of his brother Drusus Major, although Tiberius already had a son, conceived by his first wife, Vipsania, named Drusus Minor and only a year younger. The adoption was celebrated on 26 June of 4 AD with great festivities and Augustus ordered that over a million sesterces be distributed to the troops. The return of Tiberius to supreme power gave, in fact, not only a natural stability, continuity and internal harmony to the Principate, but also a new impetus to the Augustan policy of conquest and glory outside the imperial borders.
Reorganization after Teutoburg Forest, 9 AD
Germanic troops under the leadership of the prince of fhe Cherusci, Arminius, had defeated Publius Quinctilius Varus' three legions (XVII, XVIII and XIX) in the autumn of 9 AD at the Saltus Teutoburgensis (Teutoburg Forest). Three of the five legions stationed on the Rhine had been destroyed. The Roman Emperor Augustus immediately sent his adopted son, the crisis-proven Tiberius, over the Alps to stabilize the situation, fearing that the Germanic tribes could use the opportunity to invade Gaul or even Italy proved to be unfounded.
In 10 AD, the two remaining legions were supplemented by six more, whose combat value was initially doubtful. On the Lower Rhine there were now the Legio I Germanica, the V Alaudae, the XX Valeria Victrix and the XXI Rapax, while on the Upper Rhine there were the Legio II Augusta, the XIII Gemina, the XIV Gemina and the XVI Gallica. It is uncertain whether the legions I and V were the ones that had escaped the catastrophe of the previous year, or the XIII and XIV.
The auxiliaries were also considerably strengthened. Tacitus reports 26 cohorts and 8 alae for the year 14 AD. Overall, the army strength on the Rhine from 10 AD onwards was probably around 80,000 men. In addition, allied tribes provided warrior units of unknown size in the event of war.
Measures of Tiberius, until 12 AD
Military operations with increasing depth of advance are recorded for the years 11 and 12 AD. The legionaries rebuilt bases on the right bank of the Rhine, built limites (wide clearings) and created a deserted strip east of the Rhine. Fleet operations on the North Sea secured the loyalty of the coastal tribes.
Tiberius was extremely cautious: he listened to the suggestions of a war council, as Suetonius reports, and personally checked the load of the baggage train: nothing superfluous should burden the marching columns. The general did not want to be guilty of the negligence of Varus. In the field, Tiberius led a Spartan life, gave all orders in writing, insisted on the strictest discipline and reactivated old punishments. The general refrained from risky ventures, respected the limits of feasibility and consistently adhered to what Caesar had described as the "rule and custom of the Roman army" [ratio et consuetudo exercitus Romani].
In 12 AD, Tiberius escaped an assassination attempt by a Bructerian. The assassin had infiltrated the general's entourage, but his behavior exposed him. In the autumn, Tiberius traveled to Rome and celebrated his triumph over Illyria, which had had to be postponed in 9 AD. His departure from Germania was to be final. Tiberius remained at the 75-year-old's side as Augustus' designated successor. Augustus gave supreme command [imperium proconsulare] over the largest Roman army of the time to the almost thirty-year-old Germanicus.
Germanicus as commander, from 14 AD
Germanicus was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus (born 38 BC; died 9 BC), who had started the Augustan Germanic Wars in 12 BC with his campaigns and had died in an accident shortly after reaching the Elbe, in around September or October, in an unknown location between the Rhine and Saale, probably still in Cherusci territory. Strabo and other authors, such as Florus, mention his death but not the causes. While Livy claims Drusus died "from a broken bone when his horse fell on his lower leg, thirty days after this accident", more authors, such as Cassius Dio, Seneca and Suetonius, report illness as the cause of his death. He was also the grandson of Augustus (by adoption of his father) and the nephew of Tiberius and his adopted son. He had borne the name "Germanicus" since he was a boy, after Augustus had posthumously bestowed this hereditary honorary name on his father. According to Augustus' wishes, Germanicus was later to succeed Tiberius as emperor.
Mutiny of the legions, 14 AD
Immediately after the death of Augustus, the legions of Germania rebelled over the conditions of their military service after twenty years of military campaigns. The legionaries demanded a reduction in conscription to 16 years and an increase in pay to 1 denarius per day. That year there were two armies on the left bank of the Rhine: that of Upper Germany under the command of lieutenant Gaius Silius, and that of Lower Germany entrusted to Aulus Caecina Severus, together with the armies of Lucius Apronius, under the high command of Germanicus, busy carrying out a census in Gaul, to evaluate the patrimonial consistency of that region.
The revolt began in the "lower" army where there were 4 legions: the Legio XXI Rapax, the V Alaudae, the I Germanica and the XX Valeria Victrix. Germanicus, as soon as he heard of the revolt, reached the troops and managed to calm their anger, granting:
- Discharge for soldiers who had 20 years of military service;
- For those who had 16 years of service, automatic passage into the reserve with no other obligation than that of repelling the enemy;
- The bequest they claimed, paid immediately and even doubled.
Caecina was thus able to return to the city of the Ubii, Ara Ubiorum (present-day Cologne), with the I and XX legions, while Germanicus, having gone to the superior army, received the oath of loyalty also from the other 4 legions: the Legio II Augusta, the XIII Gemina, the XVI Gallica and the XIV Gemina.
The soldiers, seized by remorse and fear, since an embassy from the Senate had arrived at Ara Ubiorum, feared that every concession made by Germanicus had been annulled because of their behavior. They therefore began to punish the instigators of the revolt, and this also happened in the legionary fortress of Castra Vetera, around 60 miles to the north, where the V and XXI legions were wintering.
Forces in the field
Roman forces
Tiberius managed to field an army of eight legions during these campaigns. These were the legions:
In addition to these forces, numerous allied Gallic and Germanic auxiliary troops fought on the Roman side.
Germanic tribes involved
The Roman attacks were primarily directed against the tribes that had taken part in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. However, the coalition grew beyond this circle in the course of the campaigns. According to Tacitus, in 17 AD Germanicus finally "held his triumph over the Cherusci, the Chatti and Angrivarii as well as the other tribes that inhabit (the land) as far as the Elbe". According to Strabo, prisoners from subjugated tribes were taken along in the triumphal procession, "namely from the Kaulki, the Ampsivarii, Bructerii, Usipetii, Cherusci, Chatti, Chattuarii, Landii and Tubattii". The Marsii tribe also certainly belonged to Arminius' coalition, even if they are not listed; their equation with the Landii is disputed. Unnamed client tribes of the alliance partners may also have taken up arms, according to Strabo. The small tribe of the Fosi, for example, could be considered as the Cheruscan clientele. In addition, individual followers under their own leaders would have joined Arminius.