Year of the Four Emperors

The Year of the Four Emperors (69 CE) was a brief period of political upheaval and civil war in the Roman Empire. In the aftermath of the death of Emperor Nero, four men – Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian – were recognized as emperor in quick succession during a single year, three of them meeting gruesome and violent ends. It was the first civil war the empire had experienced since the dying days of the Roman Republic, shaking the foundations of the Pax Romana.