The tribe of the Cananefates lives in lands between the Batavians and the North Sea.

The inducements used by Civilis to instigate rebellion are not known, but the Cananefates, led by their chief Brinno, attack several Roman forts, including Traiectum, modern Utrecht.

With most of the troops in Italy fighting in the civil war, the Romans are caught off guard.

Flaccus, commander of the Rhine legions, sends auxiliary troops to control the situation.

The result is another disaster for the Romans.

Civilis assumes the role of mastermind of the rebellion and defeats the Romans near modern Arnhem.

Flaccus orders the V Alaudae and the XV Primigenia legions to deal with the problem.

Accompanying them are three auxiliary units, including a Batavian cavalry squadron, commanded by Claudius Labeo, a known enemy of Civilis.

The battle takes place near modern Nijmegen.

The Batavian regiment deserts to their countrymen, dealing a blow to the already feeble morale of the Romans.

The result is disastrous: a Roman army is beaten and the legions forced to retreat to their base camp of Castra Vetera (modern Xanten).

Civilis in September 69 initiates the siege of Castra Vetera, the camp of the five thousand legionaries of V Alaudae and XV Primigenia.

The camp is very modern, filled with supplies and well defended, with walls of mud brick and wood, towers and a double ditch.

After some failed attempts to take the camp by force, Civilis decides to starve the troops into surrender.

Civilis, knowing that the Romans will come to Castra Vetera, abandons the siege and threatens to attack Moguntiacum.

The Romans are misled and rush to the rescue of their main base in Germania Inferior.

In Moguntiacum, they receive the news of Vespasian's accession to the throne.

Flaccus decides to celebrate the event by distributing a sum of money to the legions, but these legions are historically loyal to Vitellius, their former commander, and this act of generosity is interpreted as an offense.

Flaccus is murdered and his second-in-command deserts, leaving the Roman army in a state of confusion.

Civilis sees his chance and before the Romans know what is happening, his troops besiege Castra Vetera once more.

The year 70 begins with the odds favoring the rebels.

Two legions are still besieged at Castra Vetera and the rest of the Roman army is not large enough to cope with the revolt.

The Trevirans and Lingones, apart from the Batavian rebellion, have declared the independence of Gaul.

Julius Sabinus, the rebel emperor, manages to persuade the I Germanica and XVI Gallica to come over to his side.

The situation at Castra Vetera is desperate.

Food supplies have run out and the besieged legions are eating horses and mules to survive.

With no prospect of a relief, the commander of the troops, Munius Lupercus, decides to surrender.

The legions are promised safe conduct if they leave the camp to be sacked by the rebels.

All weapons, artillery material and gold is left to plunder.

V Alaudae and XV Primigenia march out of the camp but after only a few kilometers they are ambushed by Germanic troops and destroyed.

The commander and principal officers are made slaves and given as a present to Veleda, the prophetess who had predicted the rise of the Batavians.

Later, when the praetorian trireme is captured, it is rowed upriver on the Lippe as a gift to Veleda.

Eight cohorts of Batavian veterans join their countrymen, and the troops sent by Vespasian to the relief of Vetera throw in their lot with them.

The cities of Cleves, Mark, Jülich, Berg, and Ravensburg, after the month-long War of the Jülich Succession, had rejected the Dortmund Recess since the accord had been developed without the consent of all five cities.

Overall, the five cities prefer to be represented by one prince rather than two.

The Dortmund Recess is ultimately replaced by the Treaty of Xanten, signed on November 14, 1614, and ending the Julich-Cleves War, today recognized as a precursor to the Thirty Years' War.