Editing Germanic peoples (section)

===Roman Imperial Period to 375===
[[File:Germania romana.jpg|thumb|300px|The Roman province of [[Germania Antiqua|Germania]], in existence from 7&nbsp;BCE to 9&nbsp;CE. The dotted line represents the [[Limes Germanicus]], the fortified border constructed following the final withdrawal of Roman forces from Germania.]]

==== Early Roman Imperial period (27 BCE&nbsp;– 166 CE) ====
{{Further|Roman Iron Age|Early Imperial campaigns in Germania|Year of the Four Emperors}}
Throughout the reign of Augustus—from 27&nbsp;BCE until 14&nbsp;CE—the Roman empire expanded into Gaul, with the Rhine as a border. Starting in 13&nbsp;BCE, there were Roman campaigns across the Rhine for a 28-year period.{{sfn|Wells|2004|p=155}} First came the pacification of the Usipetes, Sicambri, and [[Frisians]] near the Rhine, then attacks increased further from the Rhine, on the [[Chauci]], [[Cherusci]], [[Chatti]] and [[Suevi]] (including the [[Marcomanni]]).{{sfn|Gruen|2006|pp=180–182}} These campaigns eventually reached and even crossed the Elbe, and in 5&nbsp;CE Tiberius was able to show strength by having a Roman fleet enter the Elbe and meet the legions in the heart of ''Germania''.{{sfn|Gruen|2006|p=183}} Once Tiberius subdued the Germanic people between the Rhine and the Elbe, the region at least up to [[Weser]]—and possibly up to the [[Elbe]]—was made the Roman province ''[[Germania Antiqua|Germania]]'' and provided soldiers to the Roman army.{{sfn|Haller|Dannenbauer|1970|p=30}}{{sfn|Steuer|2021|p=995}}

However, within this period two Germanic kings formed larger alliances. Both of them had spent some of their youth in Rome; the first of them was [[Maroboduus]] of the Marcomanni,{{efn|Tacitus referred to him as king of the Suevians.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annales'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1351.phi005.perseus-eng1:2.26 2.26] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423121417/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi1351.phi005.perseus-eng1:2.26 |date=23 April 2023 }}.</ref>}} who had led his people away from the Roman activities into [[Bohemia]], which was defended by forests and mountains, and had formed alliances with other peoples. In 6&nbsp;CE, Rome planned an attack against him but the campaign was cut short when forces were needed for the [[Bellum Batonianum|Illyrian revolt]] in the Balkans.{{sfn|Haller|Dannenbauer|1970|p=30}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=275}}
Just three years later (9&nbsp;CE), the second of these Germanic figures, [[Arminius]] of the Cherusci—initially an ally of Rome—drew a large Roman force into an ambush in northern Germany, and destroyed the three legions of [[Publius Quinctilius Varus]] at the [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|pp=276–277}} Marboduus and Arminius went to war with each other in 17&nbsp;CE; Arminius was victorious and Marboduus was forced to flee to the Romans.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=15}}

Following the Roman defeat at the Teutoburg Forest, Rome gave up on the possibility of fully integrating this region into the empire.{{sfn|Steuer|2021|p=994}} Rome launched successful campaigns across the Rhine between 14 and 16&nbsp;CE under Tiberius and Germanicus, but the effort of integrating Germania now seemed to outweigh its benefits.{{sfn|Haller|Dannenbauer|1970|pp=30–31}} In the reign of Augustus's successor, Tiberius, it became state policy to expand the empire no further than the frontier based roughly upon the Rhine and Danube, recommendations that were specified in the will of Augustus and read aloud by Tiberius himself.{{sfn|Wells|1995|p=98}} Roman intervention in Germania led to a shifting and unstable political situation, in which pro- and anti-Roman parties vied for power. Arminius was murdered in 21&nbsp;CE by his fellow Germanic tribesmen, due in part to these tensions and for his attempt to claim supreme kingly power for himself.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=15}}

In the wake of Arminius's death, Roman diplomats sought to keep the Germanic peoples divided and fractious.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=16}} Rome established relationships with individual Germanic kings that are often discussed as being similar to [[client state]]s; however, the situation on the border was always unstable, with rebellions by the [[Frisians]] in 28&nbsp;CE, and attacks by the [[Chauci]] and [[Chatti]] in the 60s CE.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|pp=16–17}} The most serious threat to the Roman order was the [[Revolt of the Batavi]] in 69&nbsp;CE, during the civil wars following the death of [[Nero]] known as the [[Year of the Four Emperors]].{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=17}} The [[Batavi (Germanic tribe)|Batavi]] had long served as auxiliary troops in the Roman army as well as in the imperial bodyguard as the so-called ''[[Numerus Batavorum]]'', often called the Germanic bodyguard.{{sfn|Roymans|2004|pp=57–58}} The uprising was led by [[Gaius Julius Civilis]], a member of the Batavian royal family and Roman military officer, and attracted a large coalition of people both inside and outside of the Roman territory. The revolt ended following several defeats, with Civilis claiming to have only supported the imperial claims of [[Vespasian]], who was victorious in the civil war.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|pp=17–18}}

