Alemanni | Roman Empire, Rhine, Germanic Invasions

The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic Tribes who lived east of the River Rhine and south of the River Main.
The Romans continuously fought wars with the Alemanni between 213-451 CE.

They are mentioned for the first time by Cassius Dio when Caracalla fought the Alemanni in 213 CE.

This was an area east of the Rhine that included the Black Forest. It was abandoned by Gallienus around 260 CE, and confirmed officially under Probus (276-282 CE).
In c. 260 CE, the Alemanni overran and occupied the Agri Decumates.

In 268 CE, the Alemanni were halted from invading Italy by Claudius II Gothicus at the Battle of Lake Benacus beside Lake Garda.
They did not invade Italy again, although in 271 CE, an associated Tribe, the Juthungi, made another unsuccessful invasion.

In 298 CE, the Alemanni were defeated at the Battle of the Lingones near Langres, where 6,000 Alemanni were massacred.
In 357 CE, Strasbourg was the location of the Battle of Argentoratum, where Julian defeated the Alemanni.
But in 366 CE, the Rhine froze over and the Alemanni invaded again, but were defeated in 368 CE at the Battle of Solicinium.
In 378, they were defeated by Gratian at the Battle of Argentaria.
In 451 CE at the Battle of Chalons, the Alemanni were part of a Germanic coalition army under Attila the Hun that was defeated by the Roman General Aetius.

By the beginning of the 5th century CE, the Alemanni had overrun the Alsace in Roman Gaul and merged it into the Kingdom of Alamannia.
In 496 CE, the kingdom ended when it was conquered by Clovis I.
After the 5th century CE, the Alemanni were also known as the Suebi.

Strasbourg, Alsace