A Difference Of Fate: A Late Roman Timeline
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Chapter 13: A Fate Not so Different
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.
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.
Chapter 14: The Island Campaign Part 1, 469AD
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.
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.
Chapter 15:The Island Campaign Part 2, 469AD
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.
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.
Chapter 16: II Battle of Messina, 469AD
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
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
Chapter 13: Marcellinus Pannonian Campaign 469
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.
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.
Sorry for the month long delay before this chapter, i had not intention of making the wait for it this long.
Chapter 18: Gallic Campaign end of the year 469
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!
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.
●●●●
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!
Chapter 19: Winter of 469, Preparation For The Coming Year
Chapter 19
Winter of 469-470AD
With the fighting halted for the winter Majorian traveled back to Rome with what was left of his Bucelarii. Syragius was left in command of the forces in Sicily. Once in Rome Majorian took stock of the empires situation, and sent word to Anthemius in the east. However to the suprise of Majorian word soon after reached him that his Co-Augustus was landing in Brundisium, with both men meeting in Neapolis.
The meeting in Neapolis was not the one of fanfare and pompousness that their earlier meetings had been. Anthemius however brought good news with him. 15,000 of his men were landing in Brundisium to join the Western Emperor in Sicily the following year. These men were about 2/3 new recruits and 1/3 veterans, and were commanded by a newly promoted Lucius Aurelius Ulpianus Traianus who had been recalled from Africa. Anthemius meanwhile would continue his campaign against the Ostrogoths along side Marcellinus with some 25,000 men, made up with veterans from his previous campaign against the goths as well as men from the now depleted Syrian armies, and another vast assortment of recruits and Fedorati from the east. With these men the Goths would be pinned in a pincer attack, from the eastern Emperor and the Magister Militum of the West.
While much of the two mens time in Neapolis was spent planning the next years campaigns and the use of the empires troops, another subject was also brought up. This was that Majorianus daughter Julia Placidia was now without a betrothed, it was therefore decided that she would simply marry Flavius Marcianus instead of his now deceased elder brother.
Once his eastern colleague had left Italia in the middle of January, Majorian decided to make a trip to Gaul were he met with Nepos at Massilia. Arriving in the middle of February. Here Majorian checked on the progress that Nepos had made with the training of his new troops, it was however not promising with only 4,000 men in training. Nepos would have roughly 26,000 men, including the men he would once again call up from the Alani and Burgundians in the coming year, as well as the Hispanian Comitatenses which was now spread super thin in that respective province. With Nepos trapped between the 25,000 men of Childeric which could grow to even more in the coming year and a similar situation against Euric, Nepos needed close to 30,000 men to be confident in fighting the two enemies. With both Franks and Goths playing a game of cat and mouse with the roman forces the coming year could see Nepos lose more territory in Gaul.
In the end Majorian and Nepos came up with a plan to use the only other son of Theodoric, Retimer to their advantage. In the spring Nepos would split his force leaving 13,000 in Aurelianum to hold against the Franks, and with the remaining 13,000 try to put Retimer on the Visigothic throne in the early weeks of spring with hopes of men joining the Kings last son against his brother and a decisive victory so that Nepos could turn all of his men against Childeric. While risky it was the only plan they coule realistically come to call upon. The only other plan they had considered was calling upon the Romano-British to sail from Britian and harass the Frankish home territories, however a certain Roman-British leader named Ambrosius Aurelianus declared that they could not as the British were busy trying to battle Saxon and Angle raids, leaving only the risky plan available for use.
Leaving Gaul in early March Majorian travelled to Rome once again to visit his wife and children, and to put into place a few minor laws, including one that was specific for the current troubling times of the empire. It allowed the Praetorian Prefect of Italia, who was at this time Decius Basillius and the Praetorian Prefect of Hispania Quintus Aurelius Symmachus to use emergency powers to raise the city garrisons of the prefecture to defend against incoming threats. This also added in a law that the cities of the empire must have a minimum of a 1,000 man garrison equipped and armed in the case of emergency. While these men would essentially be well equipped Militia, this law would be used in the coming year to great effect.
At the same time Majorian also checked the finances of the empire at this time and was unsuprised to see that the current war was hard on the empire with Gaul only bringing in half of its normal tax revenues. However even with this loss of revenue and payouts going to the families of the fallen soldiers the finances of the empire were holding above even. The previous years surpluses giving the empire some further breathing room.
Come April Majorian once again traveled to Sicily where his army now numbered some 29,000 men, and prepared to finish the war in sicily. While he did this the words of his eastern colleague echoed in his head, "Thank you for killing the bastard who killed my son, however when you are staring at the walls of Carthage, wait for me, i want to gut Genseric myself!"
Winter of 469-470AD
With the fighting halted for the winter Majorian traveled back to Rome with what was left of his Bucelarii. Syragius was left in command of the forces in Sicily. Once in Rome Majorian took stock of the empires situation, and sent word to Anthemius in the east. However to the suprise of Majorian word soon after reached him that his Co-Augustus was landing in Brundisium, with both men meeting in Neapolis.
The meeting in Neapolis was not the one of fanfare and pompousness that their earlier meetings had been. Anthemius however brought good news with him. 15,000 of his men were landing in Brundisium to join the Western Emperor in Sicily the following year. These men were about 2/3 new recruits and 1/3 veterans, and were commanded by a newly promoted Lucius Aurelius Ulpianus Traianus who had been recalled from Africa. Anthemius meanwhile would continue his campaign against the Ostrogoths along side Marcellinus with some 25,000 men, made up with veterans from his previous campaign against the goths as well as men from the now depleted Syrian armies, and another vast assortment of recruits and Fedorati from the east. With these men the Goths would be pinned in a pincer attack, from the eastern Emperor and the Magister Militum of the West.
While much of the two mens time in Neapolis was spent planning the next years campaigns and the use of the empires troops, another subject was also brought up. This was that Majorianus daughter Julia Placidia was now without a betrothed, it was therefore decided that she would simply marry Flavius Marcianus instead of his now deceased elder brother.
Once his eastern colleague had left Italia in the middle of January, Majorian decided to make a trip to Gaul were he met with Nepos at Massilia. Arriving in the middle of February. Here Majorian checked on the progress that Nepos had made with the training of his new troops, it was however not promising with only 4,000 men in training. Nepos would have roughly 26,000 men, including the men he would once again call up from the Alani and Burgundians in the coming year, as well as the Hispanian Comitatenses which was now spread super thin in that respective province. With Nepos trapped between the 25,000 men of Childeric which could grow to even more in the coming year and a similar situation against Euric, Nepos needed close to 30,000 men to be confident in fighting the two enemies. With both Franks and Goths playing a game of cat and mouse with the roman forces the coming year could see Nepos lose more territory in Gaul.
In the end Majorian and Nepos came up with a plan to use the only other son of Theodoric, Retimer to their advantage. In the spring Nepos would split his force leaving 13,000 in Aurelianum to hold against the Franks, and with the remaining 13,000 try to put Retimer on the Visigothic throne in the early weeks of spring with hopes of men joining the Kings last son against his brother and a decisive victory so that Nepos could turn all of his men against Childeric. While risky it was the only plan they coule realistically come to call upon. The only other plan they had considered was calling upon the Romano-British to sail from Britian and harass the Frankish home territories, however a certain Roman-British leader named Ambrosius Aurelianus declared that they could not as the British were busy trying to battle Saxon and Angle raids, leaving only the risky plan available for use.
Leaving Gaul in early March Majorian travelled to Rome once again to visit his wife and children, and to put into place a few minor laws, including one that was specific for the current troubling times of the empire. It allowed the Praetorian Prefect of Italia, who was at this time Decius Basillius and the Praetorian Prefect of Hispania Quintus Aurelius Symmachus to use emergency powers to raise the city garrisons of the prefecture to defend against incoming threats. This also added in a law that the cities of the empire must have a minimum of a 1,000 man garrison equipped and armed in the case of emergency. While these men would essentially be well equipped Militia, this law would be used in the coming year to great effect.
