Date: 58 B.C.
Location: Between Belfort and Mülhausen in Haut Rhin, France. 101.
War and campaign: Caesar’s Gallic War.
Object of the action: Caesar intended to repulse Ariovistus’ Germanic host from Gaul.
Opposing sides: (a) Julius Caesar in command of the Romans. (b) Ariovistus at the head of the Germanic tribes.
Forces engaged: (a) Romans: 6 legions and Gallic cavalry. Total: possibly 35,000. (b) Germans : details unknown, but undoubtedly large.
Casualties: (a) Unknown, (b) Details unknown, but immense.
Result: The Roman victory saved Gaul from a Germanic invasion and finally established Caesar’s reputation as a general.
Caesar had four legions under his command, two of his provinces, Illyricum and Gallia Narbonensis, bordered on unconquered territory, and independent Gaul was known to be unstable. Rome’s allies the Aedui had been defeated by their Gallic rivals, with the help of a contingent of Germanic Suebi under Ariovistus, who had settled in conquered Aeduan land, and the Helvetii were mobilising for a mass migration, which the Romans feared had warlike intent. Caesar raised two new legions and defeated first the Helvetii, then Ariovistus, and left his army in winter quarters in the territory of the Sequani, signaling that his interest in the lands outside Gallia Narbonensis would not be temporary.
After Caesar’s victory over the Helvetii, which initiated his conquest of Gaul, the Gallic tribes appealed to him to save them from Ariovistus, a Germanic chieftain who at the head of an immense horde of warriors had crossed the lower Rhine with the intention of founding a kingdom in Gaul. Caesar agreed to do so, and with 6 legions marched to Besançon. There he established his base, and then pushed on toward Mülhausen. When he learnt of Ariovistus’ approach, he fortified a camp at some unidentified spot east of Belfort, and a few days later Ariovistus encamped 2 miles distant from him.
After a week’s skirmishing, Ariovistus drew up his army in 7 tribal formations to face Caesar’s 6 legions, and when Caesar noticed that his enemy’s left wing appeared less steady than his centre and right, he took command of his own right wing.
The battle opened by both sides simultaneously charging each other so rapidly that the legionaries dropped their javelins and closed with their swords. Ariovistus’ left wing was routed; but meanwhile the Roman left wing was also pressed back. When young Publius Crassus, who commanded the cavalry in rear, noticed this, he galloped forward and on his own initiative brought up the third line of cohorts to reinforce the struggling troops. This decisive act restored the situation, and soon after the whole of Ariovistus’ army took to its heels, and did not stay its flight until the Rhine was reached. Some succeeded in swimming it, others were drowned, and Ariovistus was fortunate enough to find a boat in which he escaped. The rest were caught on the western bank and slaughtered. The victory was decisive, and other Germanic tribes, who were awaiting the issue before joining Ariovistus, turned homeward.
