Year of Four Emperors

Roman imperial dynasties
Year of the Four Emperors
Chronology
Galba		68–69
Otho		69
Vitellius		69
Vespasian		69–79
Succession
Preceded by Julio-Claudian dynasty		Followed by Flavian dynasty

The Year of the Four Emperors was a year in the history of the Roman Empire, AD 69, in which four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.

The suicide of the emperor Nero in 68 was followed by a brief period of civil war, the first Roman civil war since Mark Antony's death in 30 BC. Between June of 68 and December of 69 Galba, Otho, and Vitellius successively rose and fell before the July 69 accession of Vespasian, who founded the Flavian dynasty. The social, military and political upheavals of the period had Empire-wide repercussions, which included the outbreak of the Revolt of the Batavi.

In 65, the Pisonian conspiracy attempted to restore the Republic, but failed. A number of executions followed, leaving Nero with few political allies left in the Senate. In late 67 or early 68, Caius Julius Vindex, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, rebelled against Nero's tax policy, with the purpose of substituting Servius Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, for Nero.

Vindex's revolt in Gaul was unsuccessful. The legions stationed at the border to Germania marched to meet Vindex and confront him as a traitor. Led by Lucius Verginius Rufus, the Rhine army defeated Vindex in battle and Vindex killed himself. Galba was at first declared a public enemy by the Senate.

In June 68, the Praetorian Guard prefect, Nymphidius Sabinus, as part of a plot to become emperor himself, incited his men to transfer their loyalty from Nero to Galba. Nero was suddenly powerless and the Senate declared him an enemy of the state. He fled the city and committed suicide. Galba was recognized as emperor and welcomed into the city at the head of a single legion, VII Galbiana, later known as VII Gemina.

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