At the same time Majorian also checked the finances of the empire at this time and was unsuprised to see that the current war was hard on the empire with Gaul only bringing in half of its normal tax revenues. However even with this loss of revenue and payouts going to the families of the fallen soldiers the finances of the empire were holding above even. The previous years surpluses giving the empire some further breathing room.
Come April Majorian once again traveled to Sicily where his army now numbered some 29,000 men, and prepared to finish the war in sicily. While he did this the words of his eastern colleague echoed in his head, "Thank you for killing the bastard who killed my son, however when you are staring at the walls of Carthage, wait for me, i want to gut Genseric myself!"
Chapter 20; 470AD Sicilian Finale
Chapter 20
Sicilian Campaign of 470AD
Majorian and his 29,000 advanced quickly in the first week of May. Majorians first target was Syracuse, however Gento moved with his men regrouping his army of 30,000 and tried to stop majorian from leaving the mountainous valleys of the eastern coast of the island. However Gento failed this and the two armies would meet in the open fields north of Syracuse. The first battle began with a over eager Garmantian scouting party attacked a Roman counterpart in the afternoon sun. Before long a full scale skirmish between the roman and Vandal Cavalry was taking place. As nearly 2 thousand horsemen thrashed and circled eachother, the Vanguards of both armies arrived on the field, this was followed by both generals putting their entire cavalry regiments into the skirmish and soon after the arriving infantry joining the battle. This battle went on for nearly 2 hours until the sun setting both forces withdrew with heavy losses both forces losing nearly 1000 men. While both forces made camp, the Vandals were only pretending as Gento had no intention of staying to fight the romans in a open battle. In the middle of the night the Vandal army left its half made camp in the night and marched west trying to draw the Romans into the interior of the island.
A week passed before the romans caught back up to Gentos army, doing so in the evening after a hard days march which had been interrupted with small scale ambushes by Vandal skirmishers and cavalry. These probing attacks were only ment to sting and antagonize the Romans. The following day May 19th Gento and his army marched again, this time oriented in a wide column which would allow them to quickly change into battle formation. Using his cavalry to constantly harrass the scouts and Vanguard and Roman cavalry he was slowly pulling the romans into a battle. Around noon, Majorian had Syragrius take the entire Roman cavalry forward and meet the Vandal Cavalry. A major clash between a total of nearly 7,000 cavalry ensued however the Vandal cavalry made up of many of its allied nations lighter cavalry was formed in a bent line bringing its center closer to the Vandal lines. It was a trap.
The cavalry battle lasted some 20 minutes in which chaos ensued however the center of the Vandal cavalry was slowly pulling back as was the entire Vandal force. At the onset of the battle Gento had his infantry who had been marching away from the battle turn about and start marching back into the battle. The roman commanders unable to see past the cavalry battle to their front missed this, until only minutes before it was to late. The Vandal cavalry starting at the center peeled away to both flanks the romans burst forward to follow them only to be caught in a withering hail of arrows and javelins, the Vandal infantry only 20 paces before them, the roman horns calling a retreat only heard in passing where now fully heard and the Roman cavalry panicked. As they turned about the Vandals charged and while the majority of the Roman Cavalry escaped this charge some of the men closest to the enemy were caught and slaughtered. The cavalry which did escape the trap peeled away to either flank of the roman infantry, which was now charging forward to meet it Vandal counterpart. The infantry battle was hard fought and for several hours a slaughter ensued neither side able to gain an upperhand. As the afternoon came to an end both forces exhausted from the march and following battle pulled back.
The Vandal Prince and Roman Emperor met in the middle of the battlefield, as equals both men having the respect of the other as a general, which was a major sign of respect for the young Vandal prince. Terms were issued by both sides, of course these terms were harsh from both sides. Gento is said to have told the emperor that the Romans had to renounce claims to all of the islands in the western Mediterranean, as well as give major tribute as well as the fedorati status of all its fedoratti, outrageous demands that the emperor refused. Majorian is also said to have given terms that would never have been accepted, the Vandals would have to give up all their captured lands and move into the region of Mauretania. As well they would have to become Fedoratti and pay a sizable tribute. Both outrageous demands showed that both sides were still reasonably confident in victory. After the battle which had cost the Romans some 4,000 men a qaurter of which were cavalry and the Vandals 3500 hundred men a third of which were cavalry, the two armies made camp a mile apart showing the next day would be another battle.
However that night after both armies desd had been collected and buried Syragius and 5,000 men left the roman camp during the dark with the rest of the army awake and alert ready for battle. As midnight passed the roman attack began lead by the young Syragius. The alarm went up as the romans swept over the battlements not concerned about secrecy any longer. A viscous battle took the camp which lasted for nearly an hour before the romans fell back to their own camp, they left a few hundred of their own dead, however the Vandal camp was in chaos thousands dead and the camp in flames.
That night the momentum of the war changed as the romans now stood at 23000 men, the vandals had 21,000, the romans now had the numbers if only by a small margin. The following day the romans presented themselves for battle around noon while neither army was well rested the romans had managed a few hours sleep while the Vandals spent much of the night trying to put out the flames in the camp. The Vandals refused battle, Gento had his men yell insults from atop the earthen ramparts around the camp, to goad the romans into attacking defended fortifications. However neither force moved. Gento seeing any further battle as sided towards the Romans left the battlefield the following day and switched tactics.
He split his army seeing open battle and holding the majority of the island untenable, he with 9,000 men would retreat to Lilibaeum, where he would hold the city and project his control in the area surrounding the northwestern tip of the island. 8,000 under his second in command Wisimar would retreat to Agrigentum as Gento realized that Syracuse was likely to be cut off by the roman navy and quickly taken as well as to far away from his base Lilibaeum. The remaining 4,000 men which was a force made up of 1/2 cavalry was to range across Sicily and harass the romans. Attack them with ambushes hit their supply trains and kill their scouting parties.
With the Vandals taking up two strong defensive positions and leaving much of the island open to take, Majorian first marched on the open Syracuse, with his fleet outside its port and his armt outside its walls the city opened its doors to the emperor. With the Islands eastern coast secured Majorian moved to take control over central Sicily and to take the Agrigentum. He split his army into two forces both 11,000 strong. The Emperor took personal command at Agrigentum while giving Flavius Macrianus command of the army in the center of the island.
By July 15th there had been no change at Agrigentum even though the city was surrounded, several assaults had failed to take the city, and so Majorian set about starving the city. Meanwhile Macrianus had comfirmed the loyalty of many of the towns and cities in the center of the island though he had lost around 1000 men to ambushes night raids and killed scouts by the small Vandal army. Gento having kept in contact with his commander saw an opportunity with the roman losses to possibly overwhelm one of the roman armies, he moved from his city to connect with his smaller army. Only for a few days later to recieve its survivors around 1,000 men. Macrianus had finally caught the smaller army in a trick and slaughtered 3/4 of it. At this point Gento could try to overwhelm the emperor at Agrigentum before Macrianus supported him or retreat back to his city. Gento decided on the latter seeing the former as to risky. As it was Gento was seeing his position on the island as untenable even if he defended his well fortified city, he may cost the romans thousands of lives, but he would be caught unable to escape the island. As Gento was deciding what to do, a ship arrived from Genseric in carthage demanding Gento get whatever men he could off the island and to sail back to Carthage to prepare to defend their territory there.
