page_title: Battle of Strasbourg
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Strasbourg / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Mike chapman - public domain Removed from the following pages: Bingen am Rhein --OrphanBot 06:18, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
context_page_description: The Battle of Strasbourg, also known as the Battle of Argentoratum, was fought in 357 between the Western Roman army under the Caesar Julian and the Alamanni tribal confederation led by the joint paramount King Chnodomar. The battle took place near Strasbourg, called Argentoratum in Ammianus Marcellinus' account, Argentorate in the Tabula Peutingeriana.
  Although outnumbered by a substantial margin, the Roman army won a decisive victory after a hard-fought struggle with the Alamanni. With negligible casualties of their own, the Romans drove the Alamanni beyond the river, inflicting heavy losses. The Roman force, the imperial escort army of Julian, was small but of high quality. The battle was won by the skill of the Roman infantry, with the Roman cavalry initially performing poorly.
  The battle was the climax of Julian's campaigns in 355–57 to evict barbarian marauders from Gaul and to restore the Roman defensive line of fortifications along the Rhine, which had been largely destroyed during the Roman civil war of 350–53.
context_section_description: After the battle, Julian was acclaimed as Augustus (co-emperor) by his troops, but he vehemently refused the title, which could only legally be bestowed by the ruling Augustus, Constantius. Given the latter's murderous attitude against potential contenders, Julian's caution is understandable, although it bought him no credit with Constantius.
  The immediate aftermath of the battle saw a vigorous "ethnic cleansing" campaign as all Alamanni families who had settled in Alsace on stolen land were rounded up and expelled from imperial territory.
  The battle was the turning point in Julian's effort to restore the Rhine frontier. Until then, Julian was obliged to campaign largely inside Gaul, with the barbarian bands holding the initiative, playing cat-and-mouse with his forces and causing enormous economic damage to a vital region of the empire. Now Julian was able to take the war to the enemy, each year invading the lands beyond the Rhine, devastating them and terrorising the tribes into accepting tributary status. At the same time, he was able to make serious progress in repairing Rome's shattered line of forts. In Luttwakian terms, he was able to return to a traditional strategy of "forward defence" after being obliged by circumstances to engage in defence-in-depth for three years.
  Still in 357, Julian followed up the battle by an incursion into Alamanni territory beyond the Rhine. After ravaging the lands far and wide, he set about rebuilding a fort in the Agri Decumates (Black Forest) originally built by Trajan in the early 2nd century. He then granted the anxious barbarians a 10-month truce.
  In 358, Julian first turned his attention to the Frankish tribes, crossing the lower Rhine and forced the Salii and Chamavi tribes to surrender and become tributarii (tribute-payers). He then restored three important forts on the lower Meuse river. Finally, he again switched his attention to the Alamanni, crossing the Rhine at Mainz and forcing the submission of the new paramount kings Hortarius and Surmarius.
  In 359, Julian restored seven forts and town walls in the middle Rhine, including Bonna (Bonn) and Bingium (Bingen), obliging his new tributary Alamanni to provide the supplies and labour needed. He then crossed the Rhine, marched through the territory of the tributaries and devastated the lands of the other kings who had fought at Strasbourg, including Westralp. All were forced to submit and return the thousands of Roman civilians they had abducted and enslaved during the years of easy plunder.
  By 360, Gaul was sufficiently secure to permit Julian to despatch reinforcements of about 3,000 men under magister armorum Lupicinus to Britain, which had suffered a serious land and sea invasion by the Picts of Caledonia (Scotland) and the Scoti of Hibernia (Ireland). But at the same time, Julian received a demand from Constantius, who was unaware of the British expedition, that he send 4 auxilia palatina regiments plus select squadrons of cavalry (about 2,500 men) under Lupicinus to the East as reinforcements for the war against the Persians. This triggered a near-mutiny by Julian's soldiers, who again proclaimed him Augustus. He again refused, but this time, the troops insisted, making it clear they would mutiny if he refused and march against Constantius with or without him. Alarmed, but also secretly pleased, Julian accepted the title and wrote an apologetic letter to Constantius explaining why he had felt it necessary to bow to his soldiers' wishes and requesting his ratification. But this was refused by Constantius, who replied demanding that Julian revert to Caesar status. Julian ignored the order, but to prove his good faith and also to keep his near-mutinous troops occupied, he crossed the Rhine and attacked the Attuarii tribe of the Frankish confederation.
  In 361, however, Julian decided to confront Constantius and the two emperors marched against each other to settle the issue. But the empire was spared another civil war by the senior emperor's sudden death in Asia Minor.
  As sole emperor (361–3), Julian succumbed, as many Roma
caption: The River Rhine, which in the 4th century constituted the border of the Roman empire with barbarian Germania (right bank), showing Bingen am Rhein (foreground) on both banks of the tributary river Nahe. The Roman fort at this strategic site was repaired by Julian in 359 CE.
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