-December 69 AD- Vespasian was now princeps.
-However, it got off to a rough start. Antonius' army was raiding and sacking Rome due a to a lack of order (the Praetorians were either dead or captured).
-Tacitus estimates that the death toll was at around 50,000, but who knows.
-January 70 AD- Gaius Licinius Mucianus (governor of Syria) arrived in Rome with his army to calm shit down.
-Antonius' troops were ordered out of Rome and back to their original posts (or to the Rhine).
-Mucianus, acting in Vespasian's name, got Antoninus out of Rome by giving him Galba's old job (governor of Hispania Terraconensis).
-He also kept Vespasian's son, (future princeps) Domitian, who was living in Rome, under tight control so that he wouldn't try and and assume power in the name of his dad.
-Vespasian finally arrived later in 70 AD and immediately went to work with a propaganda campaign to try and encourage stability and legitimize his reign.
-Also, although he was good at promoting positive rumors, omens, and other kinds of mystical prophecies about himself, IRL he was actually quite genuine, down-to-earth, and even self-deprecating!
-He also liked regular food, dirty jokes, and was just like a normal bro.
-He was also a big patron of the arts and really promoted education- he made the position of teacher a government job! He also had historical chronicles written to fit his new dynasty's narrative.
-Vespasian's main goal as princeps was to rebuild the empire and its infrastructure, in addition to improving its financial stability.
-One way he did this was by doubling taxes in the provinces, which I'm sure went down well with the people there.
-Vespasian wasn't perfect, however- he was actually fairly corrupt.
-He would accept bribes in order to make certain legal decisions (such as court cases) or to determine what kind of government positions certain people attained.
-He encouraged price-gouging when a private organization held a monopoly, and also allowed for governors to go hogwild in collecting taxes. However, once they had gotten too much money, Vespasian would have them arrested and would then seize their assets for himself (or the government?) (thus, these governors were known as "Vespasian's Sponges" because they would soak up all the money before Vespasian would wring them out).
-Also imposed new taxes on the citizens of Rome, the most famous being the "toilet tax".
-Urine was collected in giant cesspools and then sold for industrial purposes, so Vespasian introduced a tax on these sales. There was much public outcry over this, including protests from Vespasian's other son, (future princeps) Titus, but Vespasian DGAF!
-As for the infrastructure of the city itself, Vespasian introduced a bunch of building repairs and dismantled Nero's giant palace, starting construction on a giant amphitheater instead.
-This amphitheater would eventually come to be known as The Colosseum!
-Vespasian was also really on the ball with managing natural disasters and shit (not just in Rome, but all over the empire!).
-Vespasian was also surprisingly quite fair in terms of managing the Senate.
-Instead of a violent purge, he simply kept the efficient politicians in the Senate and kicked out the lazy/incompetent ones.
-He also encouraged political honesty and debate; he never had treason trials and shit over political slights, although he would occasionally exile excessively annoying politicians.
-Meanwhile in Judea, the revolt against the Romans continued!
-Vespasian assigned Titus to go handle the situation.
-Thus began the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
-As the Romans camped outside, inside was hell- there was much infighting, violence, and starvation.
-The Romans were finally able to break through the walls and slay the defenders, and then they began to rape and pillage, even setting fire to the Herod's Temple (AKA Second Temple), much to the horror of Titus.
-Afterwards, it was alleged that over one million people were killed and 100,000 enslaved, but these numbers seem highly exaggerated (as was typical during these times).
-This was the end, more or less, of the First Jewish-Roman War (AKA the Great Revolt).
-Titus was relocated to Rome even though the revolt still wasn't 100% over, as there remained some pockets of resistance, most notably at Masada (which housed 960 Sicarii).
-Took a year for the Romans to even climb the mesa successfully.
-April 16, 73 AD- the Romans finally broke through the fortifications, but everyone inside had already committed suicide in order to avoid being captured and enslaved.
-The ruins of Masada still remain today as a testament to Jewish independence.
-However, during this time there was also a serious revolt going on in Gaul.
-There was a bit of a power vacuum once Vitellius took most of the troops out of Gaul to march on Rome.
-The Batavi, a Germanic tribe that lived along the Rhine delta that had provided lots of men for the Roman legions there, decided that they had had enough of Roman rule and being overtaxed, so they decided to rebel. These rebels were led by a dude named Gaius Julius Civilis.
-Also in Gaul, there was a dude named Julius Sabinus who claimed that he was a descendant of Julius Caesar and was therefore the rightful ruler of Gaul!
-The two Roman legions stationed in Gaul were overwhelmed and surrounded, but instead of being allowed safe passage out of Gaul they were massacred by the Batavi!
-As a result, Vespasian raised a huge army to go crush them.
-However, Civilis had been counting on the distraction in Judea to occupy Rome's attention, so once he found out it was over and that the legions were coming for him, he surrendered. Thus, he was forced to sign a new treaty with rules and restrictions for the Batavi.
-Although Vespasian's reign went relatively smoothly, that's not to say that there weren't any conspiracies or assassination attempts against him.
-Anyway, Vespasian died in June 79 AD. He was replaced as princeps by Titus.
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