A Difference Of Fate: A Late Roman Timeline

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 1

453 AD
January 20th
Ravenna, Italy

Flavius Placidius Valentinianus Augustus, paced his bedroom, Licinia Eudoxia who lay on their bed was not suprised, he had been like this for many days, in fact the one thing she was suprised by, was the fact that there was not a rut in the floor yet from his pacing. Ever since his Victory over Attilia, Flavius Aetius who had gained much influence, had put it to use, and now pressured the Emperor, mainly on one thing, The marriage of Placidia to his son Flavius Gaudentius.

The 33 year old Augustus was right to fear that Aetius planned to then put his young teenage son on the throne. As Aetius had at one point supported a Usurper on the throne. To prop his son on the throne would not be suprising.

"Dear," Eudoxia began, "I dont think you should bow to Aetius demands, after all you are the Emperor, he is Magister Militum, you can always get rid of him, or replace him."

"And who would I replace him with, no one is as famous as Aetius, if I killed him his army would kill me in turn, and if I replaced him he would rebel, kill me, and marry his son to our daughter anyways. There is nothing to do but give him his demands. That is the heart of the problem our fate, he is to powerful and influental even against his Emperor."

Eudoxia finally seen her chance, remembering a handsome man only a year younger than her husband, as her cheeks turned red, she spoke. "There is one. In fact you at one point had chosen him." Her husband looked at her frowning, "Julius Valerius Majorianus. He was famous as Aetius second in command before Aetius banished him from his army. He is well known, and respected. He can be a counterweight to Aetius. Give him an army, marry our daughter to him, and Aetius would find himself in a less favorable position. Let Majorian have a victory, and he would become a true threat to Aetius."

She saw the indecisiveness in her husband and sighed, he was nothing like his famous father, he was cowardly, easily lead. "If we let Aetius continue with his plans, we would be dead as soon as Placidia and Gaudentius marry. Majorianus would owe his position to us, as well as his wife, he would be Loyal."

"Where would we send Majorian with an army, with Attila defeated there are no threats to the empire."

Eudoxia sighed, "The Seubi have plundered Hispania, they control almost 2/3 of the Peninsula and threaten the remaining provinces there. Saving those provinces would not only give him a victory, it would stabilize the region and we would recieve more taxes."

Finally she saw the truth come to Valentinianus eyes. She sighed, content that she would see the handsome General again, and that her life would be save with Aetius weakened.

February 1st
Ravenna, Italia

Julius Valerius Majorianus, was nervous as he and his imperial escort arrived at the imperial palace. The fact that he had been escorted from his rural estate to the Capital at least gave him hope he wasnt about to be murdered, however it wouldn't be the first time in history that an Emperor wanted to watch the execution. The fact that his guards didnt let loose any information added to the suspense.

Several minutes later he and some of his escorts arrived at the Emperors study. In there he found the Augustus and his wife, who Majorian thought eyed him up like a wolf its prey. Majorian bowed in front of the Augustus. "Dominus, i have arrived as asked, i wish to serve loyaly and with honour."

Valentinianus smiled a cold grim smile, something that would run chills down most people. "Majorianus I am glad you have arrived. I am sure you have heard the rumours of an Imperial Betrothal." Majorian had and was not suprised that Aetius was pushing his son as the to be bride to 12 year old Placidia, after all how could the Emperor stop the Empires most famous general. "Well they are wrong. In fact the reason i brought you hear is to reconsider what happened 3 years ago. I want you to marry my daughter. If you agree we will announce the Betrothal, as well as the accompanying position as Magister Militum."

Majorian was shocked, and it took several seconds for him to even stutter out his awnser. "Of course Augustus, I live to serve the Empire, however isnt Aetius the Magister Militum?"

"He is however i feel that the Empire would be better served with two Magister Militums who could face all the Empires threats, at once and together." Majorian instantly felt sick, two men in power never worked, it always lead to conflict, a recent example was Bonifacius and Aetius, two Magister Militums would inevitably lead to civil war. Of course Majorian understood the Augustus's reasoning Aetius needed his influence diminished, if it wasnt soon the current Emperor and his wife would be discared for Aetius own son.

Nodding with fake enthusiasm Majorian responded as confidently as he could, after all his fate was now to fight the great Aetius sometime in the future. "I am glad to serve the Empire, and look forward to making her enemies suffer, and I must ask were am I to Command?"

"You are to take a portion of the Italian Comitatenses, 6,000 men, and march to Hispania, gathering what men you can from Gaul, and join with the 4,000 men of the Hispanian army in Tarraco. You have full authority to raise what Fedorati you must and raise whatever men needed. The Seuvi who have been terroizing Hispania and control 2/3 of the Peninsula must be defeated, pushed back and made Fedorati again."

Majorian nodded, it was obvious what was happening, he was a political tool to the Emperor, and any children of his and Placidia would become Valentinians hiers, all the while he would be the counterweight to Aetius, as well as the man trying to hold the empire together while the Augustus was one of the worst the empire had seen.

 

[StevenIronside]

Feb, 453
Ravenna, Italia

When Flavius Aetius arrived in Ravenna, everyones mood changed. Aetius held the command over the Italian army, the transfer of 6,000 men would have to go through him even if Valentinian was emperor, Aetius was the empires true ruler, his influence by far the largest in the west. The Emperor and Aetius argued for several days on the subject, before finally Aetius would even speak to Majorian, who was essentially placed under house arrest in a wing of the imperial palace. When Majorian entered the generals personal quarters, he found Aetius had calmed down, and was sipping on some wine sitting at a small table.

"How have you been? I mean since I forced you from the army, and into exile on your estate."

Majorian sat down across from Aetius and accepted some offered wine. "I have been good, nothing to calm and humble a man more than being sent back to his country estate. I did manage to save up a decent fortune while I was at it to."

Aetius smiled. "You are lucky, honestly speaking, we could have used you against Atilla. However sometimes god has bigger plans for some of us. For all my efforts to keep you away from Imperial politics, it only seemed to push the emperor to you more. Hell he sees me more as a threat to him than the huns. Majorian I wont fight your betrothal this time, the empire needs someone other than Valentinian to rule. I will even give you the troops that he demands I give. However me and you need to work together and discuss an empire wide strategy." For Majorian this was not the conversation he expected, and he was glad for it.

Aetius continued. "The huns are a major threat, and I worry that Atilla will strike once again. However, the Suevi are a threat on a different level. They hold most of Hispania except for the north eastern part. They have defeated several of our armies before, if they take all of Hispania, which they could do in one campaign season, then we have a threat to Rome like the Vandals. We would be faced with war on several fronts, not only that but we miss a large amount of taxes from the provinces there. I trust that you are the man that can finally defeat the Suevi and save our position in the west."

"I will need alot more than 10,000 men to take on the Suevi. And if I am to campaign this year it cant be recruits. Do we trust any of the Fedoratii."

Aetius sighed, "The Visigoths, even though they have helped us several times in recent years, i fear allowing them to join your army with the recent interactions between the Visigothic and Suevi courts. Rechilla and Theodoric formed an alliance after I broke the Vandal-Visigoth alliance. I have no doubt that Thorismund may break his own alliance with us in favor of the Suevi. Agrippinus will be hard pressed with his 16,000 men to hold if they do break that treaty. The Franks could be trusted since their king was placed on the throne by us, however they are needed to counter the Alemanni. Which leaves the Burgundians and Alans. The alans could probably spare you some cavalry detachments, and the Burgundians are our last choice, at the same time calling upon them for men, will give Agrippinus breathing room in Gaul, and I dont see any reason to distrust them on a whole. If you got 2,000 Alans and 8,000 Burgundians you would be in a good position."

Majorian nodded. "With the defeat of the Suevi we could have a chance to put some of the other tribes back in their place."

Aetius smiled. "Together me and you could fix the empires problems, just like we did in Gaul." Majorian could not agree more.

Majorian would send out messages to the Alans and Burgundians asking for men, and at the same time Aetius sent messages to Agrippinus, who would move most of his men into southern Gaul. Majorian also sent a man he trusted to Hispania to take command of the troops there, Aegidius. Aegidius was to make sure the troops were in good condition for the coming campaign, as well as to take stock as much supplies as possible. In March replies arrived in Ravenna, from the Alans and Burgundians, the men would be on their way to Tarraco soon. As it was the preparations for the campaign were going extremely well, and a sigh of relief breathed across the empire at the end of march as news arrived from across the Danube. Atilla was dead.

On May 5th, Majorian and his 6,000 Italian Comitatenses arrived at Tarraco, were his army of 4,000 Hispanian men, 2,000 Alan cavalry, and 8,000 Burgundians were camped. With 20,000 men he would take back Hispania.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 3

453

Majorians hispanian campaign began on May 15th, leaving two mixed garrisons at first Tarraco and then CaesarAugusta of 500 Burgundians, 500 Comitatenses, and a few horses for messengers, he continued an advance towards Toletum. The city was in the center of the peninsula and would give Majorian a solid central position to continue the campaign. This of course did leave his supply lines strained, and could easily be cut off if the Seuvi either advanced towards Tarraco or Caesaraugusta. The hope was also that would be were Rechiar planned to gather his army which was spread across 2/3 of the peninsula. Majorians assumption was right, and when he arrived at Toletum on June 4th he found the gathering army of Rechiar unprepared and without its King. The Suevi numbering 15,000 men marched from their camp and prepared atop a ridge for battle. Hoping the slopes would give them the advantage they would need in the coming battle and steep enough to negate the use of cavalry.

The roman army of 18,000 halted at the base of the ridgeline, and prepared for battle, with the Burgundians and Italian men on the flanks Hispanians in the center and Alans ranging on the flanks. They also prepared the armys scorpions, a small artillery piece manned by 2 to 3 men. The army had 20 of these, and once the they had set up these were used to deliver viscious volleys of darts at the enemy, hoping that this would anger them enough to push them from the ridge or to attack. However with limited ammo, Majorian finally ordered the attack, and the roman army advanced up the slopes moving slowly to not tire the army. Once within 30 yards, plumbata darts were thrown, and the Suevi exchanged missiles. And with a final volley of darts the romans gave a might roar and charged foward, into the Seuvi shields. The clash lasted several hours the romans not gaining any ground and the Suevi held their ground. The alans at this time had finaly made their way around the battlefield. The ridge was rather steep for horse action, forcing the Alans to fight on foot, however Majorian them in reserve and after a few hours had them circle the battle going around the to the Seuvi flank leaving the main battle was nearly even on numbers. The 500 Seuvi in reserve were not enough to match the Alans, even though they tried, it was a foregone conclusion, and after the Seuvi reserve had been routed from the battle, the Alans crashed into the Suevi flank. The battle was soon a gone conclusion after the Alans joined, and the Seuvi were routed, while many of the men ran into the country, a few thousand made their way back to their camp, were they held out for several more hours before the romans broke in and slaughtered and captured many of them. The outcome of the battle of Toletum was 4,000 Seuvi dead, 3,000 Captured and 8000 who escaped. However the battle was not entirely one sided, and the roman army lost nearly 2,000 men.

However one important person was missing, Rechiar. The Suevi king however would turn up soon. Having heard of the Roman victory, he sent for the surviving men of the defeated army to gather in the west at Emerita Augusta were he would join them with 10,000 of the men he had brought from his capital at Braga. He would however send a further 2,000 of his men Northeast, he would sever Majorians supply lines and starve him out. However to Rechiars dismay of the 8,000 survivors, only 5,000 joined his men at Emerita.

Majorian hearing of the King gathering his forces immediately set out leaving only a small garrison at Toletum, numbering 1,000 men. These 1,000 men would not be harrassed by the Seuvi detachment, which would finaly put them and the city to seige. Arriving at Emerita Augusta on June 20th, Majorian and Rechiar found their armies at even odds, and the Seuvi even had a minor advantage with cavalry, as they had 3,000 , over the 2,000 Alans. The two forces skirmished several times, were constantly repositioning to try and get the best advantage over the enemy. However Rechiar had one advantage over Majorian, a stable supply line, Majorians had been cut by the Seuvi detachment soon after Majorian left Toletum and Majorian was running low on food, which resulted in a repositioning of camps over the supply line, and even though Majorian did breifly manage to get some food from Rechiars supplyline, the battle was nearing, before his men were starved and unable to fight. On July 25th the battle of Emerita Augusta began.

The two forces lined up against eachother the roman left flank and Seuvi right flank anchored on the river. The Italian Comitatenses held the Flank against the river, the Burgundians the center and the Hispanian Comitatenses the right flank, where the Cavalry of both armies was arrayed against eachother. While Majorian had advantage on the infantry front the Seuvi had more cavalry. The battle began with initial Missile exchanges, from bows and javelins, followed by both armies charging eachother. The battle began in the roman favour however the Alans outnumbered were hard pressed and emulating the great Julius Caesar, he ordered the rear line of his men to wheel around the flank and join the cavalry battle. This move would win him the battle as the infantry joined the Alans and quickly began pushing back the Seuvi horse who were hard pressed having to fight men below their eye level and at their eye level. Finally the Seuvi cavalry broke, which signalled the end for the Seuvi. Even though they had held well on the main line, the Romans had the initial numbers, and when the cavalry broke the flank was exposed. Rechiar called a retreat, however it was to late, and as his men turned panicked at the call the Alans crashed into them with devistating effect. Rechiar and his royal guard would take up residence in the city, along with 4,000 men, of the remainder 6,000 were dead, 2,000 captured, and roughly 3,000 running for their lives. The romans had lost 1500 men, leaving Majorian with 13500 men.

Following the battle, news would arrive from Toletum of the siege, to which Majorian would send half the surviving Alan's, and a contigent of Burgundians and romans a total number of 4,000 men lead by Aegidius, when they arrived on August 10th, the city had fallen, however the depleted Seuvi detachment would fall in a quick and brutal siege battle. At Emerita, peace negotiations would begin with Rechiar. As much as Majorian wanted to crush the Seuvi for good, his orders had been to bring them back into the fold as fedoratti, and his army was spread out and considerably weaker since the campaigns start. So, he did as ordered however the Seuvi would pay for it. The terms Rechiar agreed to would cripple the Seuvi nation for years to come, as the Seuvi land would be pushed back to its territory north of the Duoro river. 4,000 men would be forced to serve in the roman army spread out throughout all of its armies (their families could join them) and finally, they would have to pay an annual tribute worth a 1/6 of their kingdoms income, and a war reperation of 500lbs gold, 100lbs of silver and 2 million Nummi coins, and finally they would become Roman fedoratti once again.

