"Let us rather die with honour than to live in slavery."
(Marcus Tullius Cicero)
How is it possible to write a text about Germanic history without mentioning the famous battle of the Teutoburger forest?
This battle resulted in one of the biggest and most remarkable victories of history which almost ended the Roman empire 467 years "too soon", a subject of this magnitude deserves its own page on this site so here it is.
Most of the details in the following text are a compilation of those mentioned in various Roman sources about the battle and its aftermath.
Roman occupation:
In 11BC the Roman general Drusus crossed the river Rhine and invaded Germania, after he had defeated some of the resisting tribes the rest soon chose to sign an alliance with Rome.
This alliances officially brought a part of western Germania (from the Rhine to the rivers Elbe and Weser) under Roman control, in reality the Romans did not had much authority in this area because the local tribes simply did what they wanted so the Romans had to enforce their will with military power.
During the occupation of western Germania the stability in the Roman empire was at its peak which started a period that was later named "Pax Romana" (Roman peace), emperor Augustus decided to shrink his legions from 70 to 27, which meant that he was maintaining his world empire with only 300.000 men.
Quintilius Varus became the Roman governor of the newly obtained lands in Germania and he immediately started to increase Roman power over the area; he decided that western Germania should officially become a Roman province instead of an allied area under Roman influence, and therefor he tried to replace the Germanic culture with the Roman one and enforced the Roman rules on the subjected tribes; this caused great problems since the Roman culture and law system was in most cases almost the opposite of the established Germanic culture, many tribes became very uncomfortable with the changes the Romans made in their life since freedom was one of the most important values in their culture, one of the main reasons for the Germanic rebellion (and many others as well) was the Roman ignorance in understanding foreign cultures, if they would have taken the time to learn more about the peoples they subjected they would have been more effective in ruling them.
The authoritarian attitude of the Romans created enormous tensions in the new lands they occupied, discomfort rose with the minute and more and more tribes were willing to support a rebellion.
A new leader:
In 9AD a young Germanic warlord began to work out a plan to get rid of the Roman oppressors, he forged a huge number of tribes into a coalition against the Romans and at the same time he managed to earn the trust and respect of Quintilius Varus, the Roman name of this young warlord was Arminius, though his Germanic name is believed to have been Hermann (which is probably incorrect), Ermanaz ("Exalted One" or "Enormous One"), or Harjamannaz ("Battle-man").
Arminius was the 25 year old son of Segimerus (Segumeraz?), the brother of Flavus, and the chief of a Cheruskian tribe; the Cheruskians were the most powerful coalition tribe in western Falia (Westfalen).
Arminius had also served in the Roman army which allowed him to understand and predict the way the Romans fought, his understanding of Latin and knowledge of Roman customs earned him the trust and respect of the Roman general Quintilius Varus and he became one of his advisors, it was in the fall of 9AD that the Roman army was on its way back to spend the winter in their safe winterquarters after some expeditions in western Germania, the Army was lead by Varus, who was accompanied by several high-ranking Roman officers and some chiefs of allied Germanic tribes, including Arminius.
The strategem:
Arminius knew that if the Roman army reached their winterquarters they would be difficult to defeat so he had to come up with a plan to lure them into the woods where they would be at a disadvantage with their heavy equipment; therefor he had asked a tribe on the other side of the forest to organize a small uprising and then told Varus about it, Varus immediately ordered his army to go there and finish the resistance.
They changed their route and had to cross the Teutoburger forest, a dark, dense forest with marshes and many altitude differences; the Romans progressed slowly and had much difficulties in dealing with the terrain, they could not move in one group and had to form a long line, the caravan had horses, wagons, donkeys, hand carts, and other support units that required clear paths, which the Romans had to create by building improvised bridges and clearing trees and bushes, the Teutoburger forest was like an impenetrable jungle that swallowed the Roman army.
Before the battle:
When the Roman army was far enough into the woods the Germanic leaders who were present excused themselves one by one; some told the Romans that they had to visit a friend in a nearby village, some had to take a pee, some were going to inspect the troops or bring a message to someone in the caravan, etc. in reality they all disappeared into the woods to take command of their armies that were already waiting somewhere in the forest to prepare for the upcoming clash of the titans.
Most of the villages in the surrounding area had disposed of their Roman guards and had sent their warriors to the forest to help Arminius, this warriors were added to the armies that were already present in the forest which created an enormous Germanic army that was capable of handling the powerful, well-equipped Roman legions.
