Year of the Four Emperors

In AD 69 the Roman Empire went through its first civil war, and four men held the title of emperor one after another: Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian. The crisis followed the fall of Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty founded by Augustus, and showed that an emperor could be made by the armies in the provinces rather than in Rome. It ended with Vespasian founding the Flavian dynasty.

By the late years of Nero's reign much of the senatorial elite had turned against him. In March 68 Gaius Julius Vindex, governor of a province in Gaul, rose in revolt with an army of Gallic warriors and invited Servius Sulpicius Galba, the elderly governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, to take the throne. Galba was hailed as emperor in early April. Vindex's army was crushed near Vesontio by the Rhine legions under Verginius Rufus, and Vindex killed himself, but in Rome the Praetorian Guard was persuaded to desert Nero with the promise of a large payment. On 9 June 68 the Senate declared Nero a public enemy and recognised Galba, and Nero took his own life.

Galba made enemies quickly. On his way to Rome he had opponents killed, and outside the city his troops attacked a newly raised legion of former sailors, killing thousands. He refused to pay the Praetorians what had been promised in his name. On 1 January 69 the legions of Lower Germany refused to swear loyalty to him, and the next day they proclaimed their governor, Aulus Vitellius. Galba responded by adopting a young senator, Piso Licinianus, as his heir, passing over Marcus Salvius Otho, who had backed him from the start. On 15 January Otho bribed the Praetorians, who killed Galba and Piso in the Forum.

The Senate accepted Otho the same day, but Vitellius's armies, among the best in the empire, were already marching on Italy. Otho offered peace and even a marriage alliance, without success. After his forces were defeated at the First Battle of Bedriacum, in northern Italy, on 14 April, Otho killed himself the following day, having reigned for about three months.

The Senate recognised Vitellius on 19 April. The ancient writers, hostile to him, describe a reign of lavish banquets, an emptying treasury and the murder of creditors and rivals. His real support lay mainly with his German legions.

In the East, Vespasian was commanding the war against the Jewish revolt in Judaea. With the backing of Mucianus, governor of Syria, he was proclaimed emperor at Alexandria on 1 July 69, which also gave him control of Egypt's grain. His son Titus stayed behind to continue the war in Judaea, which led to the Siege of Jerusalem the following year. The Danube legions declared for Vespasian in August and, under Antonius Primus, invaded Italy without waiting for Mucianus. They defeated Vitellius's army at the Second Battle of Bedriacum on 24 October.

As Vespasian's forces closed on Rome, Vitellius tried to negotiate, then to flee. He was caught and killed on 20 December, and in the fighting for the city the great temple of Jupiter burned. The Senate recognised Vespasian the next day.

Fighting on the Rhine continued into 70, where Batavians led by Civilis had been fighting the Vitellian legions; later Roman accounts, especially that of Tacitus, presented this as a revolt against Rome. Vespasian died of natural causes in 79, and the Flavian dynasty he founded ruled until 96.

Our 100 map shows the Roman Empire under the stable rule that followed the crisis, with the provinces whose armies decided it, from Spain and Gaul to Syria and Egypt.