During the republican times the legions were not permanent, but instead recruited when necessary. Some legions of course saw long services, and for instance The Gallic army of Gaius Julius Caesar was really professional, with it elite X legion. How ever the legions really became permanent only during the augustan period. The legions of course had their origins in the legions that fought in the civil war, but it is hard to say when they were founded as a permanent legions. For instance XIV legion was recruited by Caesar in 53 b.c.to replace those one and a half legions he had recently lost. But in to what extend this was the same legion as the XIV Gemina which we know later, it is hard to say. None of the sources I used talked about these early ages, when the history usually concentrades on important people, and hardly ever mentions the units that fought for these men.
For the first time some of our legions appear during the augustan conquest of Hispania. From approximately 27-22 b.c. There were seven legions in North-West Hispania fighting against the local tribes, although only six at a time. Among these legions were II Augusta and IX Hispana. There are no individual knowledge about any actions of the legions, and actually the whole campaign is very badly documented. But obviously II Augusta and Hispana saw at least as much action as all the others. Soon after the pacification of Hispania four legions were transferred away, obviously the best ones because there was heavy fighting in other frontiers, but Hispania was now peaceful. The expansion of imperial Rome now moved into Germania, Illyria and Pannonia. The first one to leave, V Alaudae, reached the Rein frontier in time to be defeated by the germans in 17 b.c. This was the famous defeat suffered by proconcul Marcus Lollius, and although the legion was not complitely destroyed it lost it`s eagle, which was the worse possible humiliation for a legion. After a little while it was a turn for IX Hispana to depart for the hard war in illyria. Here we may suppose that Hispana fought during the conquest of Illyria, and during the rebellion when the whole province was almost lost. II Augusta was the last one to leave. It was needed in Germania in 9 a.d. after the complitely destruction of three legions under Quinctilius Varus. So II Augusta went to Germania as a reinforcement.
The next time we hear the distribution of the legions is in 14 a.d. when Augustus died and Tiberius Claudius Nero became the emperor. Immediately after he succeeded Augustus the legions in Pannonia and Germania mutinied. IX Hispana was still in Pannonia, to where it had advanced with two other legions from Illyria. The son of Tiberius, Drusus, was send to the scene and he managed to end the mutiny. The disruption in Germania was more serious. Germania was divided into two provinces, Upper and Lower Germania. In Upper Germania were legions II Augusta, III, XVI and XIV Gemina under governor Gaius Silius. The mutiny started in Lower Germania, where governor Aulus Caecina was incabable of calming his four legions. Among the rebellious legions was XX Valeria, the later legion of the army of Britain. The legions even tried to declare the commander of the whole Gallia and Germania, Germanicus Caesar, as an emperor. He was the adopted son of Tiberius, and refused. The legions in the Upper Germany how ever did not join the mutiny, although XIV Gemina was a bit rebellious. Finally Germanicus managed to put down the rebellion, and started to plan a new campaign to avange the defeat of Varus five years ago in Teutoburg. In the next year Germanicus and Caecina attacked the germans with two columns. Both II Augusta and XIV Gemina went with Germanicus. There was no hard fighting for them during the campaign, although they had a long and difficult year. The column of four legions under Aulus Caecina how ever was almost destroyed in a difficult terrain while returning to Rhein. In the end they managed to beat the germans, but they almost suffered the same fate as Varus.
The return of the other column was also hard, but for a different reasons. Two legions returned to Upper Germania via sea, but Publius Vitellius marched back along the coast with II Augusta and XIV Gemina. In the Low Countries they were surprised by a flood, and lost several men. In the year 16 a.d. Germanicus launched another attack into Germania. The campaign started with a naval landing along the Ems-river. The bulk of all the legions were with Germanicus, although strong detachments were naturally left to protect the Rhein frontier as well. Along the Weser-river Germanicus fought against the germans, and after a hard fighting gained a great victory. Both II Augustus and XIV Gemina took part at the battle. They were also there when another battle was fought soon afterwards in the same area. Again Germanicus achieved a great victory. But although the romans could defeat the germans in the open field they couldn`t subdue them. After Germanicus was recalled from Germania in the next, year no more attemps to conquer Germania was made. The border in Rein remained exposed, but saw now hard fighting for a long time. The campaign of 16 a.d ended up with a disaster very similar to last year. Part of the army was returning to the province onboard ships, when a storm came and many ships and soldiers were lost, although not as many as at first was feared. How ever it is not mentioned wether II Augusta and XIV Gemina returned via sea or land.