First contact:
In the meantime the Romans were still struggling to get through the forest; in a long line they marched over the small paths that their engineers had created and tried to push their carts through the mud, Varus was sitting prowdly on his horse from where he could normally oversee his troops, now he only saw trees and a long line of Roman soldiers disappearing into the mist, suddenly he heard a whirring sound and several Roman soldiers fell down into the mud, struck by arrows and sling bullets.
He heard screams and saw shadows moving between the trees, he suddenly saw Germanic warriors appearing from under the leafs and out of camouflaged ditches where they had laid in ambush.
The Germanic warriors could be heard everywhere around them but nobody saw where they actually were, it was impossible to create battle formations in the dense forest and the heavy Roman equipment did not allow much mobility between the trees, the Germans only carried light equipment which allowed them to move quickly and encircle the Romans; many Roman soldiers panicked and at the end of the first battle the forest floor was covered with dead Roman soldiers.
The battle:
The survivors regrouped and retreated through the forest but were confronted with another setback; the air became dark and it started to rain, some minutes later an enormous storm broke loose that caused leafs to fly through the air and trees to fall down upon the retreating Romans, it was as if the Germanic gods themselves had joined the battle.
In long lines the Romans had to travel trough the woods while they could hear screams and taunts in the distance, the Germanic warriors knew the area as their inner pocket and used small trails through the forest to follow the Romans and ambushed them time after time, because of their spreaded positions the Romans could not concentrate their force at one target so the Roman legionaries had to fight man-to-man battles instead of coordinated attacks in group, the Germanic warriors excelled in hand to hand combat which gave them an enormous advantage in the dense forest, it is no surprise that the Romans were slaughtered during their retreat through the woods.
When it became night the Romans were exhausted and had to set up a camp, after a long search they managed to find an open space between the trees where they could spend the night, though they did not get much sleep in the wet and muddy forest.
The next day they moved on and after hours of fighting and marching through the woods they reached more open terrain where they could regroup and suffered less attacks, after some time the open space ended and they had to enter the forest again where the Germans were waiting for them, in that forest they would suffer the heaviest losses of the battle since they could not use their cavalry in the dense forest and had to travel in long undefendable lines again.
On the 3rd day of the battle all hell broke loose for the Romans; they were ambushed again and again and their columns fell apart, many Roman soldiers got lost in the woods and the army was no longer a unity, Roman horsemen panicked and left the infantry behind in their eagerness to leave the forest, they galloped through the trees and desperately tried to escape to Roman held territory but most of them were cut to pieces as soon as they left their comrades.
In the enormous chaos that followed almost the entire Roman army was slaughtered and general Varus, who was afraid to fall into Germanic hands alive, comitted suicide by throwing himself into his sword.
After the death of their general Quintilius Varus the Romans lost the little morale they had still left and gave up, some tried to flee back to Roman controlled territory individually while others knew that they were too far away from the Roman lines and could go nowhere in the dense forest; they threw off their weapons and body armour and waited for their fate while they could hear the screams in the distance becoming louder...
Only a handful of Roman soldiers survived the carnage and managed to reach the river Rhine, there they notified the Roman garrisons with the words;"Total defeat! the gods have abandoned us!"
The Germans had captured 2 of the 3 legion standards which was extremely humiliating to the Romans because those standards were the symbols of Rome's power and dominance, at the end of the battle the Romans had lost 3 legions, 6 cohorts, 3 cavalry squadrons, and 25.000 men; for that time an enormous army.
After the battle:
The destruction of the Roman army in northern Europe created an enormous gap in the Roman border defence which allowed the army of Arminius to invade Gaul and maybe even reach Rome itself.
The Germanic army liberated western Germania and Arminius started to attack the Roman fortresses near the Rhine, he managed to take all but one; this caused a delay in the Germanic plans to cross the Rhine and invade Gaul because they had to besiege the last resisting fortress.
Arminius cut off the fortress from supplies and tried to starve the Roman defenders into submission, after a long siege the Romans ran out of food and water and they decided to try and escape; during a stormy night they sneaked out of the fortress unnoticed but during their retreat to Roman controlled lands they were discovered by a group of Germanic warriors, fortunately for them the Germans immediately started to plunder their supplies and allowed the Romans to escape with their lives.