On August 8th Agrigentum finally fell, as the entire roman army arrived at the city, the starving citizens rebelled against the vandals and threw open the gates, while the Vandals were sslaughtered Majorian kept a tight reign on his men and stopped any sacking of the city. 2 weeks later Majorian marched into Lilibaeums open gates. After nearly 2 years of Campaigning Sicily was finally under Roman control for the first time in nearly 30 years. Majorian stopped short of launching an invasion of Africa with his 20,000 men. Instead he sent word to spread across the empire as well as to Anthemius, however while Majorian had been successful in Sicily word reached him from Northern Italy that forced the emperor to once again leave the island.
Sicilian Campaign of 470AD
Majorian and his 29,000 advanced quickly in the first week of May. Majorians first target was Syracuse, however Gento moved with his men regrouping his army of 30,000 and tried to stop majorian from leaving the mountainous valleys of the eastern coast of the island. However Gento failed this and the two armies would meet in the open fields north of Syracuse. The first battle began with a over eager Garmantian scouting party attacked a Roman counterpart in the afternoon sun. Before long a full scale skirmish between the roman and Vandal Cavalry was taking place. As nearly 2 thousand horsemen thrashed and circled eachother, the Vanguards of both armies arrived on the field, this was followed by both generals putting their entire cavalry regiments into the skirmish and soon after the arriving infantry joining the battle. This battle went on for nearly 2 hours until the sun setting both forces withdrew with heavy losses both forces losing nearly 1000 men. While both forces made camp, the Vandals were only pretending as Gento had no intention of staying to fight the romans in a open battle. In the middle of the night the Vandal army left its half made camp in the night and marched west trying to draw the Romans into the interior of the island.
A week passed before the romans caught back up to Gentos army, doing so in the evening after a hard days march which had been interrupted with small scale ambushes by Vandal skirmishers and cavalry. These probing attacks were only ment to sting and antagonize the Romans. The following day May 19th Gento and his army marched again, this time oriented in a wide column which would allow them to quickly change into battle formation. Using his cavalry to constantly harrass the scouts and Vanguard and Roman cavalry he was slowly pulling the romans into a battle. Around noon, Majorian had Syragrius take the entire Roman cavalry forward and meet the Vandal Cavalry. A major clash between a total of nearly 7,000 cavalry ensued however the Vandal cavalry made up of many of its allied nations lighter cavalry was formed in a bent line bringing its center closer to the Vandal lines. It was a trap.
The cavalry battle lasted some 20 minutes in which chaos ensued however the center of the Vandal cavalry was slowly pulling back as was the entire Vandal force. At the onset of the battle Gento had his infantry who had been marching away from the battle turn about and start marching back into the battle. The roman commanders unable to see past the cavalry battle to their front missed this, until only minutes before it was to late. The Vandal cavalry starting at the center peeled away to both flanks the romans burst forward to follow them only to be caught in a withering hail of arrows and javelins, the Vandal infantry only 20 paces before them, the roman horns calling a retreat only heard in passing where now fully heard and the Roman cavalry panicked. As they turned about the Vandals charged and while the majority of the Roman Cavalry escaped this charge some of the men closest to the enemy were caught and slaughtered. The cavalry which did escape the trap peeled away to either flank of the roman infantry, which was now charging forward to meet it Vandal counterpart. The infantry battle was hard fought and for several hours a slaughter ensued neither side able to gain an upperhand. As the afternoon came to an end both forces exhausted from the march and following battle pulled back.
The Vandal Prince and Roman Emperor met in the middle of the battlefield, as equals both men having the respect of the other as a general, which was a major sign of respect for the young Vandal prince. Terms were issued by both sides, of course these terms were harsh from both sides. Gento is said to have told the emperor that the Romans had to renounce claims to all of the islands in the western Mediterranean, as well as give major tribute as well as the fedorati status of all its fedoratti, outrageous demands that the emperor refused. Majorian is also said to have given terms that would never have been accepted, the Vandals would have to give up all their captured lands and move into the region of Mauretania. As well they would have to become Fedoratti and pay a sizable tribute. Both outrageous demands showed that both sides were still reasonably confident in victory. After the battle which had cost the Romans some 4,000 men a qaurter of which were cavalry and the Vandals 3500 hundred men a third of which were cavalry, the two armies made camp a mile apart showing the next day would be another battle.
However that night after both armies desd had been collected and buried Syragius and 5,000 men left the roman camp during the dark with the rest of the army awake and alert ready for battle. As midnight passed the roman attack began lead by the young Syragius. The alarm went up as the romans swept over the battlements not concerned about secrecy any longer. A viscous battle took the camp which lasted for nearly an hour before the romans fell back to their own camp, they left a few hundred of their own dead, however the Vandal camp was in chaos thousands dead and the camp in flames.
That night the momentum of the war changed as the romans now stood at 23000 men, the vandals had 21,000, the romans now had the numbers if only by a small margin. The following day the romans presented themselves for battle around noon while neither army was well rested the romans had managed a few hours sleep while the Vandals spent much of the night trying to put out the flames in the camp. The Vandals refused battle, Gento had his men yell insults from atop the earthen ramparts around the camp, to goad the romans into attacking defended fortifications. However neither force moved. Gento seeing any further battle as sided towards the Romans left the battlefield the following day and switched tactics.
He split his army seeing open battle and holding the majority of the island untenable, he with 9,000 men would retreat to Lilibaeum, where he would hold the city and project his control in the area surrounding the northwestern tip of the island. 8,000 under his second in command Wisimar would retreat to Agrigentum as Gento realized that Syracuse was likely to be cut off by the roman navy and quickly taken as well as to far away from his base Lilibaeum. The remaining 4,000 men which was a force made up of 1/2 cavalry was to range across Sicily and harass the romans. Attack them with ambushes hit their supply trains and kill their scouting parties.
With the Vandals taking up two strong defensive positions and leaving much of the island open to take, Majorian first marched on the open Syracuse, with his fleet outside its port and his armt outside its walls the city opened its doors to the emperor. With the Islands eastern coast secured Majorian moved to take control over central Sicily and to take the Agrigentum. He split his army into two forces both 11,000 strong. The Emperor took personal command at Agrigentum while giving Flavius Macrianus command of the army in the center of the island.
By July 15th there had been no change at Agrigentum even though the city was surrounded, several assaults had failed to take the city, and so Majorian set about starving the city. Meanwhile Macrianus had comfirmed the loyalty of many of the towns and cities in the center of the island though he had lost around 1000 men to ambushes night raids and killed scouts by the small Vandal army. Gento having kept in contact with his commander saw an opportunity with the roman losses to possibly overwhelm one of the roman armies, he moved from his city to connect with his smaller army. Only for a few days later to recieve its survivors around 1,000 men. Macrianus had finally caught the smaller army in a trick and slaughtered 3/4 of it. At this point Gento could try to overwhelm the emperor at Agrigentum before Macrianus supported him or retreat back to his city. Gento decided on the latter seeing the former as to risky. As it was Gento was seeing his position on the island as untenable even if he defended his well fortified city, he may cost the romans thousands of lives, but he would be caught unable to escape the island. As Gento was deciding what to do, a ship arrived from Genseric in carthage demanding Gento get whatever men he could off the island and to sail back to Carthage to prepare to defend their territory there.
On August 8th Agrigentum finally fell, as the entire roman army arrived at the city, the starving citizens rebelled against the vandals and threw open the gates, while the Vandals were sslaughtered Majorian kept a tight reign on his men and stopped any sacking of the city. 2 weeks later Majorian marched into Lilibaeums open gates. After nearly 2 years of Campaigning Sicily was finally under Roman control for the first time in nearly 30 years. Majorian stopped short of launching an invasion of Africa with his 20,000 men. Instead he sent word to spread across the empire as well as to Anthemius, however while Majorian had been successful in Sicily word reached him from Northern Italy that forced the emperor to once again leave the island.
Man, it really seems at this point in history that the WRE really cannot catch a break.
