Our people and ways have spread far. Once we were not but bickering tribes within the dark forests of Germany. Now, now we are a powerful kingdom in the heart of Europe. But that will change, for the Alemanni people will become more than any petty kingdom; we shall become an empire the world will never forget!
The stage has been set. Our lands spread from the Italian Alps to the English Channel to the borders of the Burgundii kingdoms. Athanaric, the fearsome and dangerous king, and Alfuuihi, his second-in-command and a famous warrior, are positioned in the easternmost realm of the Alemanni kingdom. Regardless though, the Eastern Roman Empire has tossed together several large armies to prevent Alemanni expansion. Besides that our military is spread thin with most military forces doing garrison duty on borderland provinces and poor farmers working garrison duty in the German heart of our lands.
In the north, the Burgundii and Franks are the major threats and they have begun to push southward towards Vicus Franki and Campus Marcomanni, shortly they will be besieging the cities. A small Alemanni defensive force positioned on a bridge has already been killed. Surely they will not be the only ones.
On the northeastern border Bertgarda, the faction heir, is planning a tactically sound and economically important invasion of the Roman-controlled southern Britian.
In the south near the Italian Peninsula, the destruction of all Roman pagan temples has been ordered by none other than King Athanaric himself. Unrest is common not only in the streets of Hortarium and Rome but across the vast countryside. But already Adalmun and Gerold are making their own plots to unite the peninsula and possibly even southern Gaul at the same time. Yet the Western Roman Empire still has several large garrisons and powerful armies to prevent Adalmun and Gerold’s plans.
Doubts have been raised as to whether Athanaric will be able to maintain the mighty kingdom Suomar created. But only time will tell…
395 A.D. was a year of great and horrible things for the Alemanni. The previous winter had brought the Alemanni’s rivals, the Burgundii, farther south. Vicus Franki and Campus Marcomanni had quickly been besieged and awaited relief from a recent addition to the royal family. Lanfred, a strong-willed individual with great potential, had just married into the family and was near-instantly given the job of relieving Vicus Franki from the Burgundii. Just before spring, the garrison at Campus Marcomanni sallied forth from the walls and forced the Burgundii to retreat.
That summer the Eastern Army came into conflict with the Goth horde. Victory seemed certain for the Alemanni, but the Goths were not ones to shy away from a battle, not matter what the odds:
Athanaric used his Lombard archers to pin the Gothic cavalry and infantry to the ground before charging in with his own cavalry division.
Athanaric’s reign as king would not be a long one. He had vastly underestimated the Goths when he led the cavalry charge. The Goths had traveled half-way across of Europe and while their numbers had diminished substantially it had made the remaining men all that much tougher. Athanaric was quickly cut down by the more experienced Gothic force. Alfuuihi acted quickly and ordered the cavalry back. He then ordered the army’s spear infantry forward and the Goths, running high on adrenaline, foolishly charged into the forest of spears. Alfuuihi himself killed the Gothic king who had been responsible for the death of Athanaric. Alfuuihi’s quick reactions would not only be responsible for his appointment as general of the Eastern Army by the new king, Bertgarda, but would also help throughout the many campaigns he would take part in.
Several days after defeating the Goths at Pannonia, the Alemanni would fight the Western Romans in the streets of Hortarium.
Knowing that he would not be able to stop the Roman engineers from sapping the walls, Adalmun created a blockade in one of the larger roads that cut its way to the center of the town.
Adalmun ordered the forces that remained on the wall to fall back behind the blockade before the walls of Hortarium crumbled in on itself.
Unforunately, not even Adalmun could control his mad berserkers who charged out through the recently caved-in walls and attacked the enemy cavalry who waited outside the gates.
Then, the Alemanni general pulled all his forces together at the blockade and ordered his spearmen into a circular formation to stave off any cavalry charges. The archers, most of whom had already depleted all of their arrows, stood behind the spear and axe men and harassed the enemy from their point of relative safety.
After fighting in that single street for most of the day, the Western Romans made one more charge with their own mercenary camels, imported from Carthage. But the spearmen never faltered and sent the last of the Western Roman army east, back to Ravenna.
That winter Londinium was taken in a near-bloodless victory. The miniscule garrison was quickly defeated by the Alemanni chosen axemen. After a quick celebration the invasion force went about exterminating the city. But this too was part of Bertgarda’s grand scheme; he knew that the British Romans were a proud people who would not take well to occupation and if they had to set an example this is how it would be done. For the next several years it would seem like the extermination of Londinium had been a good idea, for their would be no British Roman revolts…
Bertgarda may not have been a fine warrior like the Suomar and Athanaric, the previous kings of the Alemanni, but he was a smart one nonetheless. By taking Londinium he had opened a large and profitable trade between Samarobriva and Londinium that would bring in large profits every year. Suddenly, the Alemanni no longer looked at the raiding of Roman towns for their wealth but instead to trade:
In the Italian Peninsula, Gerold had left the walls of the once great city, Rome, and was pushing north towards Ravenna with his own army. Yet after laying siege to the city, he was attacked by the Roman army that had been defeated at Hortarium and the garrison of Ravenna. Gerold’s smaller army was about to be attacked from two sides by two powerful foes.
