Two Decisive Battles by Gaius Marius: Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae
Gaius Marius, the Roman statesman and soldiers, is not usually counted among the great generals of history. But he led Roman legions to win two decisive battles that saved the Roman Republic from a Germanic invasion.
Background
In the 100s BC, two Germanic tribes, the Teutones and the Cimbri, had invaded Gaul, what is now modern France, and had ravaged the countryside, defeating a number of Roman armies sent against them. Marius, who had been elected Consul after scoring a number of victories in Africa, gathered an army to meet the threat.
Fortunately the Cimbri, who had spent several years in Hispania, modern Spain, and the Teutones, who had remained in Gaul, were divided, even as each tribe resolved to invade Italy in the year 102 BC.
The Battle of Aquae Sextiae
Marius first met the Teutones at a fortified Roman settlement called Aquae Sextiae, in southern Gaul. An allied tribe to the Teutones called the Ambrones attacked first, before the rest of the Teutones host could arrive. Marius defeated this force with ease, slaughtering 30,000 men. When the rest of the Teutones army arrived, Marius engaged that as well, but was able to attack it in the rear with 3,000 men who had been hidden in ambush. He was able to annihilate the Teutones, taking upwards to 100,000 lives.
The Battle of Vercellae
In the meantime, the Cimbri had slipped through a pass through the Alps, avoiding another Roman Army, and entering northern Italy. In 101 BC Marius, who had again been elected consul, marched north to face the new threat. The Romans and the Cimbri fought on a level Raudine Plain near Vercellae, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. The Roman cavalry was able to launch a surprise attack in the morning mist, driving off the Cimbri cavalry. Thereafter superior Roman discipline won the day and the Cimbri as well were destroyed, with many prisoners taken who were sold into slavery.
Why Were Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae Decisive?
Clearly if Marius had not been able to stop the German threat, the Teutones and Cimbri would have been able to ravage their way through Italy, perhaps destroying Rome itself. Marius secured the Roman Republic against a German invasion for fifty years, allowing it to turn its full attention to other threats both foreign and domestic. Ironically many of the prisoners Marius took, children at the time, were later to fight the Romans under Spartacus during the slave rebellion about 30 years later.
