Germania

According to Roman geographers, this region stretched roughly from the Rhine in the west to the Vistula in the east, and to the Upper Danube in the south, and the known parts of southern Scandinavia in the north.

During the Gallic Wars of the 1st century BC, the Roman general Julius Caesar encountered Germani originating from beyond the Rhine.

The Roman emperors also sought to expand east of the Rhine to the Elbe, but these efforts were hampered by the victory of Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.

[7] Magna Germania stretched approximately from the Rhine in the west to beyond the Vistula river in the east, and from the Danube in the south and northwards along the North and Baltic seas, including Scandinavia.

[15] During the Gallic Wars of the 1st century BC, the Roman general Julius Caesar came into contact with peoples originating east of the Rhine.

In his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Caesar refers to these peoples as the Germani, and the lands from where they originated as Germania.

[17] Having defeated the Germanic chieftain Ariovistus in Gaul, Caesar built bridges across the Rhine and conducted punitive expeditions in Germania.

[19][20] According to Caesar, the Gallic Volcae Tectosages had once crossed the Rhine and colonized parts of Germania, but had since become militarily inferior to the Germani.

[21] He also writes that Germani had once crossed the Rhine into northeast Gaul and driven away its Gallic inhabitants, and that the Belgae claimed to be largely descended from these Germanic invaders.

If you prefer your fatherland, your ancestors, your ancient life to tyrants and to new colonies, follow as your leader Arminius to glory and to freedom..."[23] In the late 1st century BC, the Roman emperor Augustus launched campaigns across the Rhine, and incorporated areas of Germania as far east as the Elbe into the Roman Empire, creating the short-lived Roman province of Germania Antiqua in 7 BC, with further aims of establishing a greater province of Magna Germania, with headquarters at Colonia (modern-day Cologne).

[12] The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania, and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history.

[26][27][28] Civilis' rebels seized Colonia (modern-day Cologne), capital of Roman Germania and home of the Germanic Ubii, who according to Tacitus were considered traitors by other Germani for having "forsworn its native country".

They hosted a large military force and carried out lucrative trade with Magna Germania, which greatly contributed to the wealth of Roman Gaul.

[12] In the late 1st and early 2nd century AD, the Romans reoccupied areas lying between the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers.

[12] The Crisis of the Third Century included raids on Roman Germania by Alemanni and Franks, and the area briefly became part of the Gallic Empire established by the usurper Postumus.

[12] During subsequent centuries, peoples of Germania played a major role in dismembering what was left of the Western Roman Empire.