Battle of the Nervasos Mountains The Battle of the Nervasos Mountains ( Spanish : Batalla de los Montes Nervasos ) occurred in the year 419 and was fought between a coalition of Suebi , led by King Hermeric together with allied Roman Imperial forces stationed in the Province of Hispania , against the combined forces of the Vandals and Alans who were led by their King Gunderic . This battle occurred in the context of a contemporary Germanic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula . The battle took place in what is today the Province of León , Spain , and resulted in a Roman / Suebian Victory . Context . Between the years 409 and 411 , the Germanic peoples of the Vandals and the Suebi , similarly like the Iranian Alans , migrated into the Iberian Peninsula via the Pyrenees Mountains after having already conquered the Gallo - Roman province of Gaul and subjected it to a three year system of plunder and pillage . Seeing that the forces of the Western Roman Empire were unable to effectively respond to new threats due to local uprisings led by Maximus of Hispania and Gerontius , the Germanic tribes saw an opportunity to invade the peninsula and carve out territory for themselves , starting the period of the Germanic Invasion of Iberia . The invaders divided amongst themselves , the territories of Hispania , taking the whole of Hispania Tarraconensis from the Romans without encountering any significant opposition . The Silingi Vandals gained control over the Roman province of Hispania Baetica , the Alans took over administration of Lusitania and Hispania Carthaginensis , whilst the Suebi and the Hasdingi Vandals took over Gallaecia . The Suebi continued on with the original Roman Conventus iuridicus Lucense , maintaining a capital in " Lucus Augusti " ( Lugo ) , and with the Bracarense with its capital at " Bracara Augusta " ( Braga ) . The Hasdingi Vandals likewise maintained the Roman structure dating back from the Augustan and Claudian emperors . Their Roman Conventus Asturicensus maintained its capital at " Asturica Augusta " , ( Astorga ) . In 416 , Wallia , King of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse , entered the Iberian Peninsula as a Roman general to fight the invading barbarian tribes . The Germanic tribes were unable to unite against their common enemy and by 418 , the Silingi Vandals had been almost completely annihilated and the Alans were dispersed after the fighting death of their king , Attaces . The survivors of these groups sheltered themselves with the Hasdingi Vandals ( From that moment on , the Vandal kings were known in title as King of the Vandals and the Alans ) . The King of the Suebi , Hermeric , for his part , was able to sign a treaty with the Emperor Honorius , gaining his tribe the legal status of Foederati ( a status also held by the Visigoths ) , for which the Hispano - Romans were obliged to cede them land . They established a garrison at Braga which began to emerge as a center of power . The disgrace felt by the Hispano - Romans at having to cede their lands to the Suebi would be felt painfully in the future during the conflicts between the natives and the colonizers . The following periods would be marked with failed peace treaties and even the sending of a native embassy to solicit the help the Gallo - Roman general Flavius Aetius by Bishop Hydatius that would also end in failure . In his alliance with the Romans , Hermeric was swayed by the expansionist desires of his kingdom and would enter into conflict with his neighboring Vandals , the closest other German tribe occupying Hispania , The Battle . The details of the confrontation between the two tribes are not clear , but it is possible to deduce that it was the Suebi who took the initiative in commencing hostilities seeing as the Nervasos Mountains ( named for either the ancient Narbasi people or for the Roman General Erbasius ) , due to their imprecise location , could have been situated in the Comarca Province of Leon of El Bierzo , then the Conventus Iuridicus asturicensis , which under the pact of 409 - 411 , belonged to the Hasdingi Vandals under Gunderic . During the invasion of the Vandal lands , Hermeric and his army are surrounded in the Nervasos Mountains by the forces of Gunderic , only being saved from a disastrous defeat by timely Roman intervention . The Roman " comes Hispanorum " , Asterius , at the head of a powerful Roman army , lifted the Suebi siege and obliged the Vandals to retreat . The Roman campaign continued and Asterius obliged the Vandals to retreat south to Bracara Augusta , where he had pre - arranged a pincer movement together with his " vicarius " , Maurocelus , who commanded another sizable Roman force . They intercepted the Hasdingi Vandals and routed them . Consequences . Having been defeated , the king Gunderic guided his tribe in search of new settlement in Hispania Baetica . Between 421 and 422 , they routed the imperial army of General Castinus who was sent to reconquer former Roman lands in that area . The Vandals built a grand fleet which they used to gain naval dominance in the region and were able to conquer a large portion of southeastern Spain , sacking the cities of Carthago Nova and Hispalis amongst others . In 428 , Gunderic dies and is succeeded to the throne by his half brother Genseric , who decides that best place for his people to settle would be North Africa , which was being ravaged by internal disputes which would nullify the Roman resistance . Genseric began preparations to cross the Straits of Gibraltar with over 80 , 000 people , 15 , 000 of whom were soldiers , however he was attacked from the rear by a large force of Suebi under the command of Heremigarius who had managed to take Lusitania . This Suebi army was defeated near Mérida and its leader Hermigario drowns in the Guadiana River while trying to flee . The following year , the Vandals disembarked in Ceuta , from which in a few years they would control all of Roman North Africa before being swept from history by Belisarius , a general of Justinian I . The Suebi would remain in Gallaecia until their conquest by the Visigoths under Liuvigild in the year 585 , eventually sharing the same fate as their Vandal enemies .