The next action in the northern borders was seen in 21 a.d. when some gallic tribes rebelled. The most serious of the several rebellions in that year, the rebellion of aedui-tribe, was put down by Gaius Silius, the governor of the Upper Germania, with two legions, but it`s not mentioned which legions these were. Surprisingly IX Hispana is mentioned in Africa in 22 a.d. When it was tranferred there it is not known, but the troubles in Africa had started in 17 a.d. But it was never anything serious, and the local legion, III Augusta should have been able to deal with it alone. Perhaps after the first roman victories in 17 a.d it was tranferred away. But in 22 a.d. IX Hispana was in Africa, and it was commanded by legatus Cornelius Scipio. In that year the governor of the province, Junius Blaesus, managed to surpress the rebellion, and after the victorious battle the soldiers, most likely the men of IX Hispana because III Augusta is not mentioned anywhere, saluted Blaesus as an Imperator. This was the traditional honour given to victorious commander, but during the principate it became rare to salute anybody outside the imperial family. Blaesus was in fact the last commander outside the imperial family who received this honour. And he was an uncle of Aelius Sejanus, the all powerfull praetorian prefect of the time. Soon after the victory IX Hispana was withdrawn from Africa, most likely back to Illyria. In 23 a.d when Cornelius Dolabella finally crushed the newly started rebellion he had no regular troops with him.
Next time there were troubles in northern borders in 28 a.d. The frisian, a tribe in modern day Holland, rebelled against their heavy taxation. Governor Lucius Apronius send some troops to the scene, including the main force of V Alaudae. The legion how ever was almost beaten, and after that emperor Tiberius, who wanted to have peace in all the frontiers, left the frisians alone. After that the northern areas remained peacefull, expect some small campaigns fought by governor Pomponius Flaccus. It was just like if Rome was gathering it`s strength for a new expansion. It happened in the reign of emperor Claudius, when he wanted to achieve military glory and decided to conquer island of Britain. There were of course other reasons for this aggression as well, for instance the britons were accused of supporting some gallic rebells. The island was seen as a threat to the stability of Gallia.
The invasion to Britain happened in 43 a.d. The fact how seriously romans took it is clearly shown in the strength of the troops that were assigned. There were four full legions. II Augusta came from Strasbourg, XIV Gemina from Mainz, XX Valeria Victrix from Colonia Agrippina, and IX Hispana all the way from Pannonia. The leader of the invasion was Aulus Plautius, a consul of 29 a.d, and a very experinced commander. He was among the leading generals of that time. There probably was some sort of close relationship betweem Plautius and IX Hispana, because both came from the Pannonia army, which Plautius had previously been commanding. All in all there were 20 000 legionaries and about the same amount of auxiliaries. About 40 000 men all in all. The officers of the invasion force were also very capable, and especially among the legates of the army were some leading young officers of the period. The leader of the II Augusta was Titus Flavius Vespasianus, one of the most prominent legate of that time. Later he was to be worth all the high expectations, becaming the emperor in 69 a.d. In 43 a.d. he was how ever over-shadowed by another legate, Gnaeus Hosidius Geta. Geta had already distinguished himself in some difficult mountain operations in Mauretania, and was very famous figure. Unfortunately we don`t hear which legion he was leading.