In the meantime the news of the defeat at the Teutoburger forest reached Rome; the city was just celebrating the recent Roman victories in Germania and the news immediately spoiled the party; emperor Augustus received a package from the Germans that contained the head of general Varus, he screamed, tore his cloaths apart, started banging his head against the door and cried;"Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!".
Further developements:
The road to Rome was now open, but Arminius' coalition fell apart because of internal turmoil and power struggles; some warlords were no longer willing to support him and used their newly obtained freedom to expand their own power, this ended any further plans to invade the Roman empire.
In the years thereafter the Germans released many Roman prisoners for ransom and in 14AD Arminius married princess Thusnelda, but not even a year later he was separated from his love because her father handed her over to the Romans, who had decided to invade Germania one last time to retreive the two lost legion standards; they attacked the tribe of the Bructerians, burned their village, and in the rubble they found the standard of the 19th legion, they then marched onwards while destroying every village on their path but they never retreived the other legion standard.
After a long and dangerous campaign they found the battle site, the forest was littered with skeletons and broken weapons, skulls were nailed to the trees and throughout the forest the Romans found altars (harugoz?) on which tribunes and other high-ranking Roman officers had been sacrificed to the Germanic gods, the Roman general ordered his troops to bury the remains and then left Germania for the last time.
The Romans retreated to the Rhine and after the Batavian rebellion that took place some years later they decided never to expand their empire over the Rhine again, the Romans would forever refer to the defeat at the Teutoburger forest with "Clades Variana" (the Varus Disaster) and they would never again raise a legion with the numbers XVII (17), XVIII (18), or XIX (19).
While Arminius could not continue his plans he did became one of the most powerful and important persons in northern Europe; he successfully expanded his power over western Germania and even defeated the powerful tribe of the Marcomannians under king Maroboduus, he was well on his way of creating a united Germanic empire when he was eventually killed during a conspiracy against his rule in 21AD, the man who had liberated northern Europe from Roman oppression was killed by his own people at the young age of 37 years.
Modern discovery of the battle site:
Since the Teutoburger forest is a large area there are many places that were believed to have been the original battlesite; an estimated 700 cities claimed to have been the site of the battle, the Dutch city of Varsseveld ("Varus' field") even has a monument dedicated to the battle as well as the German city of Detmold, which is the home to the famous "Hermannsdenkmal", some time ago both cities were disappointed because archeologists had found the real location of the battle site that was neither in Varsseveld nor in Detmold; the actual site of the battle has been discovered near the German city of Kalkriese near Osnabrück.
This was proven by the objects that were found in the area; Roman coins, helmets and weapons, Germanic speartips and sling bullets, etc. archeologists have even found a beautiful Roman face mask that could be attached to a helmet to provide extra protection.
The most important finding has been a piece of a Roman lorica segmentata; a type of armour of which archeologists assumed that it was not yet used in that time.
The various objects that were found can now be seen in the local museum after having been buried in the mud for 2000 years.
In modern times the battle at the Teutoburger forest has been interpreted in many ways; some see it as an enormous victory, others see it as an enormous defeat, some people try to play down the importance of the battle, and some even see it as a warcrime, whatever you may think about it; the battle at the Teutoburger forest was an important event that changed the course of history and was without a doubt one of the most spectacular examples of a people's will to live in freedom.
In 11BC the Roman general Drusus crossed the river Rhine and invaded Germania, after he had defeated some of the resisting tribes the rest soon chose to sign an alliance with Rome.
Arminius knew that if the Roman army reached their winterquarters they would be difficult to defeat so he had to come up with a plan to lure them into the woods where they would be at a disadvantage with their heavy equipment; therefor he had asked a tribe on the other side of the forest to organize a small uprising and then told Varus about it, Varus immediately ordered his army to go there and finish the resistance.
In the enormous chaos that followed almost the entire Roman army was slaughtered and general Varus, who was afraid to fall into Germanic hands alive, comitted suicide by throwing himself into his sword.
Modern discovery of the battle site:
Since the Teutoburger forest is a large area there are many places that were believed to have been the original battlesite; an estimated 700 cities claimed to have been the site of the battle, the Dutch city of Varsseveld ("Varus' field") even has a monument dedicated to the battle as well as the German city of Detmold, which is the home to the famous "Hermannsdenkmal", some time ago both cities were disappointed because archeologists had found the real location of the battle site that was neither in Varsseveld nor in Detmold; the actual site of the battle has been discovered near the German city of Kalkriese near Osnabrück.