The Alemanni, also known as the Alamans, were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River. The Alemanni, which means "all men", were the spirited successors of the Suebi. Although existing in one form or another for centuries, the Alamans were first recorded by the Romans during the despised Emperor Caracalla's campaigns in the Agri Decumates. Although defeated by Imperial forces, they capitalised on the widespread hatred of Caracalla to bargain a favourable peace deal for themselves, and are considered by posterity to be his victims. However, the Alamanni still regarded themselves Rome's dogged nemesis, and undertook several campaigns against the Empire, even invading Gaul in 268 AD at the same time as the massive Gothic attack on the Eastern Roman Empire. Although defeated on several occasions - notably at the Battle of Lake Benacus - they nevertheless stripped Rome of much of its western territory, as the great Empire had to fight on several fronts against multiple threats at the same time. Led by a tribal confederation of greater and lesser kings, princes and chiefs who claim royal blood, the Alamanni levied a diverse range of Germanic troops from across the region to fight for them. The Alemanni, unlike many other Germanic tribes, never succeeded in carving out a kingdom from Roman lands, and they were instead themselves subjugated by the Franks in 496 AD after the Battle of Tolbiac. In 746 AD, all Alemannic nobility were executed after a failed uprising, and the Alemanni came to be ruled by Frankish dukes.