Majorians Hispanian Campaign would be a major victory for the romans, the taxes from the region would be a positive impact for the roman treasury, as would be the recruits for the army, it also bettered the roman position in the west. In September Majorian would dismiss the Burgundian fedoratti, and sent most of the Italian Comitatenses back to Italia, he also began rebuild the Hispanian army, using some of the Alans to train cavalry, and using his veteran Comitatenses to train more infantry. The Hispanian Comitatenses would not be rebuilt to its former glory, but would be built up to be stronger than it had been in previous years, in the future, the rebuilt Hispanian Comitatenses would become important part of history being apart of several Major campaigns, something that could not have happened without Majorians efforts to rebuilt it in late 453.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 4

454

Majorian would stay in Hispania, until February of 454, putting much effort in training and better equipping the men of the Hispanian Comitatenses and raising what men he could. The Comitatenses would also be strategically spread out in garrisons across the Diocese of Hispania, under the command of Duxes, while Aegidius was promoted to Comes, and would be in command during Majorians absence. Majorian as Magister Militum Hispanus, did plan to campaign in the future into the region of Vasconia, on the northern coast of Hispania, a territory controlled by the rebellious Bagudae. However in February he was recalled to Ravenna for a very important event. Leaving Hispania the Comitatenses which coming out of campaign had 2800 men, had by this point surpassed 8000, and by the winter would have 10,000 men, traveling with Majorian were the remainder of the Italian Comitatenses, and Majorians own personal Bucelarii, his personal troops, which consisted of the 1000 Alan, and Burgundians who had stayed to help him train the men in Hispania, and wished to stay employed by the general. The practice of generals having their own personal troops was not uncommon as during the civil wars of the past century, it had become common to have such men that were totally loyal, in fact the battle of Rimini, was a battle between Bonifacius and Aetius that had consisted of 14,000 Bucelarii between the two men.

Upon reaching Ravenna, Majorian was gifted with the now, almost honorary position of Consul for the year, as well, he was married to the 13 year old Placidia, their first child, Gaius Julius Valerius Theodosius would be born in January of 456, and to add more to his plate and to try and overmatch Aetius, Majorian was also given command of the emperors personal troops. This move ment that his title as Magister Militum Hispanus was effectively just that a title, as he would be forced to stay in Ravenna to be at the emperors side. However these moves only allowed Aetius the ability to turn the Young general against Valentinian as he realized that Petronius and Heraclius were turning the Emperor against him. Aetius began a war of the mind, supporting Majorians ideas, and the policies that made sence, however many of these policies were shut down by the emperor when proposed by either of the two men. These included policies that would stop women from joining the church, were they would avoid marriage and having children, the rebuilding of the imperial fleets that were in tatters, and other reforms that could potentially bring in more tax revenues, stomp out corruption, why the Emperor did this? Well it is assumed that, he did not want to alienate the rich and powerful, and risk rebellions, at the same time rebuilding the fleets could potentially cause problems with the Vandals whose prince had been patiently waiting years to marry Eudocia, and angering the church was also not something Valentinian wanted even though his rejections to these policy changes had reasons that were logical, by his inaction, he was effectively condemning the empire to its fate. Something that both Majorian and Aetius could not stand by for long.

455

However major changes were afoot. In the east the germanic general Aspar, who like Aetius was the power behind the throne, died when his horse broke its leg, and rolled on top of him during a practice exercise and crushed him. Marcian would not wait for someone to replace the General and instead appointed his son in law Anthemius who was already Magister Militum as Caesar of the east, his hier. Anthemius had the makings of a decent emperor, being a talented general and administrator things were looking up for the east, as now Marcian did not have to be lead by a influential general. Almost immediately agressive and ambitious plans were made by Anthemius and Marcian who intended to begin operations to support the Armenian rebels lead by Vahan a reversal on his previous policy. As well they were able to make an agreement with the king of the gepids who formed a large coalition against the huns, and at the battle of Nadeo this coalition defeated Attilas sons in battle and shattered the Hunnic empire which would collapse almost immediately. In the aftermath the Ostrogoths in Pannonia were accepted as fedorati by the East. This collapse of the huns also drove groups of hunnic horsemen into the empire looking for employment, some 5,000 would be accepted into the eastern armies were they would be deployed against the sassanids, and another 6,000 joined the west and were split between Majorian, Aetius, and the comes Marcellinus of Dalmatia for employment.

However in Novemeber of 455, Aetius who was 64 years old, went in to question, Valentinian on the matter of Agrippinus the Magister Equitum per Gallius, who was beginning to show his corruption, withholding taxes and enacting his own policies in Gaul, something Aetius himself had done before. However Petronius Maximus and Heraclius had been working on Valentinian for years, and after Majorians and Aetius constant pushing, Valentinian in the middle of Aetius push for Majorian to be named Caesar and be given command in Gaul, broke. Valentinian pulled out his sword and tried to run the unarmed general through with it. Unfortunately the aged general had much more experience than the Emperor and was able to dodge the emperors blow, and shoved the emperor, who flailed backwards before falling hard to the ground, nearly falling on his own sword. At the commotion the emperors guards ran in and arrested Aetius, and Valentinian screamed that he would have Aetius head before night. Upon hearing of there generals arrest, Aetius's Bucelarii and Comitatenses surrounded the imperial grounds, demanding their leader be freed or they would do it by force.

Majorian who was the commander of the Emperors Palitini, acted as the middleman in the negotiations, as he was known by many of Aetius men, a good portion having served with him in Hispania, this was a bad move by Valentinian who had fallen into a trap. By nightfall, Aetius had been released however he held no command, and was to be exiled from west something that would not last more than a few weeks, and in a ironic turn Majorian was named Caesar of the west, which Aetius had been advocating when the incident began. How did this happen, well Majorian and Aetius needed Majorian to be named the emperors hier something that Valentinian was acting slowly on possibly because he only intended to name the future child of Placidia and Majorian Caesar, or else their coup would cause civil wars, and still could, at the same time they could not kill Valentinian or the Vandals would likely try to invade and take what was promised to them by force. So Majorian after freeing Aetius had his men kill both Petronius Maximus and Heraclius in a brutal purge and made the emperor agree to terms. As already stated Majorian would be named Caesar and Aetius exiled, Valentinian would become essentially a puppet, and would allow the policies of Aetius and Majorian to be made, Agrippinus would be removed from his position, and for all this, The Emperor would be allowed to live and Eudocia would sent to the Vandals to keep them happy, so that the empire could solve its problems so that eventually Majorian could take back Africa. This Coup brought in a major change of power, and when Aetius was brough back at the beginning of 456, he would once again be on top of the empire, however this time instead of an Emperor actively working against him, he would have a Caesar who he could work together with. Even if it was for a short time.....

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 5

456

There was a reason Majorian went along with Aetius exile, as Aetius arrived in Constantinople in January of 456, with a message from Majorian, and to make sure the Eastern Emperor and Caesar would not try and fight the change in power. Fortunately for the West they werent in a position to do so, with much of their armies moving east, even if they had wanted to. To add to this, Marcian did not have the biggest inclination to try and help Valentinian, who at one point was rumored to be considering fighting Marcian. Aetius would stay in the east until February, when news arrived of the birth of Gaius Julius Valerius Theodosius. Around this time Anthemius would leave his pregnant wife who would have their daughter Alypia in only a few months, and his father in law in the capital, going east, as Caesar, and he would return as Emperor.

When Aetius arrived back in Italia, in early March, it was in time for some impactful events.

Majorian had been the de facto ruler of the west for around 4 months, in this time he had begun passing laws in the name of himself and Valentinian, who was under house arrest in Milan at this point. One of these new laws weas dictated towards women entering the clergy. During this time many daughters were made to be abstinent of Marriage, so that their families wealth would not be dispersed in doweries reducing roman birth rates and causing illicit affairs. This same law also put a minimum age of 40 for women joining the clergy. As well many widowed women never remarried due to influence of the church, who they often gifted all their goods to in their will. To stop this in the same law, these women were forbidden from taking religious vows. This law was a large movement to stop the church on its agressive expansion which harmed the good of the empire in the Caesars eyes, as well it would help increase the population of the empire as women were remarried. At the same time, this alienated some of the senators who were now forced to marry of their daughters, and who were further alienated by Majorians agressive policy of anti corruption.

These laws and policies by Majorian were the start of a Anti Majorian coalition between Senators and the Church, who would be given a chance at action soon, as in March news also arrived from Gaul. Agrippinus who both Majorian and Aetius agreed needed to be removed from power, sent back Majorians messengers head, with a note declaring for the true Emperor Valentinian. Majorian would send to Aegidius in Hispania, and Marcellinus in Dalmatia for troops and would gather many of the Italian troops. He would personally deal with Agrippinus, Leaving Aetius with 6,000 men, half of the Italian Comitatenses, Majorian who was quickly joined by Marcellinus's men around 5,000 would begin marching towards Arles in the middle of April.

Agrippinus had roughly 16,000 men, so taking on the entire empire was not the smartest decision until one takes a look at who Agrippinus had been working with ever since 454. Thorismund the Visigothic King. Thorismund had many reasons to fight the empire, however the main reason, was that under a powerful leadership like Aetius and Majorian, his people would be threatened. So he worked with the one man who he could, the corrupt general Agrippinus. To seal the deal in February of 456 Thorismund would betroth his young daughter to Agrippinus own son. Together the 2 men could have raised 30,000-40-0000 men, a terrifying host. However once news of Majorians march arrived, and Thorismund and Agrippinus moved to join forces, the Visigothic kings younger brother Theodoric declared for Majorian, causing a sprial of events. Theodoric was able to gather 6,000 men against his brothers 20,000, and held the capital of Tolosa against his brother. Agrippinus quickly moved with his men from Northern Gaul to support his ally, leaving the Alans who were loyal to Majorian to harrass his forces, and cut his supply line from the north. Majorian was also joined by the Burgundians who increased his armies numbers from 12,000 to 20,000. Hearing of the Visigothic civil war and Agrippinus, movements, Majorian quickly moved towards Tolosa as well, being joined by Aegidius and 8,000 men. Arriving at the battlefield on May 15th.

The battle of Tolosa, would be the first battle of several in 456, often called the year of Imperial succesion. On the fields outside of Tolosa, Majorians 28,000 men would form up, across from Agrippinus's 36,000, Theodorics 6,000 would join the battle later.

The Caesars army would form up with the Hispanian and Dalmatian Comitatenses facing the Visigoths on the left, the burgundians in the center and the Italian Comitatenses on the right facing Agrippinus men. Both sides had the same number of cavalry roughly 3,000 each however Majorians cavalry was made up of his better trained and equipped Bucelarii who formed a shock cavalry core, and supported by 2,000 hunnic cavalry. When the battle was joined the Infantry clashed in the center with the larger army of Agrippinus holding the advantage, and the center of Majorians line made by the Burgundians begining to bend backwards under the weight of the enemy.

The cavalry action however was decisively in Majorians favour as the Bucelarii held the enemy in place and the Huns rode around the edge shooting arrows into the enemies backs. The Visigothic and Gallic cavalry taking heavy losses, either routed or surrendered about half an hour into the battle, at this Time, the Visigoths of Theodoric exited the city and began marching to the battle. A detachment of Hunnic cavalry around 500 strong swept behind the enemy forces and began shooting into the rear of the enemy, it was at this time a rebel Dux decided to switch sides. His name was Ricimer.

Ricimer and his men around 2,000 of which were on the facing the Italian Comitatenses when they switched sides and caused an immediate flanking manoeuvre onto the men of Agrippinus. With all these factors happening the army of Agrippinus and Thorismund broke, Thorismund would take 4,000 men to fight his brother, where he would be killed with all his men, many others surrendered or ran. Agrippinus would however escape battle, with 4,000 men. The battle was rather decisive, with 6,000 Visigothic deaths, 4,000 Gallic deaths, and with Majorians army only losing 2,000 men. Theodoric would be named King of the Visigoths and would accept the status of Fedoratti, the men of Agrippinus army would all eventually join back and swear an oath of loyalty to the empire and Majorian. The Gallic Comitatenses would number around 8,000 men.

Majorian would continue moving north with his army which now numbered 34,000 men. He would catch Agrippinus at Avaricum in early July thanks to the help of the Alans who had trapped him there. Agrippinus would be betrayed by the city who opened the gates, and his entire force was killed or executed. With 34,000 men Majorian also considered this a good time to chastise the Alemanni who had been raiding into Burgundian Frankish and Roman territories for several years which culminated in the battle of Divodurum on August 1st where Majorian would decisively defeat the Alemanni army of 20,000 with only 500 causualties. At this time Majorian would also be greeted by the Frankish king Merovech and his son Childeric who were happy to stay as Fedorati, especially with the Caesars massive army on their doorstep.

However other news would reach Majorian at this time that had far greater consequences and would force Majorian to march on Italia. In the time he had been away from Italia Aetius had continued his and Majorians plans and had begun the writing of a new law that would affect how taxes were collected avoiding large amounts of corruption. When a large scale rebellion broke out. This rebellion was aimed at freeing Valentinian and placing him back into power. This rebellion was lead with the financing of many Senators who had bought the swords of many mercenaries, around 15,000 men, and was also supported by the Church who had been outed by Majorians laws. At the same time, a message was sent to the Vandals to support the true Roman Emperor and father of their future queen. This was all that Genseric needed to hear, and within a few weeks a Vandal Fleet with 20,000 men would land on the shored Italia, not far from Rome. Aetius who had been at Milan with 4000 of his men was killed when the Mercenaries took the city by suprise, and freed the Emperor, and his now pregnant Wife Eudoxia the Emperors forces would number around 40,000 when Majorian arrived in Italia in October with his men, which had been supplemented by Visigoths, Alans and Franks to be around 36,000 men, Majorian having left Ricimer as Interum Magister Gallias with 5,000 men.

