Editing Germanic peoples (section)

==== 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}}