Yep, unfortunately for the Western Romans for every major Victory their seems to be an equally major setback, though i would say in all compared to how Stilicho was forced to handle things in the early 400s things are being handled reasonably well.
I mean, the whole tone of this era was the roman empire receiving unending tides of attacls and invasions for more than 100 years. Without any semblance of stop, reprieve or breathing room. Killing one tribe for just another one to take its place, time and yime and time again, it happened in Italy, it happened in Gaul, it happened in Britain, it happened in Spain.
If a timeline ever had 450s rome stabilize in less than half a century then id call BS.
If a timeline ever had 450s rome stabilize in less than half a century then id call BS.
Yep this era of roman history is definitely dire, in this war we will see at least one of the tribes maybe 2 either conquered or turned to the roman side/exhausted by war, this wont be the last fight for the tribes and it will be for the sons of Majorian to deal with. This will be Majorians last hurrah for Leading the armies personally though. And i will say his Successor will not be the inspiring war hero that he is, we will see major differences between the sons of Majorian.
Chapter 21: 470AD Battle for Noricum, use of a new law
Chapter 21
470AD
Province of Noricum
Iuvavum
June 2nd
Flavius Aurelius Silvanus, Comes Noricum strode through his headquarters flanked by his bodygaurds in the city of Iuvavum, which had acted as his provinces capital since it had been taken from the Rugians 6 years earlier. He walked into his war room his two guards breaking to either side. Inside were his 2 Duxs, Flavius Tullius Tyranus, and Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo, a man whose ancestory went back to the republican era and who was distantly related to an Emperor.
Together they had nearly 9,000 men each, each man had 2600 infantrybunder their commands and an additional 400 cavalry. However about a quarter of these men were fresh recruits from within a year and a half, another third had never seen battle before. The rest were either barbarian recruits or veteran soldiers.
"Tullius I need you to get back to your men as quickly as possible. That messenger that just arrived, he comes with news from our scouts, the Rugians as I have feared are on the march. They very well could arrive here before you get back with your men. The Rugians are in 3 columns roughly around 8,000 strong a total that is nearly two and half times more than our force." Both of his Duxs were shocked by the news.
Carbo was the first to speak, "There is no way we can fight that. Not in the open anyways. There will be no reinforcements how can hold against such a force, to try and hold up in this city is suicide."
After an hour of deliberation a plan was finally agreed on. Carbo and Silvanus would take the closest column to battle, before retreating back to Iuvavum, Tullius would get his men from their northern base at Lauriacum and march back to Iuvavum keeping distance from the rugians from there they would try to take the battle to each independent Rugian Column. A good plan but with to many moving parts.
On June 7th the men of Carbo and Silvanus combined units met the closest Rugian column on the road west of Iuvavum. 4,000 of the romans held formation between two forested hills on the road, the Rugians formed up and charged the smaller roman force which in turn devastated the Rugians with two volleys of Plumbatas. When the lines clashed the romans held which was the key to the Rugians defeat, as 15 minutes later as the struggle continued Carbo lead 1,000 infantry from the forest on the left of the battle and charged into the Rugians throwing Plumbata before hand. Moments later Roman cavalry exited the forest to the right forming up and charged into the rugian mass. The result was a decisive defeat, the romans only lost 500 men the Rugians lost nearly 5,000 a third of that to the battle the rest in the following pursuit. The Romans retreated to Iuvavum in high spirits where news awaited them that Tullius was days away with his men though followed closely by the third Rugian force. Within a day the second rugian force was spotted only a day away to the Northwest, and Carbo and Silvanus departed the city to once again battle the Rugians.
This time however the Romans were not so lucky. The chosen location for battle was was not as good as the previous in allowing the romans to use the space to even the numbers. Forcing them to put all of thier men in the line between a forest and a hill. Over which the cavalry were hidden. The battle began much like the previous, however when the cavalry lead by Silvanus came over the hill and crashed into the Rugian flank the Rugians did not falter. Because on the other side of the battle the Rugian survivors from the first battle charged from the forest into the Roman flank.
Silvanus and Carbo both ordered a fall back, which quickly started to turn into a route, however Carbo organized some the front line and joined them in holding the line. The sacrifice of the Dux Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo allowed the rest of the army to safely retreat from the battle though closely followed by the Rugians. The romans lost some 1500 men in this battle Silvanus retreating with only 4,000 men.
Upon reaching Iuvavum and not seeing Tullius Silvanus sent him a message to march east towards the old capital of the province Virunum. Silvanus would then order the temporary abandonment of the province of Noricum. Taking his men with him and marched towards Virunum as some 10,000 Rugians appeared on the horizon.
Upon reaching Virunum on July 10th Silvanus had his second in command a man named Flavius Ursus fortify the city with the men. He then took a guard of 10 cavalry and moved into Italy and contacted the Praetorian Prefect Decius Basillius who was in Ravenna at the time to enact the new law Majorian had made the winter before allowing Prefects to call up militia. By August 1st Decius Basillius and Silvanus had gathered the majority of the Militias of all the cities along the Po Valley in Northern Italy, a force that numbered some 12,000 with this force they Marched east from the still inhabited ruins of Aquileia towards Virunum which had been under siege for around a month. They arrived on August 15th, finding the city walls scarred and smoke emanating from the city however it still stood as roman soldiers could be seen on the walls and the barbarian camp lay below the city with some 19000 men below.
However Silvanus would not attack, his men were militia they were armed similarly to his soldiers with large shields chain mail and swords, however they had no javelins or darts only spears, their helmets where cheaper than his men's made out of speed not quality, and while they had been trained they still made his recruits look like veterans at most he would send them into a slaughter. However a messenger arrived a day later as Silvanus watched the men of the city beat off another Rugian assault. This man was from none other than Tullius Tyranus and was from the east and he was not alone. He was half a day away and with him was Magister Militum Flavius Marcellinus and some 8,000 Veterans. It was with this additional force of 11000 men, that the following day Silvanus and Marcellinus would march to the cities aid.
The Rugian king would be awoken that morning to horns as 23,000 Romans attacked his camp that circled the city.
The Rugian king and his son would both be killed as the romans massacred the Rugians. Only some 6,000 escaping the romans wrath. Following this battle the massive roman force marched north into Noricum welcomed by the people that it had left. Before marching into Rugian territory by the end of the year the Romans had retaken Noricum and added all of the rugian territory south of the Danube into the empire, signing a peace with the remaining Rugians who would soon be conqoured by the Thuringian Tribe. Decius would march the militia back to Italy, Tullius Tyranus would take his men back to Lauriacum while Silvanus would hold his headquarters at the Iuvavum though half of his men under the new Dux Flavius Ursus would take base at Vindelicorum in the east of the province. Leaving Marcellinus to march back to Dalmatia leaving 2,000 men to reinforce Silvanus in Noricum.
Next time we will see just how Marcellinus was able to march west from the War against the Ostrogoths.
470AD
Province of Noricum
Iuvavum
June 2nd
Flavius Aurelius Silvanus, Comes Noricum strode through his headquarters flanked by his bodygaurds in the city of Iuvavum, which had acted as his provinces capital since it had been taken from the Rugians 6 years earlier. He walked into his war room his two guards breaking to either side. Inside were his 2 Duxs, Flavius Tullius Tyranus, and Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo, a man whose ancestory went back to the republican era and who was distantly related to an Emperor.
Together they had nearly 9,000 men each, each man had 2600 infantrybunder their commands and an additional 400 cavalry. However about a quarter of these men were fresh recruits from within a year and a half, another third had never seen battle before. The rest were either barbarian recruits or veteran soldiers.
"Tullius I need you to get back to your men as quickly as possible. That messenger that just arrived, he comes with news from our scouts, the Rugians as I have feared are on the march. They very well could arrive here before you get back with your men. The Rugians are in 3 columns roughly around 8,000 strong a total that is nearly two and half times more than our force." Both of his Duxs were shocked by the news.
