82 AD
After years of chaos and internal strife, Decebalus ascends the throne of Dacia.
He reunites the fractured tribes and transforms the kingdom into a fearsome military power.
Dacia is reborn.
85 AD
The Dacians cross the Danube and attack the Roman province of Moesia.
Roman General Oppius Sabinus is killed.
Rome is humiliated.
Emperor Domitian vows revenge.
86 AD
Rome sends an army led by Cornelius Fuscus.
The Dacians defeat Fuscus in a devastating battle.
Legio V Alaudae is destroyed.
Fuscus is killed.
Rome is afraid.
88 AD
The Romans try again.
General Tettius Iulianus advances toward Dacia.
The Battle of Tapae is a bloodbath.
The Romans win a hard-fought victory but fail to conquer the kingdom.
The war remains undecided.
89 AD
Rome, weakened economically and militarily, does something unprecedented:
They buy peace from Decebalus.
Decebalus receives:
Gold,
Engineers,
Master builders,
Weapons and technology,
Time to fortify his strongholds.
Dacia becomes stronger than ever.
90–100 AD
Under Decebalus, Dacia is transformed into a massive fortress:
Reinforced citadels,
Rebuilt sanctuaries,
Military roads,
Secret caches,
Alliances with Germanic tribes.
Rome looks to the North with suspicion and fear.
98 AD
Trajan becomes the Emperor of Rome.
A legendary general—methodical, ambitious.
He views Dacia as a humiliation that must be washed away with blood.
101 AD – The First Dacian War
Trajan invades Dacia with multiple legions.
The Battle of Tapae favors him.
Through storms and heavy losses, the Romans advance.
Decebalus sues for peace.
Rome imposes harsh conditions.
102–105 AD
Decebalus rebuilds in secret.
A fragile peace that cannot last.
Roman spies report that the Dacian king is once again a threat.
Trajan prepares the final blow.
105 AD – The Second Dacian War
Entire cohorts enter Dacia through multiple routes.
Citadels fall one by one.
Betrayals, alliances, retreats.
Dacia begins to buckle under the weight of the Empire.
Spring, 106 AD
Sarmizegetusa Regia is isolated.
The water tunnel is discovered and cut off.
The fortress enters its death throes.
Fire, famine, despair.
Summer, 106 AD
Decebalus leads his last men in a hopeless fight.
Sarmizegetusa burns.
The capital of the Dacians is on the verge of falling.
Dacia, after a century of glory, stands on the brink of the end.