3 – Constantine Defeats Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge
During the winter of 311/12, Constantine remained at Colmar and commanded an army of approximately 100,000 men. However, he needed a significant number of them to guard the Rhine, so his ‘field army’ was probably no more than 25,000 troops. However, his army was augmented by thousands of hardened veterans received from Germans and Gauls. Maxentius was waiting for him in Italy with a far larger force.
Constantine marched to Italy and immediately encountered resistance at Segusium as the city closed its gates when he arrived. Unperturbed, Constantine attacked, set the gates on fire and his troops scaled the walls and quickly took the city. He did not allow his men to plunder and they marched onward to modern day Turin where they faced a large force of Maxentius’ cavalry. He cleverly spread his men in a line and allowed the enemy to charge into the middle. His cavalry charged the enemy at the sides and knocked them off their horses with blows from iron-tipped clubs. The people of Turin refused to give Maxentius’ men sanctuary and opened their gates to Constantine.
Word spread quickly throughout northern Italy that Constantine’s army was gaining impressive victories and showing mercy to towns that opened their gates. Perhaps his refusal to plunder Segusium helped his cause. In any case, several more towns welcomed the invading would-be emperor, and when he reached Milan, he found the city had its gates open for him, and the people welcomed him and his men with cheers. Constantine took advantage of the warm reception by staying in Milan until the summer of 312.
Previously, Maxentius enjoyed success by remaining in Rome, allowing his enemies to come to him and holding out until they ran out of resources and withdrew. While hindsight is always 20-20, perhaps he should have continued a winning strategy. Instead, he abandoned the plan and elected to leave Rome to meet Constantine in open battle. He apparently consulted the Sibylline Books which said ‘on October 28 an enemy of the Romans will perish.’ Constantine left Milan and defeated armies at Brescia and Verona before meeting Maxentius near Milvian Bridge.
Constantine apparently had a vision the night before the battle where he saw the symbol of Christ, the ‘Chi-Ro,’ shining above the sun. He believed it was a divine sign and ordered his men to paint the symbol on their shields. On October 27, Maxentius was at a chariot race, and the crowd openly taunted him by saying Constantine was invincible. He built a temporary wooden bridge across the River Tiber to prepare for a battle with his enemy as he destroyed part of the main bridge when preparing for a siege; it was a fatal error.
On the morning of October 28, 312, the Battle of Milvian Bridge took place. It was one of the most important victories in the history of the Roman Empire as it changed its course completely. Constantine was delighted to meet his enemy in open battle as his forces were down to around 30,000 men (although figures vary according to the source) and he did not want to lose resources in a siege on Rome. Maxentius has a significant numerical advantage by all accounts but could not match his enemy’s skill in battle.
Maxentius deployed his men in a long line with their backs to the Tiber and Constantine matched him to avoid getting outflanked. Maxentius probably placed his men too close to the river, and when Constantine’s cavalry attacked, Maxentius’ cavalry broke and became very disorganized. Constantine seized the initiative by charging with his infantry and pushing his enemy’s troops into the Tiber where many of them drowned. Some sources suggest Maxentius’ men tried to flee across the temporary bridge only for it to collapse. Regardless of what happened, the battle was brief, and Maxentius drowned in the Tiber.
Constantine’s men found the washed up body, decapitated it and put in on display in Rome. Later, the head was sent to Carthage as a warning; it proved effective as the Africans offered no further resistance. Constantine was now sole emperor of Rome in the West, and he ordered the death of Maxentius’ entire family and closest friends but refused to order a wide scale massacre. Romans hoping for a return to its glory days were disappointed as Constantine taxed the citizens, tried to abolish the Circus games and disbanded the Praetorian Guard. Within a couple of months, Constantine left Rome as the civil war was far from over.