The Year of the Four Emperors (June 68 – December 69 AD) was a chaotic period of civil war in the Roman Empire during which four different men—Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian—each claimed the imperial title in rapid succession. Triggered by the suicide of Nero in June 68 and driven by competing provincial legions and the ambitions of senior commanders, the conflict ended with the victory of Vespasian and the foundation of the Flavian dynasty, bringing a measure of stability after more than a year of civil strife.
Background[]
The death of Nero (9 June 68) ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty and left no accepted successor. Discontent with Nero's rule, fiscal strain, and revolts in the provinces (notably by Gaius Julius Vindex in Gaul) created an environment in which powerful provincial commanders and legions could proclaim their own emperors. The Senate and Rome’s political institutions were weak and the Praetorian Guard proved decisive in palace politics. In June 68 the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba, was proclaimed emperor by his troops and subsequently recognized in Rome, but his harsh measures and failure to secure wide support made his position precarious.
Civil war (68–69)[]
Galba's brief rule was undermined by political alienation and the refusal of key troops and senators to back his chosen successors. On 15 January 69 Galba was murdered in Rome in a palace coup led by Marcus Salvius Otho, who had hoped to be adopted as Galba's heir. Otho was proclaimed emperor, but his rule faced an immediate challenge from the legions of Upper and Lower Germany, which had proclaimed their commander Aulus Vitellius as emperor.
Otho advanced north to meet Vitellius. The opposing armies met at the First Battle of Bedriacum (also called the Battle of Cremona) on 14 April 69. Vitellian forces, commanded in the field by generals loyal to him, defeated Otho's army. Facing ruin and unwilling to prolong Roman bloodshed, Otho committed suicide on 16 April 69; the Senate at Rome recognised Vitellius as emperor.
Vitellius proved an ineffective and indulgent ruler; his failure to secure the loyalty of the eastern provinces opened the door for a new contender. While the northern legions held Italy for Vitellius, legions in the East and Egypt proclaimed their commander, Titus Flavius Vespasianus (Vespasian), emperor in mid-69. Vespasian, then conducting operations in Judea during the ongoing Jewish War, relied on loyal commanders, most prominently Marcus Antonius Primus, to march west with Danubian legions on his behalf.
Antonius Primus invaded Italy late in 69, defeating Vitellian forces at the Second Battle of Bedriacum (24 October 69). His advance culminated in the capture of Rome, violent street fighting in December, and the death of Vitellius (20 December 69). With Vitellius dead and opposition crushed, the Senate recognized Vespasian as emperor, and the chaos of the previous eighteen months came to an end.
Aftermath[]
Vespasian's accession established the Flavian dynasty, which would rule Rome for the rest of the first century (69–96 AD). Vespasian restored fiscal order, reformed the administration of key provinces, and reorganised the army and imperial finances after the disruptions of the civil wars. The year also demonstrated the decisive role of the legions and provincial commanders in determining imperial succession: the loyalty of troops in the field, rather than senatorial politics in Rome, had become the principal resource for seizing power. The transition from Julio-Claudians to Flavians also marked a shift in imperial legitimacy toward military backing and provincial support.