Carbo was the first to speak, "There is no way we can fight that. Not in the open anyways. There will be no reinforcements how can hold against such a force, to try and hold up in this city is suicide."
After an hour of deliberation a plan was finally agreed on. Carbo and Silvanus would take the closest column to battle, before retreating back to Iuvavum, Tullius would get his men from their northern base at Lauriacum and march back to Iuvavum keeping distance from the rugians from there they would try to take the battle to each independent Rugian Column. A good plan but with to many moving parts.
On June 7th the men of Carbo and Silvanus combined units met the closest Rugian column on the road west of Iuvavum. 4,000 of the romans held formation between two forested hills on the road, the Rugians formed up and charged the smaller roman force which in turn devastated the Rugians with two volleys of Plumbatas. When the lines clashed the romans held which was the key to the Rugians defeat, as 15 minutes later as the struggle continued Carbo lead 1,000 infantry from the forest on the left of the battle and charged into the Rugians throwing Plumbata before hand. Moments later Roman cavalry exited the forest to the right forming up and charged into the rugian mass. The result was a decisive defeat, the romans only lost 500 men the Rugians lost nearly 5,000 a third of that to the battle the rest in the following pursuit. The Romans retreated to Iuvavum in high spirits where news awaited them that Tullius was days away with his men though followed closely by the third Rugian force. Within a day the second rugian force was spotted only a day away to the Northwest, and Carbo and Silvanus departed the city to once again battle the Rugians.
This time however the Romans were not so lucky. The chosen location for battle was was not as good as the previous in allowing the romans to use the space to even the numbers. Forcing them to put all of thier men in the line between a forest and a hill. Over which the cavalry were hidden. The battle began much like the previous, however when the cavalry lead by Silvanus came over the hill and crashed into the Rugian flank the Rugians did not falter. Because on the other side of the battle the Rugian survivors from the first battle charged from the forest into the Roman flank.
Silvanus and Carbo both ordered a fall back, which quickly started to turn into a route, however Carbo organized some the front line and joined them in holding the line. The sacrifice of the Dux Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo allowed the rest of the army to safely retreat from the battle though closely followed by the Rugians. The romans lost some 1500 men in this battle Silvanus retreating with only 4,000 men.
Upon reaching Iuvavum and not seeing Tullius Silvanus sent him a message to march east towards the old capital of the province Virunum. Silvanus would then order the temporary abandonment of the province of Noricum. Taking his men with him and marched towards Virunum as some 10,000 Rugians appeared on the horizon.
Upon reaching Virunum on July 10th Silvanus had his second in command a man named Flavius Ursus fortify the city with the men. He then took a guard of 10 cavalry and moved into Italy and contacted the Praetorian Prefect Decius Basillius who was in Ravenna at the time to enact the new law Majorian had made the winter before allowing Prefects to call up militia. By August 1st Decius Basillius and Silvanus had gathered the majority of the Militias of all the cities along the Po Valley in Northern Italy, a force that numbered some 12,000 with this force they Marched east from the still inhabited ruins of Aquileia towards Virunum which had been under siege for around a month. They arrived on August 15th, finding the city walls scarred and smoke emanating from the city however it still stood as roman soldiers could be seen on the walls and the barbarian camp lay below the city with some 19000 men below.
However Silvanus would not attack, his men were militia they were armed similarly to his soldiers with large shields chain mail and swords, however they had no javelins or darts only spears, their helmets where cheaper than his men's made out of speed not quality, and while they had been trained they still made his recruits look like veterans at most he would send them into a slaughter. However a messenger arrived a day later as Silvanus watched the men of the city beat off another Rugian assault. This man was from none other than Tullius Tyranus and was from the east and he was not alone. He was half a day away and with him was Magister Militum Flavius Marcellinus and some 8,000 Veterans. It was with this additional force of 11000 men, that the following day Silvanus and Marcellinus would march to the cities aid.
The Rugian king would be awoken that morning to horns as 23,000 Romans attacked his camp that circled the city.
The Rugian king and his son would both be killed as the romans massacred the Rugians. Only some 6,000 escaping the romans wrath. Following this battle the massive roman force marched north into Noricum welcomed by the people that it had left. Before marching into Rugian territory by the end of the year the Romans had retaken Noricum and added all of the rugian territory south of the Danube into the empire, signing a peace with the remaining Rugians who would soon be conqoured by the Thuringian Tribe. Decius would march the militia back to Italy, Tullius Tyranus would take his men back to Lauriacum while Silvanus would hold his headquarters at the Iuvavum though half of his men under the new Dux Flavius Ursus would take base at Vindelicorum in the east of the province. Leaving Marcellinus to march back to Dalmatia leaving 2,000 men to reinforce Silvanus in Noricum.
Next time we will see just how Marcellinus was able to march west from the War against the Ostrogoths.
Chapter 21: 470AD Rugian Crisis
Chapter 21
470AD
Province of Noricum
Iuvavum
June 2nd
Flavius Aurelius Silvanus, Comes Noricum strode through his headquarters flanked by his bodygaurds in the city of Iuvavum, which had acted as his provinces capital since it had been taken from the Rugians 6 years earlier. He walked into his war room his two guards breaking to either side. Inside were his 2 Duxs, Flavius Tullius Tyranus, and Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo, a man whose ancestory went back to the republican era and who was distantly related to an Emperor.
Together they had nearly 9,000 men each, each man had 2600 infantrybunder their commands and an additional 400 cavalry. However about a quarter of these men were fresh recruits from within a year and a half, another third had never seen battle before. The rest were either barbarian recruits or veteran soldiers.
"Tullius I need you to get back to your men as quickly as possible. That messenger that just arrived, he comes with news from our scouts, the Rugians as I have feared are on the march. They very well could arrive here before you get back with your men. The Rugians are in 3 columns roughly around 8,000 strong a total that is nearly two and half times more than our force." Both of his Duxs were shocked by the news.
Carbo was the first to speak, "There is no way we can fight that. Not in the open anyways. There will be no reinforcements how can hold against such a force, to try and hold up in this city is suicide."
After an hour of deliberation a plan was finally agreed on. Carbo and Silvanus would take the closest column to battle, before retreating back to Iuvavum, Tullius would get his men from their northern base at Lauriacum and march back to Iuvavum keeping distance from the rugians from there they would try to take the battle to each independent Rugian Column. A good plan but with to many moving parts.
On June 7th the men of Carbo and Silvanus combined units met the closest Rugian column on the road west of Iuvavum. 4,000 of the romans held formation between two forested hills on the road, the Rugians formed up and charged the smaller roman force which in turn devastated the Rugians with two volleys of Plumbatas. When the lines clashed the romans held which was the key to the Rugians defeat, as 15 minutes later as the struggle continued Carbo lead 1,000 infantry from the forest on the left of the battle and charged into the Rugians throwing Plumbata before hand. Moments later Roman cavalry exited the forest to the right forming up and charged into the rugian mass. The result was a decisive defeat, the romans only lost 500 men the Rugians lost nearly 5,000 a third of that to the battle the rest in the following pursuit. The Romans retreated to Iuvavum in high spirits where news awaited them that Tullius was days away with his men though followed closely by the third Rugian force. Within a day the second rugian force was spotted only a day away to the Northwest, and Carbo and Silvanus departed the city to once again battle the Rugians.
This time however the Romans were not so lucky. The chosen location for battle was was not as good as the previous in allowing the romans to use the space to even the numbers. Forcing them to put all of thier men in the line between a forest and a hill. Over which the cavalry were hidden. The battle began much like the previous, however when the cavalry lead by Silvanus came over the hill and crashed into the Rugian flank the Rugians did not falter. Because on the other side of the battle the Rugian survivors from the first battle charged from the forest into the Roman flank.
