Tiberius Julius Caesar

Biography

Tiberius was, by universal agreement, a better soldier than emperor. His Germanic campaigns of 4–6 AD brought the province to apparent pacification with methodical thoroughness — and it was his former protégé Arminius who then destroyed three legions of that same pacified province. After Teutoburg, Tiberius again provided the stabilizing force: crossing the Rhine in 10 and 11 AD to demonstrate that Rome could still fight, but avoiding the reckless deep advances that had doomed Varus. As emperor after Augustus's death in 14 AD, Tiberius's most consequential Germanic decision was recalling Germanicus in 17 AD. He had watched Germanicus's campaigns with mounting anxiety: brilliant tactically, undeniably courageous, but repeatedly verging on catastrophe in the forests and marshes of Germania. The cost in men and money was enormous. The strategic gain — no permanent Roman presence beyond the Rhine — was nothing. Tiberius, who had fought in Germania and understood its geography, concluded that the campaigns were pointless at best and potentially disastrous. His recall of Germanicus was the most strategically sound decision of the entire Germanic Wars — and one of the most unpopular. Rome wanted revenge. Tiberius gave them a boundary.

Key Battles