The invasion started with three landing to a different parts of the southern Britain. Two columns how ever soon joined, and only II Augusta was left to fight it` separate campaign in Hampshire - Dorset area. They main force under Plautius advanced inland from Kent, and drive britons in front of it. Several battles were fought. At this time Vespasianus was still with the main army, and he and Hosidius Geta are mentioned as being very succesfull commanders. Especially Geta was said to be brave beyond comparison. So Vespasianus was moved to lead the II Augusta. Why he wasn`t there from the start is really strange. Perhaps Vespasianus wasn`t the commander of the legion when the campaign started, and only when the real commander died Vespasianus was send to assume command. This is only one of the possibilities, but I think it is the most likely one. Finally Plautius managed to engage britons into a decisive battle, and they were beaten. After this the legions all scattered and started to advance into all directions to pacify the country. II Augusta advanced all the way to the borders of Cornwall, and stopped at Exeter, where they remained as a garrison in 55-75 a.d. In 51 a.d. Vespasianus received a consulship as a revard for his excellent service.
IX Hispana advanced towards north, at first to modern day Peterborough, and in the end of the governorship of Plautius the legion had already pushed the border to river Humber. In the meantime XIV Gemina advanced westwards, to Shropshire. In 47 bc. Plautius was replaced by another famous soldier, Publius Ostorius Scapula. During his time there was heavy fighting all over the roman occupied Britain. The siluris near Wales border rebelled, and managed to surround a large body of roman soldiers. The soldires were lead by praefectus castronum, and were building a fort, therefore it must have been a sizeable command, probably a vexilla. Vexilla was a standart 2000 men strong unit, a detachment from a legion. Ostorius managed to save his men, but praefetus castronum and 8 centurions were killed. In the hour of this severe crise Ostorius got sick and died. During his governorship he had managed to defeat a small rebellion of the icenies, and also he had beaten brigants of the north. Ostorius also founded a veteran colony of Camulodunum.
Ostorius died in 52 bc, and it took some time for his successor to arrive, During this time XX legion was defeated. New commander was Aulus Didius Gallus, again a famous soldier who had recently campaigned in southern Russia. Under Gallus XIV Gemina supported a brigand queen Cartimandua in a civil war, and advanced deep to the brigant territory. Didius was quite succesfull. His successor in 57 bc.was Quintus Veranius, who planned to move into an offensive after Gallus had pacified the Roman occupied area. How ever Veranius died before accomplishing anything, and was replaced by one of the best soldiers of that age, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Paulinus had been a legate in Mauretania during Roman conquest, and was the first roman to cross the Atlas mountains. He had also written a book about his experiences in there. Suetonius immediately attacked Wales, and and fought there with a success in 58-60 bc. He had atleast XIV Gemina with him. In year 60 he was ready to crown his campaign with an conquest of Anglesey, or island of Mona as it was called.
Improvising well Paulinus managed to conquer the island, and XIV Gemina won some fame. But when Paulinus was away in Wales, a rebellion started in the province. It was lead by the strongest tribe in Britain, icenies. Their queen was the famous Boudicea. Paulinus was away so others had to make actions. The nearest legion was IX Hispana in Peterborough-Humber river area, while icenies were in East-Anglia. Tacitus in his Annals has describet well how legion-commander Quintus Petilius Cerialis gathered his forces and marched against the rebels before they could react the colony of Colchester, which was almost undefended. So Cerialis had no choice if he wanted to save the city. But the rebels were too strong. Colchester was destroyed and Cerialis defeated. According to Tacitus IX Hispana was destroyed, and only Cerialis managed to escape with the cavalry elements. How ever it seems that Tacitus gave us wrong information, wether by accident or in purpose is unclear. IX Hispana was divided in many forts, and it woyld have taken some time from Cerialis to gather his forces. But he attacked icenies almost immediately after they rebelled. So most likely Cerialis had only a vexilla with him, and his decision to attack was bold but inconsidered. After the war 2000 thousand legionaries were brought from the continent to strengthen Hispana, and it is said that after that they were in full strength. So only 2000 man were in fact lost, ie. a vexilla.