The victory-less besiegers of Hortarium were the first to arrive on the scene and were the first to leave with their tails between their legs. Whether it was from the recent loss at Hortarium, the ferocity of Gerold’s soldiers, or a little bit of both does not matter; the end result was several minutes of fighting before the Roman army turned tail and ran.
While Gerold and his berserkers rode down the Roman cowards, the rest of the army fought and quickly defeated the garrison of Ravenna. But Gerold did not let the cowards escape and rode them down leaving Ravenna defenseless.
For his excellent fighting outside of Ravenna, King Bertgarda adopted him into his own family and appointed him the head general of the Italian Peninsula.
In the north, the Burgundii finally attacked Vicus Franki. A Burgundii victory seemed certain for they were fighting nothing more than a mob of poorly-equipped and untrained villagers.
Regardless of what should’ve happened, the Burgundii lancers and spearmen were defeated by the disorderly mob.
In the east Alfuuihi and the Eastern Army came into conflict with the Burgundii as well. By February the two armies clashed in the north eastern end of the Alemanni kingdom. The two armies quickly lined up before they met each other on the battlefield.
Alfuuihi’s cavalry chewing up the enemy cavalry and missile units before smashing in the Burgundii left flank:
The fierce fighting of Alemanni and Burgundii spearmen as well as a neighboring mercenary golden band of warriors:
By the winter of 398 Bertgarda’s dream had grown farther than just controlling southern Britian, now he wanted control of both islands. He chose his son-in-law Lanfred to lead the attack on Eburacum, the last British Roman stronghold. It was here the last governor of Roman Britian resided. They called him the Horseman for not only his skills as a cavalry commander but also because he was rarely seen off his own trusty mount.
That didn’t change anything for Lanfred though; the young man was eager to prove himself in battle after disgracing himself in a defeat against the Frankish horde in northern Germany. Had it not been for the events that followed the capture of Eburacum it is likely Lanfred himself would’ve led his men north towards the Celtic lands for he had already hired some mercenary gallowglasses to serve garrison duty.
Placus the Horseman’s men were not capable of holding the walls of Eburacum and Lanfred’s own axemen quickly overwhelmed the much less skilled Roman garrison.
Placus awaited Lanfred in the center of the city. While Lanfred’s axemen and Placus’s cohorts fought the two men and their bodyguards charged each other. But after quickly defeating the cohorts the Alemanni axemen turned around and chopped their way through Placus’s mounted bodyguard. By the end of the battle Placus the Horseman lay in the center of Eburacum dismounted and dead.
While Eburacum was not under Alemanni occupation the British Romans did not roll over as Lanfred and Bertgarda had planned. The northern British Romans picked up arms against the Alemanni. By the end of winter, Maglocunus Sanctus, once a British Roman himself, had joined the revolt as the new leader. He had arrived from the still Roman controlled Campus Frisii. These powerful rebels called themselves the Romano-British and were set solely on the goal to remove the Alemanni from their land.
Within six months the Romano-British were ready to strike against the Alemanni and their first target was Londinium. Unfortunately, Londinium’s garrison commander was unexpierenced and untalented and no one expected him to hold the city against the superior Romano-British army and the military genius, Maglocunus Sanctus.
But the garrison commander, Captain Malorix, realized something very peculiar about the Romano-British army. They were all very experienced warriors and most were talented horsemen. But the Romano-British army lacked two major components of a well-balanced army, infantry and archers.
Thus, Malorix ordered all of the infantry under his command on to the walls of Londinium to try and defeat the few British Legionaries and coastal levies.
The Romano-British cavalry, incapable of assisting their infantry was forced to wait outside the walls and watch the legionaries get hacked to bits or fall from the walls.
Eventually the Romano-British became so desperate to take the walls they ordered their holy men to climb the ladders up on to the walls. To say the least, it didn’t work one bit.
The Romano-British would flee Londinium without a single man on foot amongst them. While they were far from defeated it seemed their ability to defeat the Alemanni in either Londinium or Eburacum was gone.
In the Italian Peninsula, Captain Duva led a large force towards Massilia. Trying to prevent further Roman defeats the Roman general Oppius Flavius ordered all nearby Roman forces to try and crush the Alemanni army before it reached the walls of Massilia. Thus Captain Duva found himself surrounded in southern Gaul.
The battle did not last long though, partly because Oppius Flavius himself was quickly isolated, surrounded, and killed by the Alemanni axemen.
Flavius’s reinforcements were quickly defeated by Duva, who first showered them with arrows and then sent his axemen to finish off the cohorts.
