Arminius

Arminius was a Cherusci, one of the many Germanic tribes that existed in that land in A.D. 9.

His victory over the Roman empire in the battle of the Teutoburg forest was unparalleled.

Rome had suffered worse defeats before, but the consequences of this reversal were to have



an effect far in the future in continental Europe. As a youth he had been taken hostage and lived in Rome where he was trained in the military and was elevated to horseman. When the Romans

sought to create a province in germania they placed in charge an experienced province administrator- Publius Varus. Arminius was an advisor for him, but secretly was consolidating
other tribes who had been life enemies with the Cherusci, to revolt against the Romans due to the poor treatment they received under their rule. Arminius staged a revolt in some far remote area
where Varus sent three legions and auxiliary local troops plus three squadrons of cavalry not to mention the assorted followers-cooks-wife's-tradesmen that follow large armies. This army had a total of around 25,000 people. Varus was not an experienced military leader and probably complacent as much of Europe was under roman rule. Letting his guard down he let Arminius
lead him into unfamiliar territory in a large forest as much of Europe was at that time.



Roman legions were unbeatable in the open fields but could not deploy their magnificent maneuvers in constricted areas like the one they were being lured into now. The long thin
road that meandered thru the forest stretched the army up to 10 miles in length. It was muddy as well, where the Romans could not march in battle formation. Varus neglected to send advanced scouts also, probably because Arminius's father in law who opposed his marriage tried to warn Varus but was dismissed as a personal feud, and why bother- who would attack 3 legions anyway? Arminius left under the guise to drum up more support. A torrential rain storm
made the passing even worse as ambushes were sprung on the weakest links where maneuvers
were hampered, compounded by the camp followers who intermingled in the roman formations adding to the confusion. The ferocious attacks in close quarters did not allow the Romans to deploy and use weapons of all sorts that involved projectiles that normally were accurate and deadly even at great distances-but not in the forest, in the rain, in the mud, with camp followers

running amok. The rain wet and made useless the animal sinews used in bows and assorted wind- up projectile machines. The armor was waterlogged and heavy-arrows penetrating easily

the soggy protections. Over 3 days of fighting in the rain under these conditions, had the legions

setting up night camps with unsuccessful breakouts that would lead them to further ambushes

one after another. In one case the land configuration had the legions coming up to a difficult

to scale trench only to be rained on by arrows from behind the cover of a man-made wall.

Who knows if Arminius had planned the rain season into the well sprung trap. In many historical
battles the weather was used to advantage. The Germanic army now pounced on the disintegrating roman legions, those that broke out or attacked were swallowed up in the forest

harboring the fierce pagans. The prescribed manner in which roman officers were to admit defeat was to fall on their own swords, pommel facing the ground ,the point in the body. Most officers did just that, a few cowards surrendered. The rest died fighting, Varus committed suicide,

the second in command Numonius Vala rode off with his cavalry abandoning the remaining legions and they too perished once they broke out. 20,000 killed and about 5000 escaped, some in battle order most fleeing in disarray. Pagan rituals called for beheading of the defeated and

for sacrificial purposes of the cooking alive the officers, their leftover bones as offerings.

The few who escaped regrouped in favorable terrain and were able make good their escape about a month later.

This loss represented about 12% of the total legion roster. Even when annihilated a legion was resurrected with its original i.d. number and associated standards(battle emblems and flags.) which had a pseudo religious power and were always kept in altars when not in battle.

Because legion xvii, legion xviii and legion xix had lost their standards to the enemy, these

legions were discontinued, this being a first in legion history!

Arminius tried to make an ally out of his most powerful Germanic neighbor with the severed

head of Varus as an offering, but the head was forwarded for burial in Rome to in order to remain neutral.

5 years later an avenging roman army of 70,000 strong moved into the area. Severed heads

were still nailed to trees and the bones of 20,000 were in heaps scattered about in areas where

rituals deemed they offer themselves to the pagan deities. Over the years, the standards were recovered in different military operations. Thusnelda, Arminius's wife was captured as well. Forty years later the last standard was recovered along with roman prisoners who had been held prisoner by different germanic tribes. After the reconquest was complete, the roman empire restricted itself west of the Rhine, rivers being so important to city establishments

and military as well as geographic matters. As a result of this, Rome romanized most of Europe

ignoring germania and thus being left out of the "fold". Christianity also took much longer to take hold here and because of this it took Germany much longer to go along with the modern world. Some scholars even suggest the Franco-Prussian war, WWI1 and WW2 might not have happened

had Germany "Settled" their differences with their neighbors much sooner. Because of their isolation they were left out of the roman trade scheme. Martin Luther called Arminius "Hermann the German" in a way to describe pagan deference to new ways. Most European city states were established long before Germany did. Be that as it may, in the 1600's renewed interest in Arminius as a cultural heroic icon helped solidify nationalism in the growing new country of Germany. Recently festivals and holidays that glorify Arminius are somewhat muted lately

with political overtones.

One scholarly camp views Arminius as a traitor who took advantage of his roman upbringing

and education to treacherously lure Varus into a killing field. Another camp sees him as a liberator of the downtrodden defending the homeland. In any event when news of the disaster

reached Emperor Augustus he butted his head against the palace wall repeatedly yelling

Varus-give me back my legions!

19Th century nationalism in Germany used the Teutoburger Wald battle as a unifying element to consolidate the divided states against the Napoleonic and Austro-Hungarian forces whom they regarded as foreign invaders who shared no common values with them.The historical and archaeological findings have documented the battle sites and are most fascinating in their detail.