Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Part of the early imperial campaigns in Germania
A stone carving, the border resembling a Greco-Roman building, displaying three busts, slightly damaged, the centremost being that of Marcus Caelius, wearing armour, a cape and holding a staff of office in his right hand. Below the carving is a Latin inscription.
Cenotaph of Marcus Caelius, 1st centurion of XVIII, who "fell in the war of Varus" ('bello Variano').
DateSeptember 8–11, 9 AD
Location
Probably present-day Kalkriese, Lower Saxony[1]
52°24′29″N 8°07′44″E / 52.408°N 8.129°E / 52.408; 8.129
Result Germanic victory
Territorial
changes
End of Germania Antiqua, establishment of a limes in the Rhine
Belligerents

Allied Germanic peoples, possibly including the:

Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Arminius
Segimer
Publius Quinctilius Varus 
Units involved
Unknown
Strength

18,000–30,000[2]

  • Angrivarii: ~5,000[3]
  • Bructeri: ~8,000[3]
  • Cherusci: ~8,000[3]
Other troops were likely mustered from the remaining tribes[3]

Estimates vary by historian
Powell: 14,000–22,752[4]
Unknown non-combatants[4]

McNally: ~21,000 total combatants and noncombatants[5]
Casualties and losses
5,000 16,000–20,000 killed[6][7][a]

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster (Latin: Clades Variana) by Roman historians, was a major battle between Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire that took place somewhere near modern Kalkriese from September 8–11, 9 AD, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus and their auxiliaries. The alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic officer of Varus's auxilia. Arminius had acquired Roman citizenship and had received a Roman military education, which enabled him to deceive the Roman commander methodically and anticipate the Roman army's tactical responses.

Teutoburg Forest is commonly seen as one of the most important defeats in Roman history, bringing the triumphant period of expansion under Augustus to an abrupt end. The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania, and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history.[9]

The provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, sometimes collectively referred to as Roman Germania, were subsequently established in northeast Roman Gaul, while territories beyond the Rhine remained independent of Roman control. Retaliatory campaigns were commanded by Tiberius and Germanicus and would enjoy success, but the Rhine would eventually become the border between the Roman Empire and the rest of Germania. The Roman Empire would launch no other major incursion into Germania until Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) during the Marcomannic Wars.[10]

Some of the descendants of the vassal kingdoms, like the Suebi (by suzerainty), that Augustus tried to create in Germania to expand the romanitas and the Empire would be the ones that invaded Rome in the fourth and fifth centuries.[11][12]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Smithsonian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ McNally 2011, p. 23.
  3. ^ a b c d McNally 2011, p. 26.
  4. ^ a b Powell 2014, p. 28.
  5. ^ McNally 2011, p. 21.
  6. ^ Wells, Peter S. The Battle that stopped Rome. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 2003, p. 187 ISBN 0-393-32643-8
  7. ^ Kevin Sweeney, Scholars look at factors surrounding Hermann’s victory Archived July 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Jo Ball (6 January 2021). "We're There Any Roman Survivors at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest?". BadAncient. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  9. ^ Murdoch 2004, p. 57.
  10. ^ Phang et al. 2016, p. 940
  11. ^ Tacitus, Book 12, 27–31: Text in Latin and English at Sacred Texts
  12. ^ Germania, UNRV History


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