Silvanus and Carbo both ordered a fall back, which quickly started to turn into a route, however Carbo organized some the front line and joined them in holding the line. The sacrifice of the Dux Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo allowed the rest of the army to safely retreat from the battle though closely followed by the Rugians. The romans lost some 1500 men in this battle Silvanus retreating with only 4,000 men.
Upon reaching Iuvavum and not seeing Tullius, Silvanus sent him a message to march Southeast towards the old capital of the province Noricum, Virunum. Silvanus would then order the temporary abandonment of the province of Noricum. Taking his men with him and marched towards Virunum as some 10,000 Rugians appeared on the horizon.
Upon reaching Virunum on July 10th Silvanus had his second in command a man named Flavius Ursus fortify the city with the 4,000 men plus another 2,000 Militia. Several days Silvanus waited, with no sign of Tullius arriving and the Rugian army 19,000 strong arriving at the city Silvanus then took a a guard of 200 cavalry, and rode south, Leaving Ursus to battle the Rugians.
July 20th
Ravenna, Italy
Silvanus and his men had rode hard only stopping for enough time for their horses to rest, the force had shrunk to 150 men, as men had been left behind to bring word if the Rugians moved into Italia proper. Decius Basillius must have realized that the Comes Noricum riding hard southwards must bring terrible news and met the Comes at the gate with a small bodyguard of men.
"Prefectus I bring terrible news, the Rugians have broken the peace, and are besieging what is left of my army at Virunum. We must gather the Militias of Italia and march to their aid."
For his part the Prefectus of Italia Noricum and Dalmatia did look shocked, however the news did not shock him into immediate action, which irritated the young Comes. "It will be done Silvanus, come let my men and yours stable the horses we will have much to discuss. While we walk to the my quarters tell me everything."
Silvanus was only finishing everything when the reached the Prefectus Palace which was the old imperial palace, which now was used as a goverment building. "This is indeed not good, and unfortunately I don't think us rushing to Virunum with the combined Militias of Italy will do much but cause a slaughter of Romans. Besides it will several weeks for the army to gather. I am sorry General we must not look to the breaking the siege of Virunum instead we must look to the Defence of Italia." Seeing the grave look on the generals face, Basillius sighed. "I am sorry Silvanus, but your men have done their job they have bought us time. Before nightfall the messengers will be sent out, we will gather every man north of Florentia, and we will send word to Majorian."
August 10th
Near Patavium
Silvanus watched from atop a hill as the army marched by beneath him. With him was the Prefectus. In the 20 days since they had sent out the orders, they had gathered a force of some 12,000 men and the promises of a further 4,000 kept the men's hope up, word had reached them of Virunums fall the day before and the following sack of the city had been hard on everyone's morale. Fortunately word was that 1,000 soldiers were marching from the fallen city south. However the militia was marching to Patavium where they planned to hold the Rugians. Since the army had been gathering Silvanus had been ordering constant training, but these men were a far cry from his fallen army, they needed walls to be able to win the following battles.
With the Bacchiglione river and the city walls of Patavium the location was about as perfect as possible for defence. They would prepare for a siege and hope to not end up like Virunum.
August 20th
Patavium
"Come on Men push them back through the breach!" Silvanus roared the order above the clashing of swords and shields. His men's shield wall had weathered the enemies charge through the breach in the wall, and even now seconds after he yelled the order his militia, no his men began pushing the Rugians back. Silvanus who was in the front rank raised his shield a Rugian spear glancing of the top and scraping over his helmet, a flash of his sword and a scream resulted from the now armless rugian who had nearly killed him. Much had passed in the past 10 days, including the Alemani joining the Rugians. The 6,000 Alemanni had slaughtered the romans 4,000 reinforcements just within sight of the cities walls, the rugians between the city and the battle. The bodies had then been thrown into the river to contaminate the river going through the city. Then there was the fact that a section of the city walls had collapsed resulting in the battle that Silvanus now found himself in. They were down to 9,000 men, and even half of those were injured in some minor way, even the Prefectus was injured and in the hospital.
Finally his men gave one last final shove and the enemy was once again flush with the wall from the top of which, missiles were being hurled and dropped onto the Rugians causing massive casualties. Silvanus extricated himself from the front line and called over to another man, "Dux Paulinus once we have them away from the wall I want this breach blocked, and then another palisade behind that I want it a death trap for them to ever try and take it again!" Marcus Maximius Paulinus nodded and started motioning to men to gather some rubble.
Oh so much had happened in just 10 days.
August 30th
Under the half moon a boat docked in the city, how it had made it through the Rugian guards who watched the river with arrows ready Silvanus did not know, but he gathered a guard and Paulinus who had quickly become his second in command and met the messenger upon the boat. The messenger had been sent by Magister Militum Flavius Marcellinus, and the message he brought with him brought much relief for the 7,000 men who held the city.
September 4th
Silvanus and Dux Paulinus and Prefectus Basillius only recently able to leave the hospital for extended periods of time stood atop one of the cities towers facing south, 3 sets of eyes watched the horizon as the dawn rose into the day. Finally it was Silvanus who spotted the plume of dust, only half an hour later a similar plume of dust was spotted to the north. The time had come to rid Italia of the heathens who had sacked every un walled town and city north of the Padus River and east of Verona.
September 5th
Majorian rode his horse through the carnage before him. His 8,000 Men a mixture of his Palitini, Mercenaries, Militia, and personal guard had joined the now hardened group of 7,000 Militia under Silvanus command, and followed the retreating Rugians and Alemanni northwest and then were quickly joined by Flavius Marcellinus who had 4,000 of his own men who were joined by the 3,000 men of Tullius Tyranus. The Roman army of 22,000 had then cornered the Rugians and their Alemanni allies, and the result of which was the battlefield Majorian now rode through.
Majorian caught a quick glance of Silvanus and his Dux Paulinus both men were extremely blooded having been amongst the front lines, Silvanus had glanced at the Emperors party of men which included Marcellinus and Tullius, and the Prefectus upon the sight of Tullius, Silvanus face twisted in anger. "Ah yes just another two men I will have to watch before they kill eachother" Majorian thought, Silvanus had made his opinions of Tullius very plain after becoming aware the Dux had ignored his order to move to Virunum and had instead rode to Marcellinus in Pannonia.
Majorian looked over to Marcellinus, the aged General was an experienced ally, and a good general one of his best in fact. "Marcellinus what do you think of Silvanus? Be plain please."
Marcellinus thought for a second before speaking, "Augustus I can only speak highly of him, the man is a proven commander, his men love him, he's one of them, but he's also loyal without fault and smart, besides all that he's Brave, if I was ready to retire I would wish either him or Nepos to be my replacement."
Majorian nodded, "I think much the same and I hope he serves my sons well, as I hope your son will as well. We may have to chat about your daughter's future though." Catching the emperors meaning Marcellinus smiled "of course Augustus."
"I also think that after this Silvanus will take your men east and continue to support Anthemius in the war there, you will be going to Africa. Silvanus will be Comes Dalmatia, you will take your place with the army in Sicily as Magister Militum, Paulinus will become Comes Noricum."
Marcellinus nodded, "I do not enjoy leaving the war in Pannonia behind but I will follow your orders Augustus, but first may we finish this war here, we've only just defeated the Rugians now we must take back Noricum, perhaps I should say all of Noricum."
October 10th
The war since the battle of Verona had been brief afterwards. With almost the entirety of the Rugian force south of the alps either killed or captured including its king and his son the Romans marched through the alps past the scarred ruins of Virunum. They then quickly took back the Roman territory without a fight, before marching into Rugian territory. Where they then faced a small force, all that remained of the Rugian fighting men, some 5,000 men. Peace had been declared with the Rugians being fully brought into the empire.
