Raetia (Roman province)
Substate | Defunct
15 BCE to 486 CE
Raetia (also spelled Rhaetia) is a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian (Raeti or Rhaeti) people.
It is bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria.
It thus comprises the districts occupied in modern times by eastern and central Switzerland (containing the Upper Rhine and Lake Constance), southern Bavaria and the Upper Swabia, Vorarlberg, the greater part of Tirol, and part of Lombardy.
Later Vindelicia, today south eastern Wuerttemberg and southwestern Bavaria, forms part of Raetia.
The northern border of Raetia during the times of Augustus and Tiberius is the River Danube.
Later, the northern boundary is formed by the Limes Germanicus, stretching for 166 kilometers north of the Danube.
Raetia is linked to Italy across the Alps over the Reschen Pass, by the Via Claudia Augusta.
The Romansh people living in Southeast Switzerland are believed to be direct descendants of the Raeta; however, the exact lineage of the Romansh (or Romansch) people remains incomplete.
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The area occupied by the Helvetii—the namesakes of the later Confoederatio Helvetica—first becomes part of Rome's Gallia Belgica province, then of its Germania Superior province, while the eastern portion of modern Switzerland is integrated into the Roman province of Raetia.
Sometime around the start of the Common Era, the Romans maintain a large legionary camp called Vindonissa, now a ruin at the confluence of the Aare and Reuss rivers, near the town of Windisch, an outskirt of Brugg.
Aulus Vitellius, consul in 48, and Proconsul of Africa in either 60 or 61, in which capacity he is said to have acquitted himself with credit, has, to the general astonishment, been appointed legate of Germania Inferior.
Vitellius has meanwhile made himself popular with his subalterns and with the soldiers by outrageous prodigality and excessive good nature, which soon proves fatal to order and discipline.
He owes his elevation to the throne to Caecina and Fabius Valens, commanders of two legions on the Rhine.
Through these two men a military revolution is speedily accomplished; they refused to renew their vows of allegiance to Emperor Galba on January 1, 69, and early in 69 Vitellius is proclaimed emperor at Cologne.
More accurately, he is proclaimed Emperor of the armies of Germania Inferior and Superior.
The armies of Gaul, Brittania and Raetia side with them shortly afterwards.
By the time that they march on Rome, however, it is Otho, and not Galba, whom they have to confront.
The legions stationed in the African province of Egypt and the Middle East provinces of Iudaea (Judea/Palestine) and Syria have meanwhile acclaimed Titus Flavius Vespasianus as emperor.
Before the eastern legions can reach Rome, the Danubian legions of the provinces of Raetia and Moesia also acclaim Vespasian as Emperor in August, and led by Marcus Antonius Primus invade Italy.
In October, the forces led by Primus win a crushing victory over Vitellius' army at the Second Battle of Bedriacum.
Several towns, like Aventicum, Iulia Equestris and Augusta Raurica, reach a remarkable size, while hundreds of agricultural estates (Villae rusticae) are founded in the countryside.
The Early Movements of the Great Migrations and Germanic Pressure on Rome (3rd Century CE)
During the 3rd century CE, the first major movements of the Great Migrations began, as the Goths migrated westward, displacing and pressuring Germanic tribes in Central and Eastern Europe. This triggered a chain reaction, forcing various tribes and nomadic groups to move toward the Roman Empire, launching raids along Rome’s northern borders.
1. The Gothic Migrations and Their Impact
- The Goths, originally from Scandinavia and the Baltic region, began moving westward and southward into the Pontic Steppe and Central Europe.
- This displaced other Germanic tribes, pushing them toward Roman frontiers in search of new lands and resources.
- The Gothic advance weakened Roman border defenses, forcing Rome to increase military expenditures and fortify key regions.
2. Raids into Gaul and Across the Danube
- Germanic tribes, particularly the Franks, Alamanni, and Vandals, intensified raids into Gaul, exploiting Rome’s internal instability during the Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 CE).
- The Goths, Gepids, and other steppe tribes crossed the Danube, raiding deep into Moesia, Thrace, and even Greece.
