Battle of Aquae Sextiae
Migration of the Cimbri and Teutons
| date | 102 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | Aqua Sextiae |
| output | Destructive defeat of the Teutons |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| around 32,000 legionaries (6 legions with cavalry and auxiliary troops) |
about 30,000 fighters (plus women, children and old people) |
| losses | |
|
relatively low |
high |
Noreia - Agen - Arausio - Aquae Sextiae - Vercellae
The Battle of Aquae Sextiae was a double battle between the troops of the Roman Republic and the Teutons in 102 BC. Chr. , Was destroyed in the hostile array of Teutons. It took place in the area of Aquae Sextiae (today's Aix-en-Provence ) in southern France.
prehistory
105 BC The Romans suffered a bitter defeat against the Cimbri and Teutons in the battle of Arausio . Reports of the defeat spread great horror among the Romans. The Teutons then marched through the Celtic areas of the Pyrenees and Gaul , plundering until they turned back to the Roman Empire three years later. On the way, the Cimbri army had separated from the Teutons and advanced over the Brenner Pass to northern Italy, while the Teutons again invaded the Roman province of Gallia ulterior in order to pave their way from there to Italy.
The Romans had meanwhile prepared. The shock of the defeat of Arausio had the indirect consequence that the general Gaius Marius , who had previously proven himself in the Yugurthin War in Numidia , 104 BC. Was elected consul for the war against the Cimbri and Teutons. Marius had promoted the Marian army reform , which greatly increased the fighting power of the Roman armed forces. To ward off the Teutons, he had gathered six legions. He awaited the Teutons in a well-developed and well-stocked camp at the influence of the Isère in the Rhone . There the two military roads to Italy that were practicable at the time met - namely the one over the little St. Bernhard and the one along the Mediterranean coast . In this respect, he blocked their way to Italy.
The Teutons had in the summer of 102 BC Crossed the Rhone and advanced downstream along the left bank and finally came across the Roman camp. For three days the Teutons repeatedly stormed the entrenchments of the Romans, but failed because of the superiority of the Romans in the fortress war. After a few losses, the Teutons decided to move on past the camp straight towards the Mediterranean to Italy. It took six days for the Teuton army to march past the camp of the Romans, which speaks less for the enormous number of Teutons reported in Roman annals than for the clumsiness of their entourage . In addition to armed warriors, the Teutons also carried their entire families with women, children and old people, as well as all their belongings on wagons, and therefore made slow progress.
Gaius Marius maintained the necessary caution against the savage and combat-experienced Teutons and failed to let his well-disciplined but inexperienced troops risk attacks against the passing Teutons. When they had passed, he had the camp broken up and the Teutons followed in a strictly ordered march formation, carefully entrenching themselves every night. So the Teutons advanced down the Rhone into the area of Aquae Sextiae (today's Aix-en-Provence in southern France), the then Roman provincial capital.
The double battle of Aquae Sextiae
While drawing water, the light Ligurian auxiliary troops of the Romans met the rearguard of the Teutons, which mainly consisted of Ambrones . The skirmish soon expanded into a battle in which the Romans gained the upper hand after a fierce battle. They chased the retreating Teutons until they holed up in their wagons.
This success encouraged Gaius Marius to face the Teutons soon for the decisive battle. On the morning of the third day, he had the legions form an open field battle in front of his fortified night camp on a hill. The long impatient Teutons immediately stormed up the hill and opened the battle. The fighting continued until noon and only the unusual Provencal heat seemed to bother the Teutons. When their ranks finally began to shake, a bunch of Roman baggage servants probably brought the decision, who stormed out of the forest behind the Teutons with tremendous shouts and panicked them. The Teuton formation completely fell apart, many of them killed or captured and enslaved. Among the prisoners was also the commander of the Teutons, Teutobod . Among the dead were also many women who, in order to escape the fate of slavery, were sometimes put down on their wagons after desperate resistance, and sometimes committed suicide with their children in captivity.
The ancient figures about the losses of the Teutons range from 100,000 to 300,000 killed or captured and are now considered exaggerated. According to recent estimates, the Teutons only had a maximum of 30,000 fighters, of whom around 10,000 took part in the first battle and around 20,000 in the second. With women, children and old people there was a total of 150,000 at most. The Roman army probably comprised around 32,000 men.
consequences
With the defeat, the Teutons ceased to exist as an independent ethnic group. Although some managed to escape from the battlefield, they were widely dispersed in enemy territory and no longer posed a threat.
In the following year Gaius Marius also defeated the Cimbri army at the Battle of Vercellae in northern Italy.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Cf. K. Völkl: On the numerical strength of the Germanic peoples at Aquae Sextia. In: Anzeiger für die Altertumswwissenschaft 7. 1954, pp. 125–128.
literature
- Jürgen Deininger : Aqua Sextia . In: Johannes Hops: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Volume 1: Aachen - Bajuwaren . 2nd completely revised and greatly expanded edition. de Gruyter, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-11-004489-7 .
- Theodor Mommsen : Roman history. Second volume. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1861, p. 186 f.