However even though Majorians army was smaller, he had 6,000 Cavalry between the Alans and 2,000 Huns. Giving his army a massive advantage in the open. It was for this reason that Valentinians army did not stay north in the Po Valley were they could be cut off by the enemies cavalry. It should also be noted that even though the army was lead in name by Valentinian, Genseric was the auctual leader, as Valentinianus did not have the experience to lead the army effectively. It was in the appenines that Genseric planned to hold Majorians army using the passes as a way to block Majorians advantage in cavalry. It was between Bononnia and Florentia that Genseric planned to hold. Genseric even began constructing defences to be more effective at holding Majorian. However Majorian split his army, sending half of his cavalry and a detachment of 3,000 Infantry to go through a different pass and flank the enemy position. Once Genserics scouts learned of this Genseric immediately moved to attack Majorians position, however found it to already be fortified by a rampart and palisade and scorpions and ballista. At this point Genseric was forced to retreat. Even if Majorians position was held by 30000 men it could take almost double to take the fortified position.

However Genseric would not be able to escape the Florentian hills. The battle of Florentia would happen in the hills outside of the city, Genseric would line his infantry around 36,000 strong between the Arno river and the florentian hills, with a detachment of 1000 men on the hills about 100 yards from his right flank. His cavalry in reserve. Majorian would line his 30,000 infantry up against Genserics, and kept his bucelarri and cavalry in reserve, however. Majorian had brought as many of his scorpions as he could with him, and those alongwith the huns fired volleys of darts and arrows into the Emperors army. This would go on for half an hour before Majorians scorpions ran out of ammunition and the Huns were pulled back. The general advance would then be sounded and the infantry clashed together in a furious melee, however Genserics army had the advantage. To keep the 1,000 men detachment atop the Hills, Majorjan sent his Bucelarii and huns against them, and with that force pinned down, it opened up the gap which was still steep ground, for use by Majorians Alani cavalry. Those 4,000 men rushed into the gap about an hour after the battle began, and the hill detachment was to weak to join battle, and smashed into Genserics cavalry reserves and flank. However the numbers were still rather equal, and the battle continued for a further half hour before Majorians Bucelarii rode into the Vandal flank as reinforcements for the Alani. Genseric would escape the battle wounded, alongside 10,000 men and critically a captive and pregnant Eudoxia who would board a fleet at Pisae to the west. Valentinian would be captured in the hills to his armies rear having been caught up in the armies route, his army 40,000 strong disintegrated the mercenaries seeing the battle lost escaping as best they could, a group of Vandals lead by a cousin of Genseric would try and hold the Romans long enough for their king to escape. The Vandal casualties in the battle were great, around 8,000 were killed and 2,000 captured, of the remaining 20,000 in Valentinians army, 12,000 escaped, 3,000 were killed and the remaining captured. The mercenaries tortured for information. Of Majorians army, they lost around 5,000 men.

Majorian would be proclaimed Emperor by his army, which was quickly accepted by Marcellinus in Dalmatia, and the men in Hispania and Gaul. However Majorian would have to deal with those who had plotted against him.

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This was a rather large chapter, I am ending the chapter at thjs point so that it doesnt get any longer, we have dealt with the Wests developments in this chapter, and I have left it open ended, to see if you guys have any input on how Majorian should treat those who plotted against him. The next chapter will also focus on the east during this year, and their coming war in Armenia against the Sassanids.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 6

In 451 Vardan Mamikonian lead a large scale rebellion in Armenia against the Sassanids, who were putting heavy pressure on the people to convert to Zoroastrianism. Vardan would try to get support from the christian Eastern Roman Emperor, however the new emperor Marcian advised by senators Florentius and Anatolius would decline to help the rebels. Vardan and his rebellion would suffer a major defeat in that year, with Vardan himself dying. However his brother Hmayeak Mamikonian would take his place as leader and would lead his men in a campaign of guerrilla warfare. However in 455, the Emperor Marcianus and his new Caesar Anthemius would agree to help the rebels in Armenia in the coming year. Fortunately for the them another Sassanid client state would rebel, that was Albania lead by their king Vache.

In early May, Anthemius marched from Theodosiopoilis, a major stronghold along the the armenian border with 25,000 Infantry, 5,000 Hunnic cavalry, and 2,000 Roman cavalry. Their route along the Araxes river in armenia. However this 32,000 men was not the entire roman army. Along the Sassanid Roman border waited the Magister Militum Per Oretium, Leo, along with a further 20,000 infantry and 3,000 horse waiting to pincer the sassanid forces once they arrived in the north. The Sassanid general in the area, Adhur Hormizd would react quickly to this sudden invasion into Aremenia by gathering his troops at Artaxata, and further sending a message to the King of Kings, Yazdegerd II for support.

Unfortunately for Hormizd, who expected to gather roughly 25,000 men to hold his city, he would not gather half that many men. Several minor battles would take place in the weeks preluding the siege of Artaxata, these were mostly between the Roman cavalry division or the Armenian rebels against Hormizds gathering troops. The largest and last was a large ambush on 7,000 Sassanid soldiers only a days march from the city by the roman cavalry and Armenian rebels. Of the 7,000 sassanids only a few hundred would escape the battle and of those men only a few dozen would arrive to Artaxata. The mobility of the Roman horse was key in the initial movement of forces in the war, and when Anthemius and the rest if his army arrived at Artaxata along with 12,000 Armenians on May 29th Hormizd only had 10,000 men to hold out against 44,000.

To the northeast further events were unfolding in Albania were Vache lead a revolt against the sassanids, the Sassanid garrisons in his kingdom were quickly destroyed by his army and supporters. Vache and his army of 18,000 would defeat a minor Sassanid army in the middle of May along the Kur river. Vache would further lead his army east occupying Sassanid territory in the Caucasus on the west side of the Caspian sea, defeating another minor sassanid force roughly 6,000 strong in late June. After taking this territory, Vache would march south and raid into Sassanid territory.

At Artaxata Anthemius and his army besiegethe city for a 15 days before on June 14th, the city fell in a quick assualt at Dawn. The weakened garrison capitulating in the following hours. The city itself was not sacked however Hormizd and his officers would be executed and his men taken prisoners. The siege had been a brutal affair, the romans and Armenians had lost some 2,000 men during the siege. In the following days Hmayeak and Anthemius would discuss plans, and finally on June 18th Hmayeak Mamikonian would be raised as King of Armenia. His son Vahan would be his hier. In Iberia the King there, Vakhtang who was in his early twenties, would join the Roman Coalition, and marched south with 10,000 men, joining the Romans and Armenians at Artaxata around June 30th.

However by this time Yazdegerd was moving north with his own army, which numbered a little over 70,000 men. He would have gathered more men had it not been for the Albanian Kings raid into the empire which syphoned men from his army. Yazdegerd lead his men along the Tigris towards armenia. Anthemius hearing of the Sassanid hoste marching north, Marched on Van, a city along the eastern side of Lake Van, the city fell with out a fight and Anthemius Hunnic riders were able to push south and scout for the Sassanid army, as well to send word to Leo.

For Yazdegerd the next decisions he made would determine the fate of the war, he either would march west, take out the small roman army of Leo, and invade Roman Syria, however doing so would leave his rear unprotected and supply lines strained. If he went North the fortress of Nisibis and its garrison of 10,000 would protect his flank and he could focus on defeating the Roman Caesar and dealing with the rebellious Kings. Yazdegerd would decide to move north on July 16th.

Leo who was informed of this by his scouts immediately moved with his 18,000 men. Instead of Marching to Nisibis, he marched north to Martyropolis and then east. He left 5,000 men in the south and now with the rest bypassed Nisibis and came upon the rear of Yazdegerd. Though this extra long route took an extra week of marching, Leo and his men would arrive for the main battle. The Battle would take place on the south of Lake Van were Anthemius would march his army to regroup with Leos men. Yazdegerd would arrive on the same day in a close race. The following day August 15th would be the battle. Both sides had similar numbers of men, resulting in this battle being one of the largest in the era with roughly 140,000 men on the field. The battlefield would extend nearly 4 miles with both armies anchoring their flanks on the Lake, and into the hills to the south.

The battle began with both armies letting their archers exchange volleye of arrows, the Huns were kept back Anthemius wished to use their skills later. Eventually the archers were pulled back and the Sassanid army advanced. The roman 5,000 Horse and Iberian and Armenian Cavalry numbering a further 3,000 were held back along with the 5,000 Hunnic cavalry. The Roman coalitions cavalry was kept in the center on flat terrain as the cavalry would not be of good use in the hills to the south. As it was, the front lines of the Sassanid army were cavalry used to smash through the roman lines. To the south the Iberian and Armenian infantry engaged the Sassanid Infrantry which they held in place. The massive force of Cataphracts and cavalry smashed into the roman lines and in several places smashed through, however These spots were exploited by the huns who quickly circled the sassanids breakthrough firing quick volleys into the sassanid cavalry to devistating effect. As well the roman cavalry counter charged these spots. For hours the battle went on, thousands dieing. However the battle would not be finished on the first day. Roughly 20,000 men died in the first day, and tens of thousands of men were injured. The two armies would retreat for the night, the next day would bring more fighting.

The roman coalition which now numbered some 50,000 fighting men would exit their camp however would not advance any further, begining to construct a earthen rampart in front of their battleline. Which extended all the way to the hills to the south. The Sassanids who had several thousand men more roughly 55,000 advanced on the roman position, reigning down arrow fire as fast as they could. The roman archers returned fire, however what this was leading to was the advance of the Sassanid army once again, on a poorly constructed rampart. However due to the haste of the Sassanid king to attack before the Rampart become to much of an obstacle, a critical piece of information was not seen, the absence of the Huns. While the two armies clashed on the rampart the Huns had left the camp in the hours before dawn and were no awaiting the right moment on the extreme southern flank hidden in the hills. 5 hours into the battle with niether side winning but both suffering from severe exhaustion 5,000 huns came out from the hills and swept into the rear of the Sassanid army, firing arrows into the rear of the enemy, and using their lances to charge into the enemy ranks. The sassanid army collapsed, the King of Kings himself was captured. 20,000 of his men killed a further 10,000 captured and the rest fleeing into the wilds. The romans however had lost around 10,000 men themselves with countless injured. The 2 day battle was a decisive defeat for the Sassanids.

In the following days Yazdegerd would be forced to sign a treaty 2,000 lbs of gold and silver was to be paid to the Romans before the king and his men would be released every single man that was held prisoner would be ransomed back for 10 gold coins a person which came to roughly 130,000 coins to be delivered plus another 10,000 for the king himself. The kingdoms of Armenia, Albania, and Iberia were to become Roman Client Kingdoms, and Nisibisand the territory north of it was to become Roman territory. As well Sassanids would pay a 200lb yearly tribute to the romans to pay for the protection of the Caucasus region, to stop payment would mean war. This treaty was humiliating for the Sassanids, the initial payment for the king his army and war reperations would nearly bankrupt the empire something that would take years to recover from.

Unfortunately for the Sassanids only months after returning to Ctesiphon Yazdegerd II would die, his son Hormizd III would take the throne however a civil war would break out in the following years between him and his brother Peroz.

For Anthemius he would stay in the east for several months touring the region from Egypt to Syria. Of his initial 50,000 men he had roughly 30,000 would make the return trip. Though it was a costly war, the Caesar had won much fame and brought the empire wealth in his victory. The east was fully secure with this victory, the Sassanids dealing with threats in the east and civil war, and the Caucasus region under roman control. With 10,000 of his men he celebrated a triumph in Antioch in December. However, in January he recieved news that the Emperor had died in his sleep in december, Finishing the year of Imperial Succession as 3 men were crowned, Majorian Anthemius and Hormizd. Anthemius had gone east as a Caesar, and returned West to Constantinople as Emperor.

●●●●

In the next chapter we will go back West to finish of the year of Imperial succession, with the Aftermath of the Battle of Florentia, and the Vandal retreat.

 

[StevenIronside]

The large outlined areas are the Areas of Roman expansion in Red and Albanian In Yellow, the thinner lines, the light red are that of Anthemius route through Armenia to the battle at Van, and Leo's is the darker red, the route of Vache is the brown one that goes along the Caspian sea and into the Sassanid empire

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 7

456

Upon the fields of Florentia Flavius Julius Valerius Majorianus was proclaimed emperor by his men. During the night Valentinianus was executed in the hills that surrounded the battlefield, his head brought back to the new Emperor. The Vandals would make it to their fleet harrassed by Majorians cavalry. Unfortunately they had the pregnant wife of Valentinianus,if it was a girl their would be little threat, however if it was a son Majorian would be forced to fight the Vandals when he was not ready for it, as the boy would be a major threat to his reign.

Majorian would spend his time waiting for the news from Africa, by touring Italia, and by promoting his own loyal men to positions. Aegidius would become Magister Militum. Ricimer would be made Magister Equitum per Gallias, a certain Nepotianus would be named Comes Hispania, Marcellinus would stay as Comes Dalmatia. As for the command of his personal Palitini, which was made up of his Bucelarii and the best and most loyal men in his army, was a young man named Julius Nepos, son of the Comes Hispania. Nepos had caught the eye of Majorian during his campaigns as a Cavalry officer, and then as a Dux in Majorians army, The mans swift promotions were a testament to his ability in Majorians eyes.

As for the Praetorian Prefectures, a man named Caecina Decius Basillius was named Prefect of Italia and Dalmatia, for Hispania was a man named Quintus Aurelius Symmachus grandson of the man of same name who was Prefect of Africa. For Gallia he named Eparchius Avitus. Avitus had quickly joined the side of Aetius and Majorian during the civil war as he had been a crucial officer to Aetius before. For this he rewarded him with the prefect of Gaul, though Avitus would die in 459. These 3 men were given several commands by Majorian. The first was to do a Census on the population of the Empire, as well they would begin work with the emperor to rework the tax system to eliminate Corruption, they were also to work with the Generals to work in an effective system of recruitment, though this last effort would be a problem long past Majorians reign.

During the winter of 456-457 Majorian would visit Leo the bishop of Rome, the most influential bishop in the west. During the civil war Leo had become known for speaking for Valentinian as had many other bishops, it was for this reason that Majorian would visit Rome which he would quickly make his Imperial Capital in the way of the principate. The meeting between the two men would go very well, considering the factors. Leo spoke of the alienation that the church felt by Majorians new laws, and how they would effect many area of the church. Majorian however won the bishop over with his speeches on how his laws would help the Empire grow its waning population, and how it would protect the Empire of God and its people. How with higher population growth over time more people would be able to worship the lord, and pay tribute to him, and many more things, it also helped that Majorian promised that he would send funds to build several churches throughout the empire. In the end, Leo, would agree to work with Majorian, for in the end, these laws would help both the Empire and the church.