Shortly after Duva’s victory something unthinkable happened. Bertgarda met with an Eastern Roman diplomat and both of them stayed up that night in Samarobriva. They drank and yelled as they each tried to gain more from the peace talks. In the end, to the horror of the Alemanni people, Bertgarda agreed to become a procterate kingdom under the Eastern Romans as well as put the sword down in the war between the Alemanni and the Western Romans. In exchange Bertgarda received a large amount of gold as well as a large chunk of Eastern Roman land which included Aquincum.
While people across the kingdom were outraged at this, threatening to overthrow Bertgarda or even some of the king’s own family members trying to break free from Alemanni rule, Bertgarda had his reasons. By controlling Aquincum and the land around it he opened new trade routes with people from the east like the Vandals. At the same time he knew that Aquincum would be necessary for any further expansion in the east and besides, he had no intention of keeping his word with the Eastern Romans.
Shortly after the peace talks the Alemanni were ordered to go back to their old ways. Gerold launched besieged and quickly took the near-undefended city of Tarentum in southern Italy. Vicus Chatii was besieged by Alfuuihi who had pursued the Burgundii north into hostile territory. Captain Duva himself had regathered his forces and besieged Duva.
Duva, now an honorary member of the Alemanni royal family, launched his assault on Massilia against that winter. The Roman city was defended by a small garrison and a young, untested general. The Roman general, Andragathius, was famed from Spain to Constantinople for his seemingly godly perfection. Women (and even some men) across the world who had never even seen the man talked of his beauty. Duva thought of how great it would be to smash the pretty Roman boys face with his axe.
Duva’s loyal followers quickly fought their way across the Roman walls and seized control of the gateway, allowing Captain Duva himself to hunt down Andragathius.
Duva and his axemen charged towards the center of the town eventually meeting the Roman general. Duva’s personal guard crashed into the back of Andragathius’s bodyguard, killing the pretty-Roman boy.
Meanwhile, Alfuuihi led his own men in the assault against Vicus Chatii. The Burgundii had harassed the Alemanni border for two long. Now it was time to bring the way to them.
Alfuuihi quickly ordered a group of axemen and a golden band up on the Burgundii walls. The fighting was fierce and very close leaving many Alemanni and Burgundii corpses strewn about the walls.
After seizing the walls Alfuuihi, his loyal cavalry, and his fierce berserkers attacked the Burgundii general who was hiding in the center of the city.
The Eastern Romans, not willing to take such disgustful treatment launched an attack against Aquincum in hopes of punishing the Alemanni. The men who once served garrison duty in Aquincum were sent to deal with the rebellious Germans.
The Eastern Romans, with the help of many ladders and siege towers, pushed their way to the walls of Aquincum. The Alemanni seemed to put up enough of a fight to begin with but eventually the superior Roman infantry forced the Alemanni from the walls of Aquincum.
On another end of the wall the Eastern Romans released a surprise force which seized one of the gateways which would later allow the Roman cavalry to attack the center of Aquincum.
Unfortunately for the Romans, their warriors were too tired and spread out to contend with the Alemanni cavalry who destroyed the separated groups of Romans as they attempted to make their way to the center of the city.
By the summer of 402, Arles, in southern Gaul, was captured by Captain Duva in an easy, uneventful victory. Suddenly it became apparent to not only the Alemanni but also the rest of the world: the imperialism of Rome had ended. A new power had risen from the dark forests of Germania. The Alemanni had spread their ways and culture from Roman controlled Britain to the southern end of the Italian Peninsula like so many other great empires before them like the Macedons, Egyptians, and of course the Romans.
King Bertgarda sat back on his new throne in Samarobriva and pondered these things himself. He thought of the great men who had come before him and who had helped found the great Empire that rolled out in every direction. Suomar had made a small tribe of brave Germans into a powerful kingdom with the help of his sons Hortar and Cimberius, both of whom had sacrificed their lives for the good of the kingdom.
Bertgarda himself had once fought beside his father, Hortar, and grandfather, Suomar. But that seemed ages ago. Somehow as the kingdom grew he found his place became within the newfound capital of Samarobriva more and more. Perhaps this is how it had been with the Romans too. Maybe they too had started out like the Alemanni as great warriors, but as their land grew their old ways faded. Somehow, Bertgarda knew this to be true.
But he did not have time for such reflections, there was an Empire to be run and whether he wanted to or not it had become his job to do so. The Alemanni had rose to great power but it would take more power still to maintain their current Empire. Maglocunus Sanctus and the Romano-British were still raping the Alemanni controlled Britian. In the east the Burgundii and Eastern Roman Empire, both bitter from their defeats, plotted against their hated neighbor, the Alemanni. In the west the Western Romans had been isolated in the Spanish Peninsula, but they still had teeth and would still bite if they got the chance. Perhaps there were even new threats to the recent Alemanni Empire; the Western Roman Rebels had grown powerful on African Coast and Mediterranean and the Vandals had grown powerful in northern Greece…
Maybe the struggle was just beginning…
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