[[File:Osterby Man Suebian-Knot.jpg|thumb|A [[bog body]], the [[Osterby Man]], displaying the [[Suebian knot]], a hairstyle which, according to Tacitus, was common among Germanic warriors{{sfn|Steuer|2021|p=683}}]]
The century after the Batavian Revolt saw mostly peace between the Germanic peoples and Rome. In 83&nbsp;CE, Emperor [[Domitian]] of the [[Flavian dynasty]] attacked the Chatti north of [[Roman Mogontiacum|Mogontiacum]] (now [[Mainz]]).{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=18}} This war would last until 85&nbsp;CE. Following the end of the war with the Chatti, Domitian reduced the number of Roman soldiers on the upper Rhine and shifted the Roman military to guarding the Danube frontier, beginning the construction of the ''[[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]'', the longest fortified border in the empire.{{sfn|Todd|1999|pp=52–53}} The period afterwards was peaceful enough that the emperor [[Trajan]] reduced the number of soldiers on the frontier.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=25}} According to [[Edward James (historian)|Edward James]], the Romans appear to have reserved the right to choose rulers among the barbarians on the frontier.{{sfn|James|2014|p=31}}

====Marcomannic Wars to 375 CE====
{{Further|Marcomannic Wars|Crisis of the Third Century}}
Following sixty years of quiet on the frontier, 166&nbsp;CE saw a major incursion of peoples from north of the Danube during the reign of [[Marcus Aurelius]], beginning the [[Marcomannic Wars]].{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=54}} By 168 (during the [[Antonine plague]]), barbarian hosts consisting of Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian Iazyges, attacked and pushed their way to Italy.{{sfn|Ward|Heichelheim|Yeo|2016|p=340}} They advanced as far as Upper Italy, destroyed Opitergium/Oderzo and besieged Aquileia.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=26}} The Romans had finished the war by 180, through a combination of Roman military victories, the resettling of some peoples on Roman territory, and by making alliances with others.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=55}} Marcus Aurelius's successor [[Commodus]] chose not to permanently occupy any territory conquered north of the Danube, and the following decades saw an increase in the defenses at the ''limes''.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=26}} The Romans renewed their right to choose the kings of the Marcomanni and Quadi, and Commodus forbid them to hold assemblies unless a Roman centurion was present.{{sfn|James|2014|p=32}}

[[Image:10 2023 - Palazzo Altemps, Roma, Lazio, 00186, Italia - Sarcofago Grande Ludovisi (Grande Ludovisi sarcophagus) - Arte Romana - Photo Paolo Villa FO232047 ombre gimp bis.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Depiction of Romans fighting Goths on the [[Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus]] (c.&nbsp;250–260 CE)]]
The period after the Marcomannic Wars saw the emergence of peoples with new names along the Roman frontiers, which were probably formed by the merger of smaller groups.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=55}} These new confederacies or peoples tended to border the Roman imperial frontier.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|p=120}} Many ethnic names from earlier periods disappear.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|pp=26–27}} The [[Alamanni]] emerged along the upper Rhine and are mentioned in Roman sources from the third century onward.{{sfn|Geary|1999|p=109}} The [[Goths]] begin to be mentioned along the lower Danube, where they attacked the city of [[Histria (ancient city)|Histria]] in 238.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=140}} The Franks are first mentioned occupying territory between the Rhine and Weser.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=56}} The Lombards seem to have moved their center of power to the central Elbe.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=57}} Groups such as the Alamanni, Goths, and Franks were not unified polities; they formed multiple, loosely associated groups, who often fought each other and some of whom sought Roman friendship.{{sfn|James|2014|pp=40–45}} The Romans also begin to mention seaborne attacks by the Saxons, a term used generically in Latin for Germanic-speaking pirates. A system of defenses on both sides of the [[English Channel]], the [[Saxon Shore]], was established to deal with their raids.{{sfn|Wolfram|1997|p=244}}{{sfn|James|2014|p=122}}

From 250 onward, the Gothic peoples formed the "single most potent threat to the northern frontier of Rome".{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=56}} In 250&nbsp;CE a Gothic king [[Cniva]] led Goths with Bastarnae, Carpi, Vandals, and [[Taifali]] into the empire, laying siege to [[Philippopolis (Thrace)|Philippopolis]]. He followed his victory there with another on the marshy terrain at [[Battle of Abritus|Abrittus]], a battle which cost the life of Roman emperor [[Decius]].{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=140}} In 253/254, further attacks occurred reaching [[Thessalonica]] and possibly [[Thrace]].{{sfn|Heather|2009|p=112}} In 267/268 there were large raids led by the Herules in 267/268, and a mixed group of Goths and Herules in 269/270. Gothic attacks were abruptly ended in the years after 270, after a Roman victory in which the Gothic king [[Cannabaudes]] was killed.{{sfn|Todd|1999|pp=141–142}}

The Roman ''limes'' largely collapsed in 259/260,{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=57}} during the [[Crisis of the Third Century]] (235–284),{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=57}} and Germanic raids penetrated as far as northern Italy.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=27}} The ''limes'' on the Rhine and upper Danube was brought under control again in 270s, and by 300 the Romans had reestablished control over areas they had abandoned during the crisis.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=27}} From the later third century onward, the Roman army relied increasingly on troops of Barbarian origin, often recruited from Germanic peoples, with some functioning as senior commanders in the Roman army.{{sfn|Todd|1999|pp=59–61}} In the 4th century, warfare along the Rhine frontier between the Romans and Franks and Alemanni seems to have mostly consisted of campaigns of plunder, during which major battles were avoided.{{sfn|Pohl|2004a|p=35}} The Romans generally followed a policy of trying to prevent strong leaders from emerging among the barbarians, using treachery, kidnapping, and assassination, paying off rival tribes to attack them, or by supporting internal rivals.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|p=125}}