457

News would arrive in February from Majorians spies and traders from Africa. The child of Valentinianus and Eudoxia had been born, it was a Girl named Galla Valentinia, and a sigh of relief was felt across the empire and Africa. Though this respite would last several years, it would only provide for the eventual war to be larger. Emesarries between the Emperor and King would come to a deal that would allow trade to continue and grain to continue to be shipped to Italia.

Majorian would use the respite to secure his reign. Beginning in March he began purging those who had supported Valentinian. Roughly 100 Senators were executed their wealth and land taken and their families exiled or similarly executed. Another 100 had all their wealth and land taken and were exiled to the east or out of the empire completely, another 50 were made beggars left to die on the streets of Rome. This was the largest purge in Roman history, something that did not sit well with many people. However, Majorian would be notable for not executing another senator in his reign, something which spoke to the situation in which these earlier actions happened.

In November of 457, Majorians and Placidia's second child would be born, a daughter named Julia Placidia.

The two emperors of Rome each had a son and a daughter Theodosius and Julia in the west, Anthemiolus, and Alypia in the east. In the following year each would also have a son born. Flavius Procopius Marcianus in the east, and Julius Valerius Constantinus in the west.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 8

Other than the birth of the 2 imperial sons in 458, the year was important for other reasons, the cencus issued by each Prefecture would come back. In total the western empire had roughly 23 million people, of those about two thirds were of taxable age, or about 15 million people. This population was mainly split between Gaul and Italia where 15 million people lived, Hispania had a further 6 million and Dalmatia the last 2 million.

Tax reform began as well, with the new census this gave an accurate number for how much taxes each region should pay. Corruption was quickly snuffed out, the perpetrators having their wealty seized and put into the empires coffers, any lands they had redistributed. One change was the land tax, Majorian would change this tax so that those who farmed grain would recieve smaller taxes than those with Vineyards, this was put in place to make the west less reliant on the grain from africa. As for the taxes and revenues, Gaul and Italy would supply the west with roughly 500,000 Solidi, or 90,000,000 million Folli, the Follis becoming the standard unit of account during this time, and worth 1/180 of the Solidus. Hispania with its mines and only slighlty smaller population than the former two provinces would bring in 250,000 Solidi, or 45,000,000 folli. As for Dalmatia with its small population and minor industries it brought in 25,000 solidi or 4,550,000 folli, giving the west an annual budget of 148,550,000 folli or 775,000 solidi. However instead the empire was bringing in only roughly 81,000,000 folli.
This dramatic drop in revenue was due to several things mainly including corruption, and tax evasion.

Each prefecture contained smaller regions to make the collection of records and taxes quicker and more efficient, Gaul contained 7 of these Provinces. Each of the provinces who had a govenor would submit the revenue records to the prefecture, the prefect after accepting these records would then send them to the emperor, any irregularities found along the way would then be investigated. Over the years, this system had been abused, to the point that the empire was only receiving half of what it should have been. During Majorians reign this system would be kept in tact but vast corruption purges would bring this system back closer to what it had been before.

In 459 Avitus would die, his son Eparchius Avitus would take his place. To a testament of the corruption purges The empire in 459 would receive 130,000,000 folli in 459.

In 459 the Majorians reformist mind would take full effect. Other than the formerly mentioned Land tax where Grain farmers were taxed less then Vineyard farmers, Majorian would put in a tax for those that were of 20 years old and unmarried or without kids. A tax for those whose wealth or land was worth more than 5,000,000 follis would be put in place, this tax would be worth 5% of this wealth. Initially this tax was evaded by some, but others like Eparchius Avitus (one of the richest men in the west) would support it seeing how it could benefit the empire. This tax would bring a potential 40 million follis into the budget in the future.

Following the change in taxes, would be military reform. In the decades following the decay of the west, soldiers had been paid less in coin, and more in food, this was due to the rampant corruption, in 459 Majorian would announce that soldiers would be paid 600 follis a year. The empire at this time had 60,000 soldiers, 13,000 in Dalmatia, 12,000 in Hispania the remaining 35,000 split between Gaul and Hispania, costing the empire 36,000,000 folli a year in wages for soldiers, a further 20,000,000 follis going to food and equipment.

For recruitment reform, Majorian would put this onto shoulders of both the prefecture and the Magister Militum. They were to come up with the required number of men to replace those soldiers discharged due to age or injury, as well as to come up with a number of men needed to grow the army to an effective operating size. For Hispania this was made to be 15,000, for Gaul and Italia 20,000 each, and for Dalmatia 17,000. Then the recruitment of men was to be placed upon the provinces of each prefecture to come up with the required number of men splitting the weight of recruitment.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 9

460

The opening weeks of the year 460 would bring joy to the Vandal King as his grandson was born, Huneric son of Hilderic and Eudocia eldest daughter of Valentinian. The birth of Huneric is generally thought to be the beginning of the leadup to the Roman Vandal war in 9 years.

In May of this year Majorian and Anthemius would meet in Dyrachium meeting in the middle of the two capitals to signify that they were equals, with their two eldest children. This was a major event for the two emperors to meet something that was nearly unprecedented. It was during this meeting that 5 year old Theodosius would be betrothed to 5 year old Alypia, and likewise 10 year old Athemiolus to 3 year old Julia Placidia. These matches were made with promises of greater cooperation between emperors, something that would come to harm one of these matches.

It was also during this 2 week meeting that the emperors discussed many things, such as Majorians rise to power, his reforms, and either of their campaigns they had expierenced, and the empires future. A major contributing factor in these discussions was the Vandals, whose major fleet and history was a threat to both empires. Majorian at this time had slowly been moving funds to build a fleet to counter the vandals however in its effectiveness the fleet was minor movement as these funds were often better used elsewhere like rebuilding infrastructure. However Anthemius promised that the east with its vast amount of wealth would provide some funds to help build the fleet and would even send some of its own fleet to help the west.

The last day of this meeting of greats would be on May 16th, a day that would be a day of fanfare and celebration in the city as festival and games took over the city for the day. Anthemius would return east were his son Procopius Anthemius would be born in June, his next and last child being Procopius Romolus born in the opening year of the Vandal war.

Majorian would return west to Rome were he would overwatch the building of the western fleet, it was during November of this year that Majorian and Placidias last children would be born, as twin boys would be born in a highly stressful birth, the result of which would make Placidia unable to bear children again, these Boys were Julius Valerius Gallus, and Julius Valerius Valens.

However there were other matters afoot during the year of 460. After the loss of 10,000 men Genseric had lost roughly a third of his army. Knowing that the future held war for his people he began training as many able men as he could, he also began making alliances, or trying to. King Theodoric of the Visigoths was firmly in the Roman corner after they helped put him on the throne of his people, and he also held a grudge for the disfigurement of his sister at Genserics hands. However there was another Ambitious member in the Visigoth Royal family, someone who was willing to overlook old family grudges. It was during the summer that one of Genserics nieces would be married to Euric of the Visigoths in secret, and soon to be Euric King of the Visigoths, as later that year Theodoric would be killed by supporters of his brother, they sent Theodorics head to Ricimer claiming that Theodoric was plotting against Rome.

For his part Ricimer would basically accept this without question. Now some would wonder why Ricimer did not question this, well Ricimer had his own schemes, and Thorismund as a pro Roman king was a threat to those plans, the more infighting between the Visigoths the better. See Ricimer was if anything Ambitious, he had used the situations he was given to rise up the ranks. But with Aegidius as the Emperors Magister Militum he could go no further. Instead of trying to build up a credible resume to become the next Magister Militum, he began plotting. However his plans didnt just stop at being Magister Militum, there were young imperial hiers to manipulate as Emperors.

461

Ricimer had picked an uphill fight, and his first move would be to eliminate pieces of the game board. Nepotianus was not only loyal to Majorian but also an able commander and had recently used his 13,000 strong Hispanian army to stop a raid from the Vasconian Baugudae. Unfortunately this competent man would die in February of 461, to poison administered by a agent of Ricimers. In the aftermath and with the death of the Hispanian Comes, a force of 10,000 Bagudae would invade the Ebro Valley, Ricimer used half of his army to move into Hispania and stop this Baugudae raid, while at the same time filling the power vacumn in the region with his quick movements. The news of the Comes death followed by Ricimers victory were close on eachother arriving in Rome. Majorian was suspicious, he ignored Ricimers message that he had the region under control, and sent Severinus to take Nepotianus place. However the son of Nepotianus, Julius Nepos and commander of the Emperos Palitini took his fathers death hard, and in fact swore that Ricimer must have killed him to have acted so quickly.

Majorian for his part would heed Nepos's voice, and recalled Ricimer for questioning, Ricimer would travel to Rome, but passed the Emperors questioning, saying he had been in southern gaul overwatching the Visigothic situation. This only added further conviction to Nepos as if the new King had really stopped his brother from plotting what was their to watch. Weary of Nepos who was right in his conviction Ricimer tried to have him assassinated however it failed, but the assassin did escape, keeping his secrets safe. After the assassination attempt Nepos would send spies to Gaul, only one would come back with Damning evidence, the final act for Ricimer was beginning.

462


News of Ricimers betrayal would spread quickly, hearing it himself Ricimer tried to turn his men against the emperor, after all had he not lead them to victory in Hispania, lieing through his teeth he declared Nepos had brought fake evidence before the emperor trying to find some sort of vengeance for his fathers natural death. However his troops were more loyal to Majorian than Ricimer and he barely escaped their swords on horseback. Ricimer would ride to the Burgundian King Gundioc his brother in law hoping for help. However Gundioc would not risk his family for the power hungry Ricimer, and instead closed his cities gates on his brother in law. However the Emperors men were chasing the ex general and before he could cross into Alemanni territory Ricimer was caught, brought back to Rome in chains. Ricimer would be tortured for days before he would tell the truth, afterwhich he was executed by Nepos who would finally get vengence for his fathers death nearly a year after it had happened.

Nepos would gain more from the betrayal of Ricimer, replacing him as Magister Militum per Gallias surpassing his uncle Marcellinus who was Comes of Dalmatia. Replacing Nepos as Majorians commander of his Palitini was Syragius son of Aegidius.

During these 2 years taxes would grow and wane, recieving 140,000,000 folli in 460, before dropping back to 135,000,000 folli in 461. In 462 however a sharp drop was taken as only 120,000,000 were taken. Though there was some lost taxes to the Baugudae raids, it seemed that there was a slow progression of losses as a corrupt Magistrate in Gaul was taking tax money and taking lots of bribes. This magistrate would be caught by both the Emperor as he read tax reports and Ecdicius Avitus, who would catch the anomalies as some cities were taxed far greater then they were supposed to be and others taxed less. The magistrate would have all his wealth consficated and be sent into exile, which wouldnt last long as the Franks brough Nepos his head after he stole some goods and then tried to sell it at an exorbitant amount in another town. However in the east a power was starting to rise in the Ostrogoths.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 10

463

With the promotion of Nepos to Magister Equitum per Gallias Majorians Regime was in a strong position with trusted men in the highest positions. However while politcally the Emperor was in a strong secure position, that did not mean the empire was in the same position. Between the powerful Visigoths and Vandals, the peace was fragile, and with Franks, Alemanni, Rugii waiting to pounce at the borders, and the Ostrogoths in the east, the empires position was fragile.

In Gaul Nepos was implementing a plan that him and Majorian had made, recruiting Eurics brother Fredricus as a Comes in the Gallic army, with the plan to elevate him as a leader, to rival his brother. Fredricus was given command over a group of Fedoratti including Visigoths, Alans, Burgundians, as well as Romans numbering 5,000 men, and put in charge of the Amorican Front in northwestern Gaul. During the summer of 463, Fredricus would decisively defeat a Baugudae Raid into Roman territory, in a brilliant battle crushing a force double his own numbers. In the following months Fredricus would march into Baugudae territory, defeating another smaller Baugudae army, before taking several towns. With the wind down of the campaigning season Fredricus would garrison the minor territorial gains he made.

Elsewhere in the Empire, Majorian was making reforms, Majorian passed some laws on allowing coastal cities to bear arms as to stop any piracy problems, which had grown with the lack of an imperial fleet. As well as some laws focused towards the issues of wills and the death of those with lost wills, as well as laws to preserve the monuments of Rome. Majorian also issued a law to restore the municipal Administration, restoring the role of defensor civitatis, this magistrates job was to defend the interests of the citizens against the public administration particular matters of fiscal matters. In effect Majorian was proving a competent Emperor and the west was at a tenous peace, the first time in many years.

However Majorian didnt just focus on passing laws. He was planning Campaigns. While the situation in Gaul was tenous, Majorian planned a campaign with Marcellinus the Comes Dalmaticus, and uncle of Nepos. This campaign would begin in 464, and was to be a joint campaign between the Emperor and Comes against the Rugi who inhabited Noricum. However near the end of Winter, Majorian and Placidias, youngest son, the 3 year old Julius Valerius Valens passed away due to a sickness, causing Majorian to delay his joining of the Campaign. Marcellinus would continue without his Emperor in the spring, and would be joined by men from the Italian Comitatenses.

464

In Gaul the spring was greated by the army of Fredricus marching into Baugudae Amorica, where he quickly stormed several towns and stormed the city Darioritum (Vannes). For his success the Baugudae leader who had been gathering his army, refused open battle, instead used a schorched earth policy, and lead Fredricus northwest away from Roman territory deeper into Amorica. The Baugudae leaders goal was to weaken the Roman supplies, as well as to weaken the romans with constant hit and run attacks. When the Baugudae leader did finally accept battle the numbers were 10,000 Baugudae Militia, against, 4000 of Fredricus battle hardened Veterans. Fredricus would once again lead his men to a stunning victory, and even killed the Baugudae leader in single combat near the end of the battle, after this battle Fredricus was hailed as king by his Visigothic soldiers. However as stunning as this victory was Fredricus had lost a significant amount of men, and was forced to pull back to Roman territory, looting all the way back.

Euric however had been watching these events unfold, and had not taken kindly to hearing his brother being called king, nervous of Roman intervention, Euric gave the order, and in the Fall of 464, Fredricus a Regal, and Noble Visigoth loyal to the romans, died of Poison. This left the last two sons of Theodoric I alive, Euric and his youngest Retimer, who fled to Nepos.

