The first conflict of the Republic with a barbarian people beyond Gaul was with the massive coalition of Cimbri and Teutons who moved from their lands on the shores of the Baltic to the borders of the Roman world. The devastation they sowed in their wake forced them to take exceptional measures that would change the army, and the future, of the most powerful nation of antiquity.
Boiorix at the head of the Cimbri, a Germanic people whose place of origin we can place in present-day Denmark, and Teutobod Leading the Teutons, forced to leave their cold lands on the Jutland peninsula, most likely due to severe weather conditions, they staged one of the largest tribal migrations in ancient times. According to Plutarch, that human tide was close to eight hundred thousand people, including three hundred thousand warriors, perhaps a figure most likely inflated for the greater glory of their victors. On their way to the warm south they were defeating and assimilating other tribes of Germania such as the Boyos or the Ambrones.
Boiorix's first contact with Rome took place in 113 BC. when the migration reached the Danube. Faced with the German threat, the natives, allies of Rome, asked for help. The Consul Gneo Papirio Carbon he presented himself at the head of his legions and ordered the intruders to turn back if they did not want to face the Republic. Perhaps frightened by the Roman army and its paraphernalia, Boiorix was ready to turn back, until he was informed that the consul had set them up and was not going to honor the deal. For that ladino aristocrat, the temptation to celebrate a triumph parading hundreds of blond savages through the streets of Rome was stronger than respecting his word. The next day, the Cimbri and Teutons attacked the Romans and surprised the unsuspecting consul at the Battle of Noreya (today Neumarkt, Austria). Only the lightning and thunder of the fierce storm that broke out that afternoon prevented the entire Roman army from being annihilated, since the barbarians feared Thor's hammer more than any earthly danger. Inexplicably, neither Boiorix nor Teutobod chose to cross the Alps and take advantage of the Roman disaster, since Carbón lost twenty thousand of his men in Noreya, fled ignominiously and on his return was disgraced by the Senate, committing suicide a year later. Instead, the two barbarian leaders directed their steps towards Gaul, perhaps faithful to the initial project of taking their people to Iberia -we already know the taste of the Germans for our beaches and our sun-. Three years later, the German march through Gaul caused further disasters for Roman arms.
The Senate was fed up with that horde of savages roaming freely through Gaul and, in 105 BC, it entrusted two irreconcilable men with the direction of operations:the patrician Fifth Servilius Cepion , who would act as proconsul and commander in chief of the legions, and the consul Gneo Malio Máximo , with the legions supporting him. Between the two men they mobilized eighty thousand legionnaires and nearly forty thousand auxiliaries, the most imposing Roman army since the Second Punic War. Although both fought for the Republic, the reality is that each one made the war on his own. Consul Malio reached the Rhône river with his troops, but Caepio's aristocratic pride did not allow him to follow his comrade, camping on the other side of the river, right in front of his colleague, in a place that would go down in the annals of shame under the name of Arausio (Today Orange). Faced with this scenario, a legation from the Senate arrived at Arausio with the purpose of redirecting those differences and unifying the army, but far from achieving it, Malio and Cepión continued to camp almost a day away from each other. Boiorix, in the midst of two formidable armies, began to negotiate with Malio, since he was the consul and who had the power to reach a beneficial agreement for both. What Boiorix did not take into account, or maybe he did, is that Cepión was not going to allow Malio to leave Gaul triumphantly without his help, so he unilaterally decided to attack the Cimbri on the morning of October 6, a date that would be marked as disastrous for the Republic since that unfortunate day. The barbarians laid waste to Caepio's army and his camp before the eyes of Malio and his troops, incredulous at the carnage they were witnessing.
That rupture of the balance truncated the negotiations between Malio and Boiorix, now aware that he could liquidate the Romans without accepting concessions. The consul formed his unmotivated legions covering his left flank with the Rhône , but his meager cavalry could not cover his right flank and soon the barbarian horde outflanked him and pinned the Roman army against the river. The brave Rhône he became as deadly an enemy to the legionnaires as the blood-drunk, painted-blond savages who drove them towards him. Between dying drowned by the weight of the loriga or skewered by the Germans, the latter prevailed. Only a few were able to escape the slaughter, the most famous of them being a brave young Sabine officer who managed to swim across the strong current of the river without shedding his military equipment. He was called Quintus Sertorius . Arausio it had just overtaken the carnage at Cannae in the republic's ranking of military disasters. Consul Malio lost his children in battle, but managed to escape. Upon his arrival in Rome he was tried and sentenced to exile for "loss of the army".
Once again, unable to take advantage of such a victory, Boiorix and Teutobod did not take the road to Rome, completely expeditious, but led their people against a neighboring Arverni tribe and, shortly after, Boiorix and his Cimbri crossed the Pyrenees, entering the desired Iberia. Very little is known about the pitched confrontation between the Germanic intruders and the Celtiberian confederation that was formed to avert that new danger foreign to Rome. Without knowing it, that decision would mean the end of the Germans, because the Senate stopped trusting these dark characters and entrusted the absolute command of the operations to the man who had successfully solved the Numidian problem:Caius Mario .
