Germanicus Maximus!

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“Maximinus harped on his own military excellence in contrast to that feeble coward.”

Seizing the role of Roman Emperor in 235 AD, Maximinus Thrax swiftly asserted his loathing on the nobility. Close advisers of the previous emperor Alexander were executed, and he moved ruthlessly against all those he suspected of plotting against him. One plot was foiled in which soldiers sought to destroy a Rhine bridge to leave him stranded in Germania, replacing him with the Senator Magnus. Anther involved Mesopotamian archers looked to elevate Quartinus in his stead, but their leader switched sides and murdered him. The plotters in both were ruthlessly purged, including the defecting leader of the archers.

The ascension of Maximinus, a Thracian general, is used by historians to mark the formal beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century. Civil war, barbarian invasions, and economic crashes would all combine over the next 50 years to leave the Roman Empire on the brink of collapse. The world would emerge from the crisis changed, with the urban living of antiquity and the expansionist ideals of Rome replaced by the beginnings of a medieval feudal society and inward-looking societies losing contact with the wider world.

The first campaign of the new emperor was against the Alemanni, a coalition of Germanic tribes whose name means “All Men”. Despite the legions suffering heavy casualties, they managed to defeat the Germans in the swamps at Agri Decumates, leading to Maximinus to take the title Germanicus Maximus, while raising his son to the rank of Caesar and deifying his late wife. A second campaign launched across the Rhine deep into Germania saw the legions defeat the natives again at the Battle of the Harzhorn beyond the River Weser, with the battlefield discovered in 2008 indicating the legions’ use of siege weapons to hammer through a German defence of the pass. With the German frontier appearing secure, Maximinus wintered in Pannonia, from where he fought against the Dacians and the Sarmatians in early 236.

Across the Mediterranean, in early 238 a revolt broke out in Africa Province (Tunisia). A treasury official’s extortions and false judgements riled the populace, and landowners armed their clients and farm workers as they stormed Thysdrus (El Djem) and murdered the official and his bodyguards. At their behest, the 79-year-old provincial governor Gordian was declared emperor, though due to his old age he named his son, the 45-year-old Gordian II, as co-emperor. The duo set about raising support in the province, as although they were in charge of administration, as the province had been peaceful for centuries, they did not have an army as their disposal. The Senate, tired of the tyranny of Maximinus, declared that the Gordians were co-emperors, and began pressuring the imperial provinces to support them.

Unfortunately for the Gordians, their province was bordered by Numidia, which housed the Third Legion. Even worse for them, that province’s governor of Capelianus was both a supporter of Maximinus, and detested the Gordians. Marching on Carthage, he easily defeated the local militias defending the city, and Gordian II was killed in battle. Hearing the news of his son’s death, Gordian hanged himself. Their “rule” had last just 20 days.

Given Maximinus’ hatred of the Senate, it was too late for them to recant for supporting the Gordians now, for he would show no mercy. Maximinus had assembled his Pannonians legions and was marching on Rome, expecting to stamp down his authority on the city and finally crush the Senate. The problem that the Senate faced was that there were no clear candidates to challenge Maximinus for emperor. They decided to raise two elderly Senators to be co-rules, elevating Pupienus and Balbinus to the purple. When the Plebeian mob heard that two Patricians had been chosen, who had no connection with them, they were outraged. There were severe street fighting, while the new ‘emperors’ were pelted with sticks and stone – all while Maximinus was marching on the city without an army to deft him.

Given the mob’s support of the Gordian family, the Senate decided to name the grandson, the 13-year-old Gordian III, as Caesar (junior emperor). Now they ostensibly had a triumvirate, with Pupienus and Balbinus managing the empire in tandem while young Gordian III ensured popular support. Unsurprisingly, Pupienus and Balbinus detested each other, and lived in constant fear of assassination. They had lofty ambitions of leading campaigns against the Sassanids and the Germans respectively, despite the imminent threat of Maximinus. The new regime in Rome swiftly through together an army, and the fresh-faced legions marched north under Pupienus to confront Maximinus and his veteran forces.