In Noricum Marcellinus invaded Rugii territory with 10,000 of his Dalmatian soldiers who were some of the very best in the empire, along with 3,000 Burgundians, and 2,000 Ostrogoth Mercenaries, and some 10,000 Italian soldiers. Reaching Iuvavum within 3 weeks, Marcellinus put the city to siege. With the city lightly defended it fell within Days, sparing the population of looting, Marcellinus left a garrison of 3,000 men before moving northeast towards Lauriacum. Soon after news of the Rugian King Flaccitheus and his army reached Marcellinus. Flaccitheus had gathered a substantial army at Castra Regina, a city built around an old legionary fortress that dated back to the time of Marcus Aurelius. Flaccitheus army was reported to have numbered some 25,000 , numbering similar to Marcellinus's own force, and news was that he was marching to Iuvavum.

While Marcellinus was confident in his army, with reports being that Flaccitheus army numbered the same as Marcellinus original numbers, he fell back to Iuvavum, to gather his garrison there, so that he could have his full force in the field, and marched northwest, with his scouts ranging almost 50 miles ahead to try and find the enemy. Both forces converged upon the Inn river, and it fortunate that Marcellinus decided that he would need his total force, as the Rugii numbers were closer to 32,000 men.

The two armies sat stationary across the river from eachother, outside of Artillery range. Both armies scouts, cavalry and skirmished along the river looking for places to cross the river. However for the most part the river was to deep, especially for men. Marcellinus would be the first to move, his scouts finding a bridge a few days march to the south, and leaving his camp during the night, force marched his men looking to reach the bridge before the Rugii could block his crossing. While the Rugii, were able to catch up to the romans at night, Marcellinus and his men would continue their late night marches, marching nearly 30 miles in a day and building their camps in the early afternoon and sleeping early while the Rugii who spent their entire day marching were slowly falling behind. As their camps were not built until night, and so to try and follow the romans when they marched would result in tired exhausted men.

However on the final days march both forces left camp early, the Romans having got a full sleep and meal, the Rugii still tired and eating cold meals. They marched hard, both forces cavalry racing towards the bridge were they would clash. The Roman-Ostrogoth Cavalry numbered 2,000, and the Rugii were of similar numbers, the fighting was intense, but the Roman cavalry was able to fight the Rugii off, killing their captain and took the bridge successfully. However holding the bridge would mean nothing if the Rugii were able to reach it at the same time as the romans. While both forces were marching, the rugii had fallen perhaps a mile behind the romans, Marcellinus had sent a portion of his force some 5,000 men ahead early on in the night, .the cavry had passed these men in the morning. These 5,000 men would cross the bridge after the cavalry battle securing for Marcellinus a bridgehead on the other side. These 5,000 men began building a trench, rampart and palisade, to fortify their position if the Rugii and Marcellinus arrived around the same time, which they would, the Rugii, only being at most half an hours march behind the romans. At Noon, the romans reached the bridge, 20 minutes later the Rugii reached it as well.

With the infantry and cavalry, a total of nearly 7,000 men across the river, Marcellinus lead the rest of his army across. And marched these men to the end of the palisade his other men had created, in the twenty minute wait before the Rugii arrived Marcellinus managed to successfully cross a further 8,000 men, leaving the rest to reinforce him during the battle. When Flaccitheus and his army arrived their was no early battle skirmish, or waiting. The rugii, slowed checked thier lines, and charged. Both sides before the moments of impact threw their javelins or Plumbatta darts, and formed shield walls.

Marcellinus to try and prevent a serious outflanking by the Rugii whose line was still longer than his own, had been forced to thin his lines to 4 men, while the ruggi lines were easily double that, and in some places triple. As the lines met with a resonating crash, this formation difference became very apparent, with Marcellinus center beginning to bow inwards. While his flank was still being pushed hard and the Rugii beginning to envelop it, Marcellinus split his cavalry, half of which was armed in the style of Cataphracts with lances. Marcellinus lead half to his left flank were his forces were being surrounded and charged into the rugi on the rear of his men, preventing most of the wrapping manouver, these 900 men and their general, would be forced to hold the flank against the enemy until reinforcements crossed the bridge. However in the center was where the situation was even more precarious. As the center fought, and men died on both sides, they were still being pushed back, and a significant U was forming in the center, nearly at the breaking point. Even as reinforcements arrived, it still was barely holding. This is where the remaining cavalry was crucial. Their leader a young man named Flavius Aurelius Silvanus, formed a wedge some 100 paces behind the infantry ready to charge. Then finalt at the very center of the roman formation, it broke, the roman army was split into 2 halves, and the Rugii, broke through. Only to be charged by 900 Roman light Cataphracts. The Ruggi who broke through the roman formation were instantly shattered. The charging lancers were extremely effective, their charge slaying and trampling hundreds as they pushed forward, allowing the roman line to close up behind them. On the palisade the battle was going much better for the romans as they were in a advantageous position. The rugii were forces to climb the earthen rampart before trying to fight over a short wicker palisade. The rugii casualties were so much in this position that the ditch in front began to fill with their dead.

However on the flank, Flaccitheus lead his cavalry around the flank, his cavalry only numbering 1200 after the previous cavalry battle, he had been hesitant to comit them early. However by this point they were to late as Roman reinforcements rallied the left flank, where the fighting was some of the harshest. Even Marcellinus was forced to away from battle, having recieved a thigh wound that needed a doctor immediately. Though it is noted that Marcellinus continued to give out orders and watched the battle unfold from Behind its lines, still acting as a general even as a doctor was trying to stich up his leg.

The battle continued on for over 3 hours like this until the entirety of the Roman force crossed the river. By which point the battle was in a deadlock with thousands dieing and neither looking like it might win. The exhausted rugii had been unable to capitalize while they had the numbers, and at this point they were far more exhausted than the romans. It was at this point that Flavius Aurelius Silvanus comes back into the battle. The young commander, had managed to extricate himself and only 10 of his men from the battle having to pull back through roman lines on foot as their horses were dead. Grabbing horses from the rear, Silvanus took command of what was left of the roman cavalry after it had been able to pull back from the left flank, roughly 600 men. After talking with Marcellinus it was decided that he would flank the enemy and try to put an end to the battle, the enemy cavalry not a worry having lost most of its numbers when it joined the battle, being only a guard for their king.

Silvanus and his men began thier circuit route of the battlefield, and halted upon reaching the flank, checking ranks and forming a wedge, preparing themselves and thier exhausted horses for a charge. As they charged a horn sounded, a Rugii horn, sounding the fall back. Flaccitheus had spotted the Roman cavalry, and knowing his men would be unable to hold it off on the flank, he tried to preserve his army by pulling them back before the cavalry hit. Unfortunately it backfired causing confusion, it only added to roman charge which tore into his armies flank. It was a total route. The exhausted romans only followed for half a mile, before halting and returning to the bridge.

The battle of the Inn River was over. Roughly 16,000 Rugii were killed, and some 6,000 romans lost. The majority of the survivors were all injured in one way or another. The rugii and their king would retreat back to Castra Regina, which they would fortify, rebuilding the old roman walls, and even adding to them, when the romans would arrive it would be a fortress. However the romans stayed near the battlefield. They buried their dead with honours and dumped the Rugii dead into mass burials. The army would await supplies and wait for the numerous injured to get better. Silvanus became a hero to the army, and Marcellinus though severely injured, became one of the most respected generals of Majorian, having fought one of the toughest battles since Aetius and Attila at the Catalaunian fields.

The army would receive a suprise when their next shipement of supplies and food arrived. Emperor Majorian finally arrived in Noricum. Majorian had with him his entite Palitini guard, some 8,000 men. Arriving at the battlefield, Majorian would make a speech to the army, thanking them for their sacrifices upon the battlefield and that he was honored to be able to call them soldiers of Rome, with the fresh supplies he had brought, and cattle that were procured from the nearby area, he allowed them to feast and have the next week to rest, his Palitini would take their places on guard. For Marcellinus he would give him honours and rewards. The army would stay were it was for the next 2 weeks.

After those two weeks Majorian sent Silvanus northeast to capture Lauriacum with 10,000 men, while Marcellinus and Majorian would go North to Castra regina with the remaining 17,000 men. Silvanus would expierence no fighting with his city surrendering immediately.

However Majorian and Marcellinus after arriving at Castra Regina nearly a month a month and a half after the battle of the inns river, would find a fortress garrisoned with nearly 12,000 warriors. The fortress was also a city, and it was along the Danube making it impossible to surround and prevent supplies from going in. However that didnt mean they couldnt try. Majorian would surround the city with a wall, upon which he placed Onagers, and Ballistae, and rained upon the place perpetual fire. During the day, the siege engines fired rocks into the city, at night, they fired flaming pots into the city. Not once did Majorian try to take the city, and niether did Flaccitheus try to sally forth as his army was smaller than the romans. Finally, a two weeks into the siege, Flaccitheus opened negotiations seeing that Majorian would not try to take the impressive walls he had built. At first , Majorian demanded all territory south of the Danube, and that the Rugii become fedoratii. However the Rugii king simply laughed and told him that he still held the walls of his city, and if he wanted that much Majorian could try to take them.

Majorian presented his army in full to the city, however he hesitated seeing the enemy walls covered in soldiers, and decided that he would continue his bombardment. A further week passed, before an agreement was made. Rome would take any territory south of the Danube and east of the Inns river. The rest would remain Rugian, and the Rugii would become Fedoratii. Even though it was not much gain. Majorian considered this a deal, the war had weakened the Rugii who had lost nearly half their army, and they had gained territory and made another tribe Fedoratii.

After this Majorian going into 465, and beyond would begin centering his focus on Africa.

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Sorry for the long break, which was longer than intended. This chapter ended up being different from what was my first intentions, with it originally being 463-468. However i felt that the Rugian war and especially the Battle of the Inns river needed some special attention. Thanks everyone for the support in the Timeline and I hope you are enjoying it!

 

[StevenIronside]

Sorry for the poor quality map,
Red represents the territory gained by Rome in 464, the light greens are Roman Fedorattis, the Yellow/Gold outline is the franks, Blue outline is Alemanni, and the purple is the Ostrogoths, who are at this time Fedoratti of the eastern Empire, and are also employed in the army of Marcellinus.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 11

After the Noricum campaign, the newly required lands were brought into the Diocese of Italy, being under the Governorship of Of the Prefect of Italia and Dalmatia. However militarily would be under the command of the Comes Noricum, which happened to be a newly promoted Flavius Aurelius Silvanus. To help form the new Comitatenses, several hundred men were transferred from each of the other Comitatenses commands, however the farthest in Hispania wouldnt arrive until half a year later, at least. In effect, Silvanus had the job of keeping the new land quite with a paper army, as he only had 1500 men from the Dalmatian and Italian units, and his recruiting efforts wouldnt pay divet ends for several months. It is notiable that in the future, due to the constant chaos that had enveloped the area of Noricum in the past 50 years, and their proximity to the Roman Frontier, that the People of Noricum, and Dalmatia would become a constant source of recruits, and be some of the Empires best soldiers.

In Spring of 466 Majorian would once again meet with Anthemius emperor of the east, this time in Brundisium. Here it was decided, the future co operation against the Vandals, which would take place in 469. Anthemius would position 2 armies to support the west. One would take its position in Dyrachium along with a large portion of the Eastern Fleet, numbering some 30,000 men and was to be lead by the eastern Emperor himself. The other, consisting of troops from the Egyptian, and Syrian Comitatenses, and from troops in Cyrenaeica, and with another large fleet, numbered around 20,000 men and would be lead by Eastern Magister Militum Leo, and the emperors 19 year old son Athemiolus stationed in Cyrenaeica it would cross to Leptis Magna. Majorian meanwhile intended to use the troops of Marcellinus numbering around 10,000, and the Majority of the Italian Comitatenses, with the Hispanian Comitatenses coming in later as reinforcements. In total the west was mobilizing some 36,000 men for the campaign and the east 50,000 the goal was the total destruction of the Vandals however, moves made by Genseric, and other events would greatly change how the war would unfold.

Genseric understood that the treaty with Rome would not last, being proactive he had made Alliance with the Visigoths. The Seuvi on the other hand were still recovering from their previous war with Rome, and thier new King, Rechicus son of Rechiar only gave non committal support to Genseric much to the Vandal kings dissapointment.

However Genseric was not out of options, and instead turned to the neigboring berber tribes, such as the Gaetulians, Garmantians, and the Berber Roman kingdoms of Altava. Genseric made treaties with the Garmantians and Gaetulians, giving them grain and trade, which was a major boom to these desert tribes as their Wells which supplied them with water were beginning to run dry. In return he would recieve their support against the romans, by supplying him with cavalry, and infantry. As for the Berber-Roman kingdom of Atlava, Genseric tried several times to sway the minor kingdom to his side, however the king Massonas, and his son Masuna, were staunchly Neutral, and Genseric feared that they could be a major part in turning the war into Roman favour.

However events along the Danube would change everything. Ever since the battle of Nedao, the germanic tribes along the Danube had been in a constant state of war each tribe vying for dominance. The two dominant tribes were the Ostrogoths and Gepids. In 467 the Gepids gathered a coalition to finish the Ostrogoths. This coalition included the Herulii, Scirii, and some units of Sarmations and Seubi, and while this army outnumbered the Ostrogothic forces, the two Ostrogoth leaders, Valamir and Theodemir, would refuse battle, instead focusing on baiting thier opponents into ambushes and hit and run attacks. This campaign of attrition would draw out the year, forcing the Gepid Coalition to pull back their forces without a succeful battle in 467. However in 468 the Gepids and their allies once again crossed the Danube intent on smashing the Ostrogoths, this time however the Ostrogoths met them in battle.

The battle of Bolia was the exact opposite of what the Gepids thought would happen. Outnumbering the Ostrogoths with 50,000 men to the Gothic 40,000. The Ostrogoth kings placed their army along the Bolia river their line was nearly anchored on the forested ridge that ran along the battlefield, however this space was left open for the Ostrogoth cavalry to operate. In total the Ostrogoths deployed 32,000 Infantry, and 3,000 Cavalry along the River. The remaining 5,000 were hid in the woods on the Ostrogth left flank where they would await the right moment of battle.