They would not be made citizens, not fully, instead the citizenships of the families would be earned through military service and would be required by each following generation to keep that citizenship, while this measure was unpleasant for the Rugians the alternative was slavery and death, eventually the law forcing Rugian men whose families had gained citizenship to be conscripted would be repealed however for the future it would be a harsh fate for many of the men.
Now Majorianus a few days since the new peace, watched as Tullius and Marcellinus marched the Militia south out of Iuvavum. The Militia of Italy which had been 12,000 and had gone down to 7,000 and joined by 3 more thousand under Majorians command was now reduced back down to 4,000 though that was because of the 7,000 who had survived the campaign 3,000 had decided to stay in the army and become a large portion of the standing army of Noricum, their families who would move north would provide a boost in the local economy and population.
The Comes Paulinus and Comes Silvanus stood side by side waiting for the Emperor to speak. "Paulinus as Comes Noricum you will have to deal with the new Rugian soldiers, as well as securing the borders and keeping the region happy and peaceful, the biggest threat will be the Alemanni who it seems have begun recovering since the defeat I dealt them, keep our border with them fortified and watch the Danube try to secure the region with peace, at least one corner of our empire should have that....I trust you are up to the task?"
"Yes Augustus!"
"Good now Silvanus, your promotion to Comes Pannonia puts you in command of the 3rd largest force in the west, and also will place you in the heart of the conflict with the Ostrogoths, you have served well, don't disappoint me."
Silvanus nodded, "Augustus I am most grateful for the command, however Tullius I must try once again to convince you the man should be dismissed from service, he's nothing but a traitor to his fellow soldiers, I had thought better of him, until he abandoned Virunum and marched east."
Majorian smiled at the young man, "Silvanus, Tullius Tyranus did what was best for his men, however I do understand what you are saying I can see the man could very well be a snake in the grass, which is why I wanted him to come with me to Sicily, away from the commander he wants dead, under my eye I will make sure he will not cause a problem, and if he does prove untrustworthy, then I will have him tied to the bow of a ship as it sails across the Mare Nostrum!
●●●●●●●
Thank you everyone if you reread the chapter i decided to make some major changes to how the chapter progressed, not only did I forget to originally include Majorian but I also thought I cut the last part of the original chapter short, so this is the redrafted version, and as you can see it opens up the doors to some further intreage for some characters, I do still plan to do the next chapter on the east and west's war with the Ostorgoths even though Marcellinus was heavily brought into the chapter.
470AD
Province of Noricum
Iuvavum
June 2nd
Flavius Aurelius Silvanus, Comes Noricum strode through his headquarters flanked by his bodygaurds in the city of Iuvavum, which had acted as his provinces capital since it had been taken from the Rugians 6 years earlier. He walked into his war room his two guards breaking to either side. Inside were his 2 Duxs, Flavius Tullius Tyranus, and Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo, a man whose ancestory went back to the republican era and who was distantly related to an Emperor.
Together they had nearly 9,000 men each, each man had 2600 infantrybunder their commands and an additional 400 cavalry. However about a quarter of these men were fresh recruits from within a year and a half, another third had never seen battle before. The rest were either barbarian recruits or veteran soldiers.
"Tullius I need you to get back to your men as quickly as possible. That messenger that just arrived, he comes with news from our scouts, the Rugians as I have feared are on the march. They very well could arrive here before you get back with your men. The Rugians are in 3 columns roughly around 8,000 strong a total that is nearly two and half times more than our force." Both of his Duxs were shocked by the news.
Carbo was the first to speak, "There is no way we can fight that. Not in the open anyways. There will be no reinforcements how can hold against such a force, to try and hold up in this city is suicide."
After an hour of deliberation a plan was finally agreed on. Carbo and Silvanus would take the closest column to battle, before retreating back to Iuvavum, Tullius would get his men from their northern base at Lauriacum and march back to Iuvavum keeping distance from the rugians from there they would try to take the battle to each independent Rugian Column. A good plan but with to many moving parts.
On June 7th the men of Carbo and Silvanus combined units met the closest Rugian column on the road west of Iuvavum. 4,000 of the romans held formation between two forested hills on the road, the Rugians formed up and charged the smaller roman force which in turn devastated the Rugians with two volleys of Plumbatas. When the lines clashed the romans held which was the key to the Rugians defeat, as 15 minutes later as the struggle continued Carbo lead 1,000 infantry from the forest on the left of the battle and charged into the Rugians throwing Plumbata before hand. Moments later Roman cavalry exited the forest to the right forming up and charged into the rugian mass. The result was a decisive defeat, the romans only lost 500 men the Rugians lost nearly 5,000 a third of that to the battle the rest in the following pursuit. The Romans retreated to Iuvavum in high spirits where news awaited them that Tullius was days away with his men though followed closely by the third Rugian force. Within a day the second rugian force was spotted only a day away to the Northwest, and Carbo and Silvanus departed the city to once again battle the Rugians.
This time however the Romans were not so lucky. The chosen location for battle was was not as good as the previous in allowing the romans to use the space to even the numbers. Forcing them to put all of thier men in the line between a forest and a hill. Over which the cavalry were hidden. The battle began much like the previous, however when the cavalry lead by Silvanus came over the hill and crashed into the Rugian flank the Rugians did not falter. Because on the other side of the battle the Rugian survivors from the first battle charged from the forest into the Roman flank.
Silvanus and Carbo both ordered a fall back, which quickly started to turn into a route, however Carbo organized some the front line and joined them in holding the line. The sacrifice of the Dux Gnaeus Sulspicius Carbo allowed the rest of the army to safely retreat from the battle though closely followed by the Rugians. The romans lost some 1500 men in this battle Silvanus retreating with only 4,000 men.
Upon reaching Iuvavum and not seeing Tullius, Silvanus sent him a message to march Southeast towards the old capital of the province Noricum, Virunum. Silvanus would then order the temporary abandonment of the province of Noricum. Taking his men with him and marched towards Virunum as some 10,000 Rugians appeared on the horizon.
Upon reaching Virunum on July 10th Silvanus had his second in command a man named Flavius Ursus fortify the city with the 4,000 men plus another 2,000 Militia. Several days Silvanus waited, with no sign of Tullius arriving and the Rugian army 19,000 strong arriving at the city Silvanus then took a a guard of 200 cavalry, and rode south, Leaving Ursus to battle the Rugians.
July 20th
Ravenna, Italy
Silvanus and his men had rode hard only stopping for enough time for their horses to rest, the force had shrunk to 150 men, as men had been left behind to bring word if the Rugians moved into Italia proper. Decius Basillius must have realized that the Comes Noricum riding hard southwards must bring terrible news and met the Comes at the gate with a small bodyguard of men.
"Prefectus I bring terrible news, the Rugians have broken the peace, and are besieging what is left of my army at Virunum. We must gather the Militias of Italia and march to their aid."
For his part the Prefectus of Italia Noricum and Dalmatia did look shocked, however the news did not shock him into immediate action, which irritated the young Comes. "It will be done Silvanus, come let my men and yours stable the horses we will have much to discuss. While we walk to the my quarters tell me everything."
Silvanus was only finishing everything when the reached the Prefectus Palace which was the old imperial palace, which now was used as a goverment building. "This is indeed not good, and unfortunately I don't think us rushing to Virunum with the combined Militias of Italy will do much but cause a slaughter of Romans. Besides it will several weeks for the army to gather. I am sorry General we must not look to the breaking the siege of Virunum instead we must look to the Defence of Italia." Seeing the grave look on the generals face, Basillius sighed. "I am sorry Silvanus, but your men have done their job they have bought us time. Before nightfall the messengers will be sent out, we will gather every man north of Florentia, and we will send word to Majorian."
