Battle of Arausio: Rome's Worst Defeat
By 105 BCE the Germanic confederacy had been ranging through Gaul and Hispania for nearly a decade. When they turned toward the Rhone valley, Rome dispatched two armies under Quintus Servilius Caepio and Gnaeus Mallius Maximus. Personal and class rivalry destroyed any chance of coordination. Caepio, a patrician, refused to share command with Mallius, a new man. He rejected joint councils and positioned his army separately. The Germanic tribes attacked each force in turn, and neither came to the other's aid. Both armies were annihilated near the town of Arausio on the Rhone. Ancient sources record 80,000 soldiers and 40,000 camp followers killed. The disaster made Marius's unconstitutional re-elections as consul acceptable to a frightened populace and directly accelerated the Marian military reforms.
- Year: 105 BCE
- Category: Military