When the 50,000 warriors of the Gepid Coalition charged they crashes into the Goth lines, and while the main line held the Cavalry on the left flank were falling trying to hold back triple their number in Gepid cavalry. It was in this part of the fighting that the great Ostrogoth King Valamir was killed, trying to hold the line. Some say that Theodemir who was with the hidden contigent, purposefully waited hoping that Valamir would be killed. However in the end Theodemir and his 5,000 would crash into the Gepid flank within an hour the Coalitions army collapsed, and over 15,000 men of the Gepids army were killed, only 3,000 Ostrogoths lost thier lives.

The battle of Bolia changed the structure of the Danube Region. Before the region had been in constant war between the tribes. After the battle and the treaties made by Theodemir, the Ostrogoths while only making marginal territorial gains, would make many of the defeated tribes thier client states, setting up a Ostrogoth Empire that was effectively the ruling state from the Danube to the Carpathians and into the lands of the north.

It was with his Kingdom in this state of power that Theodemir going into 469 decided that he should renegotiate his kingdoms status as Fedorati of the east. Just as the armies of the east and west were preparing for war with the Vandals.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 12

469
Eastern Roman Empire

On April 20th 469, Theodemir with 25,000 Goths and 15,000 Gepids, Lombards Heruli, and other warriors of his client kingdoms invaded into the Diocese of Dacia. While Theodemir had 40,000 warriors this was not his full might as 15,000 more warriors were kept in his kingdoms heartland to prevent any roman invasion from the west. The Ostrogoth king quickly marched his army southwest directed towards Naissus, burning and pillaging the regions he passed through.

By this point word of the gothic invasion was quickly spreading, and importantly reached 2 locations. The first was Dyrrachium were the Emperor and his family were, all except Anthemiolus who had been in Egypt preparing for his african campaign. Anthemius who was within days of transporting his troops to Italy, quickly aborted his campaign and began marching his 30,000 men east along the via Egnatia to Thessalonica. However Anthemius did send the half of his fleet west, to support Majorian, the rest would join him at Thessalonica.

However as Anthemius was marching east a certain Ostrogoth Prince, who had been a captive in Constantinople would enter the story. Theodoric 15 year old son of Theodemir had been held in Constantinople since he had been five years old raised with a good roman education and military training, he was being raised to be a good ally and client king of Rome. However Theodoric took the outbreak of the war as the perfect time to escape his captivity, and with a guard of 100 Ostrogoths escaped the Imperial city in a daring night escape. While only half of his group would make it they were able to escape on Horse back and went northwest, in hopes of finding his father.

When Anthemius and his army arrived at Thessalonica on June 10th, news was already there from the North. The emperor had left 12,000 men in the north to guard the Danube which had been thought to have been safe. These were split between the Dioceses of Dacia and Thrace. Theodemir had arrived at Naissus in the middle of May, which had been Garrisoned by the 6,000 men, the city had fallen on June 2nd, the garrison slaughtered and the city sacked.

At this point Anthemius had several options, however their outcomes would greatly differ on the actions of the Ostrogoths. Anthemius could march straight north on good Roman roads and try to catch the Ostrogoths, or if luck was on his side and the Ostrogoths went south from Naissus and not further East meet them in battle. Or Anthemius could march east towards Adrianople where he could join with the Thracian army and block the Ostrogoths from Constantinople. The last option was to split the army and try to cover both routes East and South. After a days delay of serious debate with his Generals Anthemius chose to go North, with his full army. It was thought that Theodemir would rather go south and face the imperial army at its current strength then allow it to be reinforced and even the numbers. At the same time going east would only weaken the Ostrogths before the fight with the Imperial army, and stretch any supply lines the Goths had, liable to be cut off if the Romans went north, while the possibility of the thracian army moving from its position was small.

Anthemius and his generals were right. As they marched north a Gothic scouting party was ambushed by Roman scouts, and all but 5 were killed, 2 of these were captured, and the remaining 3 escaped. After a night in the roman camp being tortured they gave up their king and his army. Who they divulged was besieging the city of Scupi to the northwest. The goths also told that their army was 37,000 strong, and that they were receieving supplies from the north by caravans guarded by Gepid cavalry.

The next day the Roman army moved with importance hoping the reach the city and break the seige. Only to find the city clear of any enemy armies, however the signs of war were written on the battlements which were scared signs of battle and artillery fire. Theodemir had retreated as to not be caught inbetween the city and the enemy. Only a few days later along the Morava river the two forces would finally meet. Having heard of how the Gepid cavalry guarded the Ostrogoth supply caravans Anthemius was nervous of becoming a new Valens being caught in battle by returning cavalry.

However on June 28th battle would finally be joined after several days of manoeuvring and skirmishing. The battle of Scupi would not be the decisive battle that each side was looking for. While the Ostrogoths had the advantage in numbers both forces were experienced battle hardened armies. After the infantry lines smashed together the battle was fought at a standstill for many hours. Both Emperor and King were nervous of using their cavalry as the two forces had near equal number of cavalry. And therefore the battle dragged on until evening when both forces mutually withdrew. Both forces lost around 4,000 men each, and another day of battle would only make the odds worse for the romans, and for that reason Anthemius made the decision to strategically withdraw to fight on another field, falling back to Scupi building a camp and monitoring the Gothic army with scouts.

It was because of this withdrawal that while Roman sources called the battle a draw, Gothic sources called this a victory. After this Victory both forces were in defensible positions with strong supply lines. However Theodemir had the constant thought of Roman reinforcements coming from Thrace, and would try to force the emperor into moving. To do this Theodemir uprooted is forces and marched on the city of Ulpiana crossing the Morava river, and following it west.

This movement did force Anthemius to quick march his men north and into a blocking position in front of the goths. The battle of Ulpiana was a different matter than that of Scupi. Instead of a full fledged battle, the battle of Ulpiana on July 7th began when the Gothic and Gepid cavalry tried to capture the roman baggage train that were coming into the new roman camp. Anthemius would send his cavalry to fight the Gothic enemy. However the minor battle soon turned into a raging battle for supplies as both forces continued to send men into the fight, with nearly half of both armies fighting over a now destroyed baggage train. The goths however were forced to withdraw first. While the casualty count was minor compared to scupi, the goths still lost 3,000 men and the romans 1500. This minor roman victory however was enough for Theodemir to retreat back towards Naissus following the imperial roads first east then north, Anthemius would follow.

At this point the goths were down to 29,000 men, and the Romans 24,500 and no decisive battle had been fought. At Naissus a siege similar to that of Caesar and Pompeys at Dyrrachium took place with both forces building massive fortifications. Anthemius tried to trap the goths inbetween his army and the city, while the goths were trying to prevent such a thing. On July 30th Theodemir made a daring attack with his army on the last unfotified ground, a open plain in which a single roman camp held out as ramparts were built over a mile away from any other fort. Before Anthemius and his army could respond the Goths surged from their camp and overran the fort, slaughtering the 500 men inside and began marching east towards Serdica. Anthemius once again followed knowing the farther east they went the closer he was to the reinforcements of the Thracian Comitatenses, even sending them a message to finally come join the war as the could potentially block the Ostrogoth advance and trap them between two armies.

It is during this time that Theodoric would be reunited with his father, and that the decisive battle of the year happened.

The battle of Serdica began on August 20th 5 miles from Serdica capital of the Dacian Diocese, With the Goths instead of marching further east, turning and facing the romans, and forming battle lines. Anthemius would form his own battle lines both forces kept several thousand infantry in reserve and their Cavalry on either flank. The battle lines clashed together and the battle began, however unlike the battle of Scupi, Anthemius and Theodemir both had their cavalry advance, and the battle continued at a quick pace.

The battle continued for hours, with both armies comitting every available man into the battle around noon. At around 1 in the afternoon the Roman cavalry broke overwhelmed. However instead of turning and smashing into the Roman rear, the gothic cavalry chased their roman counterparts clear of the field by which time thier own mounts where to exhausted to charge. While the Gothic cavalry waited for thier horses to gain back some energy a dust cloud was spotted coming from the east, this happened to be the 6,000 strong Thracian Comitatenses. This was relayed to both Emperor and King, Anthemius is said to have responded by riding along his armies lines rallying his men, While Theodemir sent his son to take command of the cavalry and smash the emperors army.

Theodoric and the Gothic cavalry would smash into the Roman flank however the exhausted horses ment that the charge had not been a full charge not gaining nearly enough momentum in the final 50 paces. This ment that Anthemius was able to rally some men to meet this charge and repel the gothic charge.

On the other flank however Theodemir gathered what men he could and wrapped around the romans flank. This resulted in the romans pulling back to try and hold their formation, they did manage to hold however.

Seing his army now bent in a L formation, Anthemius ordered a fighting withdrawal with men takin a step back every 20 count. Theodemir allowed this Withdrawal as the Thracian army was now within a gew miles march and continuing the battle would result in only another battle, and their was no guarantee he could defeat the romans by the time the reinforcements arrived. Theodemir and his army would retreat from the field in good order.

The battle of Serdica cost the Romans 7,000 men, and the Goths, 6,000. Both sides would claim victory, and both sides had right to, the goths causing more casualties and pushing the romans from the field. The romans having held the battlefield after the goths withdrew.

While the now combined roman army followed the goths back to Naissus towards the end of campaign season, news reached Anthemius from the west that would cripple any further Campaigning for the year....

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 13

469

The African campaign began well enough in Comes Trajan's opinion. However that didnt mean it would continue that way, Lucius Aurelius Ulpianus Trajan grimly remembered the fate of his grandfather Magister Militum Ulpius Trajan who died alongside Valens at Adrianople. The situation he was in seemed so similar to that of his grandfather.

When the campaign had began nearly 3 months ago he had lead his 3,000 Comitatenses onto the defended beaches near Leptis Magna with ferocity. The hard fought landing had been the only battle they had seen for the first 2 months. Slowly and smartly making their way through Vandal territory northwest. However a month ago is where it had all gone wrong. With the ease of the campaign, the Caesar and His Magister Militum had thrown all caution to the wind. They had decided that the enemy must have all their available warriors on another front fighting Majorian in Sicily. Oh how wrong they had been. Using local guides and scouts they had marched north not even bothering to besiege or garrison any of the major cities and towns other than Thapsus. And then one day the guides and scouts didnt come back, and the roman scouts with them were found dead hours later after search parties were sent out.

Trajan had been the one to councel the Caesar to pull back to Thapsus and use their remaining scouts to try and find any sign of the enemy. While the Caesar had agreed to Send the scouts out, he refused to pull back to do so would be a waste of time especially since the enemy could only be to the north, and that most of his men would be off in Sicily. For whatever reason Leo and Anthemiolus had assumed that whatever force they would find in africa would be small. Instead 2 days later they stumbled into the main Vandal army, some 22,000 men to the roman 18,000. With those odds Trajan in the right position and terrain would have given battle. However Leo and the Caesar seemed enthusiastic to simply give battle without finding ground where they could anchor both flanks. On the day of battle August 2nd around noon The Caesar and his general much to the anger of Trajan marched the army out of camp, and while they did take his advice and anchor the right flank on a large steep hill the left flank was wide open, the wider area enclosed by hills, protected only by their 2,000 cavalry. Opposite to the romans the 20,000 Vandal warriors and 2,000 horseman cheered and readied for a bloodbath, as the vandals were aware the battle would most definitely be. The battle began fairly well and the romans held their ground well, a bloody stalemate developing. Had the battle continued like this it would have been a close contenst and either side could have won, a needlessly bloody battle that could have cost either army nearly half their men.

However the Vandals were only waiting. As the sun began to lower onto the horizon and many thought the battle may end, the tactics and strategies used in the afternoon only continuing the battle, a large force of 5,000 men ride onto the field from behind a ridgeline only a mile distant. Trajan who was bloodyhaving been involved in the battle several times during the day was one of the first to see the host of horsemen charging but even he was to late. As his trumpeter let out a bellow of warning, the Caesar and General watching the battle closely were caught unawares and swarmed by this new enemy, Trajan was sure he seen the Caesar taken in the back by a javelin, and Leo lose an arm before falling from his horse and being trampled. Trajan being one of the leading men on the field and seeing that their wasn't any feasable way to win or even hold of the enemy decided it was best to try and get as many men away from the battle as he could.

While his efforts would not save the entire army, Trajan was with much heavy fighting able to lead 5,000 men up onto the steep hill. Here they watched as the rest of the butchering continued and as the enemy arrayed in front of them before trying to assail the hights. This assault on their position was beaten back but with heavy casualties. As the sun set below the horizon all the men on the field were tired, the vandals decided to celebrate rather than try to take the hights. For the romans this was a godsend. Trajan would set about getting a count of his men, some 200 horsemen and 3600 legionaries. With this force he let them rest until a little into the night, before beginning a night march back to thapsus. This would give his men only a brief respite from battle as the horsemen who had caused their defeat the garmantians would harrass them all the way to thapsus, when the romans did arrive at the city, they only numbered just over 3000 total. Some 15000 men lost over the previous days. The Vandal army which had lost some 4000 men, and was lead by the Prince Huneric, would show to thapsus and set the city to siege, which only lasted a week and a few assaults on the walls before Huneric marched the majority of his army north, leaving some 6000 men to besiege the city. On the second day after Huneric had left Trajan personally lead a night raid onto the enemy camp burning siege engines supplies, and killing a few dozen men. Sallies like this continued for a few days until the Vandal guard increased. To respond to this Trajan lead his legion forth and attacked the enemy camp in a large scale night raid, and the following day sallied forth and broke the siege with a decisive battle.

News of the Caesars death and Trajans and subsequent victory at Thapsus reached the Eastern emperor Anthemius in quick concession at the end of August beginning of September. Anthemius would mourne his eldest son and hier, and would shift his focus to making Marcianus a capable hier in the coming years. He also praised Trajan for his victory, though he stopped short of promoting him, he would send him reinforcements for the coming year, though this was only a token force of some 3,000 men.