Gaius Mario
The first thing Marius did before facing the Teutonic and Cimbrian problem was to reorganize the Roman army. His experience in Africa and the latest disasters endorsed his reforms, deep changes that had many detractors among the optimates ranks. Basically and broadly speaking, Mario allowed any free citizen, regardless of his income, to enter the army, without the need to provide his equipment, since it would be the state that would supply it on deposit. With this he gave employment to proletari and capite censi (people registered without trade or benefit), many of them peasants or artisans, married or not, who, impoverished by the wars, once again had a source of income and permanent employment. Lacking roots, he could keep them mobilized for a long time, thus improving the training of the troops and the appreciation of their commanders. Also, after twenty-five years of service, Rome would give land to veterans, so loyalty to the legion and its legacy had an unbeatable reward:a colony.
Mario also created the cohort as a minimum combat unit, to the detriment of the manipule , thus providing their legions with more agile fractions and with greater mobility. To avoid the endless trains of mules carrying the impedimenta that excessively slowed the march, the consul ordered that each man carry on his back in a kind of staff everything he needed, as well as the portion of his supplies. Hence, his detractors began to call his soldiers " Mario's mules ”.
As the State provided all the supplies and material, the military equipment was unified and instruction was improved, with the Hispanic gladio and the legion's throwing weapon par excellence, the pilo, a javelin with a detachable wooden handle that did not it could be returned by the enemy once used. It was a devastating weapon. As many of the new soldiers recruited from the poorer classes could not read and write, an intermediate command post was created between the centurion and his centuria (a unit composed of sixty to eighty men) called an optio , a non-commissioned officer who did know how to read and write and was the executing hand of the centurion. Well aware of the idiosyncrasy of the common people, the consul gave each legion a symbol to follow in battle, defend with one's life and honor as a god:the eagle .
After spending three years reorganizing the legions and improving communications and public works in Gaul, news arrived that the Cimbri were back from their campaign in Spain and had joined forces with Teutons, Tigurines and Ambrones, now ready to enter in Rome on three fronts. Boiorix had wasted a great opportunity after his tremendous victory at Arausio, but he hadn't been sitting idly by either. The Cimbri had learned Latin from his prisoners and had taken care to understand the thoughts of his enemies. He knew that a three-pronged attack would be more difficult to conjure than a single thrust. Determined to provoke him, Mario moved his legions to the best natural pass through the valley, a place called Aquae Sextiae (today Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France). Positioned both armies in that place, Mario commissioned one of his nephews, a man of full confidence and one of the few in the entire Roman army who knew how to speak Celtic, to enter the enemy camp in disguise to find out the intentions of the. That intrepid officer returned with the required information, giving his uncle the opportunity to send one of his best legacies, Claudio Marcelo , to a hidden position from which to attack the Germans by surprise. The consul never forgot the bravery of that relative who had infiltrated the enemy forces giving him a victory on a platter, rewarding him later for it; he was Quintus Sertorius .
Aquae Sextiae It was a massacre comparable to that of Arausio , but this time in the opposite direction. The Germans were swept away by the barrages of Roman pylos and goaded to advance in single combat, as they liked so much, but when they collided with the lethal wall of shields and gladiae of the legions, Marcellus and his three thousand men appeared from their rear. and the carnage was unleashed. Ancient sources, probably exaggerated, counted more than a hundred thousand Germans killed and ninety thousand captured, including King Teutobod himself.
The Senate awarded Gaius Marius a triumph for his resounding victory, but he rejected the offer as long as a single Cimbri remained a threat to Rome. A year later, Boiorix's horde and Mario's army clashed on the Vercellae plain. (today Vercelli, in Piedmont, Italy) Mario's consulate colleague, Quintus Lutatius Catullus, intended to stop Boiorix at the Brenner Pass with his scarce ten thousand men against the two hundred thousand Germans, but a mutiny of centurions led by one of his officers forced him to reconsider his position and retreat to Vercellae . That man was Lucius Cornelius Sila .
Following the German warrior ritual, on July 30, 101 B.C. It was the date that Boiorix and Mario agreed to fight their great battle. A horde of two hundred thousand Germans would face eight legions and their auxiliaries, perhaps no more than sixty thousand men between combatants and assistants. Despite the numerical inferiority, the place was ideal for the deployment of the legions:the Raudine plain, near the mouth of the Sesia in the Po, would allow the Roman cavalry to surround the barbarians. That's how it went; the tremendous dust cloud that unleashed the effective charge led by Sulla prevented Boiorix and his men from seeing how their discreet cavalry was scattered and the Roman horsemen beat their backs, pushing the German crowd against the experienced Roman line. Mario had instructed his men well, teaching them never to break formation, to keep a firm line shield to shield, and to deliver jabs with their gladiae to necks and thighs, exposed and deadly areas. The victory was overwhelming and Boiorix died fighting in dust, iron and blood on the Vercellae plain. .
Modern estimates show some shocking figures:about one hundred and forty thousand Germans dead and sixty thousand captives compared to a few thousand Romans killed in combat. After the battle, in a gesture of extreme irreducibility, the Cimbrian women killed their children and then committed suicide.
The Germanic danger had been averted and, after the battle, Mario unilaterally granted Roman citizenship to all of his Italic allies. The decision was harshly criticized by the optimate senators, to which Mario replied:
In the heat of battle he was unable to distinguish between the voice of a Roman citizen and that of an Italian ally.
Source:Archenemies of Rome – Gabriel Castelló