But now IX Hispana was effectively out of the picture, it`s commander surrounded in some small fort, and units divided or destroyed. There was nothing to stop the rebels. Paulinus hurried back from Wales, but he had not enough stregth or knowledge of the situation to figth the enemies. So he retreated towards west, and abandoned Londinium and the colony of Verulamium. All in all about 70 000 people in the province were killed by icenies, who then followed Paulinus towards the west. Now he was however waiting them. Paulinus had only one full legion, XIV Gemina. Also some parts of XX Valeria were in present, probably a vexilla. Paulinus had also managed to gather some auxilia-units. All in all he had about 10 000 men. He had called for II Augusta from Cornwall, but their praefectus castronum had refused to move. This incident is very interesting. How could he refuse an order, and why was he in command. Many speculations have been made. Perhaps there was a rebellion also in Cornwall, and the commander of the legion was away putting it down with most of the troops, or he could have been surrounded in some fort, so praefectus castronum was in command. In either case the troops of II Augusta were clearly needed in Cornwall area, because they were already engaged or because they were going to be. So prafectus castronum Poenius Postumus had no other change but to refuse the order. It might have been like this, but we will maybe never know.
As it turned out, Paulinus didn`t actually need any help. Somewhere in Midlands Paulinus fought with the rebels, probably in the field of his own choosing. The victory for the romans was compplite. According to Tacitus they lost some hundreds of men, but 80 000 britons were killed. Though this figure might not be reliable, obviously the losses for britons were huge. Paulinus had achieved a complite victory, and earned a name among the best roman commanders. This was also the start for the legend of the XIV Gemina. Suddenly the legion was known everywhere, and they were famed to be the best legion in the roman army. The praefectus castronum Poenius Postumus killed himself because he had stopped his legion from enjoying the same fame.
Soon after his great victory Paulinus was recalled, in 61 bc. The reason was probably the envy of the emperor. Victorious commanders were dangerous. Paulinus was replaced by Publius Petronius Turpilianus, who didn`t do much campaigning, but instead organised the province, and he could be perhaps called the true founder of roman Britain. During his time nothing really happened, and in 63 bc. he was replaced by Marcus Trebellius Maximus. After the great generals and a powerfull politician Maximus was almost a nonenty. He also had the unfortunate luck to be the governor when the civil war started in 68 bc. Before that however XIV Gemina was withdrawn from Britain temporarily, to be used in a campaing agains Parthia. How ever the civil was started before the campaing took place.
The civil was started from Gallia, where Julius Vindex rose against emperor Nero. Though Vindex was defeated quickly, Sulpicius Galba in Spain joined the rebellion, and soon Nero was overthrown by his own praetorian guard. Galba didn`t last long either, and he was killed. Marcus Salvius Otho became the emperor, but the German legions rebelled against him and elected Lucius Vitellius as their emperor. In Britain Trebellius Maximus was for Otho, but his legion commanders were quarelling with him, and supported Vitellius. His leading enemy was the commander of the XX Valeria, Roscius Coelius. From his initiative Maximus was driven from the province, and II. IX and XX legions send 8000 soldiers to support Vitellius.
They however were late. Vitellian troops were marching south, and invaded the Po-valley, where Otho`s troops confronted them. Otho was also waiting for reinforcements from Donau. Several legions were marching to aid him, including XIV Gemina which had declared for Otho. Suetonius Paulinus was the leading general in Otho`s side, but too often his advises were not listened, though another experienced general, Marius Celsus supported him. In the battle of Castores Paulinus and Celsus defeated Vitellians, and drove them back. The decisive battle was fough in Bedriacum. Only a vexilla of XIV Gemina had arrived, and Paulinus wanted to postpone the battle so that he would have all his troops in present. Otho how ever didn`t listen, and the battle was fough. Otho`s troops were defeated, and he committed suicide. The vexilla of XIV Gemina had fought bravely, but was overcome by the numbers.
After the battle Otho committed suicide, and Vitellius was the new emperor. XIV legion was how ever still rebellious, openly claiming that they were not defeated because only a vexilla had taken part in the battle of Bedriacum. Vitellius wisely send the legion back to Britannia, where it`s relations to other legions were cold, because they had supported the other sides during the war. And the war wasn`t over yet. In the east Flavius Vespasianus and Licinius Mucianus rose against Vitellius, and the rebellious Pannonian legions quickly gave their support. Before the eastern legions managed to reach Italy pannonian troops under Antonius Primus invaded Italy. In the second battle of Bedriacum Vitellian troops were defeated, and the british contignent of 8000 men with them. Soon afterwards Primus took Rome, and Vespasianus became emperor.