And while the battle of Thapsus often called a 5th century Carrhae would become only a footnote in the war, it would go to show that sometimes there is no way to change fate.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 14

469

News of the Ostrogoth invasion of the eastern empire had quickly spread and when Majorian receieved news that Anthemius and his men were marching north, and he would only receive half of the Eastern fleet in support, he immediately sent Marcellinus back to Dalmatia with his army to protect the province, and engage the Ostrogoths if at all possible. This left the campaign against the Vandals undermanned, but did not change the emperors plans. Over the winter they had managed to train 2,000 more soldiers to give them 30,000 and split the army into two with Aegidius and Majorian both taking 14,000 and 16,000 men respectively. Aegidius and his 14,000 would take a large portion of the fleet and land on Sardinia, to take the island and city of Carialis. This was an important point in the campaign as Vandal control over the region would allow them to strike at any point in the empire, and would be a thorn in the empires side, as well as becoming a tough nut to crack. Once the island was taken it was to be garrisoned and Aegidius was to send for further orders.

For Aegidius Sardinia would in fact prove to be a tough fight. The island was garrisoned by 6,000 Vandal soldiers which included a large portion of conscripted people from the local population. However days before the romans arrived 2,000 light african horsemen arrived on a small Vandal fleet. These were only a portion of the allies gained by Genseric. The garrison and horsmen only lightly opposed Roman forces at their landing sight. Attacking with Javelins and arrows as the romans disembarked, the militia sent to fight the romans would charge the roman line in the water but after only half an hour and a second wave of romans coming they broke. While some 200 militia died in the engagement a near equal number of romans died from the constant hail of missiles. After this engagement on the north end of the island Aegidius would march 2 days west to the small city of Turris which fell without a fight. However the light cavalry was picking at his army constantly ambushing the column and disappearing moments later after throwing a volley of javelins. After turris fell Aegidius whose army was now at 13,500 garrisoned the city lightly with 800 men before marching south. The entire 12 day march south his army was harrased by the light cavalry and while the attacks were small they were slowly causing losses in the army over the losing nearly 300 men over a few days of marching. Aegidius would finally hit the enemy back however. On the march Aegidius put much of the baggage train amongst the army to keep them safe, one day he loaded these carts with scorpions that were loaded and waiting. He also had his 1500 cavalry split onto both sides of the column but hang further down the line following quietly in the woods that surrounded them. When the enemy light cavalry attacked again they were instead met by a sudden volley of scorpion bolts that shredded their front line, bolts hitting men and horse alike sometimes even taking down several enemies with one bolt, one such sight was that of 2 men being nailed to a tree with one bolt. The scorpions were quickly reloaded and shot once again into the now retreating enemy, bolts hit trees and men, reducing the losses. At the same time Aegidius cavalry was quick to charge and were able to kill a few dozen stragglers the few hundred huns in the roman cavalry fired arrows taking out a few more. In all the enemy lost 300 men and horses, and while not a devestating loss the thought of such a counter attack stopped any more ambushes. Instead they picked on scouts and hunting parties.

Once at the city of Carialis Aegidius put the city to siege on June 5th. It was not quick to fall. Its walls were garrisoned by nearly 10,000 men including the light cavalry who now took up arms as skirmishers holding the walls. Aegidius assualt on the city on the second day collapsed within the hour losing several hundred men from the arrows and javelins of the enemy. After this no major action would happen, the city was barricaded by the Roman fleet, however its large granaries would allow the city to hold for months. 4 weeks into the siege, Aegidius sent a group of 50 men to enter the city quietly during the night which they did. However during their attempt to reach the gates and open it the alarm went up as they were found, only 5 of the men lived being hidden in a ex roman soldiers household. The old soldier in his 60s but still healthy would prove a fateful find as 2 nights later he and a band of people he raised as a militia would open the gates of the city holding them just long enough for the army of Aegidius to join them. The fighting was ferocious however with heavy losses the romans prevailed and the city was theirs. Days later Aegidius sent for orders from the Augustus, and news of how the sicilian campaign was going. However events in Sicily were not going as planned.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 15

469AD


For Majorian the island of sicily was initially quite easy owing to the fact that most of Genserics army was on the western coast of the island as they ferried men across from Africa. Using this to his advantage Majorian quickly advanced down the islands east coast. All the towns and cities along the way capitulated without a fight until Syracuse which Majorian reached on May 25th. It was one of the islands two major cities, and as such was garrisoned by some 5,000 Vandal warriors and the cities militia which numbered some 3,000. Majorian placed the city under siege not wanting to commit the lives of his men to a minor battle in a much larger campaign. With his fleet and army blockading the city Majorian sent scouts west so he would not be suprised by the enemy. 5 days into the siege and a Flaming ballistae shot caught the cities granaries on fire burning a large portion of the cities supplies bringing hope for a quick end to the siege. However before he could capitalize on this Majorian was alerted to some 16,000 Vandal warriors, 1,000 Alani Vandal cavalry, and 3,000 African light cavalry marching east and only days away. Refusing to be trapped between the Walls and the enemy, Majorian retreated from the siege, allowing for the Vandal army to regroup.

In the following Days Majorian marched his men back north, towards the city of Messina where he hoped to be able to use the Narrow valleys and hills alongside the see the narrow the battlefield as to make the odds for his 16,000 better against the 20,000 or more Vandals. This proved to be a good decision by the Emperor as the Vandals picked up the 5,000 Vandal warriors from Syracuse before continuing their pursuit of the Romans.

On June 20th Majorian had found the area he wanted to use for battle roughly 6 miles from Messina. The area had a ridgeline only 500 meters from the Ocean that ran inland which Majorian could not only use to anchor his army on but also place infantry artillery and skirmishers on to use as a highly defensible spot to weaken the enemy, Similarly to the hill that Aetius and Atilla had fought over at the Catalaunian fields. Majorian lacked the cavalry that the Vandals had in this battle, having 14,500 Infantry and 1500 Cavalry Majorian intended to keep this an infantry battle as much as possible. To this end where the Ridgline ended before building up to the bigger mountains that went up the penninsula only a mile or so away from the ocean, Majorian fortified the position with a wall and fort manned by the Cavalry. Keeping only his most elite 500 Alani bucceleri as his gaurds. Majorian made similar preparations on the ridgeline digging a trench and foot traps so as to make the ridge difficult to take. A week later the Vandals arrived they were not lead by Genseric instead by another of his sons named Gento who was only 20 years old. However Gento would prove to be a better general than the younger Anthemioulus, maintaining his sicilian position until his brother arived to take over in the end of summer.

However Gento's first battle would not be as grande as his brothers. Gento upon arriving on the Emperors chosen battlefield immediately spotted the Romans fort at the north end of the battlefield noticing that it could be a weakness to the romans as well as an advantage. This fort would be a focusing point of Gento's strategy. On June 27th, Gento and Majorian arrayed their armies for battle, Majorian had 11,000 of his men on the open ground between the ridge and ocean and 2,000 on the ridge armes with slings and Scorpions, with the remaining 1,000 being at the fortifications to the north being lead by the young Flavius Syragius.

The battle opened with 15,000 of Gentos infantry rushing Majorians 11,000 on the open ground where the battle opened into a stalemate. The another 5,000 infantry tried assaulting the hill but were decimated by the artillery and slings upon approach and climbing of the ridge. Losing nearly 800 men by the time they had stumbled into the roman lines at the top where they were easily repelled. However Gento and his 3,000 Cavalry and 2,000 Infantry marched to the fortifications to the north intending to capture this important position.

Majorian upon recieving news of this by messenger took 500 Comitatenses and his Bucelarii north to help reinforce this critical position giving command over to a Comes by the name of Flavius Macrianus. While Macrianus was able to keep the main army together, Majorian found Syragius in the fight for his life, his position being flooded with Infantry and surrounded by cavalry. The timely intervention of the emperor managed to push the enemy back over the ramparts, it is said that the young Vandal General even breifly faced the Emperor in single combat on the ramparts, however the younger man lost his footing on the blood soaked wood and fell over the battlements into the trench below. The day of battle was viscious however with the Northern fort being held neither side was able to gain a full advantage and by mid afternoon Gento recalled his forces, which were bloody and battered.

The day of battle was a roman victory in the fact that they held their position, however the 2000 roman losses to the 4,000 Vandal losses spoke of a close run battle. Majorian would let half of his men rest while seeing no way to win and only another day of bloody battle sent the rest to digging a trench and building a palisade above the dirt rampart across the entirety of the battlefield. Majorian would not risk all of his campaign with the odds he had of 14,000 against 21,000 unless he had an undeniable advantage, however his young enemy would also follow that same rule. And while both armies held their position a campaign of skirmishes ensued, both armies attempting to gain minor advantages in small scale warfare in which multiple minor battles between a few hundred men unfolded. However Gento proved to be a tactical savy general in his part as by around July 20th, when news of the african disaster arrived, and that the vandals would be receiving some 25,000 more reinforcements, he had managed to secure a position farther north into the valley and with this position was able to strike into Majorians rear. While Majorian tried to personally take the position, Gento was able to divert disaster several times by marching to battle or threatening to attack Majorians main camp. It was at around this time Majorians reply to Aegidius message reached Cerialus and Aegidius embarked with 9,000 of his men to Messina to reinforce the emperor.

It now became a race of reinforcements for both armies, however even if Aegidius arrived first it would be a tough fight of 2 against 1 for the Romans. The Sicilian Campaign looked bleak without Anthemius.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 16

Sicilian campaign
469AD Messina

August 20th

Majorianus smiled at the rising sun from atop the palisade of his seaside fort, and more importantly the new arrivals it brought with it. Before him sailed the fleet of Aegidius carrying 9,000 men, it would bring his total force to nearly 22,000 men after the losses incurred since the first battle of Messina. The final battle of the year was edging closer everyone could feel it. News was that Huneric would arrive with his army any day, and he would in fact arrive the same evening.

This final battle would decide the fate of the war as Majorian would have no other forces other than recruits and militias to throw in front of the Vandals if they attacked italy, every other army was occupied. It was 2 days later after both forces had rested that the battle would happen. Huneric having taken command, against the advice of his brother Gento decided that the quickest solution was to try and take the roman position by force. Huneric arrayed his force in front of the long ridgline and Majorians detailed fortifications that went to the beach and readied his men to charge. To his Credit Huneric did not throw all of his 44,000 men against the roman fortifications which included foot traps, a double trench filled with wooden spikes, rampart and palisade which also had spots for Ballistae and Scorpions with a few onagers behind the wall.

Huneric agreed to let his younger brother take the cavalry which would be useless against the wall, and a thousand infantry north to his northern outpost which skirted past 2 roman forts, however would give him ample opportunity to flank the imperial army. By closely passing the roman forts it would also be known to Majorian and would take men from the main battle and take them nearly 2 miles from the main battlefield.

August 22nd

The battle began visciously and the Vandals who approached the roman defenses took heavy losses as Slings, and plumbata darts, bolts, and stones were launched at them. Hundreds had lost their lives in a matter of a few minutes. The only week spots in the defenses were the small gates which would allow for men to sally from the wall and the breaks in the ditches, these were targeted by makeshift battering rams, however the men carryig the rams were targets the most with men who looked like hedgehogs being pushed to the side by their replacements. Further down the battlefield Gento was soon spotted moving north, nearly 5000 men with him another 1000 would join him from the northn fort. Majorianus was soon alerted to this fact, and as he watched the battlefield he noted he could would not be able to leave the main wall by the sea, it was important that he was there to help with moral. Therefore he sent Aegidius north with all of the roman cavalry including the emperors Bucellari a total of 2500 men, and a further 1000 Comitatenses, these 3500 men would be joined by nearly a 1000 men that held the northern fort.

By the time Aegidius and his men reached the northern fort the Sun was nearing its highest point in the sky, and things did not look good. The northern fort was surrounded by men, and a battle waged upon its walls, Aegidius did not waste any time charging in with the roman cavalry, Gento who had seen the approaching force met them with his own cavalry. Soon the cavalry battle was joined by Aegidius infantry, and from the reserves of the men attacking the fort.

For both sides this minor piece of the battle was important, If Aegidius and his men failed Gento could roll onto the roman flank and win them the battle, and the same could be done with Aegidius.

On the main battleline, the romans were holding if just barely, of the 3 roman gates, 1 had finally been broken through, the Vandal charge through it had been broken by a volley of projectiles from several Ballistae and Scorpions which had been moved into position behind the gate, several wagons had been moved in front of it since then and a few hundred men held the line there. Though the other gates had held for the moment, the fighting had reached the walls, the ditches had been filled with dirt rocks wood, and bodies, men climbed the rampart and palisade and ladders were also used to get men atop the battlements. As the sun passed its highest point in the sky the wall was a flurry of fighting, no line held anylonger just clumps of men fighting eachother. However an important point in the battle was coming. Huneric had decided to join the battle with his elite bodyguard. He intended to break through with his men and kill the roman emperor himself something which gain him much honour, and would make him famous across the vandal kingdom. Seeing the wedge of men approaching the wall Majorian noted that this could only be one man, the man who had killed the eastern Caesar the Vandal prince Huneric. Majorian against the wishes of his bodyguard, and his commanders Syragius, and Macrianus decided to meet the Vandal prince at the wall and hold the line. This clash of Leaders was what would decide the battle.


To the north Gento and Aegidius's weapons clashed together once again as the two men fought their own struggle. However Aegidius was fighting on borrowed time, the young Vandal was a talented fighter and had injured him several times, beyond that his men were losing ground to Gentos more numerous force, the fort having been finally taken had allowed the full Vandal force to bear on his men. Once again the two men swung swords however as Aegidius sword neared the Vandal, another horse struck into the side of his mount knocking him out of position, his sword bouncing of the Vandals shield, however Gento's sword struck true, into the Roman Generals neck, a spray of blood announcing his victory. For brief moments the fighting intensified as the romans tried to get to their fallen commander, however this courage quickly faded against the Vandal numbers and the roman cavalry was forced into a route. At this point Gento decided to regroup his men, before moving south intent on joining the main battle near the ocean. Skirting the rear of the roman forces that were along the steep ridgeline. However as they came over a slight rise overlooking the main battle Gento was shocked upon what he saw in the afternoon sun.

In the center of the roman wall stood a man clearly the Emperor Majorianus, due to the Imperial purple paludamentum that hung from his shoulders. His men cheered him on as he stood on a fallen Vandal head in his hand held facing the Vandal army a ripple went through the Vandal army, and it was clear to Gento what had happened and the fate of his brother, whose head was held in the Victorious emperors hands. With the sight of their Princes fall, the Vandal army broke, having still not broken through the roman defenses.