August 10th
Near Patavium
Silvanus watched from atop a hill as the army marched by beneath him. With him was the Prefectus. In the 20 days since they had sent out the orders, they had gathered a force of some 12,000 men and the promises of a further 4,000 kept the men's hope up, word had reached them of Virunums fall the day before and the following sack of the city had been hard on everyone's morale. Fortunately word was that 1,000 soldiers were marching from the fallen city south. However the militia was marching to Patavium where they planned to hold the Rugians. Since the army had been gathering Silvanus had been ordering constant training, but these men were a far cry from his fallen army, they needed walls to be able to win the following battles.
With the Bacchiglione river and the city walls of Patavium the location was about as perfect as possible for defence. They would prepare for a siege and hope to not end up like Virunum.
August 20th
Patavium
"Come on Men push them back through the breach!" Silvanus roared the order above the clashing of swords and shields. His men's shield wall had weathered the enemies charge through the breach in the wall, and even now seconds after he yelled the order his militia, no his men began pushing the Rugians back. Silvanus who was in the front rank raised his shield a Rugian spear glancing of the top and scraping over his helmet, a flash of his sword and a scream resulted from the now armless rugian who had nearly killed him. Much had passed in the past 10 days, including the Alemani joining the Rugians. The 6,000 Alemanni had slaughtered the romans 4,000 reinforcements just within sight of the cities walls, the rugians between the city and the battle. The bodies had then been thrown into the river to contaminate the river going through the city. Then there was the fact that a section of the city walls had collapsed resulting in the battle that Silvanus now found himself in. They were down to 9,000 men, and even half of those were injured in some minor way, even the Prefectus was injured and in the hospital.
Finally his men gave one last final shove and the enemy was once again flush with the wall from the top of which, missiles were being hurled and dropped onto the Rugians causing massive casualties. Silvanus extricated himself from the front line and called over to another man, "Dux Paulinus once we have them away from the wall I want this breach blocked, and then another palisade behind that I want it a death trap for them to ever try and take it again!" Marcus Maximius Paulinus nodded and started motioning to men to gather some rubble.
Oh so much had happened in just 10 days.
August 30th
Under the half moon a boat docked in the city, how it had made it through the Rugian guards who watched the river with arrows ready Silvanus did not know, but he gathered a guard and Paulinus who had quickly become his second in command and met the messenger upon the boat. The messenger had been sent by Magister Militum Flavius Marcellinus, and the message he brought with him brought much relief for the 7,000 men who held the city.
September 4th
Silvanus and Dux Paulinus and Prefectus Basillius only recently able to leave the hospital for extended periods of time stood atop one of the cities towers facing south, 3 sets of eyes watched the horizon as the dawn rose into the day. Finally it was Silvanus who spotted the plume of dust, only half an hour later a similar plume of dust was spotted to the north. The time had come to rid Italia of the heathens who had sacked every un walled town and city north of the Padus River and east of Verona.
September 5th
Majorian rode his horse through the carnage before him. His 8,000 Men a mixture of his Palitini, Mercenaries, Militia, and personal guard had joined the now hardened group of 7,000 Militia under Silvanus command, and followed the retreating Rugians and Alemanni northwest and then were quickly joined by Flavius Marcellinus who had 4,000 of his own men who were joined by the 3,000 men of Tullius Tyranus. The Roman army of 22,000 had then cornered the Rugians and their Alemanni allies, and the result of which was the battlefield Majorian now rode through.
Majorian caught a quick glance of Silvanus and his Dux Paulinus both men were extremely blooded having been amongst the front lines, Silvanus had glanced at the Emperors party of men which included Marcellinus and Tullius, and the Prefectus upon the sight of Tullius, Silvanus face twisted in anger. "Ah yes just another two men I will have to watch before they kill eachother" Majorian thought, Silvanus had made his opinions of Tullius very plain after becoming aware the Dux had ignored his order to move to Virunum and had instead rode to Marcellinus in Pannonia.
Majorian looked over to Marcellinus, the aged General was an experienced ally, and a good general one of his best in fact. "Marcellinus what do you think of Silvanus? Be plain please."
Marcellinus thought for a second before speaking, "Augustus I can only speak highly of him, the man is a proven commander, his men love him, he's one of them, but he's also loyal without fault and smart, besides all that he's Brave, if I was ready to retire I would wish either him or Nepos to be my replacement."
Majorian nodded, "I think much the same and I hope he serves my sons well, as I hope your son will as well. We may have to chat about your daughter's future though." Catching the emperors meaning Marcellinus smiled "of course Augustus."
"I also think that after this Silvanus will take your men east and continue to support Anthemius in the war there, you will be going to Africa. Silvanus will be Comes Dalmatia, you will take your place with the army in Sicily as Magister Militum, Paulinus will become Comes Noricum."
Marcellinus nodded, "I do not enjoy leaving the war in Pannonia behind but I will follow your orders Augustus, but first may we finish this war here, we've only just defeated the Rugians now we must take back Noricum, perhaps I should say all of Noricum."
October 10th
The war since the battle of Verona had been brief afterwards. With almost the entirety of the Rugian force south of the alps either killed or captured including its king and his son the Romans marched through the alps past the scarred ruins of Virunum. They then quickly took back the Roman territory without a fight, before marching into Rugian territory. Where they then faced a small force, all that remained of the Rugian fighting men, some 5,000 men. Peace had been declared with the Rugians being fully brought into the empire.
They would not be made citizens, not fully, instead the citizenships of the families would be earned through military service and would be required by each following generation to keep that citizenship, while this measure was unpleasant for the Rugians the alternative was slavery and death, eventually the law forcing Rugian men whose families had gained citizenship to be conscripted would be repealed however for the future it would be a harsh fate for many of the men.
Now Majorianus a few days since the new peace, watched as Tullius and Marcellinus marched the Militia south out of Iuvavum. The Militia of Italy which had been 12,000 and had gone down to 7,000 and joined by 3 more thousand under Majorians command was now reduced back down to 4,000 though that was because of the 7,000 who had survived the campaign 3,000 had decided to stay in the army and become a large portion of the standing army of Noricum, their families who would move north would provide a boost in the local economy and population.
The Comes Paulinus and Comes Silvanus stood side by side waiting for the Emperor to speak. "Paulinus as Comes Noricum you will have to deal with the new Rugian soldiers, as well as securing the borders and keeping the region happy and peaceful, the biggest threat will be the Alemanni who it seems have begun recovering since the defeat I dealt them, keep our border with them fortified and watch the Danube try to secure the region with peace, at least one corner of our empire should have that....I trust you are up to the task?"
"Yes Augustus!"
"Good now Silvanus, your promotion to Comes Pannonia puts you in command of the 3rd largest force in the west, and also will place you in the heart of the conflict with the Ostrogoths, you have served well, don't disappoint me."
Silvanus nodded, "Augustus I am most grateful for the command, however Tullius I must try once again to convince you the man should be dismissed from service, he's nothing but a traitor to his fellow soldiers, I had thought better of him, until he abandoned Virunum and marched east."
Majorian smiled at the young man, "Silvanus, Tullius Tyranus did what was best for his men, however I do understand what you are saying I can see the man could very well be a snake in the grass, which is why I wanted him to come with me to Sicily, away from the commander he wants dead, under my eye I will make sure he will not cause a problem, and if he does prove untrustworthy, then I will have him tied to the bow of a ship as it sails across the Mare Nostrum!
●●●●●●●
Thank you everyone if you reread the chapter i decided to make some major changes to how the chapter progressed, not only did I forget to originally include Majorian but I also thought I cut the last part of the original chapter short, so this is the redrafted version, and as you can see it opens up the doors to some further intreage for some characters, I do still plan to do the next chapter on the east and west's war with the Ostorgoths even though Marcellinus was heavily brought into the chapter.