12 BC · Lower Rhine Theater
12 BC
Commissioned by Augustus to pacify Germania, Drusus led Roman legions across the Rhine for the first systematic campaign into the German interior. Building a canal — the Fossa Drusiana — from the Rhine to the North Sea, he established a logistical foundation for amphibious operations and marched as far as Frisian and Chaucian territory. The initial crossing met scattered resistance from Germanic scouts and river-line defenders, but Roman discipline and engineering gave the legions a decisive advantage in the flat lowlands.
Commanders