The Cimbri were the first of many massive waves of barbaric Germanic humanity to crash against the Greco-Roman world. They were a giant, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, long-bearded, smelly, unwashed, savage, Nordic, warrior people who lived with their families in an armed camp made out of wagons. Their older women were their priests – the Völva – who would dress in white robes, slaughter prisoners of war, sprinkle the blood over themselves which would give them the power to see the future. They descended from Jutland to Austria and made war on the Celtic people who lived in that area. The Romans, who were just beginning to emerge from the shock of the Hannibalic War and the frustrations of the Jugerthine War, had resumed their campaigns of conquest north of the Po and through the Alps. They subjugated the Celts to the north until they came into contact with the massive body of the Cimbri nation.

Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo brought an army north and confronted the Cimbri at Noriea. The Cimbri had never seen an organized professional army before and desired to sue for peace in exchange for land that they could settle. Carbo accepted the parlay, but betrayed the Cimbri and attacked. Like most military confrontations by the Romans, this too began with defeat. Carbo’s army was destroyed and the consul himself was killed.

Due to the defeat of Carbo, the road to pillage sunny Italy was laid open for the marauding Cimbri, but being organizationally deficient like most brutish Germans of this era, they turned west and meandered into Gaul. On their way, they came into contact with several other Roman armies. The Cimbri defeated consul Marcus Junius Silanus at Narbo. Later that same year, they defeated and killed consul Gaius Cassius Longinus at Burdigala (modern Bordeaux)

Once again, faced with adversity, the Roman citizens made the sacrifices necessary and levied two large armies that moved north and confronted the Cimbri at Arausio with the Rhône River at their back. One army was led by consul Gnaeus Manlius Maximus, the other by proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio. Even though Manlius outranked Caepio, the two refused to coordinate with each other. The Senate ordered them to work out their differences, but their face-to-face meeting just heightened the animosity. As the two armies were camped in front of the Cimbri nation, the Germans were awed by the majesty of two consular armies. Once again, they sued for peace in exchange for land to settle. Manlius met with the Cimbri negotiators. Caepio, afraid that his colleague would get the credit for subjugating the Cimbri, immediately ordered his army to the attack. The Cimbri first defeated Caepio’s divided army, then Manlius’ army. Battle of Arausio was even more devastating then Cannae. The Romans lost approximately 80,000 citizen soldiers as well as another 40,000 non-combatants who were slaughtered when the Cimbri took the Roman camps.

Back in Rome, the people were in terror. As children, they were told dreaded stories of Gauls descending on Rome and burning it to the ground. They expected to awake every morning to see the Cimbri nation, the new Gauls, camped outside the undefended gates of Rome. Nothing stood in the way of a Germanic conquest of Italy. However, the Cimbri, still being "organizationally deficient," turned west and pillaged the Spanish tribes in the Pyrenees mountains. The Roman Senate once again passed a decree shortening the period of mourning for the dead, and ship captains were prohibited from transporting men of military age out of the city for any reason. Even the revered constitution was put into abeyance and Rome’s most successful general, Gaius Marius, the man who finally subdued Jugurtha, was elected consul four years in a row – in direct violation of the prohibition against any one man serving for more than one year in a row.

It was not until three years later that the Cimbri, along with their proto-Germanic allies the Teutons, Ambrones and the Tigurines finally decided to invade Italy. The plan called for the Teutons and the Ambrones to cross the Alps through the western passes, while the Cimbri and the Tigurines would take a northern route across the Rhine and later across the Tyrolian Alps. The two armies were to join together in the Po valley and start enjoying the warmer climate immediately and on a permanent basis.

Marius, who had been given time to raise a new army and train them for the struggle ahead, was waiting in a fortified camp on the Isère River. The invading columns of Teutons and Ambrones bypassed the Roman army and continued their march into Italy. Marius left his encampment, followed the invaders, and attacked at Aquae Sextiae. Marius won two victories, destroyed the invaders and took the Teuton king, Teutobod, captive.

In the meantime, the Cimbri circumnavigated the Swiss Alps and descended from the northern passes into the Po Valley. Marius’ fellow consul, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, who had instructions to defend the passes, retreated to behind the Po river. The Cimbri, being "organizationally deficient," did not press the attack, but enjoyed the nice weather in the Po Valley. This gave Marius and the victors of Aquae Sextiae time to arrive with reinforcements. The Cimbri nation’s long journey up, down and across Europe came to an end at the Battle of Vercellae, near the confluence of the Sesia and Po Rivers. The Cimbri’s defeat was total. Their chieftains Lugius and Boiorix died. The women killed both themselves and their children in order to avoid slavery. An entire nation disappeared off the face of the planet.