Second Battle of Bedriacum

Significance

The Second Battle of Bedriacum, fought in late October 69 near the village of Bedriacum in what is now Lombardy, was a decisive engagement in the Year of the Four Emperors. Two Roman legionary armies met between Bedriacum and Cremona, roughly 35 km from the latter city — one force supporting the reigning emperor Vitellius, the other fighting for the Flavian claimant Vespasian under the field command of Marcus Antonius Primus. The engagement produced sharply asymmetric casualties: Vespasian's forces suffered approximately 15,000 killed against an estimated 38,000 on the Vitellian side. That disparity indicates a Flavian victory substantial enough to break Vitellian military power in northern Italy, accelerating the collapse of Vitellius's reign and advancing Vespasian's eventual consolidation of imperial authority that concluded the civil war of 68–69.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)