Given Putin’s less than triumphant operation in Chechnya, where the Russian army suffered catastrophic losses, it is hardly surprising that his control of the ‘special operation’ in Ukraine does not seem to be a howling success. His inability to deal with the situation there bears a striking resemblance to that of the short-lived Roman emperor Vitellius.
After the chaos that followed Nero’s suicide in ad 68, the year 69 is known as ‘the year of the four emperors’. Vitellius was the third to try for the throne, before falling to the ultimately successful pro-Vespasian forces. The Roman historian Tacitus was scathing about his military abilities.
Vitellius in fact had some able generals and battle-hardened soldiers behind him, but they were well beaten at the crucial battle of Cremona in north Italy (24 October 69). Like Putin, Vitellius decided to hush up bad news, ‘thus putting off the remedy for the disaster rather than the disaster itself.
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