In the mean time batavians had rised against romans in northern Gallia,
and some gallians had joined them. The whole northern part of the country
was in their hands, and local legions were defeated. A general famous from
Britain, Petillius Cerialis, was send to defeat batavians. XIV gemina was
recalled from Britain to give aid. After hard fighting Cerialis defeated
the batavians, and peace ensued. XIV gemina remained in the Rhein, and
never returned to Britain.
In year 71 a new sequence of tough governors started in Britannia, when
Quintus Petillius Cerialis was transferred from Germania to Britannia. He
had four legions under him, because II Adiutrix was transferred from Rhein
to Britannia in 70 a.d. Adiutrix went to Lincoln, and IX Hispana advanced
north, to York. Cerialis was planning a new offensive, and his old legion
Hispana was going to be the spearhead. With the legion Cerialis advanced
north in the east side of the Pennine mountains, while XX legion under
it`s legate Gnaeus Julius Agricola advanced in the west side. In the end
they turned inland and effected a junction, crushing the britons between
the legions. Cerialis achieved a crushing victory, He advanced all the
way to Carlisle, and broke the power of the brigand tribe. In 73 or 74
Cerialis was recalled, and another famous soldier, Julius Frontinus,
replaced him. Frontinus had written several books about military tactics.
When the northern borders were safe, he tranferred his attention to west,
where II Augusta was guarding the border against the siluris.
Frontinus and II Augusta started to advance, and siluris were defeated. II Augusta moved it`s permanent camp to Caerleon. In 78 Frontinus left Briannia, and Gn.Julius Agricola became governor. It was his job to finish what Cerialis and Frontinus had started, to conquer the whole island. Only Scotland was left, and against it Agricola started to operate. Following the example of Cerialis he too moved with two spearheads, which were again XX legion and IX Hispana. Hispana was the eastern column. In Scotland the columns united, and advanced to river Tay. In 83 Agricola started another advance towards north from the line of Forth. He divided his troops into three groups, which soon porved to be a dangerous decision. Britons concentrated all their force against one group, which happened to be IX Hispana, once again, and made a heavy night attack against the legion. Against all the odds Hispana held it`s own, suffering severe losses, untill Agricola and other groups came for aid. Britons retreated. In 84 the decisive battle was fought in Mons Graupius. About 30 000 britons faced approximately same amount of romans. IX Hispana formed the core of the roman force togeter with XX legion. Agricola achieved complite victory, and according to Tacitus 10 000 britons were killed. The whole Britain was now under roman rule. In the same year Agricola was recalled.
Agricola was followed by Sallustius Lucullus, who was the governor for 12 years, untill he was executed suspected for treason against emperor Domitianus. In 86 or 87 II Adiutrix was however transferred to Moesia, where Rome was at war against Dacia. This made the occupation of whole Britannia impossible, and romans withdaw from Scotland. After this the mentions of the legions we are following became rare. The last mention of IX Hispana in it`s base in York in from 108 a.d. Romans suffered heavy casualties during the governorship of Q.Pompeius Falco, and so some believe that Hispana was destroyed during these battles, sometimes between 118 and 122 a.d. How ever this is propably not so, because two officers are know, which server in Hispana in 120 a.d. and 140 a.d. How ever in year 170 there is no mention of IX Hispana in the list of legions. Apparently it was at first transferred to Lower Rhein, to Nijmegen, maybe around 126 a.d. In there legion was propably dispanded.
II Augusta how ever remained in Britannia, apparently seeing lot`s of action. At least Augusta fought for Clodius Albinus in the civil was against Septimius Severus, and then took part to the campaigns of Severus against Scotland in 209-211. II Augusta was still in Britannia during the reign of Diocletianus in the end of the third century. Another legion, XX Valeria Victrix remained in Britannia till the very end. Still in the time of Stilicho in the beginning of the fifth century the legion was stationed in Britannia.