Galba 69 AD

Upon the death of Nero, the dynasty of Augustus came to an end which resulted in a bloody civil war ,the first one since Octavian and Antony, between rival generals for the power of the empire. During the year 69 AD ,four different emperors ascended the throne in rapid succession though the first three did not last more than six months.

The first emperor to ascend the throne was a man named Servius Sulpicius Galba who was born in the year 4 BC. Galba had enjoyed the favor of previous emperors and held the consulship in 33 AD with Tiberius. As a result of this favor he had a long and distinguished military career.

Near the end of Nero's reign, there were five separate revoltsthroughout the empire with five different generals competing for the emperorship. Galba was the first of these generals to reach Rome and had himself proclaimed emperor. He was an old man of 75 when he became emperor.

Galba's fatal mistake was that he refused top pay the soldiers the bonus that emperors usually paid them upon their ascention. He believed that a soldier should do his duty out of patriotism and not because of big bonuses. He also angered his only friend and closest supporter, Otho by choosing another man as his heir. As a result, Otho turned his soldiers against Galba and on January 16 69 AD Galba was killed in the Roman streets after a brief reign of 7 months.