| Battle of Lake Benacus | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theCrisis of the Third Century Roman–Alamanni conflict andRoman–Germanic Wars | |||||||
  Lake Garda Battle of Lake Benacus (Italy) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Roman Empire | Alamanni | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Claudius II Aurelian | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Heavy[2] | ||||||
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TheBattle of Lake Benacus was fought along the banks ofLake Garda in northern Italy, which was known to the Romans as Benacus, in 268[3] or early 269,[1] between the army under the command of theRoman EmperorClaudius II and theGermanic tribes of theAlamanni andJuthungi.[1]
Ιn 268, the Alamanni, who had been making incursions into Roman territory since the reign ofMarcus Aurelius, had broken through the Roman frontier at theDanube and crossed theAlps. The power struggles inMediolanum due toAureolus' revolt, the murder of EmperorGallienus and the resulting confrontation between Aureolus andClaudius, who had been nominated as emperor by Gallienus on his death bed, forced the Romans to denude the frontier of troops.[1] Having defeated and killed Aureolus in a siege on Mediolanum, Claudius led his army, together with the remnants of Aureolus' force, north to confront the Germans.[1][4][2]
Details of the battle are unknown, but future EmperorAurelian was present at the battle.[1] After what was described as a decisive victory, Claudius assumed the title Germanicus Maximus.[1][4] Much of the German force was slaughtered on the field with the remainder retreating beyond the bounds of the Empire.[2]
Claudius returned to Rome after the battle to attend to affairs of state.[4] The Alemanni returned to Italy in 271 and won a victory against EmperorAurelian at theBattle of Placentia[3] before their ultimate defeat in theBattle of Fano.
45°34′50″N10°37′14″E / 45.58060°N 10.62053°E /45.58060; 10.62053