- These incursions strained Rome’s resources, forcing emperors to mobilize defensive campaigns and recruit more Germanic auxiliaries into the Roman army.
3. The Broader Impact on the Roman Empire
- The increased pressure on Rome’s frontiers exposed the empire’s vulnerability, requiring more permanent military garrisons along the Rhine and Danube.
- The instability of the Roman economy made it harder to fund border defenses, leading to occasional provincial collapses.
- The pattern of Germanic and steppe incursions foreshadowed the larger-scale invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries, culminating in the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Conclusion: The Prelude to the Great Migration Period
The early movements of Germanic tribes and Gothic incursions in the 3rd century CE set the stage for the full-scale Great Migrations of the 4th and 5th centuries. These pressures on Rome’s northern borders contributed to the empire’s long-term decline, demonstrating the shifting balance of power between Rome and the Germanic world.
The Marcomannic Wars, a series of wars lasting over a dozen years beginning about 166, pit the Roman Empire against, principally, the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; related conflicts occur with several other barbarian peoples along both sides of the whole length of the River Danube, the Roman empire's northeastern European border.
The Parthians, under Vologases IV, have invaded Armenia, deposed its Roman client king in favor of a son of Vologases, and destroyed the Roman legion sent to redress the situation.
There is threat of war on Rome’s other frontiers as well—in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains have recently crossed over the limes.
Marcus Aurelius is unprepared.
Pius seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Pius' twenty-three-year reign at the emperor's side—and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.
Marcus makes the necessary appointments: Marcus Statius Priscus, the governor of Britain, is sent to replace the late Severianus as governor of Cappadocia, and is in turn replaced by Sextus Calpurnius Agricola.
More bad news arrives: Attidius Cornelianus' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.
Reinforcements are dispatched for the Parthian frontier.
P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), leaves for Cappadocia with vexillations from the Danubian legions.
Three full legions are also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany, II Adiutrix from Aquincum, and V Macedonica from Troesmis.
The northern frontiers are strategically weakened; frontier governors are told to avoid conflict wherever possible.
Attidius Cornelianus himself is replaced by M. Annius Libo, Marcus' first cousin.
He is young—his first consulship is in 161, so he is probably in his early thirties—and, as a mere patrician, lacks military experience.
Marcus has chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.
The Romans repulse the Chatti and Chauci in their three-year invasion of the provinces of Raetia and Germania Superior, beginning in 162 and continuing until 165.
Repeated raids by the Alamanni tribes provoke the ruin of the Roman towns and economy, forcing the population to find shelter near Roman fortresses, like the Castrum Rauracense near Augusta Raurica.
The Empire builds another line of defense at the north border (the so-called Donau-Iller-Rhine-Limes), but at the end of the fourth century the increased Germanic pressure forces the Romans to abandon the linear defense concept, and the Swiss plateau is finally open to the settlement of Germanic tribes.
The Limes Germanicus (Latin for Germanic frontier) is a line of frontier (limes) fortifications that bound the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes from the years 83 to about 260 CE.
At its height, the limes stretched from the North Sea outlet of the Rhine to near Regensburg on the Danube.
The Lower Germanic Limes extend from the North Sea at Katwijk in the Netherlands along the then main Lower Rhine branches (modern Oude Rijn, Leidse Rijn, Kromme Rijn, Nederrijn).
The Upper Germanic Limes start from the Rhine at Rheinbrohl (Neuwied (district)) across the Taunus mountains to the river Main (East of Hanau), then along the Main to Miltenberg, and from Osterburken (Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis) south to Lorch (Ostalbkreis) in a nearly perfect straight line of more than seventy kilometers.
The proper Rhaetian Limes extend east from Lorch to Eining (close to Kelheim) on the Danube.
The total length is five hundred and sixty-eight kilometers (three hundred and forty-one miles).
It includes at least sixty castles and nine hundred watchtowers.
The pressure of the barbarians had begun to be felt seriously in the later part of the second century, and after long struggles the whole or almost the whole district east of the Rhine and north of the Danube is lost, seemingly all within one short period, about 250.