The II battle Messina was a clear Roman victory. However the losses were horrifying for both sides. The Romans lost nearly 8000 men due to major injuries or death leaving Majorian with 14000 men. As the Vandals retreated Majorian had contemplated sending his men after them however the Vandals could still rally and turn things around if that happened. The Vandals had lost many more due to the strong roman position and defenses, nearly 14,000 men leaving them with 30000, still nearly double the roman forces. Gento was able to get his men away from the battlefield and rejoin the Vandal army, which he once again took command of. Gento would then retreat with his army before splitting it in two sending half to Lilibaeum and the rest taking up residence in Syracuse with him.

Majorian would rest his men at Messina, with the recent battle marking the end of the Campaigning for the year by both armies as neither side looked forward to another climactic battle, especially since the romans could once again take up their strong positions. The losses of Both Huneric and Aegidius were hard losses for both sides. With the young Syragius grieving for his father and vowing vengeance upon the Vandal Prince Gento. However Events were unfolding elsewhere in the empire as trouble brewed in both Gaul, Hispania, Noricum as well as Dalmatia

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 17

Emona, Italy
June 25th

Flavius Marcellinus looked at his assembled Duxes, they had a total of 14,000 men, 2,000 Huns, joined by a further 1000 more cavalry of mixed cultures Roman, Goth, Burundian and more. The final core of the army was the 11,000 Comitatenses Legionaries. These men were known as the best Comitatenses army in the empire, full of veterans, and due to their current comes, the best equipped and trained. Each man capable of being an archer, slinger, or extremely well abled Infantry soldier. These men would have given Majorian an edge in Sicily but where now faced with how to face the Ostrogothic threat.

"From Emona, we will take the Dalmatian Comitatenses, straight to Siscia. The city is in the heart of the Ostrogoths Kingdom. Once we take that city we will have free reign from Sirmium to Savaria. Their are still a large force of Goths to deal with, some will not carelessly give battle as the Goths have a large number of subordinate kingdoms that they can call upon for warriors. Hopefully the Emperor Anthemius will meet us in the Ostrogoth kingdom and we can finish make sure the Ostrogoths never threaten Rome again!" Around Marcellinus headquarters a loud cheer went up by his officers, the hope was that they would be rejoining Majorian in time for his african campaign. None of them knew that the Ostrogoths would be a much harder fight than even the Vandals.

On June 26th the Army of Marcellinus would leave the border town of Emona marching into Ostrogoth territory. They would reach the city of Siscia in 10 days. The city submitted without a fight, the Gothic garrison having not recieved any reinforcments had been run out of the town by the citizens not wishing for thier city to be put under siege and sacked. However on July 8th while Marcellinus was planning the next phase of his campaign his scouts came with news of a gothic force to the east most likely an army coming from Sirmium. The army was roughly the same size as Marcellinus army, estimated to have been 12,000 - 13,000 strong. It was at this point that Marcellinus and his commanders dithered as later on the same day news of a smaller army of 5,000 was reported to the north.

The choices were simple hold Siscia, or march on one of the two armies. They could be sure of Victory if they marched north, however if they experienced losses they could potentially lose the ability to confidently fight the larger force. It was same against the larger force, however if they auctually lost the battle their retreat could be cut off by the army to the north.

With trepidation Marcellinus, marched his army east and met the Visigothic army on the fields along the Sava River about 20 miles from Siscia on July 28th. Indeed his scouts had judged the enemy numbers accurately as they had been joined by some of their Herulian and Gepic subjects, the Goths had some 14,000 men.

When the two equal sized armies met, the two infantry forces skirmished with javelins and arrows, before clashing together similar in numbers they held eachother along the river, while the cavalry clashed on the left flank of the battlefield. The hunnic fedoratii would win the day for the romans. The roman cavalry would drive straight into the enemy cavalry they would hold the enemy cavalry in place as the hunnic cavalry split to either side and showered the gothic cavalry in the flank and rear with arrows, after significantly weakening the enemy the huns charged into the fray routing the goths. The cavalry would then wrap up on the gothic infantry causing a route, the battle only lasted a little over an hour, and was a decisive roman victory. While the romans did lose nearly a thousand men, the goths lost nearly 4,000 men. Their army retreating towards Sirmium. With this victory Marcellinus marched back to Siscia, and sent his scouts to find the northern Gothic force. Which they did the army only being a days ride to the north. Marcellinus along with the entirety of his cavalry and 5,000 Infantry marched north, and assaulted the Gothic camp routing the force, killing 2,000, capturing a further 500 the rest escaping.

August

By August Marcellinus had dominated the two garrison forces left by Theodemir. Marcellinus would leave leave a 2,000 man garrison in Siscia, they were to gather supplies and build up the fortifications of the city, Marcellinus planned to use it as a winter Base and Headquarters for most of his army. With this Marcellinus marched North, he intended to bring the northern part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom under Roman control again and secure his supply lines from northern Raids. The romans split into 2 armies and began a slow progressive advance securing town by town, buying supplies from the locals and working and securing their loyalties. However by the end of August Marcellinus received word from the commander of Siscia Dux Flavius Tullius Maximinus that word had been recieved by the eastern emperor, detailing the campaign and final battle and that the Gothic king was on his way back to his kingdom. This was followed up with a message for Marcellinus to hurry back to Siscia before the Goths arrived.

By September 20th Theodemir and his son Theodoric had arrived at Siscia after being made aware of the situation upon their arrival at Sirmium. With them they had nearly 20,000 men, unfortunately they had arrived after Marcellinus and were greeted by the sight of the entire Roman army manning the walls.

Theodemir looked at his son. "What would you do in my Position?"

Theodoric waited a minute before responding. "I would surround the city and put it undersiege. However i doubt we would take the city in the month or two we have before winter and we will be due to need every man we can next year when the Romans attack from south and west. So surround the city and cut of their supply route, allow nothing in or out. By end of winter they will be starving if they havent died because of it by then, and we can take the city with an assualt."

"Astute observation, however what are we to do with the men, they wont like being kept from their families over the winter after a full year of campaign. They may even revolt because of it." Theodemir waited for his son to respond however Theodoric didnt have an immediate awnser. "You are right. We cant just let the romans stay here giving them easy access to our flank and staying in the center of our kingdom. We will put the city under seige until winter comes. However during the winter we will keep a small force of our elite warriors and guard. Perhaps 3,000 or so. On rotation with another group of similar size. We set up a camp. And we will put the city under a proxy siege. We will allow no food to enter the city any patrols and supply wagons will be ambushed. As you said we will starve them throughout winter and walk into the city come spring.

 

[StevenIronside]

Chapter 18

Gaul 469

As difficult as the entire year had been for the entire Roman empire, the situation in Gaul, was perhaps the most dire. Magister Equitum per Gallias Julius Nepos had the majority of his army, some 18,000 men encamped in southern Gaul to allow a quick response to any Visigothic incursions. The remaining 4,000 were based at the city of Parisiorum, which was in a Central position in Northern Gaul.

It was June when the Goths finally decided to move into Roman Gaul. 24,000 Visigoths lead by Euric moved towards Narbo from the Capital of Tolosa which bypassed the Romans to the North. Narbo was plundered quickly by the goths, Euric from here had to paths go south or North, opting for the latter option as to not draw the Hispanian Comitatenses into the war. Moving towards Arelate Eurics army had a few days march ahead of Nepos, however upon arriving at the walled city Euric quickly thought of bypassing the city and marching into Roman Italia, before deciding to send his army against the walls. The small militia garrison of the city was overwhelmed within a few hours and while the Cities elite and their bodyguards held the inner city the Visigoths sacked the rest of the city.

The following day which was June 23rd, it is said Euric looked West before looking East, then North while he was atop the cities battlements. His supply wagons were full of supplies and tons of loot which he valued into the hundreds of thousands of roman Folli if not low millions. Beside the food and stolen wealth were prisoners, many women children and men. In total some 4,000 people were in chains, for the most part these were women that his men had taken a liking to while the pillaged the city. With this in his mind the king decided against moving east or north, instead deciding the deal with the threat of the romans before it became a bigger worry. With this Euric lead his army prisoners and wagons west directly to Nepos.

The Battle of Arelate was not the battle the Romans had hoped for when they met Euric on the field. The 18,000 Romans initially held steadfast against the larger gothic army, however the left flank of the romans which contained a large contigent of Burgundian Fedoratii faltered and quickly lost ground. While this was happening the right flank which was supported by the Elite Alani and Roman cavalry had begun to gain ground on the goths. However Nepos aware of his lesser numbers seeing his flank collapse called an orderly retreat. After the goths pursued for a few hundred yards Euric called a regroup to not stretch his army thin. That night the goths celebrated often with their Prisoners taking the brunt of the warriors enthusiasm. In the late hours of the night only a few hours from the sunrise as the tired army of Euric finally slept, a group of men leaped onto the stealthily taking out the camps guards in the area. Quickly these few dozen men were joines by Hundreds, the army of Julius Nepos roared over the camps walls in the dead of night, lead by the General himself. The battle for the camp waged well into the morning before the romans were able to extricate themselves from the camp with many of the prisoners and several wagons full of food and gold in tow. The night battle for the camp unlike the battle of arelate was a major victory for the romans, and while it wasnt the decisive victory Nepos sought for it did even the numbers of the two armies to 15,000, and 18,000.

Euric aware of the now difficult position he found himself gave a disciplinary speech to his men before trying to march back to his home territory. A cat and mouse game between the romans and Goths beginning.

However going into July, troubling news reached Nepos as the Alemanni who had only been chastised by Majorian in 456 marched 2 armies into Northern Gaul Marching towards Parisiorum and Aurelianum. This news which also quickly reached Euric gave the Gothic king a distinct advantage as now Nepos was put into the position of having to split his army, or risk half of Gaul. With many of the Alani warriors already employed as fedoratii in the Roman army, maybe leaving a few thousand men at homes to till the fields, and the same being with the Burgundians who also had to protect themselves, Nepos had only one other option in Gaul to turn to. That was the Franks. While Euric had dragged out his campaign to the point that Nepos was hopelessly pulled into besieging the Goths in Tolosa in mid July, the Franks under Childeric marched into Roman Gaul to campaign against the Alemanni. This quickly went well for the franks as the 18,000 Franks were able to defeate the Alemanni king and his main host of 18,000 at Parisiorum on July 20th. Which was quickly followed up with another victory against the second smaller Alemanni force 10 days later North of Aurelianum. As the Alemanni retreated back towards own territory Childeric followed them, surrounding them along a branch of the Seine River, Childeric made a peace treaty with the totally defeated and demoralized Alemanni king. The Alemanni would give over all their territories west of the Rhine to the Franks, and would become a Client King to the Franks, which effectively made the majority of the territort between the Rhine and the Weser river Frankish controlled. In a turn of events Childeric gathered more of his men and the Alemanni and marched back into Roman Gaul. Now taking it for the Franks. Childeric by the end of July sat in Parisiorum where the previous roman garrison had been defeated by the Alemanni, and declared all the territory between the Seine and Rhine where now Frankish lands.

Julius Nepos who was still besieging Tolosa had been joined by 8000 of the Hispanian Comitatenses, as the Comes Hispania had defeated a minor Seuvi raid earlier in the year and now decided the region was safe making his force now 22,000 strong. At the News of the reversal in the North, Nepos became extremely pressed by his men and commanders to end the siege of Tolosa, as the Franks were seen as the major threat in the north. Euric at this point after repelling a probing attack on the walls of his city, finally opened up talks with the romans, and a tenuous peace was made where the goths were made to give a annual tribute payment and become fedoratii status again. With this "peace" Nepos rushed north to defend Aurelianum from the Franks arriving in time to break the Frankish siege of the city on August 14th. While Childeric pulled back from the city his army numbered some 26,000 to the roman 22,000 and he was confident in battle, it was for this reason on August 16th Childeric presented his army for open battle against the romans. However to his disappointment the romans never left their camp, only a day later the reason becoming clear as 2,000 Alani reinforcements arrived in the roman camp Nepos having called them up to even the odds. With the numbers of the two armies now even Childeric retreated back to Parisiorum confident in its defences and stocked supplies. Nepos moved towards the city briefly, his intent unkown against the cities strong position, however news came from the south as once again Euric broke his only recent treaty and invaded roman territory again, knowing that Nepos was caught between two superior enemies. Nepos aware of the trap he was in, left 12,000 of his men in Aurelianum taking the remaining 12,000 south. This force contained some 4,000 cavalry mainly Alani Fedoratii, and was not ment for a major battle. However Nepos planned for two phases of campaign. He was instead going to do a fast and hard raid into Visigoth territory and force Euric to come back and defend his people. The second phase came in early September when Euric had learned of the roman raid into his territory, and was returning to his land, Nepos pounced on the laden down column of Euric and ambushed the goths. With his numerous cavalry and strong Comitatenses the ambush quickly went in the way of the romans, with Euric leaving some 5,000 of his 18,000 men on the field dead. Any loot and prisoners the Goths had taken was once again retrieved by the romans during the battle meaning Eurics efforts came up bare. However with both forces now even in number and news of the Franks once again marching towards Aurelianum Nepos and his Infantry marched north reaching the city just before the franks on September 20th, leaving the cavalry to hold the visigoths in place using hit and run tactics if they ever moved.

With a now large roman force once again in Aurelianum Childeric once again chided away from besieging the city, instead pillaging some nearby territory before marching back to Parisiorum. This was therefore the situation that Gaul was left in at the end of 469, will the Goths Franks and Romans locked into a stalemate.

After the death of Aegidius, Majorian had named Flavius Marcellinus the comes of Dalmatia as Magister Militum, however Majorian also gave Nepos due to the Gallic situation sweeping powers to allow him to conscript men for the following years war effort. The Roman empire was in dire straights, and come the following year some major battles would be fought.

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With this chapter comes the end of the year 469AD which narratively has been the longest year so far, it is therefore that i wonder if you guys are alright with the speed that the chapters have moved at with most chapters taking up a years worth of the war on one of the many fronts of battle. I may yet due a winter chapter to show how the preparation and strategy of the following yesr will go. And a map at the same time especially for Gaul as it is really the only major campaign area that had significant changes in territory is probably due. Any questions suggestions would always be appreciated, thank you everyone for the support of this timeline as it has gone along so far!